

BizNews Radio
BizNews
Welcome to BizNews Radio where we interview top thought leaders and business people from South Africa and across the globe.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 10, 2025 • 16min
The Sunday Show - Neil de Beer: A “Voetsek” to Cyril and a call for civilian action…
After an absence of four Sundays, Neil De Beer, the President of the United Independent Movement (UIM), was back on the Sunday Show today with Chris Steyn. Calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to step down, he says: “… Wake up, resign…Mr. Ramaphosa, can't you see the signs? Can't you see they don't like you? Can't you see that they are conspiring against you?” With legacy foundations deserting the preparatory task team of Ramaphosa’s National Dialogue, De Beer says: “…slowly but surely all of them will leave the rat's cage”. Responding to the charge that he himself is spearheading the #ANCMustFall movement, De Beer says: “…the ANC is doing it themselves to themselves…” He urges both the President and his party to “Voetsek”. Commenting on the crisis in SAPS, he says: “I see ourselves having to totally, totally re-educate and totally rebuild the policing service of this country. They've annihilated themselves.” As for the latest Commission of Inquiry appointed by the President, De Beer says: “..they’re not commissions, they’re complications because they are a way that Cyril puts things aside…if we don't have civilian action against these people, we're not going to get action at all”.

Aug 8, 2025 • 22min
Wildebeest on a Brakpan mine dump: DRDGold’s plan to reverse gold mining legacy – CEO Niël Pretorius
More than a century of mining in the Witwatersrand has left behind vast mine dumps stretching from Randfontein to Springs. But at the Brakpan tailings facility, wildlife is making a comeback. Mining company DRDGold has rehabilitated the site by cladding mine waste with soil, allowing natural vegetation to return spontaneously. This, in turn, has attracted wildlife back to the area—prompting the company to reintroduce zebras, blesbok, and wildebeest. In an interview with BizNews, CEO Niël Pretorius said the initiative is part of a broader effort to reverse the environmental legacy of over a century of gold mining. Next on his rehabilitation list: the Russell Stream, which runs from Braamfontein to Orlando. Pretorius also shared how DRDGold has benefited from the financial windfall of soaring gold prices, which have climbed from R65,000 to R1.9 million. This surge, he said, is enabling significant capital investments.

Aug 8, 2025 • 25min
Lamola’s semiconductor blunder: reaction by insulted Taiwan now threatens SA manufacturing disaster
In an interview with BizNews founder Alec Hogg, Ryan Smith, the DA's new Spokesperson on International Relations and Cooperation, discusses his challenging roles and South Africa's foreign policy 'follies'. He criticises ruinous 30% Trump tariffs, citing negotiation failures. Smith strongly condemns Ronald Lamola's "ridiculous decision" to downgrade the Taiwanese embassy. He highlights Taiwan's crucial role as the sole supplier of vital semiconductor chips (TSMC), arguing this alienates essential trade, hindering SA's manufacturing and job creation efforts. Smith advocates for a truly non-aligned, South Africa-first foreign policy driven by economic development, not ANC party interests, stressing the need for career diplomats. The DA seeks new agricultural markets to offset these challenges.

Aug 7, 2025 • 21min
Willie Aucamp: Emma reveals DA support and the party refutes ANC rubber stamping
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has put an end to speculation around the resignation of International Relations spokesperson Emma Powell who cited threats and intimidation. Speaking to BizNews, the party’s National Spokesperson Willie Aucamp read out a message in which she denied a lack of support. It read “This is complete and utter nonsense. I've had nothing but support from the party and took the decision to step back for purely personal reasons.” Aucamp commented: “You can imagine the amount of pressure that was applied on Emma Powell to find out that you are being surveilled by the State Security services…” Aucamp also addresses charges that his party has sold its liberal soul for power. Listing all the DA wins in the Government of National Unity (GNU), he stated: “… to say that the DA or to imply that the DA has been co-opted and that we are a rubber stamp for the ANC is simply just not true”. Commenting on the African National Congress (ANC) NEC’s move to “reset” the GNU and is talking to other parties, Aucamp states: “that (Sufficient Consensus) clause is very clear that there must be sufficient consensus when decisions are made and that sufficient consensus only occurs when parties within the GNU representing at least 60% of the votes in the National Assembly agrees. So there's no way that the ANC, together with all the other parties within the GNU currently, reaches that threshold. The only way that sufficient consensus can be reached is if the ANC and the DA at least agrees on something.”

Aug 7, 2025 • 44min
Paul O’Sullivan joins dots, drops bombshell: “Here’s your proof - Mkhwanazi a crook, Trollip a liar”
Forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan has come out swinging—accusing KwaZulu-Natal police boss Lt. Gen. Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi of criminality and calling ActionSA’s Athol Trollip a liar. In an explosive 18-page dossier and this follow-up interview with Alec Hogg, O’Sullivan lays out his case: a police service captured at the highest level, a slush fund ballooning to R600 million, luxury gifts from shady suppliers, extrajudicial killings, and a nation dangerously fooled by a uniform. He joins the dots—and what emerges is nothing short of a bombshell.

Aug 7, 2025 • 30min
Willem Els: Terror funding and organised crime thriving on poor governance
Billions of rands are being sent out of South Africa annually to fund terror activities. In this interview with BizNews, Willem Els of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) dissects the nexus between organised crime and terror funding. “Organised crime can do without terrorism. They can live without terrorism, they can survive without terrorism, but terrorism cannot survive without organised crime and using them.” He notes that neither group can operate with impunity without high-level protection either. “And in South Africa, the prevalence of your State-embedded actors on a very high political level and on operations level is way above the average for Africa.” Nel lists poor governance, limited resources, and limited use of technology as the reasons why Africa has become such a hub for terror financing. He outlines what measures South Africa will have to take to get off the Grey List later this year - and what it would have to do to prevent relisting. He also gives a run-down on recent terror-related cases, and describes the implementation of Sharia Law in Johannesburg, and the use of assassinations and extortion by an ISIS-linked to raise funds for terror.

Aug 7, 2025 • 22min
BN Briefing: Joburg's R22bn crisis, Lesufi’s 'window-dressing' shuffle, Gayton's leadership blasted
In this BizNews Briefing, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi reshuffles his top team after R1.3bn goes unspent - but critics slam it as window-dressing. Johannesburg scrambles to account for R22bn in irregular spending ahead of November’s G20 summit. Diplomatic tensions rise with the US, and political analyst Phapano Phasha blasts Gayton McKenzie’s leadership. Plus, Uber’s earnings surprise and Trump eyes a new Fed Chair.

Aug 6, 2025 • 25min
Hersov changes tack on DiData after digging deeper into the BEE fronting scandal
Businessman and BizNews regular Rob Hersov has changed his tune on the so-called Dimension Data Six, once damning in his critique of the executives accused of fraud in a scathing High Court judgment. In this follow-up conversation with Alec Hogg, Hersov urges caution, arguing the case was unfairly decided on affidavits alone and deserves to be aired properly in open court. He says reputations, justice and the integrity of South African business are all on the line.

Aug 6, 2025 • 34min
Phapano Phasha: We are led by the worst in society
President Cyril Ramaphosa is surrounded by advisors that are “mainly inept”. So says political commentator Phapano Phasha. She says he has “juniorised” his office with people “who cannot lead”. Meanwhile, the President is also “highly embedded” in the narrative surrounding allegations of police capture made by General “Lucky” Mkhwanazi. Phasha predicts that “whoever has the money will likely win the ANC conference and become the next ANC president”. In this factional race, SG Fikile Mbalula “has everything intact because he's got external people who support him. He is in charge of branches. But he's the weakest of them all.” Commenting on former President Jacob Zuma’s threat of further legal action and political mobilisation unless the President resigns by Friday, Phasha says his MKP is on a collision course. “It's like the Titanic… that kind of organisation, it will eventually break. But for now, I think it's a necessary irritation because what we're having is we're having a GNU and this GNU is unfortunately not able to hold the ANC accountable.” Meanwhile, she warns that the Democratic Alliance (DA) is likely to be punished in the next election. “I had hoped that the NEC would agree to kick off the DA out of the GNU because what you would then have is a more robust Democratic Alliance.” She also blasts Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance (PA) as a party that would not be in Parliament in a “seasoned democracy”. “But unfortunately, this is where we are. Our politics are mediocre. We are led by the worst in society. Professionals, academics and business people, the patriotic intelligentsia has taken a backseat and allowed this type of people to lead our country.”

Aug 6, 2025 • 22min
WSM: How subservient DA is enabling ANC acceleration of the hard left National Democratic Revolution
Veteran columnist William Saunderson-Meyer, in conversation with Alec Hogg, delivers a scathing critique of the Democratic Alliance’s role in the Government of National Unity. From the sidelining of Emma Powell to the silent complicity over Pretoria Girls High, Saunderson-Meyer warns the DA is trading its liberal soul for power - while Ramaphosa quietly accelerates the ANC’s National Democratic Revolution.