BizNews Radio

Three years ago, Sean Summers said, the talk at South African braais was whether Pick n Pay would survive at all. On results day, with the supermarket business still losing R516 million in six months and break-even pushed out to 2029, he told Alec Hogg why he wasn't in a hurry. He explained how the five-month stand-off with SACCAWU ended in a deal rather than retrenchments, what he said finally brought "seriousness into the room", and why he believed Pick n Pay was now outgrowing rivals that have opened hundreds more stores. He also took on the hard questions: whether being CEO of Pick n Pay and chair of Boxer is a conflict, why the market values the group at less than its Boxer stake, and what Spencer Sonn inherits when he arrives in February. His message to investors was blunt: it's not if, but when.

In this interview with Chris Steyn, City of Johannesburg whistleblower Stephanus Fourie warns that a new administration will not be able to root out entrenched mismanagement and corruption without drastic action. “Unless you catch the criminals and you lock them up and you take back everything that they've taken from the ratepayers, nothing will change.” Fourie believes that any person who steals from the government should be found guilty of terrorism, sent to prison without a term, given hard labour to earn back money to refund the taxpayer, and get released only “once every cent that you stole has been recovered”. Meanwhile, Fourie takes viewers behind the scenes at City Power where he was fired after he discovered “that there were anomalies that were non-consistent with the MFMA (the Municipal Financing Management Act)...And the biggest one was that they wanted to outsource sourcing. And not only outsource sourcing, the whole warehouse.” He has been reinstated following a court order, but City Power is still resisting his return. “One of the senior managers made a comment to say if he kept his mouth shut - referring to me - he would have been back at work…In front of witnesses.”

For more than 13 years, Dr Carla Mitchell has chased a dream she once believed belonged to Americans and NASA. Now she is leading Africa’s first space exploration mission to the moon in 2029. Africa2Moon will ride on China’s Chang’e 8 lander and deploy three 30 centimetre antennas, fondly known as BALLS, to pick up low frequency radio waves that our atmosphere blocks from Earth. A mission that should have cost more than $100 million is now expected to cost less than half a million dollars, because South African companies and universities took on the production at no cost and more than 30 scientists and engineers volunteered their time over a decade. Dr Mitchell, the mission director and Africa programme manager at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, told BizNews how it came together, and why she believes Africa is ready to lead in space exploration. – Linda van Tilburg

Analyst Wayne Sussman tells Chris Steyn something unprecedented has happened: across all six metros polled by eNCA MarkData, the ANC has not come out on top once, with Tshwane putting the DA just under 34% against the ANC's 25%. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tells Alec Hogg his target is 3% growth, not the 1.2% now forecast, and points to environmental and mining rules holding the country back. Political analyst Mzo Mpolase says a cartel was already running the country. Plus Lesaka's Ali Mazanderani on what a R5,000 loan costs, and Donald MacKay on 40-month tariff probes.

In today's NdB Sunday Show with Chris Steyn, Political Analyst Mzo Mpolase slams President Cyril Ramaphosa's latest utterance on the looming loss of AGOA. "You're running a country here, you're not running some ANC ideological office. This is the fate of the economy, the fate of many jobs, which you promise every time. So to hear this, it's almost as if … how low can we go as a country that our president will basically do running commentary of something that they stand right in a position where they can change. And then he speaks as if it's God's will that it will be this way…all it needed was decisions from you, political will from you, and a sense of diplomacy and a sense of understanding what our national interest is." Mpolase says South Africa needs a "never-again" moment. Dissecting testimony before the Madlanga Commission, he says: "When you look at some of the individuals that have thus far been implicated or are having court cases now, you do feel that there is perhaps a hand behind these individuals…the almost strategic targeting of provincial, local government, by entities…there has to be some power behind it orchestrating all of this." Mpolase also looks at the future of coalition rule.