BizNews Radio

In this edition of the NdB Sunday Show, Ron Weissenberg of The Accountability Group (TAG), tells Chris Steyn how South Africa could have a new government by next year instead of after the 2029 national elections. He says it can be achieved in accordance with a Constitutional provision for Parliament to be dissolved between national elections once a minimum of three years have passed since it was elected. It would require a motion to be tabled by an MP and voted for by the majority of members (201 minimum out of 400) following which early elections must be held within 90 days. The earliest date such a motion can be tabled is 29 May 2027. Asked why this early regime change has not been mooted, Weissenberg says: “...there's a cynical answer to that - and of course one shouldn't confuse narrow self interests with virtue when it comes to political parties and politicians.” As its advisability, he says: “...one thing that has become apparent is that voters in this country do seem to like coalitions, but coalitions do not like voters...if there isn't support from the parliamentary caucuses themselves, there should certainly be support from the voting public…to ensure that, if the government of the day is not performing, they are given the earliest opportunity to cast a vote for something different and not have to wait a further few years to do that.”

Riël Malan joins Alec Hogg in Hermanus for a wide-ranging conversation about entrepreneurship, resilience and building businesses with purpose. From growing up in a farming family and launching Fruits Unlimited to creating 36 startups and leading Nurture Brands, Malan reflects on failure, leadership, partnerships and the lessons learned along the way. He discusses his transformative sabbatical, the power of journaling and coaching, private capital, brand-building and his ambition to grow Nurture Brands into a R10 billion group by 2032.

"Running a business is really complicated," says David White, founder and CEO of DRG, BusinessFit SA and The Africa Marketing Initiative, and the resulting "entrepreneurial time poverty" is what quietly kills small businesses long before bad ideas do. In conversation with Irakli Rekhviashvili, White explains how BusinessFit's open source self-assessment platform works as a "mentor multiplier" for South Africa's estimated 12 million entrepreneurs and SMEs, since "there are not enough mentors around the world, or in particular South Africa," and why structure changes the odds: "if an entrepreneur is able to better understand what is required for them to build a sustainable business, there is almost no reason why those businesses shouldn't be successful." White also revisits DRG's own JSE listing within two years of founding, and the dot-com crash that followed. "I would never do it again, to be honest," he admits. "It took away that magical essence of why we started the business in the first place." What replaced the chase for money, he says, is something else entirely: "spending time with entrepreneurs who believe the world can be a better place... is a reward in itself." On the B-BBEE Act's push for larger companies to direct 3% of after-tax profit and 30% of supply chain spend to SMEs, a combination he's called a "success formula," White is broadly supportive but draws a hard line on how it's funded: "I'm not a great fan of the grants... when we're giving money and there's no expectation for it to be returned, I think the mindset changes of the entrepreneur."

Johnny Copelyn turned a one million rand trade union investment fund into HCI, a business now worth well over ten billion rand, without ever raiding the pockets of the workers who backed him. In one of his last interviews as CEO, he talks candidly about a bank that nearly went under on his watch, buses set alight in a running battle with the taxi industry, and why HCI is still ploughing money into oil and gas off Mossel Bay and Namibia even after most of the world's biggest players walked away. He also explains, bluntly, why South Africa keeps sitting on resources that its neighbours are racing to develop.

In today's BizNews Daybreak, Geordin Hill-Lewis outlines the DA's ambitious push to govern six metros. MK Deputy President Duduzane Zuma confirms that land expropriation without compensation will happen as party policy. We also explore why South Africa’s anxious youth should look to Zambia's optimistic turnaround. Plus, BOSA’s Roger Solomons warns about Cape Town’s rising unaffordability, and US markets surge on Nvidia's AI revenue forecasts.