BizNews Radio

In this BizNews interview, Irakli Rekhviashvili sits down with the three people behind FirstRand's R2.5 billion Cape Water Performance-Based Bond, the first time a commercial bank anywhere in the world has tied a bond's payout to nature. The Nature Conservancy's Louise Stafford traces it to 2018, when Cape Town's dams were weeks from "Day Zero" and the catchments were choked with thirsty invasive trees. Her teams have since cleared 40,000 hectares and reclaimed more than 36 billion litres of water. "If we clear that we can reclaim about two months' water supply for Cape Town at a fraction of the cost of grey infrastructure," she says. RMB's Martin Potgieter explains the twist: investors earn a performance-based success payment on top of their coupon, paid only when the trees actually come down and independent verifiers confirm it. The aim, he says, is to "get the investors to start thinking about nature as an asset class," and tellingly, "75% of the outcomes-based funding came from entities that had never before funded nature." Peace Parks Foundation's Colin Porteous frames the deeper problem: "Historically, conservation has been a cash-negative product," and philanthropy alone cannot carry a $700 million, 10-year funding need. Potgieter's parting warning is blunt: ecosystems are "the infrastructure behind the infrastructure," and the money flowing into nature must multiply "by 40, 50, maybe 100 times."

In this edition of NdB Sunday Show with Chris Steyn, explosives expert Willem Els of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) reveals just how deadly a bomb-making recipe was used by the 15-year-old boy who wanted to commit mass killing at a Ballito mall. “what was really alarming for me when I look at especially the one ingredient that he stipulated…with any explosive substance that you mix, you have to have two ingredients. The one is your reducing agent and one is your oxidizing agent. So… one is the fuel and the other one… provides the oxygen inside the mixture. So that was there. And also we see that it was similar, not exactly the same, but similar to, for instance, the type of explosives that was mixed by ISIS in Europe, especially the attacks in Paris, the attack on the airport in Brussels. And so that killed a lot of people. Very similar. Also, then referred to as the Mother of Satan, those explosives.” The boy’s bomb-making recipe was contained in the last paragraph of a Manifesto written by him. As for why the bomb did not detonate, Els says: “I believe it was a flaw in his construction…it was just burning very fast instead of detonating.” Meanwhile, police are on high alert for copy cat attacks, and Els expresses faith that - despite questions remaining about the initial handling of the case - the investigation is now being properly done by expert investigators.

Springbok ticket prices have soared, suites have been taken over under “clean stadium” rules, and loyal supporters are being squeezed out. BizNews Rugby's boots-on-the-ground reporter, Rory Steyn, speaks to representatives from legendary Joburg rugby clubs and bitter rivals Pirates and Wanderers, as well as chartered accountant and former Sun International CEO, David Coutts-Trotter, about the financial damage being done to community clubs and the growing anger among fans. With families facing an ever-rising cost for a day at the rugby and clubs losing vital income, they warn that SARU’s pursuit of revenue could weaken the very grassroots structures and supporter base that sustain South African rugby.

A former Air Force brigadier is behind bars in the United States, Jasmine Opperman warns the real failure lies in how the State Security Agency handled her. Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube hits back at claims her department is a mess as the DA looks to 2029, while traders pile into Micron and a record SK Hynix listing even as everyone frets the AI trade is overdone. Plus, we look at Iran choking the Strait of Hormuz, Meta charging for its AI, and Ben Bernanke joining Anthropic.

Siviwe Gwarube says South Africa's education system needs long-term reform, not quick political wins. The Basic Education Minister discusses her first two years in office, tackling textbook procurement concerns, eliminating unsafe pit toilets identified in 2018, strengthening early childhood development, and navigating provincial delivery challenges. She argues the real measure of success lies in improving literacy and numeracy from the foundation phase, while defending the DA's record in government and outlining why investing in young learners will shape South Africa's future.