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David Coltart, a former minister in Robert Mugabe's Government of National Unity (GNU), shares some of the hard lessons learned in Zimbabwe where Zanu-PF used the GNU to hollow out the opposition and become stronger than ever. “.. applying that to South Africa, the DA, the IFP,  they need to demonstrate some savvy. It's a balance. Obviously, they've got to deliver effectively on their own ministry so that they can demonstrate to the electorate in South Africa that they are competent and inspire confidence. And that needs to be their dominant responsibility. But they must not ever do that at the cost of allowing the ANC to consolidate their power in the areas of civic bodies, universities, the judiciary and critically, the media”. Coltart doesn’t see former President Jacob Zuma's MKP as a major threat to the GNU as long as the GNU works and delivers to the South African people. “But if the DA, the IFP laps into this notion that they hold these positions as of right and they don't have to deliver, then they will become very vulnerable to the populism of MK and the EFF to a lesser extent,” he warns. Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here. The seventh BizNews Conference, BNC#7, is to be held in Hermanus from March 11 to 13, 2025. The 2025 BizNews Conference is designed to provide an excellent opportunity for members of the BizNews community to interact directly with the keynote speakers, old (and new) friends from previous BNC events – and to interact with members of the BizNews team. Register for BNC#7 here. If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here

Dive into today’s top stories on the BizNews Briefing: David Coltart warns South Africa about coalition governance pitfalls, FlySafair faces backlash over overbooking claims, US banks report stellar Q4 earnings, and Richemont shines on the JSE. Plus, Action SA’s political alliances, Amazon Alexa’s AI upgrade, and a push to end race-based policies in South Africa.

Miles Van Der Molen, CEO of CemAir, discusses the controversy surrounding FlySafair's admission of overbooking flights in South Africa, which he claims violates local laws. He explains that overbooking is a common international practice but illegal here due to consumer protection regulations. The issue raises questions about industry ethics and enforcement. Van Der Molen spoke to BizNews editor Alec Hogg.

A Bill to bring an end to all race-based policy and legislation in South Africa has been launched. But Phil Craig, whose Referendum Party is behind the Bill, says while it is getting strong support from the public, the support from the established political parties has been “disappointing” thus far. The next step is the submission of the Non-Racialism Bill to the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development. “Are they going to say, well, look, this Bill is important to me, stand with it, or are they going to vote with the ANC to effectively block this bill and maintain race-based policy? And then we'll all know.” Also giving an update on the fight for Cape Independence, Craig says: “We have to build a beachhead of political power so we can then force that decision down onto the Western Cape government and obviously we'll be able to use the private referendum as a means to build pressure…” Meanwhile, he predicts that “the more the GNU is exposed as a shallow compromise that isn't a long-term solution, the more our vision of self-determination for different communities, including the Western Cape, is going to come to the fore”.