BizNews Radio

Civil rights group, Safe Citizen, has launched an urgent campaign to interrupt plans for drastic changes to South Africa’s firearms training system that could make obtaining a competency certificate so expensive and time-consuming that people are likely to resort to buying fake certificates. In this interview, Nikki Pretorius, the spokesperson for the Lead Service Provider Forum, says: “... previously… training would take place over a day, day and a half at maximum and would cost the person about 1800 to 2000 Rand… now…. for the purposes of competency…a five day minimum period in a classroom and on a shooting range…and you're looking at four thousand, six thousand rand... And over and above the expense, you're looking at five days away from work…And even worse for the security officers…before they could get their competencies done within three, four, five days, they're now looking at three weeks.” Pretorius warns that it could lead to otherwise law-abiding citizens turning to corruption: “... it's simply going to drive that need (for firearms licences) underground. And then we have a situation where the proliferation of illegal firearms expands, whereas proper law abiding citizen firearm usage and ownership declines.”

President Trump has paused "Project Freedom" in the Strait of Hormuz to evaluate a potential agreement with Iran, causing oil prices to retreat as US equities reach record highs.

Meanwhile, the SEC proposes shifting to semiannual earnings reports, and AMD reports surging revenue driven by AI demand.

Locally, BizNews editor Alec Hogg defiantly rejects legal threats from a deepfake scam syndicate, and intelligence analyst Chris Wyatt discusses the "painful" reality of South African fuel price hikes.

In this episode of Boardroom Talk, BizNews editor Alec Hogg exposes the AI-powered FXSI scam that used deepfake footage of him and President Cyril Ramaphosa on a fake Carte Blanche set to lure unsuspecting South Africans into a fraudulent trading scheme. After BizNews interviewed an anonymous victim who lost more than R24,000, lawyers claiming to act for FXSI demanded the article and podcast be removed. Hogg’s response: no.

In today's BizNews Daybreak, US-Iran clashes in the Strait of Hormuz, driving crude oil prices upward and sparking global supply chain concerns.

Financial Mail Editor-in-Chief Rob Rose joins the program to discuss why South African brands are misreading their customers, citing a "degree of arrogance" and a failure to learn from the "New Coke" era.

Additionally, intelligence analyst Chris Wyatt provides a provocative outlook for South Africa's upcoming local elections, predicting the ANC could suffer a major blow and potentially drop below 30% support.

Plus, we explore the limits of US power in the Middle East and the White House's potential move to vet AI models before release.

Are multinational giants and massive local retailers losing touch with the South African market?. In this episode, Alec Hogg sit down with Rob Rose, Editor-in-Chief of the FM Group, to explore the harsh realities of corporate bullying and executive arrogance. They dissect the recent ProNutro public relations disaster, the devastating consequences of the Woolworths supplier squeeze that killed a local chocolatier, and the ongoing danger of foreign executives ignoring local consumer wisdom.