BizNews Radio

In this edition of Electoral Roadshow with Chris Steyn, analyst Wayne Sussman unpacks the latest results from the eNCA MarkData Election Survey. In Johannesburg, the Democratic Alliance (DA) is way out in front on 35% of the vote, the African National Congress (ANC) second on 21,8%, uMkhonto weSizwe (MKP) third on 12,5%, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) fourth on 11.9% followed by ActionSA on 10.3%, and the Patriotic Alliance (PA) well below on 3.7% Here, the DA’s Helen Zille is the most popular mayoral candidate at 30,6% with ActionSA’s Herman Mashaba second at 23.4%. In Cape Town, the DA came in at 52,6% followed by the ANC at 23,6%, the EFF at 6.5%, the PA at 3.9%, and MKP at 1,5%. Here, the current mayor, the DA’s Geordin Hill-Lewis polled the highest at 55,4%. The elections survey results for Ekurhuleni and Nelson Mandela Bay were discussed in last week’s show. The results for eThewini and Tshwane will be out next Sunday. The voters go to the polls in the Local Government Elections (LGEs) on 4 November.

In today’s NdB Sunday Show with me, Chris Steyn and political commentator Solly Moeng talk about the politicians who have not sold their souls, those who have, those who are fit for office, those who not. Moeng gives his frank appraisal of politicians like Ian Cameron, Gayton McKenzie, Fadiel Adams, Paul Mashatile, John Steenhuisen, Herman Mashaba, Mmusi Maimane, Songezo Zibi, Duduzane Zuma…He explains why it would be unwise for Geordin Hill-Lewis to become a Minister. He comments on the ANC’s Constitutional Court’s victory that saw Fikile Mbabula collapse, possibly from relief. He also talks about the rumours that the late Ambassador Nathi Mthethwa’s family is moving to France where the former Police Minister died from a mysterious fall from a hotel. Lastly, he damns the conduct of former General Shadrack Sibiya. “I always say when you become powerful, you need a whisperer. You need somebody who's able to stand in front of you and say, But you can't do that. And you know that it comes from a good place. This person is not trying to destroy you. They know what you're capable of, or they know that you can be blind to certain things. So they're there to say, Don't do it. Let's go home. Let's go and have coffee, let's go and have tea, but don’t get involved because anything can happen.”

A week before Sygnia shareholders vote on an expanded share incentive scheme, Magda Wierzycka was not playing defence. Responding to a Financial Mail report that cast the plan as an enrichment scheme, she told Alec Hogg it was about holding on to a long-serving executive team and being able to hire a CFO, or a successor CEO, at today's market rates. Then she went further. With 30 days' notice and no restraint of trade, she said a weak vote would leave her asking whether she still wants to work for other shareholders, at a time when she believes stakes in private giants like Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX can make her more than Sygnia has in 20 years. She also said the dispute with former partner Andre Crawford-Brunt was settled, previewed a fund giving South African investors access to those companies, and warned that every division at Sygnia would have to be rebuilt for the AI era.

South African rally driver Max Smart won Africa’s place in the FIA Rally Star Programme, where he raced for three years, and went on to the Junior World Rally Championship. Now competing in Spain, he leads the Spanish Gravel Rally Championship for PCR Sport by a single point going into the final round in Granada. In an interview with BizNews, Smart talks about winning a stage on ice in Sweden having never seen snow, and how he has come up with a way to finance the R600,000 a rally cost of competing, which includes his 20 Club sponsorship programme and learning the skills of a mechanic in his team’s workshop. And where did it all start? With a video game, and a momager who helps him keep it going. As a young driver going it alone, he is still building the partnerships that will keep his Ford Fiesta Rally2, “an absolute monster” of a car, on the road. - Linda van Tilburg

Wicknell Chivayo handed out Rolls-Royces, posed with piles of cash and bought a R160 million home in Clifton. Then, days after Open Secrets asked the Hawks to investigate how R800 million from a Zimbabwean election contract landed in his South African accounts, his helicopter came down outside Harare. Michael Marchant, head of investigations at Open Secrets, traced how a man with a fraud conviction and a decade of damaging headlines moved money through South African banks, estate agents and luxury car dealers, and why the presidents who praised him at his funeral may have their own reasons to keep the myth alive. He argued this was never only Zimbabwe's problem: with his estate now up for grabs and a fresh FATF review looming, the Chivayo case had become a test of whether South Africa can stop being a parking lot for the continent's dirty money.