BizNews Radio

Three trades, R301 in total, and a 20-year ban from the financial sector. Warren Wheatley, the chartered accountant who helped put together the Capitec empowerment deal and went on to found Altvest, now Africa Bitcoin Corporation, broke his silence to Alec Hogg days after resigning as CEO. The FSCA says he, his wife Tatum and his chief investment officer coordinated trades to inflate the share price. Wheatley said the trades were a clumsy test of a broken brokerage platform, conceded they were "silly" and "ill-conceived", and denied any intent to profit. He explained why his own board stepped away from him, what the ruling has done to his family, why he will not blame his Bitcoin advocacy, and how quickly his appeal could be decided. Alec asked the question many in business are now asking: if this can happen to him, who is next?

Six months after warning a Hermanus room full of business leaders that Washington's patience was wearing thin, US Ambassador Brent Bozell returned to BizNews to explain what happened next. Five asks, a 15-day deadline and a six-page reply that, in his words, answered none of them. The result: visa bans on unnamed officials, every item on the negotiating table withdrawn, and a warning that there is more to come. Bozell told Alec Hogg how close the two countries came to a deal, what he offered to fund, why he says he never called for Thabo Mbeki to mediate, and why he believes Pretoria is wrong if it thinks it can simply wait out Donald Trump. He also had a message for South African business: the next move is theirs to push for.

In their weekly chat, Chris Steyn and political commentator Solly Moeng talk about the second seizure of of electronic devices belonging to Special Leave Police Minister Senzo Mchunu; the arrest of tenderpreneur Cat Matlala’s wife, Tskanane; the rape case against suspended Deputy National Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya; the latest testimony at the Madlanga Commission of Inquriy; the BEE abuse by foreign tenderpreneur Lawrence Mudzinganyama, who threatened to kill women who turned down his advances in a Sandton restaurant; the R1,9-billion tax billl for the still-free Tembisa Hospital tender don, Hangwani Maulema, the nephew by marriage of President Cyril Ramaphosa; Ambassador Roelf Meyer’s performance in the US, as well as the Freedom Front’s mayoral candidate for Nelson Mandela Bay, Bill Harrington, who served a lengthy prison sentence for the murder of an activist during the Apartheid years. Moeng describes Mchunu as “one of the most privileged suspects in contemporary South Africa”. He also reveals that a senior government official told him that “the art of surviving a senior position in government is to make sure they also eat”

Deputy National Commissioner Shadrack Sibiya is in custody on rape, sexual grooming and human trafficking charges; police committee chair Ian Cameron tells BizNews it is chilling that he was once in line to lead the SAPS. Action Society's Juanita du Preez says EMPD chief Julius Mkhwanazi's firing took five arrests, and doubts Tembisa tender kingpin Hangwani Maumela's R1.9 billion tax bill will ever be paid. AfriForum's Barry Bateman explains why the NPA will now prosecute Julius Malema for calling a former principal a rapist. Plus Trump's UN threat to annihilate Iran, and a record Nasdaq close.

In their latest interview, Chris Steyn and Ian Cameron, the Chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police, unpack a day of high drama with the court appearance this afternoon of suspended Deputy National Commissioner General Shadrack Sibiya who is now facing charges of rape, sexual grooming, and human trafficking. The cases involve the alleged rape of an 18-year-old girl and the alleged sexual grooming of a 16-year-old girl. Until his suspension over alleged criminal underworld links, the general was part of a cabal whose agenda was to have him as the next National Commissioner of Police. He was arrested at a strip club yesterday and is set to move from the police station to prison until his bail hearing because of an alleged escape plot. Also in court today was National Commissioner Fannie Masemola, who had charges against him withdrawn. Those related to alleged knowledge of a tender. He says he is ready to return to work.