BizNews Radio

Treasury switched off the taps to 69 municipalities for doing nothing about corruption and mismanagement. Today it switched them back on anyway, days before its own deadline. Alec Hogg asks the obvious question nobody in government wants to answer. Plus: why last week's Reserve Bank rate hold is already punishing the rand, a foundation funded by an arms dealer just published a survey putting China ahead of America in young Africans' eyes, and on the JSE it's a tale of two extremes: Valterra Platinum showering shareholders in cash while ArcelorMittal's losses widen by the day. And the machine that prints the world's most advanced chips just found out China isn't waiting around.

In his latest interview with Chris Steyn, Political Commentator Solly Moeng, talks about four political parties joining in a Constitutional Court bid to try and overturn President Cyril Ramaposa's impeachment committee interdict; a murder investigation into the death of General Sindile Mfazi, who was investigating an unauthorised undercover operation to cover up wrongdoings at high level; and the assassination of another corruption whistleblower, Emfuleni accountant Martha Rantsofu. “...everything that we see is really just the tip of a huge, massive iceberg. I'm sure there are other bodies, dead bodies all over the place, of people who said: ‘I cannot support this, or I'm going to report this, or this is not the right way to do things’… There's a whole industry that has been set up where you get given two thousand, ten thousand depending on where you're at, to go and pop somebody.” Moeng also comments on the corruption trial of former Defence Minister Nosisive Mapisa-Nqakula; the expose of former IDAC Chief Andrea Johnson’s agenda; the management mayhem at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC); and former President Jacob Zuma’s latest antics.

In today's BizNews Daybreak, SK Hynix posts profit gains while Nvidia’s CEO defends open-weight AI amid safety warnings and new hacking reports. Ford raises its outlook and Visa cuts 2,600 jobs. In South Africa, SAPS data reveals over 99% of gun murders involve unlicensed firearms, while the Phala Phala impeachment battle reaches the Constitutional Court. Plus, analysts preview the US Fed interest rate decision and weigh oil market scenarios from $75 to $150 per barrel.

In his latest interview with Chris Steyn, Ian Cameron, the Chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police, talks about the revelation that - in the last four financial years - over 41,000 murders were committed with unlicensed firearms, but fewer than 400 murders with licensed firearms whilst the government is pushing for stricter self defence laws. “There's no doubt that there’s some kind of a political ideological push to disarm and to centralise power…if they should ever succeed with this draconian and absolutely ridiculous piece of legislation, it would result in tyranny.” Commenting on the resignation of IDAC Chief Andrea Johnson, Cameron notes that a “specific faction of people…seemed to be dead set on securing control of certain leadership positions…if you had gained control of especially Crime Intelligence and obviously the office of the National Commissioner, you would have relatively easy access to the Secret Service funds, which obviously is massive amount of money that very often ends up in a political tug-of-war because if you control that and you know how to seemingly use it in the wrong way you would be able to get a lot of money for your campaigning and political work.” He warns: “...we mustn't underestimate how in-depth and detailed a lot of the planning goes to perform some of these bigger, broader strategies. I think it was, is, possibly, might still be, a massive risk to the stability of the criminal justice system.”

Two judges signed the same court order and can't agree on what it actually stops. Now Ramaphosa's impeachment fight is headed to the Constitutional Court, with the ANC's own GNU partner pushing Parliament to keep working in the background regardless. Meanwhile South Africa's bookmakers want prediction markets like Polymarket treated as illegal, three JSE-listed companies posted results pulling in three different directions this morning, and overnight a sell-off in AI and chip stocks wiped billions off names like Nvidia and SK Hynix. Alec Hogg unpacks what's actually driving each story, and what it means for your money.