BizNews Radio

South Africa doesn't hear enough from politicians who do the unglamorous work of fixing the state. Jan de Villiers is one of them. The DA MP and chair of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration just drove through a landmark law that tightens the firewall between party politics and the civil service. You can't fix unemployment, crime, or service delivery with a compromised bureaucracy.

From Elon Musk’s Pretoria beginnings to global dominance, this conversation dives into power, policy, and South Africa’s economic crossroads. Solidarity’s Dirk Hermann unpacks the growing backlash against BEE, arguing it stifles jobs, fuels elite enrichment, and deters investment. With pressure mounting from markets, citizens, and international players, is reform inevitable? A sharp, thought-provoking look at race, economics, and the battle over South Africa’s future direction.

This Bloomberg Originals documentary explores the explosive rise of prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket — and the legal, ethical and political backlash that’s followed. As these platforms go mainstream, questions are growing over insider trading, sports betting, and whether turning almost any real-world event into a wager comes at a cost.

In today's BizNews Daybreak, we dive into President Trump’s announcement of a ten-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, alongside hints of a potential deal with Iran during upcoming talks in Pakistan. We analyze the grim reality of illegal mining, where heavily armed syndicates are causing massive environmental damage and poisoning water systems with mercury and cyanide. We also examine Netflix’s 8% share slide following disappointing earnings, the US government’s rollout of Anthropic’s "Mythos" AI model for federal agencies, and the looming economic threat of a "second China shock" driven by massive state subsidies. Finally, South Africa’s Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson outlines a radical shift toward managing the state’s vast property portfolio as a commercial asset management business.

Heavily armed illegal mining syndicates are no longer just a problem for abandoned shafts and remote communities. In this interview, De Wet du Toit of the Blyde River Task Force tells BizNews how zama-zama operations linked to foreign criminal networks are threatening South Africa’s water systems, tourism economy and wildlife heartland, while residents, farmers and activists face growing danger on the ground.