BizNews Radio

Ipsos had MK on 55% in eThekwini and the DA on 17%. Dean Macpherson told Alec Hogg he did not trust those numbers, and said the DA would end up either the largest party in Durban or the largest party in its governing coalition. The DA's KwaZulu-Natal chairperson walked through a little-known rule that, in his telling, leaves only two realistic contenders for Durban's mayoralty, and explained why a single councillor could decide who runs many KZN councils. Wearing his ministerial hat, he argued that the trillion rand set aside for infrastructure was not short of money but stuck in procurement, with only one in six big tenders awarded. He described how the Independent Development Trust went from an entity he considered shutting down to tripling its cash in a year, why the state was now selling land it did not need, and how he squared administering the Expropriation Act with his own party's court challenge against it.

Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson tells BizNews the infrastructure debate is no longer about money but procurement: of 2,800 big tenders published in a year, only one in six was awarded, and 90% of failures trace to weak feasibility work. His department now spends R600 million over three years preparing projects itself. A political commentator reviews the week: commission hearings, Ramaphosa's silence, and Julius Malema's leave to appeal his firearm conviction. AfriForum's Barry Bateman tells Chris Steyn police keep saying GBV suspects were "circulated" while cold cases go nowhere. Plus Wall Street edges up as October Fed hike odds collapse.

“If we're going to look for angels in this stuff, we're not going to find angels. It's the LEAST of the devils, it's WHOM do we choose, what is the thing to focus on, the least worst thing to focus on.” These are the words of political commentator Solly Moeng in his latest chat with Chris Steyn. Moeng slams Cyril Ramaphosa for “forgetting” that he is President. He also comments on the latest testimony before the Madlanga Commission where taxi boss Joe Sibanyoni showed clearly that he is “used to being feared’; Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) CIC Julius Malema’s being granted leave to appeal his firearms discharge conviction and sentence as well as his belated apology to a judge; the bail application of suspended Deputy National Police Commissioner General Shadrack Sibiya who was arrested for alleged sexual offences; and disgraced MP Fadiel Adams going to the High Court to challenge the withdrawal of charges against National Commissioner General Fannie Masemola. Moeng also gives his take on the latest deterioration in US-SA relations and says those who call for US Ambassador Brent Leo Bozell III to be kicked out are being “childish”.

In December 2011, Rael Levitt brought the hammer down on Quoin Rock, Dave King's Stellenbosch wine estate. Within months, Auction Alliance, the business he had spent 20 years building, was gone. In studio with Alec Hogg, Levitt went back over the auction that undid him: the vendor bidder he placed in the crowd, the lie he told billionaire bidder Wendy Appelbaum, and the attempted fix after the event that he admitted made it worse. He described years of investigations, a Consumer Commission ruling that was later overturned, and legal advice to stay silent that he now believes was wrong. Then came the comeback: an MBA in Los Angeles, a run-down warehouse in Epping, and one investor whose backing changed how the banks saw him. Alec put the question his book, It Takes a Tsunami, invites: is it a confession, or a defence? Levitt gave his answer, and told his 40-year-old self what he wished he had known.

The Private Prosecution Unit of AfriForum has taken up a number of cold cases in which the police have failed to trace or arrest or re-arrest known suspects. In this interview with Chris Steyn, the unit’s Barry Bateman, reveals details of some of those cases as well as the responses received from the Acting National Police Commissioner to questions from Advocate Gerrie Nel. In one of these cases, AfriForum points out that “for five years now, you've got a man who raped a woman, came back a week later and tried to murder her, and he's been on the run since then. This is somebody who I would say has the potential to continue doing that…” Responding to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s GBV 60-day case audit order, Bateman says with reference to the cases they have taken on: “We've put together the list. We've given it to the police, and their response on each one is, we've circulated and it's gone to the Tracing Team. It doesn't cut it. If that's the response that the SAPS or the authorities are gonna give to the President, well then we're not gonna change anything.”