Daily Maverick

South Africa is going into an El Niño drought season with the largest maize harvest in its history: 17.6 million tonnes, against annual needs of about 12 million. In this Business Chat, business editor Lindsey speaks to Wandile Sihlobo, agriculture and land envoy and chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber, about what that means for farmers and consumers. He explains why foot-and-mouth disease has kept beef farmers out of export markets, how fertiliser and fuel costs have risen, why vegetables and meat may stay affordable while starches rise slightly, and why neighbouring countries are more exposed.
Hosted by: Lindsey Schutters
Guest: Wandile Sihlobo
Edited by: Joel Seboa
Produced by: Emilie Gambade & Joel Seboa
Original Theme Music & Design by: Bernard Kotze

This episode of Power Chat is brought to you by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, an organisation dedicated to strengthening democracy and human rights across the world, and creating new momentum for liberalism.
Articles mentioned in the discussion:
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2026-08-31-a-tough-2026-doesn-t-change-the-sa-citrus-industry-s-sound-trajectory/
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2026-11-02-el-nino-threatens-sas-crops-but-ample-maize-stocks-cushion-the-blow/
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2026-10-11-uncertainty-is-high-as-the-2026-27-summer-crop-season-starts/
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-01-gmos-and-precision-farming-bring-food-prices-down/
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2026-08-05-the-gmo-myth-cheaper-food-deeper-hunger-greater-corporate-power/





You can listen to the podcast everywhere, including YouTube, Apple Podcast and Spotify!
Support journalism that protects democracy.
Become a Maverick Insider. https://tinyurl.com/SupportDailyMaverick

Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyMaverickSA/videos
Follow us on X : https://x.com/dailymaverick
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailymaverick
Check our website: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/
Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/dailymaverick/
Check out our TikTok page: https://www.tiktok.com/@dailymavericksa
Download Daily Maverick Mobile App: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/daily-maverick-app/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Five mature baobabs were dug up in Limpopo without permits, trucked 800km to Durban and left on their sides in a logistics car park for three months. Their destination: allegedly, Georgia, on the Black Sea. Environmental journalist Tony Carnie got an anonymous tip-off, photographed the trees through a fence and followed the trail to a private botanical park owned by former Georgian prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, who had already taken eight baobabs from Kenya.
On Beyond the Lead, Tamsin Metelerkamp and Lerato Mutsila ask Tony how the trees slipped past the authorities, who is responsible now that criminal charges have been laid, and why plant smuggling is a $21bn-a-year crime that rarely makes the news.

Read Tony’s reporting on Daily Maverick:

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-10-29-the-tree-loving-georgian-billionaire-the-pretoria-landscaper-and-the-sa-baobab-export-row/
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-10-25-baobab-trees-seized-in-durban-ship-warehouse-probe/
Subscribe to the Maverick Earth newsletter: [link]
Hosted by: Lerato Mutsila and Tamsin Metelerkamp
Guest: Tony Carnie
Edited by: Joel Seboa
Produced by: Emilie Gambade & Joel Seboa
Original Theme Music & Design by: Bernard Kotze
This episode of Beyond the Lead is brought to you by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, an organisation dedicated to strengthening democracy and human rights across the world, and creating new momentum for liberalism.
Chapters:
00:00 Baobab Smuggling Teaser
00:28 Meet the Baobab Giants
00:55 Tip Off in Durban
01:39 Protected Tree Laws
02:33 Limpopo Cultural Meaning
03:50 Heartbreak and Delays
04:42 Tony Joins the Story
05:16 Following the Anonymous Lead
09:07 Permits and Enforcement Gaps
11:55 Georgia Billionaire Link
16:00 Global Plant Trafficking
21:01 Saving Confiscated Specimens



You can listen to the podcast everywhere, including YouTube, Apple Podcast and Spotify!
Support journalism that protects democracy.
Become a Maverick Insider. https://tinyurl.com/SupportDailyMaverick

Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyMaverickSA/videos
Follow us on X : https://x.com/dailymaverick
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailymaverick
Check our website: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/
Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/dailymaverick/
Check out our TikTok page: https://www.tiktok.com/@dailymavericksa
Download Daily Maverick Mobile App: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/daily-maverick-app/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this Daily Maverick Power Chat, recorded as votes from the 4 November local government elections were being counted, Ferial Haffajee and Mondli Makhanya discuss early projections and the US midterm results. Makhanya reports from the national results centre, where projections indicate the DA is positioned to govern the three Gauteng metros in coalition and ActionSA has gained ground. They examine provisional turnout of about 54%, the narrowing national gap between the ANC and the DA, the ANC’s projected losses in its Eastern Cape strongholds, and who may govern Johannesburg.

Hosts: Ferial Haffajee and Mondli Makhanya
Edited by: Joel Seboa
Produced by: Emilie Gambade & Joel Seboa
Original Theme Music & Design by: Bernard Kotze

This episode of Power Chat is brought to you by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, an organisation dedicated to strengthening democracy and human rights across the world, and creating new momentum for liberalism.



You can listen to the podcast everywhere, including YouTube, Apple Podcast and Spotify!
Support journalism that protects democracy.
Become a Maverick Insider. https://tinyurl.com/SupportDailyMaverick

Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyMaverickSA/videos
Follow us on X : https://x.com/dailymaverick
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailymaverick
Check our website: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/
Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/dailymaverick/
Check out our TikTok page: https://www.tiktok.com/@dailymavericksa
Download Daily Maverick Mobile App: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/daily-maverick-app/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this Daily Maverick Power Chat, Peter Fabricius speaks to Judge Navi Pillay from her hometown of Durban. On 9 October 2026, Pillay was announced as the winner of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. She is a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and is now an ad hoc judge at the International Court of Justice. Join the conversation in the comments below!

Hosted by: Peter Fabricius
Guest: Nobel laureate Judge Navi Pillay
Edited by: Joel Seboa
Produced by: Emilie Gambade & Joel Seboa
Original Theme Music & Design by: Bernard Kotze

This episode of Power Chat is brought to you by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, an organisation dedicated to strengthening democracy and human rights across the world, and creating new momentum for liberalism.

You can listen to the podcast everywhere, including YouTube, Apple Podcast and Spotify!
Support journalism that protects democracy.
Become a Maverick Insider. https://tinyurl.com/SupportDailyMaverick

Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyMaverickSA/videos
Follow us on X : https://x.com/dailymaverick
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailymaverick
Check our website: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/
Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/dailymaverick/
Check out our TikTok page: https://www.tiktok.com/@dailymavericksa
Download Daily Maverick Mobile App: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/daily-maverick-app/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this Daily Maverick Power Chat, part of a series marking 30 years of the Constitution, Ferial Haffajee speaks to Kallie Kriel of AfriForum about the preamble’s vision that South Africa belongs to all who live in it. They discuss the organisation’s lobbying in the United States, the Expropriation Act, the “Kill the Boer” court case, the risk of South Africa's exclusion from Agoa, and whether Afrikaans institutions such as Sol-Tech are open to all.

Hosted by: Ferial Haffajee
Guest: Kallie Kriel
Edited by: Joel Seboa
Produced by: Emilie Gambade & Joel Seboa
Original Theme Music & Design by: Bernard Kotze
This episode of Power Chat is brought to you by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, an organisation dedicated to strengthening democracy and human rights across the world, and creating new momentum for liberalism.



You can listen to the podcast everywhere, including YouTube, Apple Podcast and Spotify!
Support journalism that protects democracy.
Become a Maverick Insider. https://tinyurl.com/SupportDailyMaverick

Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyMaverickSA/videos
Follow us on X : https://x.com/dailymaverick
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailymaverick
Check our website: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/
Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/dailymaverick/
Check out our TikTok page: https://www.tiktok.com/@dailymavericksa
Download Daily Maverick Mobile App: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/daily-maverick-app/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.