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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.

In today's episode, we cover the US-Iran diplomatic talks and escalating tech wars with China's new DUV lithography machines. Locally, Jabulani Khumalo warns of Jacob Zuma's alleged plot to seize MK Party finances. We also examine a warrantless SAPS and Home Affairs raid on a Western Cape estate. Finally, Alec Hogg unpacks the Reserve Bank's shock rate hold that battered the rand, while analysts debate mega-cap tech's market leadership.

In his latest interview with Chris Steyn, the real founder of MKP, Jabulani Khumalo, comes out in support of The African Renaissance Unity Party (ARU) founded to lobby for the interests of traditional chiefs and their communities. With Khumalo's battle to reclaim control of the party - “hijacked” by former President Jacob Zuma - still winding through the courts, he calls on MKP members to vote for ARU in the upcoming Local Government Elections. He fumes at Zuma’s latest shock move to take over personal control of MKP’s finances and warns: “people must know that Zuma doesn't like MK. Zuma is the ANC - and he will die as the ANC. So he's in the MK just to loot money”. Khumalo describes how the “craziness of Zuma” and the games he plays have created mayhem in MKP. As for the enduring relationship of the former president with the fugitive Guptas of State Capture, Khumalo charges that Zuma’s aim was to use them to move money out of the country for him. He also reveals what is behind Zuma’s shock move to kick his daughter, Duduzile, out of MK.

An anti-immigration raid on a private housing estate in the Western Cape is causing a furore. In this interview with Chris Steyn, Eva Crouwel, a property owner on High Riding Estate, describes how police in a fleet of about six vans - accompanied by Home Affairs officials - descended on the estate last week, gained entry without a warrant, “stopped their vehicles at multiple properties, were knocking on doors, were hooting their cars, effectively in an effort seemingly to gain access to the properties” until they were escorted off the estate by several residents and security. Crouwel, a trained lawyer, says: “I have done some investigation into the various applicable legislations and have not been able to ascertain that there is in fact a permission for access to private residential properties without producing a warrant…And if we allow the Police Force of South Africa to enter those premises without due cause or warrant, then that becomes a very slippery road that we are going to find ourselves on.” While the matter is now under further legal advisement, Crouwel has this advice for other estates: “Unless somebody has a warrant against you or something on your property in a very well described matter, on duly documented legal documents, you are not under any responsibility to let them onto your property.”

In the latest NdB Sunday Show, Chris Steyn spoke to Mark Regev, the former senior advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On the bilateral relationship between South Africa and Israel, he says: “... it's clear we're going through a difficult period. South Africa says it wants to promote peace and justice in the Middle East. But you can't do that by only speaking to one side. You can't do that by ignoring one side.” He contrasts that to a visit to Israel by the late President Nelson Mandela during which he stated that Israel had a right to live behind secure borders. Asked what Israel would do if US President Donald Trump exited the Iran war under pressure, Regev was adamant that Israel would protect itself.. “Now, if that can be done diplomatically through an agreement, of course we would support that. If unfortunately the regime isn't willing on its own devices…to stop its quest for a nuclear weapon, then Israel…reserves the right to act.” He deems Israel to be in a better place now than before the October 7 Hamas massacre: “we have bounced back and we have shown that we can defend ourselves, and those who will try to murder our people, those who will try to butcher our children, will pay a price.” As for the elimination of Hamas operatives involved in the attack, he stresses that “longstanding Israeli policy is that you will be brought to justice one way or another”. Regev explains why “no one in Israel is going to be talking about a Palestinian state for the foreseeable future”. And describes how Israel has also “decimated” Hezbollah, whose “ferocious military machine” was “much stronger” than that of Hamas and the Lebanese State. Regev is also a former Ambassador to the UK, the co-host of the "Israel Undiplomatic" podcast, and lecturer in International Relations at Reichman University.

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Lance Dickson kept having the same conversation. A failing council. A price hike nobody could explain. Everyone complained. Nothing changed. So he built Ryze instead, a self-funded civic action platform designed to convert that outrage into organised economic consequence. In his latest interview with Irakli, the founder unpacks the six-agent AI cluster running underneath it, from a news-scanning watchdog named Argus to a legal gatekeeper named Shield, built so nothing goes live without clearing a legal check first. The mechanism isn't new. Pamphlets and word of mouth forced PUTCO to reverse a bus fare hike in 1957. Dickson just wants to run it at national scale. The urgency comes from the street, not the boardroom. "I literally got told yesterday from a petrol attendant that he doesn't know who to vote for," he says. He traces the instinct back to the country itself. South Africa, he says, is "known as one of the countries that have put boycotting on the map."

In today's BizNews Daybreak, Helen Zille warns Johannesburg faces its final chance to reverse municipal collapse. Heindrich Wyngaard explains why military presence alone cannot dismantle the Cape Flats' deep-rooted gang economy. Lance Dickson introduces "Ryze," a platform channeling public rage into organized civic action. Finally, Sean Peche cautions investors against rampant speculation within the current AI boom. Plus, overnight global updates on US tariffs, Intel, and SpaceX.

Sean Peche has spent 2026 doing the opposite of the crowd. While the market piles into AI, memory chips and Elon Musk's every pivot, the Ranmore founder has been selling Tesla, walking away from SpaceX and quietly buying into Adobe and Tencent instead. In this conversation with Alec Hogg, the South African-born, UK-based fund manager breaks down why Alphabet's capex bill worries him, why Britain's new Prime Minister just handed him a trade, and why getting rich slowly beats chasing the next shiny thing.

Joburg is bankrupt, and Helen Zille says the city did it to itself. In her director's cut interview, the DA's mayoral candidate explains why half of Johannesburg's infrastructure budget went unspent last year, how "wasted" ward votes are quietly handing the ANC an advantage, and what she really thinks about the Steenhuisen-Tony Leon lobbying row threatening to embarrass her own party. Plus, why the market just punished Alphabet, Tesla and Patrice Motsepe's ARM for spending big, while rewarding the cash hoarders at Mr Price. Ranmore's Sean Peche explains why he wouldn't touch Tesla at these numbers.

In this interview with Chris Steyn, Heindrich Wyngaard, the executive chairperson of Cape Forum, details plans for a protest outside the National Assembly next month over the long wait for appropriate legislation to enable a provincial referendum . “And we are also planning to be present at that Home Affairs Portfolio Committee meeting on the 11th of August to ensure that enough pressure is put on the committee to speed up the process.” Meanwhile, Wyngaard hails plans by the City of Cape Town to establish its own detective force as a significant step towards the devolution of policing powers. “The evidence is clear to whoever is watching the Madlanga Commission's hearings, whoever has been following the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee sittings that……the state of policing is rotten. The crime stats…has not convinced us or anyone in the country that the police are winning the war against criminals.” As for the SANDF being deployed to Cape Flats, Wyngaard says they are no match for the gangs. "It's deep rooted and has become what I'd like to call an established underworld economy…So it brings us back to the plan of Geordin Hill-Lewis and the Democratic Alliance …to claim detective powers for the Metro Police in order to ensure that we get to where we should get to, which is successful prosecutions of those being caught by the police.”

Helen Zille has swapped the Iron Lady tag for "DJ Gogo", but the numbers she puts on the table are dead serious. In this conversation with Alec Hogg, she says Johannesburg only spent half of an eight billion rand infrastructure budget last year, warns that DA supporters staying home on election day could hand the city to the ANC, and lays out exactly how vote-buying has turned South African coalition politics into what one commentator called "auctions". She also responds directly to the lobbying row involving John Steenhuisen and Tony Leon, explains the real mechanics behind uMngeni's 42-vote nail-biter, and says plainly why she believes this election is Joburg's last chance to turn itself around.

In today's BizNews Daybreak, we cover overnight tech earnings with mixed results from Alphabet, Tesla, IBM, and Texas Instruments. Economist Dr. Iraj Abedian weighs in on the global fallout of the Middle East conflict, while SA engineer Peli Collins discusses his new space startup, Beyond Reach Labs. Meanwhile, OpenAI admits its AI model inadvertently hacked Hugging Face, raising serious cyber concerns, and Helen Zille addresses the Joburg mayoral race, giving her take on Herman Mashaba.

Seven months into the Iran war, economist Iraj Abedian tells Alec Hogg that Donald Trump has lost more than the battle for the Strait of Hormuz: he's lost America's standing as the world's dominant power. Abedian explains why the narrow waterway carries a third of global oil, why the mullahs are more afraid of each other than of Washington, and why South Africa's tilt toward Iran through BRICS looks like a costly misjudgement. He also has a warning for the Gulf states banking on American protection, and for the rest of us watching from the sidelines.

Pele Collins went from leading the SpaceX parachute engineering team that brought American astronauts safely home to co-founding a Y Combinator-backed deep tech startup, Beyond Reach Labs. In his latest interview with Irakli, the proudly South African engineer reveals how his team is tackling the ultimate pick-and-shovel play for the next era of the space race: deployable structures that unfold from the size of a dining table to a full-sized football field in orbit. Building in space historically meant assembling structures piece-by-piece over dozens of rocket launches. Collins wants to bypass those massive costs using dynamic, folding mechanisms. While the company initially entered Y Combinator focused on simulation software, raw customer feedback forced a fast pivot to pure hardware. “...customers said this, I mean this tool's amazing, we'd love to use it, but honestly, can you just go design and build the thing for us?” Collins recalls. Collins credits his resilient problem-solving mindset to his South African roots, highlighting a culture of mutual support that even landed him his first break at SpaceX under a fellow South African manager. “South Africans also always help each other out and... open doors for each other,” he says.

South Africa's BRICS bet on Iran is about to cost you at the pump. As the Strait of Hormuz standoff drags on, economist Iraj Abedian tells Alec Hogg why a third of the world's oil is stuck behind a 33km bottleneck, why Dubai is now more exposed than Israel, and why South Africa backed the wrong side. Plus: a boardroom bloodbath at the PIC, an ugly inflation surprise, a R21 billion Pepkor fintech deal, and a tribute to the late RW Johnson.

In today's Boardroom Talk, Alec Hogg confirms the death of RW Johnson, one of South African political writing's sharpest and most combustible voices, and reflects on a decade of working with him: the audiobook that started it, the necrotising fasciitis he refused to let slow him down, the Steenhuisen column that ended their working relationship, and the warmth he never stopped showing even after he stopped writing for BizNews.

In today's Daybreak, we unpack the growing impeachment momentum against President Ramaphosa and its potential threat to the government of national unity. We also dive into Sasol's operational rebound, highlighted by Secunda's best production run in five years. Globally, we explore Trump's proposed generic drug tariffs, a chipmaker-led market rally, the rise of China's Kimi K3 AI model, and how Middle East tensions are impacting local fuel prices.

Former hedge fund manager and CFA James Gubb argues the AI boom is real, but many investors are backing the wrong winners. In this interview with Alec Hogg, he explains why Oracle's credit downgrade could signal deeper cracks, why OpenAI and hyperscalers face mounting pressure, how China's AI advances are reshaping competition, and why energy - not AI models - could deliver the biggest long-term investment opportunity. Is this another dot-com bubble, or something even bigger?

Veteran investor James Gubb joins BizNews Edge to cut through the AI hype, weighing today's data centre spending against history's biggest capital booms and explaining why he's backing energy and nuclear stocks over AI names themselves. Also on today's show: Sasol's operational turnaround continues even as its share price cools after a strong run, Nedbank locks in its East Africa expansion via Kenya's NCBA Group, and Kumba Iron Ore's ugly trading update lays bare the toll of a strong rand and Transnet's rail failures. Plus, why Thursday's Reserve Bank rate decision just got more hawkish.

In this interview with Chris Steyn, Independent Governance Expert Richard Chelin predicts that an impeachment of President Cyril Ramaphosa would have grave consequences for the Government of National Unity (GNU) - particularly in the light of Vice President Paul Mashatile’s keenness to work with parties other than the Democratic Alliance. “I think we will see some great fractures coming to the fore. Because we have to remember that there are very difficult political factions, some within the ANC themselves are willing to work with other parties besides the DA. And I would say it's going to be quite a tough time.” Chelin hails the latest development in the Tembisa Hospital looting scandal with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s nephew by marriage permanently forfeiting R326-million of assets. Chelin rates the overall performance of the GNU; examines the differences in effectiveness between the Zondo and the Madlanga commissions of inquiry; laments the “lack of teeth” of parliamentary committees; applauds the strong role played by civil society in enforcing proper governance through the courts; and slams political parties for clogging up the overburdened justice system. “There's quite a sad irony here because civil society goes to court to hold those in power to account. But then…political actors…weaponise the courts with their delaying tactics…”

In this episode of BizNews Daybreak, we cover global strikes in the US-Iran conflict, Red Sea shipping risks, Paramount's blocked merger, and new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Locally, Parliament's Ian Cameron questions SAPS's R3.6bn senior leadership salary bill, Mayor Chris Pappas highlights uMngeni's governance model, Russell Lamberti proposes subnational AGOA trade reforms to protect businesses, and a new drive aims to register South Africa's informal waste pickers.

In April he told the country he was done, headed for the private sector. By July he'd changed his mind. Chris Pappas, the DA's rising star and mayor of the party's only municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, explains to Alec Hogg why nobody in his own caucus would take the job, what that says about the DA's succession problem, and why he thinks a 25 to 30% national showing is realistic for the party come November. Plus: Gayton McKenzie's R31 million World Cup bill, South32's big bet on copper, and the helium squeeze putting an obscure Free State gas field on the world's radar.

Chris Pappas was set to leave politics for the private sector. Instead, he's back, seeking a second term as uMngeni mayor after talks from colleagues, community leaders and supporters. In this candid interview with Alec Hogg, Pappas explains why he changed course, reflects on the DA's prospects ahead of the 2026 local elections, defends the party amid recent controversies, and outlines his long-term ambitions. He also argues that uMngeni's governance record offers a blueprint for the rest of KwaZulu-Natal.

In his latest interview with Chris Steyn, Ian Cameron, the Chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police, reveals that the South African Police Service (SAPS) has 722 brigadiers and generals that cost nearly R3.6 billion in pay and maintenance. In addition, only five of 823 senior SAPS officers underwent lifestyle audits in the 2024-25 financial year - and all five were cleared. Describing how certain officers jump ranks, Cameron says: “It seems that you either need to be well connected, not only politically, but strategically connected in parts of the police, or you need to be up to something that you shouldn't necessarily be busy with.” Meanwhile, Cameron denies reports that Special Leave Minister Senzo Mchunu and all the others were cleared in the Ad Hoc Committee draft report. “That's totally false.” As for breaking news of an explosive affidavit by suspended Inspector General of Intelligence Imtiaz Fazel, Cameron says it “draws a bit more of a dark cloud over” Minister Mchunu. “I think it puts a lot more pressure on the President… I think there are many many missing pieces of the puzzle that could be filled in if he (Fazel) is allowed to testify (at the Madlanga Commission).”

In this episode of BizNews Daybreak, political commentator Solly Moeng examines South Africa’s deepening criminal justice crisis. On the global stage, President Trump demands harsher Iran sanctions as Middle Eastern oil routes shift. Meanwhile, Chinese tech startups Moonshot AI and DeepSeek prepare for massive IPOs, investors confront AI energy bottlenecks, Netflix pivots to live content to win screen time, and Andy Burnham prepares for Downing Street.

In this edition of the NdB Sunday Show with Chris Steyn, Political Commentator Solly Moeng lays into President Cyril Ramaphosa - in particular over his desperate court battle to stave off an impeachment hearing. He also reviews a week of extraordinary dramatic scenes at the Madlanga Commission of Enquiry with more pressure building on Crime Intelligence boss General Feroz Khan and IDAC chief Andrea Johnson. “So these are the people who are heading institutions that were designed to stand between South Africa and Hell. But instead they are the ones who are being scrutinised for wrongdoing.” As for tenderpreneur Cat Matlala’s fierce legal representative Advocate Annelene van den Heever buying him more time, and businessman Suliman Carrim shopping at Woollies when he was supposed to be in a medical facility, Moeng charges “these guys - including the president - seem to be lawyering up against South Africa’s democracy…it's almost like we've been living in some kind of Political Ponzi Scheme. We need to bring down the Ponzi Scheme…”

In today's BizNews Daybreak we dive into Amazon's quiet maneuver past Starlink into South Africa's satellite internet market via Herotel. We also examine the Public Investment Corporation's escalating governance crisis over the Lanseria Airport transaction, alongside policing gaps fueling local pharmaceutical drug crimes. Internationally, we cover SpaceX’s scrubbed Starship launch, Netflix’s disappointing sales guidance, a White House teleprompter insider-trading scandal, and the sustainability of skyrocketing margins in the AI semiconductor trade.

In their latest interview with Chris Steyn, Willem Els of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and Richard Chelin, an independent governance expert, share details of the war on drugs and crime in South Africa. Describing the struggle of dedicated detectives, Els reveals “for the past three months at one of the units they use a private vehicle and they rotate…and they are filling it up…just to do the job. You know, that's dedication - and that's the thin blue line that we are talking about; and those are the guys that actually make a difference in South Africa and stand between us and anarchy if you look at what's going on in the police.” On top of their lack of resources across the board, they are battling huge management challenges: “...they're running out of commissioners or generals to appoint as acting because of the arrests and so on….it is very demoralising if the one that you're looking up, if the one that is supposed to give you guidance, is actually exposed as a possible criminal. And who is guiding them then? You know, so those guys have got a real challenge. Their role models are being arrested. What now?”

The PIC's governance crisis has reached the regulator. Hours after suspending CEO Patrick Dlamini and acting CIO August Uys, the board now faces a formal FSCA Section 135 investigation into governance, leadership and transparency at the R3.5 trillion asset manager. DA federal finance chairperson Dr Mark Burke tells Alec Hogg why this is the fifth executive suspension in two years, how a murky Lanseria Airport shareholding sits behind Dlamini's fall, and why two ANC factions inside the GNU are pulling in opposite directions on the PIC's unlisted investments. Also on today's Edge: Amazon's quiet regulatory win over Starlink, a rescue deal taking shape for ArcelorMittal's Newcastle Works, and a tidy payday for Prosus in Uber's swoop on Delivery Hero.

South Africa's Public Investment Corporation is facing its biggest governance crisis in years. With CEO Patrick Dlamini suspended, senior executives resigning, and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority launching a formal investigation, questions over transparency, accountability, and the safety of government workers' pension funds are mounting. DA finance spokesperson Dr Mark Burke unpacks the unfolding turmoil, the political battles behind the scenes, and why restoring trust at Africa's largest asset manager has become an urgent national priority.

In today's BizNews Daybreak, US-Iran tensions steady oil and Korean tech stocks slide. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh defends his personal trading, while South Africa's PIC faces a deepening executive exodus. We also unpack more on the DA’s Tony Leon lobbying scandal, the temporary closure of London's SA House, and a blunt warning from KPMG's Diane Swonk that persistent US inflation demands two interest rate hikes.

In his latest chat with Chris Steyn, political commentator Solly Moeng dissects the widening scandal around Tony Leon's lobbying amid former Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen’s mission of vengeance and the damaging fall-out for the party. “...what is very clear is that the DA is no longer just walking on still waters…Geordin Hill-Lewis can't be sleeping with both eyes closed right now...” Moeng also comments on the skeletons toppling out of closets thanks to the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, including the relationship between Crime Intelligence (CI) Chief General Feroz Khan and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) CIC Julius Malema. As for IDAC Chief Andrea Johnson’s sudden hospitalisation ahead of her appearance, Moeng says: “...we see the growth of this so-called Madlanga Ward at some hospital out there…We've been a country of no consequences for too long. They might try…by getting hospitalised, delay processes, lie, protect one another. South Africans must not sleep until there are consequences. We're not just looking for entertainment, we're looking for people to fall because they cannot do this to South Africa and get away with it.” Meanwhile, Moeng hails the arrest of former Ekurhuleni City Manager Imogen Mashazi, one among a spate of top officials and policemen facing the law after being implicated at the inquiry into police and political capture.

South Africa House in Trafalgar Square, a fixture of SA's diplomatic presence in London since 1933, has closed its doors, with the DA's Ryan Smith blaming decades of Dirco neglect and Dirco insisting it's a planned upgrade. Alec Hogg unpacks the row, plus three stories reshaping money and power: the PIC's suspension of chief executive Patrick Dlamini has drawn a formal FSCA probe, chipmaking giant ASML posted a decisive earnings beat, and IBM suffered its worst single-day share drop in history after admitting AI spending is gutting its legacy software business. Four institutions, one lesson: neglect gets found out.

South Africa House, the country's historic diplomatic landmark in London's Trafalgar Square, has closed for major renovations, sparking fierce political debate. The DA accuses DIRCO of years of neglect, poor maintenance and a lack of transparency, while government insists the closure is temporary and planned. Ryan Smith argues the controversy exposes wider failures across South Africa's foreign missions, from crumbling embassy buildings to questionable diplomatic appointments, raising serious concerns about accountability, taxpayer value and the country's global image.

In today's BizNews Daybreak: Trevor Manuel delivers a scathing account of how South Africa lost SAA and Eskom, while the IRR's John Endres warns that trying to wait out the Trump administration could cost the country billions in investment. We also unpacks the first monthly drop in US consumer prices since 2020 under Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, plus OpenAI's deepening legal battle with Apple.

South Africa's weight loss jab boom has a dark underside. A Pretoria pharmacy, iDexis, was producing roughly 84,500 units of semaglutide a month — more than Novo Nordisk's entire local sales of Ozempic and Wegovy — under the guise of a one-off "compounding" exemption meant for individual patients. Regulators only inspected the premises this year, more than two years after Novo Nordisk first complained, and found no sterile ventilation, no batch records, and no adverse-event tracking. Elsewhere, the Public Investment Corporation has suspended CEO Patrick Dlamini over an alleged Lanseria Airport conflict of interest, its fifth executive suspension in two years.

In this wide-ranging interview with Chris Steyn, Ian Cameron, the Chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Police, details the shocking DNA testing backlog. “...this is literally how a child rapist, a child murderer, any murderer or rapist for that matter walks free. This is literally the way that the State, the inability of the State to process this evidence, becomes the reason for a rapist to continue raping.” Cameron discusses the widening scandal surrounding Crime Intelligence (CI) boss General Feroz Khan, the case of suspended Lieutenant General Molefe Fani, and others. “What the Madlanga Commission is showing us is that Khan was actually one of the key pieces of the puzzle for Fani to ensure that this procurement process for PPE during the COVID-19 period was smoothly operated with the South African Police Service……a lot of key players in SAPS knew that Fani had been involved in this irregular PPE procurement during his time as a Chief Procurement officer at National Treasury. And he was still appointed in SAPS as the Head of Supply Chain Management. That tells you that it was strategically done. That would be a key way of ensuring that a 360 million Rand Medicare 24 contract can come in. It's a key way of structuring your entire process before the contract could come in, in order for it not to be red flagged… lot of the things that are happening, make no mistake, it was done deliberately - and it was done deliberately to hollow out and to control the system in order to ensure that further criminality would be able to flourish.”

In today's BizNews Daybreak we cover the escalating US-Iran conflict and its impact on soaring crude oil prices. In South Africa, Dr. John Endres critiques low fixed investment rates, SARU faces backlash over overpriced Springbok tickets, and over 53,000 undocumented foreign nationals are successfully repatriated. Finally, Apple hits OpenAI with a massive trade-secrets lawsuit.

John Endres, CEO of the Institute for Race Relations, tells BizNews that the elite consensus defending BEE is cracking, even as its beneficiaries defend it loudest. He points to the Starlink saga - blocked partly over empowerment shareholding while a pricier, slower rival wins state favour - as proof the policy is running out of road. Endres also unpacks why so many of South Africa's estimated one million skilled emigrants stay away, and delivers an unexpected verdict: he's more optimistic about South Africa's prospects than Britain's, arguing the UK has traded freedom for safety and lost its economic nerve in the process.

In this Director's Cut of BizNews editor Alec Hogg's conversation with IRR CEO John Endres, the full, unedited exchange goes well beyond BEE and the diaspora. Endres unpacks why R1.8 trillion in corporate reserves and R1.5 trillion parked offshore still isn't flowing home, why Washington's frustration with Pretoria is bipartisan and deepening, and why Treasury's decision to freeze equitable-share payments to Johannesburg and 68 other municipalities is a warning shot that could escalate. He also weighs in on the DA's internal turmoil following Steenhuisen's public break with new leader Geordin Hill-Lewis, and why he still won't drop his "conditional optimism" on South Africa.

As fresh American strikes on Iran trigger sirens in Bahrain, global traders are left asking whether the world's most vital oil chokepoint is still open for business. Congressman Greg Stanton warns of surging fuel prices and a war with no clear endgame, new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh heads to Capitol Hill to face the economic fallout, and the political landscape shifts following the death of foreign-policy hawk Lindsey Graham. Meanwhile, back home, we dive into two critical local investigations. Explosives expert Willem Els breaks down the chilling reality of what a teenager's online manifesto laid out for a packed shopping mall. Plus, Rory Steyn uncovers how new Springbok ticket deals may be quietly gutting the grassroots rugby clubs that built the game.

In this BizNews interview, Irakli Rekhviashvili sits down with the three people behind FirstRand's R2.5 billion Cape Water Performance-Based Bond, the first time a commercial bank anywhere in the world has tied a bond's payout to nature. The Nature Conservancy's Louise Stafford traces it to 2018, when Cape Town's dams were weeks from "Day Zero" and the catchments were choked with thirsty invasive trees. Her teams have since cleared 40,000 hectares and reclaimed more than 36 billion litres of water. "If we clear that we can reclaim about two months' water supply for Cape Town at a fraction of the cost of grey infrastructure," she says. RMB's Martin Potgieter explains the twist: investors earn a performance-based success payment on top of their coupon, paid only when the trees actually come down and independent verifiers confirm it. The aim, he says, is to "get the investors to start thinking about nature as an asset class," and tellingly, "75% of the outcomes-based funding came from entities that had never before funded nature." Peace Parks Foundation's Colin Porteous frames the deeper problem: "Historically, conservation has been a cash-negative product," and philanthropy alone cannot carry a $700 million, 10-year funding need. Potgieter's parting warning is blunt: ecosystems are "the infrastructure behind the infrastructure," and the money flowing into nature must multiply "by 40, 50, maybe 100 times."

In this edition of NdB Sunday Show with Chris Steyn, explosives expert Willem Els of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) reveals just how deadly a bomb-making recipe was used by the 15-year-old boy who wanted to commit mass killing at a Ballito mall. “what was really alarming for me when I look at especially the one ingredient that he stipulated…with any explosive substance that you mix, you have to have two ingredients. The one is your reducing agent and one is your oxidizing agent. So… one is the fuel and the other one… provides the oxygen inside the mixture. So that was there. And also we see that it was similar, not exactly the same, but similar to, for instance, the type of explosives that was mixed by ISIS in Europe, especially the attacks in Paris, the attack on the airport in Brussels. And so that killed a lot of people. Very similar. Also, then referred to as the Mother of Satan, those explosives.” The boy’s bomb-making recipe was contained in the last paragraph of a Manifesto written by him. As for why the bomb did not detonate, Els says: “I believe it was a flaw in his construction…it was just burning very fast instead of detonating.” Meanwhile, police are on high alert for copy cat attacks, and Els expresses faith that - despite questions remaining about the initial handling of the case - the investigation is now being properly done by expert investigators.

Springbok ticket prices have soared, suites have been taken over under “clean stadium” rules, and loyal supporters are being squeezed out. BizNews Rugby's boots-on-the-ground reporter, Rory Steyn, speaks to representatives from legendary Joburg rugby clubs and bitter rivals Pirates and Wanderers, as well as chartered accountant and former Sun International CEO, David Coutts-Trotter, about the financial damage being done to community clubs and the growing anger among fans. With families facing an ever-rising cost for a day at the rugby and clubs losing vital income, they warn that SARU’s pursuit of revenue could weaken the very grassroots structures and supporter base that sustain South African rugby.

A former Air Force brigadier is behind bars in the United States, Jasmine Opperman warns the real failure lies in how the State Security Agency handled her. Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube hits back at claims her department is a mess as the DA looks to 2029, while traders pile into Micron and a record SK Hynix listing even as everyone frets the AI trade is overdone. Plus, we look at Iran choking the Strait of Hormuz, Meta charging for its AI, and Ben Bernanke joining Anthropic.

Siviwe Gwarube says South Africa's education system needs long-term reform, not quick political wins. The Basic Education Minister discusses her first two years in office, tackling textbook procurement concerns, eliminating unsafe pit toilets identified in 2018, strengthening early childhood development, and navigating provincial delivery challenges. She argues the real measure of success lies in improving literacy and numeracy from the foundation phase, while defending the DA's record in government and outlining why investing in young learners will shape South Africa's future.

Siviwe Gwarube says South Africa's education system needs long-term reform, not quick political wins. The Basic Education Minister discusses her first two years in office, tackling textbook procurement concerns, eliminating unsafe pit toilets identified in 2018, strengthening early childhood development, and navigating provincial delivery challenges. She argues the real measure of success lies in improving literacy and numeracy from the foundation phase, while defending the DA's record in government and outlining why investing in young learners will shape South Africa's future.

A former brigadier general in the South African Air Force (SAAF) has been jailed in the United States after she pleaded guilty to one count of acting as an agent of South Africa and one of making a false statement in her security clearance application. In this interview with Chris Steyn, Jasmine Opperman, who spent over 20 years in South Africa’s intelligence services, and who is now a senior analyst at Fulcrum Analytics, takes viewers through the case of Portia Anyamba - who held the position of programme management operational specialist in the National Security Programme Office at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She came under surveillance by the FBI during regular communication with a State Security Agency (SSA) official stationed at the SA Embassy in Washington and was intercepted prior to another meeting with the official who had instructed her: “Please remember to also bring the laptop with.” Opperman says this case comes at a “very convenient time” for politicians in America. “Is this the ideal situation that the Trump government has been waiting for?”