Category: News
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De Ruyter vindicated: Australia leaves SA in the dark on electricity pricing
When André de Ruyter argued that Australia’s renewable energy revolution offered lessons for South Africa, critics fired back that electricity in Australia was roughly twice the price of Eskom’s. They were wrong — and the numbers have moved further against that argument since. MyBroadband’s analysis shows that a decade of above-inflation Eskom tariff hikes, 179%…
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BN Power Lunch: Joburg’s Budget crisis, the $3tn IPO wave, and what it means for SA markets
Listen here Johannesburg’s new budget lays bare a city in financial distress: less than 10 days of cash reserves, a R220 billion infrastructure backlog, and revenue targets that ignore the fact that nearly half its water never gets billed. Alec Hogg dissects the numbers that every ratepayer and bondholder should see. Then: Jubilee Metals tries…
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Cambridge historians see SpaceX and think East India Company — and the parallels are alarming
When SpaceX lists on the Nasdaq this week at a record $1.75 trillion valuation, investors will be pricing the world’s dominant rocket company, its vast Starlink satellite network, and Elon Musk’s bundled AI venture. But in this powerful piece from our partners at Project Syndicate, two Cambridge academics see something else entirely: the monopolistic East…
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BN Daybreak – Tue 9 June 2026: OpenAI and SpaceX IPOs; Israel-Iran truce; PPC profits; FIFA tourism struggles
Listen here In today’s Daybreak episode, OpenAI files for a fall IPO and SpaceX’s oversubscribed listing targets a $1.8 trillion valuation. Meanwhile, Israel and Iran ease strikes after Trump’s intervention. Locally, a new AGOA proposal allows South African firms to opt out of BEE to avoid US tariffs, PPC’s 84% profit surge triggers stock volatility,…
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The loudest room in South African finance: JSE floor traders reunite 30 years after the screen took over
Listen here In June 1996, the JSE’s open-outcry trading floor fell silent forever. Thirty years on, Irakli speaks to Bernie Montgomery — clerk-turned-broker — who recalls the chaos, camaraderie, and colourful lunches that defined an era before the screen took over.
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BizNews Power Lunch: Markets don’t reward good results — they reward surprises
Listen here Omnia and Sygnia deliver standout half-year numbers and shareholders cheer. PPC posts 84% profit growth and the stock drops 3.5%. Alec Hogg unpacks three SENS announcements that tell you everything about how markets actually work — and why beating expectations matters more than beating last year.
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Kenneth Rogoff on BizNews: AI gold rush has winners and losers — Africa not in the running
Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard economist and former IMF chief economist, has seen enough financial booms and busts to know who gets left behind. Writing from San Francisco — where AI billboards jostle for space and engineers contemplate retirement at 35 — he turns his gaze outward. The AI revolution, he argues, is not just widening inequality…
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Hartford: The struggle generation that built non-racial SA — and the movement that betrayed it
A quiet commemoration at Wits University last month marked the life of Fink Haysom — lawyer, activist, constitution-builder, and one of the great non-racial voices of the 1980s democratic struggle. Opened by President Ramaphosa, the event was as much a eulogy for a lost political era as it was for the man himself. The values…
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Bregret now UK’s majority view — so why won’t anyone call another Brexit referendum?
Ten years ago, 52% of Britons voted to leave the European Union, changing the course of history. Today, that same share wants back in. A new Ipsos poll of British adults finds that public opinion on Brexit has effectively inverted — with only 33% now saying the UK should stay out. Nearly half of Britons…
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Is the AI arms race about to outrun human judgment? The Economist thinks so
When Anthropic — whose Claude chatbot has become indispensable to coders worldwide — files for what could be one of history’s biggest IPOs later this year, it will do so after calling for a global slowdown in AI development. Cynical? Perhaps. But its co-founder, Jack Clark, puts the odds at 60% that by 2028, an…
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Riots, evacuations and trade threats: How South Africa’s migrant crisis went regional
South Africa is at a familiar and dangerous crossroads. Anti-immigrant sentiment — at its highest since 2008, when 60 people died and 50,000 were displaced in xenophobic attacks — has exploded into street protests, with activists demanding all undocumented foreigners leave by June 30. President Ramaphosa responded with a televised address promising deportations, border controls…
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Storms, no cover, no comeback: Why SA agriculture is sitting on a ticking time bomb
South Africa’s farmers are on the frontline of a worsening climate crisis — and most are dangerously exposed. A string of devastating storms has exposed a gaping hole in agricultural risk coverage, with many farmers, particularly smaller and emerging ones, carrying little or no insurance. The losses are mounting, the recovery times lengthening, and food…
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BN Daybreak – Mon 8 June 2026: Oil rises; R2bn hospital scandal; AGOA off-ramp proposal; Apple AI
Listen here This morning’s Daybreak covers global market movements as oil ticks up amid Middle East tensions and tech shares slump globally. Meanwhile, Apple prepares to unveil its overhauled Siri and new AI features at WWDC. Locally, Lauren Evanthia addresses a massive R2 billion South African hospital scandal, Tara Roos breaks down Johannesburg’s R200 billion…
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Cash is king (but is it?)
By Mags Heystek* Many investors tend to use a universal benchmark when gauging investment performance, and most default to Money Market rates, and to a lesser extent, cash rates that their banks provide in current accounts. There are many different money market fund options available, and the performance is roughly equal, because the underlying investment…
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Hersov: There are two South Africas — it’s time Washington started treating them differently
Key topics: Risk of AGOA loss for SA under ANC policy direction Sakeliga proposes subnational certification for US market access Critique of ANC policies; call for pro-trade, property rights reform By Rob Hersov “AGOA or not to AGOA. That is the question” South Africa is facing a moment of truth. Not another ANC press conference.…
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Ian Bremmer on BizNews: Forces moving markets right now — and what to do about them
Key topics: AI boom amid weak global regulation and geopolitical fragmentation Rising protectionism reversing decades of globalisation Growing geopolitical tail risks: wars, nuclear, pandemics By Ian Bremmer* It’s a fascinating moment for international politics and global markets. The world is in turmoil, primarily because the United States, still the dominant superpower, has become a fundamentally…
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OpenAI plots biggest ChatGPT overhaul since launch
Key topics: ChatGPT to become a superapp with AI agents and coding tools OpenAI shifts focus to higher-margin business products ahead IPO Competition with Anthropic intensifies in enterprise AI market By Cristina Criddle in San Francisco $850bn start-up to recast hit chatbot as a route to higher-margin products before a potential IPO OpenAI is preparing…
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Gen-Z socialism rises on cost-of-living anger and AI anxiety
Key topics: Gen-Z socialism focuses on affordability, rents, and lower living costs New left politics targets AI fears, inequality, and billionaire taxation Global resurgence of left-wing parties with populist economic policies From The Economist, published under licence. The original article can be found on www.economist.com © 2025 The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. The Economist Different times inspire…
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The Section 89 report decoded: the charges against Ramaphosa that could end his presidency
This article was first published by The Common Sense Key topics: Section 89 report alleges constitutional violations by Ramaphosa Phala Phala cash theft raises corruption and legal concerns Impeachment process and court rulings may impact presidency From The Common Sense The president of South Africa was robbed. He did not call the police. He called his…
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Boardroom Talk: When the hungry fight the hungry – SA’s xenophobia problem
Key topics: Xenophobic violence rooted in unemployment and economic failure Illegal migration driven by desperation, not criminal intent Job creation key to easing tensions and restoring stability By Alec Hogg* A few years ago, I bumped into an old friend at OR Tambo, both of us killing time before early-morning flights. He’d just returned from…