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BusinessLIVE - For Your Ear

Listen to the latest BusinessLIVE articles from the news desk of Business Day, Financial Mail and the Business Times.

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Daily English South Africa Business News · News
12,931 Episodes
820 – 840

Can we create the SA we want to live in after Covid-19?

Since Cyril Ramaphosa ascended to the presidency of SA two years ago, the country has seen a wide range of economic and political developments, both positive and negative. In some cases reforms have partially borne fruit, but in other cases the country’s economic performance has deteriorated significantly and will continue…
18 Aug 2020 10AM 5 min

LETTER: President has restored confidence

President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation last week under a cloud of public frustration, largely due to his team’s handling of certain lockdown regulations. In fairness, most countries are struggling to find the correct recipe to deal with the virus, and we are doing better than many countries, including a…
18 Aug 2020 10AM 1 min

LETTER: Let the private sector loose

The restrictions imposed on economic activity by the government provided the final proof of the importance of the private sector and the pre-eminent part it plays in everyone’s welfare. Through the wages and salaries it pays, through the tax it remits on which the existence of every state entity depends…
18 Aug 2020 10AM 1 min

LETTER: Denel is unfixable and Business Day should know it

It was glaringly evident 25 years ago during the Cameron commission of inquiry into Armscor that Denel (as the offspring of the apartheid era and Armscor) could never be economically viable. Armscor was revealed during that investigation to be managerially incompetent and irredeemably corrupt. Instead of immediately disbanding both Armscor…
18 Aug 2020 9AM 2 min

LETTER: Is the government above the law?

I am repeatedly amazed by the almost total failure of the government to take decisive and wide-ranging steps to stamp out the continuing corruption, mismanagement, malfeasance and widespread criminality perpetrated within its ranks. Is it believed that law enforcement and policing is only for the masses and that the government…
18 Aug 2020 9AM 1 min

NEWSDAY: Ignore Trump’s attacks on voting by mail

By now it should be clear: this will be an unusual election. Not because of the candidates involved, but because of the circumstances under which it will be held. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the inadequacies of the US voting process, as it has with many aspects of modern life…
18 Aug 2020 9AM 2 min

Private schools ask for Covid-19 relief as parents struggle to pay fees

The organisation representing private schools in SA is appealing to the government for a special financial relief for independent schools, saying only 20% of parents are paying school fees. The strict national lockdown aimed at curbing the surge of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought put parents under pressure, with many…
18 Aug 2020 9AM 2 min

Use the fourth industrial revolution to disrupt the tenderpreneur industry

It was Archimedes, the original naked scientist, who said: “If I can find the leverage point, I can move the world.” His famous “law of the lever” implores us to seek those solutions that require minimum effort while yielding maximum benefit. The ease of rolling a heavy ball of steel…
18 Aug 2020 9AM 4 min

Sterling close to five-month high — but Brexit talks to restart

London — The pound approached a five-month high against the dollar on Tuesday, driven by weakness in the US currency, but analysts remained cautious about the outlook for sterling as a new round of Brexit talks began. The dollar index hit new lows on Tuesday, facing the triple woes of…
18 Aug 2020 8AM 2 min

Local groups and the UN help Zim farmers amid ongoing drought

Bulawayo — After long-running drought slashed their harvests, small-scale farmers in Lupane, western Zimbabwe, decided to switch away from irrigating their fields by flooding them, which wastes huge amounts of water. They tested out more precise drip-irrigation that saves water by delivering it to plants efficiently, while monitoring soil moisture…
18 Aug 2020 8AM 5 min

LETTER: Employment act needs a revamp for working remotely

Thank you to Gideon Du Plessis for pointing out some of the pros and cons of working remotely (Benefits can outweigh drawbacks in new workplace reality (, August 16). It is about time our nation looks at atypical employment. Before the pandemic our unemployment rate was statistically the worst in…
18 Aug 2020 7AM 1 min

LETTER: Farm school offers hope to Die Poort community

While everyone is preoccupied by staving off the dangers of Covid-19, frightened by a clutter of sad news about shuttered world economies, increased unemployment and thousands of fatalities as a result of the pandemic, it is encouraging to notice that amid the doom and gloom there is a reason to…
18 Aug 2020 6AM 2 min

Jet stream buckles as heat increases, causing more heatwaves

Boston — The heat rolled in, the lights went out, a fire tornado materialised in the sky and the hottest temperature anywhere in the world since 1931 was recorded in Death Valley. It was a California weekend for the history books, adding to 2020’s global tally of extremes — including…
18 Aug 2020 6AM 5 min

Oil prices retain gains from Monday

London — Oil prices steadied on Tuesday, hanging on to gains from the previous session thanks to high compliance with production cuts from members of the Opec+ producer group. Brent crude was virtually flat at $45.39 a barrel at 9.05am GMT, having gained 1.3% on Monday. US crude edged down…
18 Aug 2020 6AM 1 min

Artisanal fishers threaten marine life in Congo but they say they have no choice

Dakar — Each day, fishmongers in the Republic of Congo pile up hundreds of dead sharks on the shore and begin lopping off fins and bartering over hammerheads and other endangered species. The bustling seaside business could be jeopardising the marine environment in the Gulf of Guinea, wildlife trade group…
18 Aug 2020 6AM 2 min

China-Australia trade tensions rise as wine probe begins

Beijing — China started an anti-dumping investigation into Australian wine on Tuesday, the latest measure to target the nation’s exports as relations between the two states deteriorate. The probe would normally end within a year, but can be extended to February 18 2022, according to a ministry of commerce statement…
18 Aug 2020 5AM 4 min

Norway’s wealth fund loses $21bn amid CEO appointment drama

Oslo — Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s biggest, lost $21bn in the first half of the year as a rebound in stock markets wasn’t enough to erase its record decline earlier this year. The Oslo-based fund fell 3.4%, or 188-billion kroner ($21bn), over the period, it said on Tuesday…
18 Aug 2020 5AM 2 min

Equity markets down as US-China tension escalates

London/Hong Kong — European shares slipped on Tuesday as simmering political tensions between the US and China escalated, while concerns over a deadlock on further US fiscal stimulus drove the dollar towards a two-year low against its rivals. A weaker opening for the region’s blue-chip euro Stoxx 50 weighed on…
18 Aug 2020 5AM 3 min
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