Podcasts about finance minister tito mboweni

During his maiden Budget speech in 2019, former Finance Minister Tito Mboweni introduced an Indigenous Aloe Plant, which remains one of his most memorable addresses.This speech exemplified his unwavering belief in the resilience of South Africans.

Tributes are flooding in for former Finance Minister and Reserve Bank Governor, Tito Mboweni, who passed away on Saturday after a brief illness. Mboweni died at the age of 65. His family, politicians and citizens are still reeling in shock over his sudden loss. Leslie Maasdorp, a former Special Adviser to Tito Mboweni during his tenure as Labour Minister, spoke to Elvis Presslin to share insights into Mboweni's remarkable career and life

Sara-Jayne Makwala King is joined by political analyst Melanie Verwoerd to discuss the shock passing of former Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and the DA's much-publicized concerns around the BELA Act and how they could threaten the future of the GNU. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the Sunday Show, Neil de Beer of the United Independent Movement, explains why President Cyril Ramaphosa should face private prosecution over Phala Phala, and why Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen should step back from his Minister of Agriculture position to focus on the leadership of his party. De Beer describes how gatvol he is of the politicians who have battled it out for control of Gauteng Metros. He further dissects the freshly-launched Constitution of former President Jacob Zuma's MK Party, hails the departure of impeached judge Dr John Hlophe from the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) - and pays tribute to the former Finance Minister Tito Mboweni who died suddenly at the age of 65.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has made some changes to his Cabinet. This saw several ministers being moved around, following the resignation of Health Minister Doctor Zweli Mkhize and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni. The president told the nation as he announced the changes in his cabinet, that this happens at a time the country is facing several challenges which needed to be attended to, with urgency. President Ramaphosa says due to the many developments in the country in recent months and weeks, some action needed to be taken to further improve governance in South Africa. However, there were no ministers who faced the axe, as Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula will be deployed to a different area, where she will serve the nation. The following new appointments have been made - Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele, Communications Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, Defence Minister Thandi Modise, Finance Minister Enoch Gondogwana, Health Minister Joe Paahla, Human Settlements Minister Mamoloko Kubayi, Public Service and Administration Minister Ayanda Dlodlo, Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu. The president has thanked both former Ministers, Tito Mboweni, who leaves the Finance Department and Doctor Zweli Mkhize who resigned as Health Minister, just hours before the cabinet reshuffle. For his reaction to the cabinet reshuffle here is Rev. Kenneth Meshoe, leader of the African Christian Democratic Party, ACDP...

One of the most glaring surprises of last night's cabinet reshuffle announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa was his acceptance of the resignation of a long-standing request by Minister Tito Mboweni to be excused from his position as Minister of Finance. He was replaced by ANC finance guru, Enoch Gondongwana. To find out how he will be recieved by the business sector and the markets here is Dawie Roodt, chief economist  at  Efficient Group....

Guest: Maya Fisher-French It's being reported that Treasury is considering allowing people hard hit by the pandemic, to withdraw some of their pension savings before retirement. Last week, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said Treasury was in talks with National Economic Development and Labour Council about possibly allowing limited withdrawals from retirement funds under very specific conditions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Refilwe Moloto speaks to Mamokete Lijane, Macro Strategist at Absa Capital, about the R39billion relief package announced by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni yesterday. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest: Nazmeera  Moola | Head of SA InvestmTito Mboweni | SA's Finance Minister  ents at Ninety One  and Alex Gwala | Partner For Business Tax at Deloitte and  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni says the estimated total damage to property and infrastructure during the violent unrest in eThekwini alone is about R15 billion.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni says discussions are taking place on the possibility of workers accessing a portion of their retirement funds early to pay off debts as the coronavirus pandemic continues to affect livelihoods and the economy.

Refilwe Moloto speaks to the Democratic Alliance's Shadow Minister for Finance, Geordin Hill-Lewis about their call for Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to access their special contingency reserve to fund the urgent escalation of South Africa's vaccine rollout.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has been calling for the full legalisation of cannabis, saying it should be a legal, taxable product that generates money for the fiscus, creates jobs and brings illegal farmers into the economic mainstream. Refilwe Moloto speaks to Brett Hilton-Barber, publisher of Cannabiz Africa, who spoke to Mboweni recently.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The South African National Taxi Council has hinted that a possible increase in taxi fares may be on the cards as the price of fuel soared higher by one rand from THIS MORNING*. Motorists from inland provinces will now have to fork out over seventeen rands for a litre of 95 unleaded fuel while diesel has soared by a total of 65 cents. These latest price hikes are inclusive of the 27 cents that Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced for the Road Accident Fund, bringing the total fuel levy to between 35-40 percent of the fuel price per litre. SANTANCO's national spokesperson, Thabisho Molelekwa says financial losses incurred by the industry during the peak of the covid-19 pandemic may necessitate a significant price hike in taxi fares.

Ray Mahlaka, Daily Maverick journalist, joins Chris Hattingh to analyse Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's 2021 Budget.

With the recent 2021 fiscal spending plans of the National Budget being unveiled by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni... Gareth, Phumi, and Jamie (lawyer, award-winning debater and political analyst) have a candid conversation about the tax increases, debt to GDP, and our government's simple-minded approach to solving our current financial issues. Nando's · The Burning Platform

With the recent 2021 fiscal spending plans of the National Budget being unveiled by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni... Gareth, Phumi, and Jamie (lawyer, award-winning debater and political analyst) have a candid conversation about the tax increases, debt to GDP, and our government's simple-minded approach to solving our current financial issues. Nando's

For the South African economy to recover, immediate issues like the government wage bill, tax collection and managing debt have to be addressed. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni made the remarks in his Budget 2021 presentation. But a Nedbank CIB report says it may take the economy a few years to recover from what it calls a “pandemic-induced” recession. Business Day TV spoke to Nedbank CIB Research Analyst Reezwana Sumad.

Scopa chair, Mkhuleko Hlengwa of the IFP, speaks to Refilwe Moloto about his view on the budget as delivered by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has expressed optimism about the country's economic recovery. Mboweni tabled the 2021-2022 budget in Parliament, with revenue projected to be 1.35 trillion rand. He says non-interest spending will remain steady at approximately 1.56 trillion rand over the next three years, but will decline as a share of GDP to 26.2 percent in 2023/24.

We'll hear details later about government's spending plans for the country, for the 2021/ 2022 financial year. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni will deliver his budget speech at 2pm in Parliament.

Opposition parties have expressed doubt over the ability of government to address the country's economic crisis. This comes as Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is set to table his much-anticipated Budget Speech TODAY (24 February). Mboweni's 2020/21 budget will be the toughest ever presented to Parliament - as the country is still reeling from the prolonged COVID-19 lockdown which has caused an economic bloodbath - with many businesses shutting down or shedding jobs.

Economists say Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is unlikely to increase taxes in order to finance the country's vaccine rollout programme. Their comments come as Mboweni is expected to table the 2021 Budget THIS AFTERNOON. Experts say Mboweni should rather focus on keeping spending low in order to make fiscal room to fund an effective vaccination programme. Other experts say the minister should lean more on the private sector for support.

Guest: Zwelinzima Vavi General Secretary  at SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu)   The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) will embark on nationwide industrial action on Wednesday in response to a number of economic challenges facing the country, including growing poverty, unemployment and inequality. The labour federation is staging  | its strike on the day that Finance Minister Tito Mboweni delivers his Budget Speech in parliament.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Turning to South Africa now, where President Cyril Rama-posa's administration is pressing pause on income tax increases, despite concerns over the rising amount of debt held by the state. In a speech to parliament, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said the priority would be addressing the continent's worst outbreak of COVID-19. To that end, Mboweni says the government plans to spend more than 700-million dollars over the next three years to buy vaccines. He says higher spending will help Africa's most industrialised economy grow more than 3-percent this year, after last year's contraction of 7-percent. #SouthAfrica #Budget #TaxCollection

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has repeatedly warned that South Africa is in a perilous financial situation. Does the 2021 budget go far enough in reversing economic decline? Dr Azar Jammine is Director and Chief Economist of Econometrix, an independent economic research consultancy. He shares his considered opinion us whether he thinks Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and team have put together a budget that can push the South African economy back into healthy terrain. He says the government intends to chop government spending - but much depends on whether Mboweni can contain public servant wages. Eskom, state entities and the performance of Mboweni compared to his predecessors are also discussed. This podcast is made just for you by BrightRock, the first-ever needs matched life insurance that changes as your life changes.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has repeatedly warned that South Africa is in a perilous financial situation. Does the 2021 budget go far enough in reversing economic decline? Dr Azar Jammine is Director and Chief Economist of Econometrix, an independent economic research consultancy. He shares his considered opinion us whether he thinks Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and team have put together a budget that can push the South African economy back into healthy terrain. He says the government intends to chop government spending - but much depends on whether Mboweni can contain public servant wages. Eskom, state entities and the performance of Mboweni compared to his predecessors are also discussed. This podcast is made just for you by BrightRock, the first-ever needs matched life insurance that changes as your life changes.

Economist Dawie Roodt doesn’t expect Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to raise major taxes such as personal income tax and VAT when he tables his budget in Parliament tomorrow.

It is now legal to cultivate a small amount of dagga for personal use since the 2018 Constitutional Court ruling. This has led to a proliferation of ‘grow clubs’ and an enthusiastic group of people eager not only to cultivate for own use but to put pressure on the government for the commercial use of dagga. Supporters of commercialisation include Finance Minister Tito Mboweni who is eager to lay his hands on taxes from the industry. A new cannabis academy has been established in Johannesburg, called the Cheeba Cannabis Academy that wants to train skilled people who want work in the industry. The CEO and Founder of Cheeba, Trenton Birch, told Linda van Tilburg that he is confident that it will grow into a multi-billion rand industry despite the current regulatory hurdles.

It is now legal to cultivate a small amount of dagga for personal use since the 2018 Constitutional Court ruling. This has led to a proliferation of ‘grow clubs’ and an enthusiastic group of people eager not only to cultivate for own use but to put pressure on the government for the commercial use of dagga. Supporters of commercialisation include Finance Minister Tito Mboweni who is eager to lay his hands on taxes from the industry. A new cannabis academy has been established in Johannesburg, called the Cheeba Cannabis Academy that wants to train skilled people who want work in the industry. The CEO and Founder of Cheeba, Trenton Birch, told Linda van Tilburg that he is confident that it will grow into a multi-billion rand industry despite the current regulatory hurdles.

Sasfin's Nesan Nair talks Truworths results and the shrinking JSE as another stock delists. Wikus Furstenberg from Futuregrowth Asset Management says it's not all doom and gloom for Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's budget speech next week. OneLogix CEO, Ian Lourens, unpacks their results and how they have diversified the company into an agri business.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has a tough balancing act ahead of him. The Minister is set to present the country's spending plan next week, which comes amid weak economic growth and as the state needs to fund the Covid-19 vaccine programme. Business Day TV spoke to Maarten Ackerman, Chief Economist at Citadel for his expectations.​

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni will table the national budget next week and taxes are expected to be a focal point in the spending plan. Business Day TV spoke to Sharon Smulders, Project Director of Tax Advocacy at Saica for some tips for the minister ahead of his address.

Bruce Whitfield speaks to Stuart Theobald, Financial Analyst and Chairman at Intellidex about Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's call to turn African Bank to a state bank. Friday file is Rayhaan Jhetam, Founder at Maverick And Jane Gourmet Popcorn  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Podcasts from the Edge, Former National Treasury Budget Officer director Prof Michael Sachs tells Peter Bruce he doesn't expect Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to announce tax increases in the budget later this month. Not in the middle of a crisis and not with a resumption in private sector investment the last hope for growth still standing. And because our debt is rand denominated ours is not going to be a classic developing country fiscal crisis. We are not Argentina and we don't need dollars and the IMF can't really help. “It is going to be messy,” says Sachs, if we end up having to have crisis negotiations amongst ourselves.

In this episode of Podcasts from the Edge, Former National Treasury Budget Officer director Prof Michael Sachs tells Peter Bruce he doesn't expect Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to announce tax increases in the budget later this month. Not in the middle of a crisis and not with a resumption in private sector investment the last hope for growth still standing. And because our debt is rand denominated ours is not going to be a classic developing country fiscal crisis. We are not Argentina and we don't need dollars and the IMF can't really help. “It is going to be messy,” says Sachs, if we end up having to have crisis negotiations amongst ourselves.

* South Africa can’t implement a pay deal with public servants because it would precipitate a fiscal crisis, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said. * Mboweni said Zambia’s financial woes provided a cautionary tale and South Africa can ill afford to go down the same path as Zambia - which this month defaulted on its Eurobonds, the first African nation to do so since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. * The alcohol industry committed to train and deploy 80 community patrollers in eight police stations (10 patrollers per station) in the Covid-19 hotspots areas in the province, an industry body has announced. * South African retailers including The Foschini Group and Woolworths Holdings are increasing investment in local clothing manufacturers – both to reduce a dependency on Chinese imports and secure a supply chain thrown into disarray by Covid-19 restrictions, reports Bloomberg.

* South Africa can’t implement a pay deal with public servants because it would precipitate a fiscal crisis, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said. * Mboweni said Zambia’s financial woes provided a cautionary tale and South Africa can ill afford to go down the same path as Zambia - which this month defaulted on its Eurobonds, the first African nation to do so since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. * The alcohol industry committed to train and deploy 80 community patrollers in eight police stations (10 patrollers per station) in the Covid-19 hotspots areas in the province, an industry body has announced. * South African retailers including The Foschini Group and Woolworths Holdings are increasing investment in local clothing manufacturers – both to reduce a dependency on Chinese imports and secure a supply chain thrown into disarray by Covid-19 restrictions, reports Bloomberg.

South Africans could be in the race to be one of the first countries to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni this week announced that government has invested R500-million in the vaccine consortium that is looking to produce a vaccine against the virus.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has confirmed the government's plans to pay R500 million to take part in the development of a Covid-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, England is drastically reducing its quarantine period for people arriving from most destinations in a move that will potentially throw open the doors for British people wanting to take foreign vacations

Organised business has made an aggressive intervention into the highly sensitive debate on South Africa’s public sector wage bill, arguing that payroll costs are too high, rising too quickly and are not being supported by commensurate productivity gains. Business is, thus, calling for an urgent downward adjustment to government’s payroll in order to avoid a fiscal debt crisis, which it argues has the potential to trigger a full-blown financial crisis. The intervention has been made in the form of a research report commissioned by Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) and conducted by Intellidex. BUSA CEO Cas Coovadia said the research had been undertaken in an effort to stimulate a data-driven debate on the matter, which Finance Minister Tito Mboweni described in his recent Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement speech as an area in need of a “new consensus”. “Over the past five years, public sector employee compensation grew by 7.2% a year on average – well above inflation. Over the next five years, it will need to grow much, much slower,” Mboweni averred. Government is proposing growth in the public-service wage bill of 1.8% in the current year and average yearly growth of 0.8% for the coming three years. To achieve the target, government has, controversially, not implemented the third year of the 2018 wage agreement and was proposing a wage freeze for the next three years. Public sector unions are strongly opposing government’s attempts at not implementing the final year of the wage agreement and some have described the proposed wage freeze as a “declaration of war”. The BUSA-commissioned report calculates that compensation spending increased from R154-billion in 2006/7 to R518-billion in 2018/19. “This is a 78% inflation-adjusted increase, while increases in headcount went up by 22%. Payroll costs have increased by a compound average of 10.5% since 2006/7, compared to average growth of nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of 8.2%.” The report also asserts that the average remuneration of public servants in South Africa is high by international standards and when compared to private sector employees and per capita GDP. Its global comparison is based on an International Monetary Fund assessment of 46 countries, which shows that wages for ‘general government’ employees accounted for an average of 9.4% of GDP. “The figure for South Africa, for 2017, was 11.6%. This was in the top quarter of reported countries and is nearly 25% larger than the international average.” The BUSA-commissioned report argues that downward adjustments to the payroll can be made either by reducing wages, reducing headcount, or doing both. It suggests, too, that South Africa needs a ‘social compact’ relating to the trajectory of public payroll costs with the aim of lowering these costs by 10.5% by 2025/26. The report includes no offer from business to moderate executive remuneration during the period, a quid pro quo typically raised when wages are debated among the social partners. Coovadia stressed that trade-offs from all social partners would be necessary to support the economic recovery, but stressed that business would be ready and willing to invest and create jobs once long-standing policy uncertainties had been fully addressed. In the absence of “tough decisions”, including a decision to reduce the public sector wage bill to shore up fiscal sustainability, the prospects for an economic recovery would continue to be undermined. He was strongly supported by Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso who argued that South Africa’s economic sovereignty was at stake. “If we lose that [our sovereignty] it affects all social partners alike. If business doesn’t weigh in on this, unfortunately the investment drive that we are on is going to continue being illusive and definitely the economic growth that we want to attain as a country is going to continue being illusive, and that means that the jobs crisis that we are t...

Dawie Roodt, Chief Economist at the Efficient Group, joins the FMF to discuss the 2020 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement presented by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on 28 October.

Some of the opposition parties in Parliament have criticised Finance Minister Tito Mboweni for allocating 10.5 billion rand to SAA while public workers and representatives are expected to take pay cuts. The governing ANC welcomed the speech.

South Africa's Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has agreed to a 641-million- dollar bailout for the national carrier after it failed to find private investors. The lifeline for South African Airways, which has been under bankruptcy protection since December, is part of the ministry's broader 368-billion dollar budget to boost the ailing economy. Some have criticised plans to scale-down SAA, saying it provides good employment opportunities for pilots of colour. The aviation sector is dominated by white men and has been resistant to change. Ntshepeng Motema has the story. We were joined by Christopher Vandome in London. He's a research fellow with Chatham House's Africa Programme. #SAA #SouthAfricaEconomy #TitoMboweni

Finance minister Tito Mboweni presenting his medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) yesterday reminded South Africans that the country’s Aloe Ferox is drought resistant, but the aloe is also bitter and the bitter pill that the country needs to swallow was only partially delivered yesterday. This year 57% of the country’s taxes will go to fund public sector workers. Michael Avery speaks to Mathew Parks, parliamentary coordinator for Costau; Raymond Parsons, of the School of Business and Governance at North West University; Martin Kingston Chair of the steering committee of Business for SA; about Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's wager on wages. ​

* President Cyril Ramaphosa has begun a period of self-quarantine following the positive Covid-19 diagnosis of a guest at a charity dinner he attended. * South Africa is to spend at least R17bn more on its failed national carrier SAA. * Stocks tumbled in the US and Europe as rising coronavirus infections and tougher lockdowns added to worries about the economic hit from the pandemic. * South Africa’s main stock index plunged the most in seven months Wednesday after Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s budget update

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni unveiled a significantly looser fiscal consolidation roadmap in the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) he presented to lawmakers on Wednesday when compared with the framework provided in his June Supplementary Budget. Nevertheless, he reiterated his message that “deep and wide” expenditure cuts were still required if the country was to avoid a debt crisis. Although the National Treasury typically provides a three-year framework in the MTBPS, Mboweni used the occasion to outline a five-year fiscal consolidation horizon, which indicated that the government’s debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio was likely to peak at 95.3% and only in the 2025/26 fiscal year. The figure represented a material shift from the June statement, in which a commitment was made to stabilise debt at 87.4% of GDP in the 2023/24 fiscal year. Prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the National Treasury had forecast that government’s gross debt would peak at 65.6%. Under the revised outlook, the debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to surge to 81.8% during the current fiscal year – a year in which the economy is now expected to contract by 7.8%, rather than the 7.2% fall forecast in June. This slump in growth is expected to result in revenues falling R312-billion short, at R1.27-trillion, of the projections provided in February, while the borrowing requirement will rise by R342-billion to R774.7-billion. The MTBPS then shows the debt-to-GDP ratio rising to 85.6% in 2021/22, to 90.1% in 2022/23, 92.9% in 2023/24 and 94.6% in 2024/25, before peaking at 95.3% in 2025/26 and declining modestly thereafter. To assist with the consolidation, government has projected tax increases of R5-billion in 2021/22, R10-billion in 2022/23, R10-billion in 2023/24 and R15-billion in 2024/25. The introduction of new taxes or tax adjustments are typically reserved for the February Budget. This less steep consolidation pathway follows a briefing note produced by the Presidential Economic Advisory Council earlier in October, which stated that it was “patently not possible to stabilise the debt over the medium term” and that longer than three years was required in light of the economic fallout associated with the pandemic. “Even if it were possible, it may not be desirable to force a drastic contraction of spending while the economy is already being battered by the Covid-19 lockdown,” the briefing note read. Likewise, University of the Witwatersrand’s Professor Michael Sachs argued in a recent paper that the country’s fiscal crisis could not be resolved solely by fiscal consolidation, describing the path to consolidation proposed by government in the June Supplementary Budget as “so extreme that it is neither possible nor desirable”. “The attempt at large fiscal adjustment would impose unsustainable social pressures and choke off the recovery, imposing a second blow to livelihoods on top of the Covid-19 catastrophe,” Sachs, who worked as a senior official at the National Treasury for many years, wrote in the paper published by the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies. Mboweni said the fiscal consolidation framework outlined in the MTBPS was designed to be growth‐supporting, especially in the context of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan released by President Cyril Ramaphosa on October 15. To support the economic recovery, however, he argued that it was critical to ensure that the fiscal imbalances did not act as a drag on growth or continue to widen. “With mounting debt and interest payments that now consume 21 cents of every rand of main Budget revenue, the public finances face the risk of a debt spiral. Stabilising debt to avoid such a crisis will involve significant expenditure reductions across government.” Mboweni told lawmakers that the prevailing fiscal position was one of the central impediments to economic growth, and that a failure to reverse present trends would inevitably lead to a d...

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the country's recovery plan ahead of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's mid-term budget. Our panel of experts, Annabel Bishop, Investec Chief Economist; Chris Holdsworth, Investec Wealth & Investment Chief Investment Strategist; and David Gracey, Investec Head of Foreign Exchange and Fixed Income Trading, give an in-depth analysis of the recovery plan and expectations of the mid-term budget. The conversation is facilitated by journalist and anchor Cathy Mohlahlana. READ MORE · Investec Focus South Africa

Why can't anyone just print money? What's the difference between consumer and asset inflation? Are public sector employees useful to an economy? And just who is Finance Minister Tito Mboweni referring to when he says: "The hippopotamus must shut its mouth"? The battle to be King of Ideology continues to rage between religion and secularism, and Bheki Cele may be the only man capable of keeping South Africa's taxi industry on a leash. Nando's · The Burning Platform

On the latest business news, we discuss the 2020 National Budget presented by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni earlier in the week. Of particular interest is the lack of taxes increases, raised excise duties or “sin taxes” and possible reaction from international ratings agencies. The coronavirus comes into focus yet again as local markets reacted negatively during the week to the increased threat of the disease. Ken Swettenham, our financial expert, helps us to unpack the issues on The Business Wrap. The Buffalo Index looks at what R100 can do for those looking to improve their public speaking skills with a Toastmasters membership or private classes. The last Thursday of the month is when we take time to celebrate a young person in SA, 35 years and below doing great things in their industry, business or profession. This February we have Wits University alumni, Bongani Frank Masilela, who calls himself an entrepreneur, casual traveller and backpacker. He is also a founder of Tshimong, a social enterprise that specializes in debating, public speaking, consulting and leadership training. He talks to us about his journey in public speaking and debate, upbringing, origins of Tshimong, the circle he keeps around him, his desire to help young people and what he wants his legacy to be. wits.journalism.co.za