The Editor's Desk - Wed 11 Feb 2026: Unsung heroes, corporate truths, and rejecting intolerance

After a fascinating long weekend, I’m back with the real story behind Naspers' legendary Tencent deal and a personal reminder of the honesty that defines the "real" South Africa. I also weigh in on the disturbing intolerance surfacing in our schools—and why we must fiercely protect our culture of multiculturalism..Don't miss out on future episodes of The Editor's Desk. Subscribe to BizNews Premium and get the podcast delivered to your inbox daily..Listen here.Edited transcript of today's Editor's Desk episode.Hello and welcome. I’m Alec Hogg. By now, you’ve most likely scanned the headlines on BizNews.com or caught up with the interviews on the channel. But the real story often lives in the marginal context—the parts that don’t make the press release and the whispers we pick up when the record button stops. Whether it’s the shifting sands of geopolitics or the political currents shaping our economy, this is what we do here. We strip away the polish to tell you the backstory and why it actually matters. This is the Editor’s Desk, exclusive analysis for BizNews Premium members. I’ve been away for an extended long weekend, and it’s been quite fascinating. I had the privilege of meeting Hans Hawinkels. I’ve read about him; Hans is the person who actually did the deal in 2001 when Naspers bought 50% of a company called Tencent. It often confused me that Hans was the man in Hong Kong who negotiated the whole thing, as this has all come through in TJ Strydom’s recent book on the "Bekker Billions." When I met him through a mutual friend in St Francis over the weekend, I said to him, "You’re not telling me anything secret, but surely everything we’ve been told in the public domain—that Koos Bekker and Antonie Roux flew around the world and threw mud against the wall until some of it stuck—if that’s not the truth, then you were the one busy doing the deal." I asked him why they don’t give him credit and, secondly, where his billions are. It transpires that timing was quite bad for Hans. He was sent to Hong Kong on a five-year contract to do the work that eventually ended up in the greatest private equity deal ever: the acquisition of 50% of Tencent for $30 million. It is now worth roughly 3 trillion rand. At the time he finished the deal, Tencent wasn’t really flying yet. It was a convoluted process to get the Chinese to believe him and to get Pony Ma to bring him in. Because Tencent hadn't taken off yet and Naspers was under pressure, they never renewed his contract. It’s as simple as that. You would think the people at Naspers would acknowledge him, because the Naspers of today exists thanks to that transaction. Furthermore, many South African retirees have had their funding pools transformed because of what Mark Mobius of Sequoia Capital described as the best private equity deal of all time. I am completely confident that Hans is the man who did the deal, not Koos Bekker and the late Antonie Roux. To Koos’s credit, he did back the idea at a time when they needed to borrow money to do it. The banker who gave the thumbs up was my old boss, Donnie Erasmus. It took some courage for a banker to pony up $30 million for a South African media company that was on its back foot and going backwards at a rate of knots as the internet began to overtake print. I also learned that St Francis is an interesting investment opportunity. The area called the "St Francis Canals" features extraordinarily expensive, huge houses—some of the largest I’ve ever seen at the seaside—compressed into real estate that must rank amongst the most valuable in South Africa. But truth is important. It’s important for us to get to "second-level thinking" and get past the mirages. I hit that again on my way home to Hermanus. My Peugeot 3008, a car I’d loved since seeing it in the UK, has served me well, but we decided to stop halfway in Mossel Bay due to hectic weather. The next morning, the car wouldn't start. The electronics were flashing and the screen shouted "Gearbox Broken." I phoned the closest Peugeot agent in George. The easiest thing for him would have been to send a flatbed trailer to pick it up, but instead, he listened to the details and told me, "I think it’s your battery. I’m almost certain." He was an honest person who could have made a quick buck out of me. Eventually, a local man named Johann arrived, jump-started the car, and charged me a call-out rate of just 350 rand. He directed me to "Battery Planet," where they replaced the battery for 1,800 rand. Earlier, another person I’d called tried to quote me 3,600 rand because it was an "unusual car." It was a reminder that there are many good, honest people and unsung heroes in South Africa. We are essentially an honest country where most people just want to do the right thing. This relates to a story from Jonathan Katzenellenbogen regarding what happened at Roedean and King David schools while I was away. My friend David Shapiro—who is completely apolitical—sent me a deeply disturbed note. On Tuesday afternoon, the girls' first tennis team from King David School arrived at Roedean to play a match, only to be told it had been cancelled. The principal of Roedean had been pressured by certain parents who didn't want to play against a Jewish school. As David says, this is unacceptable. There are many more good people than the "bad agents" who pressurised that principal. What do those kids know about what is happening in Gaza? We have so much more in common than we have to fight about. As long as there is a public outcry against this kind of stupidity and ignorance, we know we are in a good place. Finally, we have a brilliant piece today from our partners at the Financial Times by Edward Luce. He discusses how London is being portrayed by extremists as a "Third World cesspit," which it isn't. They portray it that way because London stands for multiculturalism and tolerance—the very things we in South Africa are so good at. We should reject those who try to stir up people against one another. Thanks for trusting us with your time. I’m Alec Hogg, until tomorrow, cheerio.

The Editor's Desk - Wed 11 Feb 2026: Unsung heroes, corporate truths, and rejecting intolerance

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