7 BizNews top stories, from Knott-Craig on Covid-19 to ‘half-pregnant’ tobacco industry insider

As we celebrate seven years of producing content for the BizNews audience, we have looked back on some of the stories that have been getting our community talking. Covid-19 concerns dominate this year’s list, with business thinker Alan Knott-Craig leading the pack with an opinion piece on whether SA can dodge the worst of the Covid-19 curse. Podcasts by BizNews founder Alec Hogg underpin many of these ‘best-read’ pieces, with his exclusive chat to ‘half pregnant’ tobacco player Yusuf Kajee providing a rare glimpse into a dirty industry with links to Jacob Zuma’s family. The collapse of Edgars, a household name and integral part of growing up in SA, is also among the most-read stories this year. – Editor

1. Could SA by some miracle dodge worst of Covid-19 curse? – Alan Knott-Craig

“Ending the national lockdown will be the best thing that our government can do to save our economy.”

2. SA’s only Nobel Prize winning scientist calls lockdowns “a huge mistake”

The Nobel prizewinner described lockdown policies as “a huge mistake” and says if the world had paid closer attention to the way China dealt with the threat of Covid-19, governments elsewhere would have reacted very differently.

3. Meet “half pregnant” Yusuf Kajee – independent tobacco player with strong Zuma connection

The illicit market is worth R3bn or R5bn a year. “They steal that on a monthly basis. You asked me how they steal it on a monthly basis, they steal it in transfer pricing.”

4.  Our childhood TB vaccination may be unwitting protection for SA in Covid-19 war

In what is definitely the best Covid-19 news yet for South Africa, a universal vaccination against tuberculosis, called BCG, that’s been applied here since 1940 may have unwittingly provided protection against the killer virus.

5. Cyril, please let us smoke, drink; it’s better for SA health than abstinence – academics

Nicotine withdrawal causes bad temper, frustration, agitation, anxiety and mood swings. The damaging health effects of smoking are well established, but although early stages of lung-recovery are visible a full month after one stops smoking, there is no evidence suggesting that COVID-19 symptoms are alleviated by 21 days of abstinence.

6. Clem Sunter: What life will be like as we lift Covid-19 lockdown – four scenarios

The “Foxy Futurist“, so called because of his books that draw on the mind of a fox to illuminate lessons for strategy, applies his mind to what’s next after the Covid-19 pandemic that has derailed economies globally.

7. End of an era for 91-year-old Edgars as it owes local and foreign creditors billions

The 91-year-old retailer collapsed after a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus halted almost all business.

Down memory lane: A selection of 7 classics

UNDICTATED revisited: Alec Hogg’s ten best read columns of 2013

On 4th August 2013, BizNews was born. It has been muscling up every day since, helped by editor Alec Hogg’s Undictated column. Initially commissioned by Business Day newspaper, Undictated has evolved into a self-standing section exclusively for BizNews. Here, in descending order, are the 10 best read Undictated columns of 2013 with a short context on each. Clicking on the headlines will open the full article in a new window.