🔒 Boardroom Talk: After bombshell interview, Andre de Ruyter labeled “right-wing naysayer” by ANC.

By Alec Hogg

For some people, Andre de Ruyter has become a modern-day Samson, risking his life by pushing at the pillars holding up SA’s deeply corrupted electricity supply monopoly, and in a courageous interview (see below) ‘outed’ the political party which has funneled more than R500bn from SA taxpayers to keep the criminal enterprise going. For others, as you’ll read in the FT’s reporting of the ANC’s response at the bottom of this mailer, he has succumbed to right-wing political idealogy so fully deserved to be called treasonous by the energy minister.

Those two camps have similar differences in opinion about activist crime fighter Ian Cameron, who came into SA’s spotlight last year after taking on the police minister in a public meeting (video above). Cameron has agreed to deliver a keynote at next week’s BizNews Conference in the Drakensberg. He’ll provide context on how SA got into the crime-infested mess – and how we can get out of it. 

We’ve also re-arranged the BNC#5 schedule to expand the podium time for our three investment stars—an appropriate acknowledgment after their naming as finalists in Morningstar’s 2023 Awards. Funds managed by Piet Viljoen and Cy Jacobs are among three finalists for Best SA Equity Fund; Sean Peche’s is one of three finalists for Best Global Equity Fund. Again, we’re not surprised—only the best for our tribe. 

BNC#5 house-full signs had been up for some time, but late cancellations due to work commitments, travel, and health have opened up space. So there’s now room at the inn for those who thought they’d left the booking too late. BNC#5 has the best speaker lineup yet – click here. It starts Tuesday evening, checkout Friday morning. 

If you’d like to know more or, even better, decide to join us, please drop my colleague Danita de Canha an email at [email protected]. Even if you can’t make it to the ‘Berg, keep a lookout on BizNewsTV for recordings of the presentations which will be posted over the next few weeks. 

• A reminder about this afternoon’s webinar with our business partners at Orbvest; they’ll be taking the wraps off a new investment opportunity (#42, in Atlanta, Georgia). I’ll be hosting the interactive webinar – click here to register.

More for you to read today:

• How world sees SA: Power monopoly Eskom removes CEO implicating politicians in corruption amidst worst ever rolling blackouts. Click here. 
• Why a Strong Economy Is Making US Stock Investors Jittery. After jumping more than 6% in January, the tone has shifted markedly as a steady flow of data showed the economy continued to run hot. Click here. 
• “Believe in the Future, Step by Step”. Jonathan Katzenellenbogen looks into the past to help us plan for the future. Click here.