Speaker 1: And now The Money Show with Stephen credits on seven
Speaker 1: oh two next walk Little. The Money Show with Stephen
Speaker 1: Croutis is brought to you by ABS, a Corporate and
Speaker 1: Investment bank, proud sponsor of the African Blockchain Report twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four. Good evening, Welcome to the program. I'm Stephen Cretis.
Speaker 1: Well as we go to air tonight. Confirmation in that
Speaker 1: EWN bulletin that Marcosinium CB, the CEO of the Road
Speaker 1: Traffic Management Corporation, placed on a sort of precautionary suspension
Speaker 1: of some kind for a month, perhaps two months, perhaps longer.
Speaker 1: I think we've all seen this movie before. Fun fact
Speaker 1: about Macasinium CB. You may know this kind of notorious
Speaker 1: in a way, not necessarily for something he's done, but
Speaker 1: he is desired to stand at the person in government
Speaker 1: who receives the highest salary over ten million Rand a year.
Speaker 1: And I must say this question has been asked many,
Speaker 1: many times why it would be that the person who
Speaker 1: actually runs the road traffic management corporation gets paid more
Speaker 1: than a minister or the president or this CEO of
Speaker 1: you know escom. And it is one of those questions
Speaker 1: that never has never really been satisfactorily answered, I do
Speaker 1: know there's a sort of analysis by government underway to
Speaker 1: deal with this. I can imagine the fighting, the kicking
Speaker 1: and the screaming if you try in lower salaries. It's
Speaker 1: not just him, by the way, the CEO of the
Speaker 1: Civil Aviation Authority also gets a very large salary. Not
Speaker 1: quite in the same scale. You could argue, I suppose
Speaker 1: that civil aviation safety maybe merits it road traffic management
Speaker 1: that I've just never ever understood, But certainly big questions
Speaker 1: about that this evening, and I wonder if this is
Speaker 1: the start of maybe one can hope a slightly bigger
Speaker 1: question around how all of this is going to play out.
Speaker 1: I did watch and was sort of paying some attention
Speaker 1: to the meeting, the first meeting that the President had
Speaker 1: today with the Imminent Persons group who are supposed to
Speaker 1: sort of manage the national dialogue, and their role hasn't
Speaker 1: been entirely spelt out. It will all become a little
Speaker 1: clearer as we go, and just watching him introduce the
Speaker 1: people be introduced to the people, watching them introducing themselves,
Speaker 1: and it's clear that you know, South Africa likes a
Speaker 1: dialogue that I agree, we all like to say something.
Speaker 1: I don't know if we all and I include myself
Speaker 1: in this, I really like to listen. But I was
Speaker 1: just thinking that, actually, I wonder if this thing may
Speaker 1: suffer from a lack of focus. If it were me
Speaker 1: and I were behaving undemocratically, I would say, actually, there's
Speaker 1: one thing we need to do. We need to get
Speaker 1: a group of I didn't get any sense from this
Speaker 1: of dealing with what I think is the biggest problem
Speaker 1: that we have. And we have lots of different problems.
Speaker 1: We don't always get on with each other. There's inequality,
Speaker 1: which is a big part of it. There's our past.
Speaker 1: All of that is there, and it's all important. But
Speaker 1: if it were me, I would forget a smaller group
Speaker 1: of people, and I'll focus on just one thing, and
Speaker 1: you fix that one thing, and everything maybe gets a
Speaker 1: lot better. In fact, I know it would, and that
Speaker 1: one thing would be with unemployment. If you give young
Speaker 1: people a sense of hope, everything changes, I mean everything changes.
Speaker 1: Their families change, the communities change. If you give people
Speaker 1: a reason to believe their children have better lives than them,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm as guilty of it as the next parent.
Speaker 1: You'll do almost anything for your children. And when that
Speaker 1: is the case, what that means is you are prepared
Speaker 1: to obey the rules, stop at red robots, everything, you
Speaker 1: don't engage in violence. If you're protecting your children, you
Speaker 1: want to protect their futures, and you do it basically
Speaker 1: by being a better South African. I suppose. So if
Speaker 1: it were me, I would get a smaller group of
Speaker 1: people in the room and I'd focus just on that
Speaker 1: one single thing. I realized, this sound like someone you
Speaker 1: might know, But I'll do that one thing and I
Speaker 1: would just focus very heavily and with a very very crisp,
Speaker 1: clear focus on just that one thing, fixing youth unemployment.
Speaker 1: Oh double one double a three seven two two one
Speaker 1: four four six oh five sixty seven. And of course
Speaker 1: Voice notes this evening on seven two seven oh two
Speaker 1: one seven oh two on The Money Show six to
Speaker 1: eight pm. Well confirmation today from the Citrus Grows associations.
Speaker 1: So far, they're not seeing a big drop off in
Speaker 1: demand for our fruit from the US despite all of
Speaker 1: the threats, the comments, the conversations and the letters around tariffs. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: some people in our citrus industry are looking for new markets,
Speaker 1: particularly in Europe and they've started a new campaign around
Speaker 1: the grapefruit. Niki Stewart is the Summer Star Ruby campaign manager.
Speaker 1: Summer Star Ruby is Nikki helped me out here A
Speaker 1: type of grapefruit. A type of grapefruit. I'm guessing it's
Speaker 1: a great name.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's right, Sliva, and hi, thanks for having me so.
Speaker 2: Yes we are. South Africa is one of the biggest
Speaker 2: producers in the world of star rubies. And while star
Speaker 2: rubies are produced in various countries all over the world,
Speaker 2: ours are definitely the best and we've got fantastic data
Speaker 2: to back that up. And part of our differing ciator
Speaker 2: in the Northern Hemisphere market is to refer to them
Speaker 2: as Summer Star Rubies and position them as a very
Speaker 2: uniquely South African product.
Speaker 1: What makes them better? Is it the size? Is it
Speaker 1: the taste? And let me just speak clinicy grapefruit, I'm
Speaker 1: afraid is not my favorite. It's not my favorite fruit.
Speaker 1: It's not even my favorite citrus fruit. But is there
Speaker 1: something particularly I mean, it's about tart sometimes, isn't a
Speaker 1: bit you know, that sort of feeling you get in
Speaker 1: your mouth.
Speaker 2: Well, this is part of the perception that we're actually
Speaker 2: trying to address because there is this old notion that
Speaker 2: grapefruits are these very bitter, very tart fruits. But the
Speaker 2: star rubies are actually quite sweet and tangy, and they've
Speaker 2: got a really nice, nice flavor. So I'll happily send
Speaker 2: you some over Stephen. You can give them a try
Speaker 2: and see if if I can convince you convince you otherwise.
Speaker 2: But the size really does depend on the year and
Speaker 2: the rain for any given the climate in any particular season.
Speaker 2: But we do have this band where we've got all
Speaker 2: these perfect conditions come together, the climate, the soil, everything
Speaker 2: just works out and we produce these fantastic, very they
Speaker 2: sweet and tanging grapefruits. So we are trying to convince
Speaker 2: the world, we're starting in Europe to actually try them
Speaker 2: and to taste them, and to we need people to
Speaker 2: give grapefruits a second chance.
Speaker 1: Are you selling the fruit as an eater? Fruit? Have
Speaker 1: one for breakfast? I know some people who start their
Speaker 1: day every morning with a grapefruit, or are you trying
Speaker 1: to sell other products in the fruit And I'm thinking
Speaker 1: particularly of the juice.
Speaker 2: So at the moment, were actually focusing on the fruit itself.
Speaker 2: So we are trying to get people to expand and
Speaker 2: to start having it in salads, in smoothies, in cocktails.
Speaker 2: So it really is your twenty four hours fruit. So
Speaker 2: it's not just a breakfast fruit. You can have it
Speaker 2: in any time of day. But for now, our strategy
Speaker 2: is largely focused.
Speaker 3: On the whole the whole fruit.
Speaker 2: But we are looking at long term, so there is
Speaker 2: a possibility that down the line we will start focusing
Speaker 2: on the juice and the sort of more processed part
Speaker 2: of the grapefruit.
Speaker 1: We have a long history of selling citrus products to Europe,
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking, of course, of what always happens almost
Speaker 1: every year with our sort of oranges is the argument
Speaker 1: that the Spaniards bring around a disease that's called black spot,
Speaker 1: and they try and and let me be blunt here,
Speaker 1: I'll say this is a journalist is a South African.
Speaker 1: In my view, they're trying to block our products from
Speaker 1: entering the EU because I don't want to compete with us.
Speaker 1: That's simple for me. They'll deny that. Of course, are
Speaker 1: you worried about similar things happening with grapefruit?
Speaker 2: Stephen? At the moment, we haven't experienced that. I personally
Speaker 2: have a very good relationship with one of the gentlemen
Speaker 2: from Olympo who is the Spanish representative of grapefruit, lemon
Speaker 2: and a few citrus products. And I know that CGA
Speaker 2: have also got a very good good relationship with them,
Speaker 2: and the Great Free Variety Committee do as well, so
Speaker 2: we are actually hoping to collaborate with them. Our product
Speaker 2: is superior, so we do have a little bit of
Speaker 2: a challenge in that because of it. Well, depending on
Speaker 2: which way you look at it, either our season follows
Speaker 2: these or they follow ours. So you know, we're trying
Speaker 2: to promote a product as being a particularly good quality
Speaker 2: and then there's slightly less superior if I can put
Speaker 2: it that way, product comes into the market and it
Speaker 2: could potentially sour the market. But we are actually looking
Speaker 2: to work as much as possible collaborate with them, rather
Speaker 2: than see this as a combative exercise, because you know,
Speaker 2: this is a collaboration of growers who are working together.
Speaker 2: So it's a category. I'm not representing any particular brand
Speaker 2: of Star rubies, which is why we're going with Summer
Speaker 2: Star Rubies. And you know, I honestly think that the
Speaker 2: work that we're doing is going to benefit everybody, So
Speaker 2: let's let's collaborate on a wider international range as well.
Speaker 1: Niki, I'm not going to sleep tonight unless you tell
Speaker 1: me what a Grapefruit Variety committee does.
Speaker 2: So they part of the group of representatives that the
Speaker 2: CGA has got different committees that represent each of their
Speaker 2: citrus products. And the Great Fruit Variety Group are the
Speaker 2: team of five guys who came together and they were
Speaker 2: the ones who put together this whole concept that the
Speaker 2: growers had to collaborate to pull together make a contribution
Speaker 2: towards the marketing fund to put this to put this
Speaker 2: whole campaign together.
Speaker 1: And why particularly Europe. Obviously this is not a good
Speaker 1: time to target North America.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's definitely not a good time. We started
Speaker 2: in Europe purely because there are very good existing relationships
Speaker 2: in the European market at the moment, so we could
Speaker 2: have we can leverage those. It is easier for us
Speaker 2: to work in Europe. Obviously, we based in South Africa,
Speaker 2: so from a time zone perspective, and we've got very
Speaker 2: good at the moment. A large percentage of our fruit
Speaker 2: goes there, so we thought it would be a really
Speaker 2: good place to start. But we really are seeing this
Speaker 2: as a starting point, and there are plans to expand
Speaker 2: this to Japan, to you know, other Asian countries where
Speaker 2: we export, potentially India and wideen this. But we wanted
Speaker 2: to start in Europe as a pilot test the waters,
Speaker 2: see how things were going, and then we can grow
Speaker 2: grow from them.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, the campaign manager, the Summer Star Ruby
Speaker 1: campaign manager. It's all about grapefruit.
Speaker 3: The Money Show explainer.
Speaker 1: Well, you've probably heard the phrase AI more often than
Speaker 1: almost anything other than tariff on The Money Show over
Speaker 1: the last year or so, and probably for long before
Speaker 1: that as well. And I think if I had the
Speaker 1: tiniest sliver of bitcoin for every time a politician says
Speaker 1: I'll use AI to enhance services, I'll be a very
Speaker 1: very rich person. And you report those suggesting that government
Speaker 1: and our government and governments are actually falling behind and
Speaker 1: properly using and properly managing AI. It comes from EY
Speaker 1: santle Clape is an EY partner and Africa Government and
Speaker 1: Infrastructure industry leader Sandilla. Good evening, Do appreciate your time
Speaker 1: on a Friday night. Our government, if I remember as
Speaker 1: a national AI framework, is government using AI at all? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Good evening, Stephen, and thank you for having me on
Speaker 3: the show. So obviously are some pockets of excellence. It's
Speaker 3: not fully utilized currently in South Africa. Lots of statements
Speaker 3: and plans, but probably what we picked up is what
Speaker 3: we would call a pioneer entity that actually be the
Speaker 3: South Africa Revenue Service. They're the ones who seem to
Speaker 3: have really taken some leaps and bounds, which puts them
Speaker 3: inside the leg of what we call pioneers when we
Speaker 3: benchmark them globally as well.
Speaker 1: I'm not at all surprised to hear that it SARS.
Speaker 1: I do wonder if TEX maybe lends itself to something
Speaker 1: like this relatively easily, because it's all about numbers, algorithms
Speaker 1: trying to catch certain patterns and things like that. In
Speaker 1: other words, it may actually be easier for SARS than
Speaker 1: some other parts of government.
Speaker 3: Not necessarily, if you think about it, starts like any
Speaker 3: other government department entity. The common thing they have is
Speaker 3: they there to serve citizens. So if you think about it,
Speaker 3: the industries and government areas where we've seen quite a
Speaker 3: bit of a lead frog in applying AI is where
Speaker 3: there is a big push to transform client experience, transform
Speaker 3: client efficiency and be able to present information a lot
Speaker 3: more efficiently and accurately. So yes, CORECT where there is
Speaker 3: financial information data involved, yes, it gives that huge left.
Speaker 3: But also two where there is services of citizens and
Speaker 3: tracking on at dashboard also important. I guess the advantage
Speaker 3: of the revenue author it is that they've been working
Speaker 3: quite a lot to align clean up that data, because
Speaker 3: the biggest hurdle that most organization has in adopt an
Speaker 3: AI is that data cleansing and data structure of it
Speaker 3: to be able to liverge it meaningfully.
Speaker 1: From that perspective, if government departments don't sort of say
Speaker 1: explicitly they're using AI, I presume that doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: some of the people within those departments are not using AI.
Speaker 1: I can imagine someone who's told to write a report
Speaker 1: using AI to do that. I certainly would if I
Speaker 1: thought that no one was going to read it. And so,
Speaker 1: you know, I imagine that it will be places where
Speaker 1: people actually are using AI, they're just not setting their boss.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's probably what you're doing is entry level AI,
Speaker 3: which is what we call sort of you know, your
Speaker 3: general query base that says, you know, tell me the
Speaker 3: current interest rate and so you get some stats. The
Speaker 3: AI adoption that we.
Speaker 4: Are talking about is really where you begin to leverage
Speaker 4: their data to do some deeper analysis and the levels
Speaker 4: of agentic AI where you are actually using the I
Speaker 4: to present information and collects. So, for example, I think
Speaker 4: whatever you're authority to launch a project I think late
Speaker 4: last year around them asking customers to opt in to
Speaker 4: be able to leverage and capture the information on AI
Speaker 4: and provide them a quicker turnaround return. So the value
Speaker 4: comes in being able to paralyze an efficiency and give
Speaker 4: time back for employees to apply their minds a lot
Speaker 4: more so just basic entry I I'm sure all of us.
Speaker 4: I mean we've been using AI for time out that
Speaker 4: the logan has been talked for a long term on
Speaker 4: our iPhone. So that's that's the entry level type stuff.
Speaker 4: But here is where you actually really apply artificial intelligence
Speaker 4: to help you become a lot more efficient. And some
Speaker 4: of the global based practice that you've picked up is
Speaker 4: if you look in at the Victoria State Department of
Speaker 4: Playing in Australia, they use the air data to manage
Speaker 4: and track integrated to transport data, moving data volumes to
Speaker 4: a chially address, where do trains go where do passes go,
Speaker 4: so that you are actually managing the stuff more efficiently.
Speaker 4: And if you look at Singapore, they're using you to
Speaker 4: manage that energy efficiency around for custom where demands will
Speaker 4: be and softwarth that's that next level of AI leverage.
Speaker 1: In most places, most countries, there is a sort of
Speaker 1: big productivity gap between the private sector how much they'll
Speaker 1: get out of a worker out of a certain amount
Speaker 1: of time, whatever resource it is, and government. And I mean,
Speaker 1: we know that that's the case here. We know it's
Speaker 1: the case in the United States. For example. We see
Speaker 1: they say in the UA, the tech brows or sorry,
Speaker 1: the tech industry in the US sort of surging ahead
Speaker 1: with AI. That productivity gap is going to grow dramatically,
Speaker 1: I would think, and that's going to have all sorts
Speaker 1: of implications for governance. I mean, I sometimes think that
Speaker 1: AI is moving so quickly every single government is being
Speaker 1: left behind.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So globally, we did find that there's still definitely a
Speaker 3: gap in the levels where so your creator, you know,
Speaker 3: private sector's a lot more far advanced in leveraging that
Speaker 3: you know. So from our stats, we actually picked up
Speaker 3: that over sixty percent of commun Indy, this is globally.
Speaker 3: We interviewed over five five hundred commun intities globally, so
Speaker 3: fifty percent they say they realize the value that a
Speaker 3: kind can deliver, but they're still a gap in implementing
Speaker 3: and in terms of some of the things that actually
Speaker 3: holding them back is the ability of the said one
Speaker 3: cleaning the data, about two having in placed proper governance
Speaker 3: and policies of how to deliverage the data in a
Speaker 3: meaningful way. We also disclose to your customers and users
Speaker 3: that you are deploying.
Speaker 1: AI Sande la Rope. Thanks so much. Ready to appreciate
Speaker 1: the time. Ey partner Africa Government and Infrastructure industry leader
Speaker 1: the Money Show the Market Petri Ridling Hayes's founder at
Speaker 1: at Herenia Capital Advisors p I three. Good evening, Good
Speaker 1: to talk to you. Obviously, more talk from Trump around
Speaker 1: tariff thirty five percent for Canada, suggesting and maybe this
Speaker 1: was what really moved markets around the world. The rest
Speaker 1: of the world, so countries that haven't got their letters
Speaker 1: can expect tariff of between fifteen and twenty five percents
Speaker 1: had a big impact today.
Speaker 3: Good evening and yeah, yeah, I think the market has
Speaker 3: been on rather a tear over the last couple of weeks,
Speaker 3: and that seems to have stopped in his track on
Speaker 3: the of some additional tariff news. And I think this
Speaker 3: is a bit of a pattern that we're already seeing
Speaker 3: Trump play to, if you will, which has come out
Speaker 3: the gates really strong. Everybody gets a tariff, which kind
Speaker 3: of forces them to the negotiation table, and as soon
Speaker 3: as they're actually sit down for negotiations, then there's a
Speaker 3: great period for negotiations to take place, right But in
Speaker 3: the meantime that creates a lot of fear and a
Speaker 3: bit of volatility in the market.
Speaker 1: I mean, even countries that negotiate seriously like Japan, end
Speaker 1: up with a tariff. So you know, it's sort of
Speaker 1: the volatility that we're seeing. So I've been interested in
Speaker 1: how the market, how markets look at Trump. The first
Speaker 1: time Liberation Day, we saw such a massive reaction, you know,
Speaker 1: everything just dropped dramatically. Now it's a lot more nuanced,
Speaker 1: it's a bit more mess so what who cares? And
Speaker 1: you just don't see the same kind of reaction now.
Speaker 1: That goes in a couple of directions, because it also
Speaker 1: means if we believe that a market reaction will place
Speaker 1: a boundary around Trump's behavior of the Dow, the S
Speaker 1: and P or the NASDEK drop beyond a certain point
Speaker 1: will actually change course. But if the market doesn't move,
Speaker 1: you won't change course.
Speaker 3: Well, yes, and no, I guess. I mean there is
Speaker 3: a saying that's sort of been coined, which is Trump
Speaker 3: always chickens out. Yeah, right, so it kind of pushes
Speaker 3: it to the last moment and then then you know,
Speaker 3: changes his tone if you will. And I think the
Speaker 3: market is beginning to expect that, which is probably why
Speaker 3: you see starting to see more and more muted reactions
Speaker 3: to these types of antics.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: I think by now everybody who is truly interested has
Speaker 3: gone to read the Art of the deal, and it's
Speaker 3: kind of figured out, you know, Trump, what Trump's tactics,
Speaker 3: you know, primarily are so to a large extent, Yeah,
Speaker 3: the market is kind of looking at saying, oh, well,
Speaker 3: he's going to check it out anyway, but let's still
Speaker 3: be cautious. And I mean, I'll be honest, that's an
Speaker 3: approach that we've taken as well. We saw quite a
Speaker 3: bit of sustained selling on some of the counters on
Speaker 3: our local market today. We've got sort of levels that
Speaker 3: we're watching that were broken. And we also you know,
Speaker 3: cleaned house and started selling a bunch of things going
Speaker 3: into the weekend, just to lighten up the load and
Speaker 3: show up the cash that we carry, just to be
Speaker 3: conservati e been careful in case there's an you know,
Speaker 3: the market pulls back a little bit. I mean, in
Speaker 3: all fairness, we're trading it all time rate but highs,
Speaker 3: and there's a little bit of uncertainty on the arise.
Speaker 3: And now we saw you know, some of the tariff
Speaker 3: news come out, So it makes sense that we should
Speaker 3: probably take a bit of a cautious approach for the
Speaker 3: next couple of weeks, particularly given the fresh new volatility
Speaker 3: in the market. But you know, that said, there's this
Speaker 3: this two sided coin where on the one side, the
Speaker 3: expectation for Trump to check it out is really growing,
Speaker 3: and it's become, as you've rightly noted, uh, you know,
Speaker 3: the market's becoming very complacent and sort of expecting this
Speaker 3: type of behavior from him. You know what happens if
Speaker 3: he doesn't, Yeah, so that increases the risk of unexpected events, right, So,
Speaker 3: I think as we've become very sort of used to
Speaker 3: something going left the whole time, the day that it
Speaker 3: turns right, it's going to catch us by surprise.
Speaker 1: Yeah, how are you feeling about CECIL at the moment?
Speaker 1: There was such a big jump when I mean the
Speaker 1: sort of timing was interesting. They had the capital markets
Speaker 1: there about a month ago. They sort of explained their
Speaker 1: transformation to a sort of greener company, difficult to do
Speaker 1: for chemicals. Of course, they share price went up. Then,
Speaker 1: of course there was the Iran Israel US war conflict,
Speaker 1: and that helped to push up the oil price, which
Speaker 1: pushed them up. But they seem to be dropping a
Speaker 1: little bit since then.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think over the last I mean, there was
Speaker 3: some news that came out that drove them down from
Speaker 3: thirteen or fifteen percent of a couple of days. I mean,
Speaker 3: we're starting to see I think the beginnings of a
Speaker 3: trend change. And I think it's most secret to you
Speaker 3: know listeners or those who've seemed or heard me in
Speaker 3: the past that we were quite bullish on CECIL and
Speaker 3: I've had you know, a position in it for a
Speaker 3: very long time. So to see it sort of starting
Speaker 3: to bottom mountain turn is very encouraging. I mean, it
Speaker 3: turned all the way Lowess, there's essentially double since then,
Speaker 3: I mean, it's here for one hundred and two the
Speaker 3: other day. Since then, obviously there was a bit of
Speaker 3: a negative capitalist the stock came down sub eighty round again.
Speaker 3: But we think that it probably is the beginning of
Speaker 3: a trend changer. If we can see the share price
Speaker 3: get above sort of one hundred and five, then we
Speaker 3: have a good old fashioned doll theory uptrend that is again.
Speaker 3: And we think that, you know, it's one of those
Speaker 3: companies that is very, very driven by sentiment around it,
Speaker 3: and we think in the long term it's going to
Speaker 3: be fine. I think it's going to be one of
Speaker 3: those companies that you're going to look back one of
Speaker 3: those stocks you're going to look back in five or
Speaker 3: ten years from I think, man, I had a chance
Speaker 3: to buy it one hundred hundred bucks. You know why
Speaker 3: didn't I take it?
Speaker 1: Betri ridling Haes, thanks so much, founder at Tyrena Capital Advisors.
Speaker 1: Bringing the time on The Money Show to six point
Speaker 1: thirty any show, the Friday File sixteen minutes to seven
Speaker 1: the time, Well, I don't know how far your memory goes.
Speaker 1: You may remember back in ninety ninety two, our Olympic
Speaker 1: team went to the Barcelona Olympics. It was the first
Speaker 1: time we'd been allowed at the Olympics for decades. South
Speaker 1: Africa was changing very quickly. But there was a problem.
Speaker 1: If our athletes actually won a medal, and some of
Speaker 1: them did well, someone would have to play an anthem
Speaker 1: and no one wanted to play a deep stem at
Speaker 1: the time. So someone had the bright idea we should
Speaker 1: pick a neutral piece of music that everybody would know
Speaker 1: and understand. And in the end the piece they chose
Speaker 1: was to Joy. It was written by Ludvigvan Bethoven centuries ago.
Speaker 1: It's one of the most famous pieces of classical music.
Speaker 1: The visa is called Ode to Joy. You might know
Speaker 1: it is Beethoven's ninth Symphony. That now it's being done
Speaker 1: in a whole new way. Bongani Tambett is the Chief
Speaker 1: executive and Artistic director of the Mzanzi National Philharmonic Orchestra. Bongani,
Speaker 1: good evening to you, Thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 1: It's a classic piece of music. How do you what's
Speaker 1: the word change it? Reinterpret it? Reinterpret it for South
Speaker 1: Africa where we are right now?
Speaker 3: Yes, good evening to your Stephen and the listeners of
Speaker 3: seven O two yes, exactly. We have reimagined this piece
Speaker 3: and by adding a little bit of the Zulu language
Speaker 3: in the old too Joy. But also we brought in
Speaker 3: Voter Kellman, who's a three time Grammy Award winner and
Speaker 3: is wonderful, musicians, the choirs and different artists to really
Speaker 3: come up with something that really as a profound layer
Speaker 3: of cultural relevance and highlights the nation's linguistic diversity and
Speaker 3: artistic expression.
Speaker 1: Does it mean that the music is changed, Does it
Speaker 1: mean that it's reimagined. Does it mean that it's now
Speaker 1: part of South Africa? I mean it is originally of
Speaker 1: course from Europe.
Speaker 5: No, the music does not change. Our conductor was the
Speaker 5: legendary Marin Alsop, I mean the great one of the
Speaker 5: greatest conductors of all time. And the female conductor, which
Speaker 5: is wonderful. So in between the movements, the Voter Keleman
Speaker 5: perform and the last famous piece the Ode to Joy,
Speaker 5: which is about joy and unity and brotherhood, a theme
Speaker 5: that is very relevant to South Africa. Part of it
Speaker 5: was done in Zulu, but the same music of Beethoven
Speaker 5: and so a nothing changes.
Speaker 1: Why bless you, why this particular piece of music. I
Speaker 1: mean it's obviously, I mean it is a very special
Speaker 1: piece of music and one of the most recognizable sort
Speaker 1: of classical pieces. Why particularly this one.
Speaker 5: Yes, we chose this piece because it was the first
Speaker 5: national tour in December twenty twenty two of m Zan'
Speaker 5: National Philharmonic Orchestra, and part of the mission of the
Speaker 5: orchestra is to utilize music to bring people together of
Speaker 5: all races and ages, and so that related to the
Speaker 5: theme of bethoven Design Symphony, so we chose its closed
Speaker 5: it for that reason. But also it features choirs solo
Speaker 5: is so more than two hundred and fifty artists featured
Speaker 5: in this production and it created job opportunities for them,
Speaker 5: which is one of our missions. So it really worked
Speaker 5: very well.
Speaker 1: The way in which we listen to music has changed
Speaker 1: so much, so, I mean, there was a time when
Speaker 1: if you wanted to listen to music, it had to
Speaker 1: be live. You might have had to perform it yourself,
Speaker 1: maybe in your family. Then obviously recorded music came in,
Speaker 1: and now music is everywhere. It's in the lift, it's
Speaker 1: on your phone. Whatever you want to listen to is
Speaker 1: suddenly available to you. And with that has come this
Speaker 1: idea that when we listen to music. We're often doing
Speaker 1: something else, but that's not the case of the kind
Speaker 1: of music you are performing. You are asking people to
Speaker 1: sit in a room and what you do just that
Speaker 1: one thing. Why is that still such a fundamentally human experience?
Speaker 1: Why do we still do that?
Speaker 5: It is so important, Stephen, You know, I was saying
Speaker 5: to our audience at the Johannes Philharmonic the other day
Speaker 5: that a privilege just to be there at the Lenda
Speaker 5: for two hours and immense ourselves in this music and
Speaker 5: not think about other things, and not even things about
Speaker 5: our worries or some of the negative stories that may
Speaker 5: happen in South Africa. So the music helps us to reflect,
Speaker 5: to go deep inside of ourselves, and it stood a
Speaker 5: putique as well. It's just a wonderful opportunity to just
Speaker 5: focus because you are right, we are always doing three
Speaker 5: or four or five things at the same time. I mean,
Speaker 5: multitasking can be good, but sometimes we need just those
Speaker 5: moments to just rest and listen to beautiful music.
Speaker 1: Is it difficult to give audiences, to tell audience, to
Speaker 1: attract audiences to this kind of music, classical music, to
Speaker 1: say to new audiences, really, I suppose I mean, younger people,
Speaker 1: you need to You should come and listen to this.
Speaker 1: It'll give you something that you don't really even understand
Speaker 1: at the stage.
Speaker 5: No, I mean, if I mentioned the run Aspect Philharmonic,
Speaker 5: our contents are sold out. The audience is diversifying in
Speaker 5: terms of age and raise, same as with the kids
Speaker 5: that en Philharmonic. You come to Cape Town and I'm
Speaker 5: in Cape Town now, and it's also fantastic sold out houses.
Speaker 5: So the interest in classical music is growing and it's
Speaker 5: attracting people from all walks of life and will love it.
Speaker 1: Why is it that some pieces of music really and deed,
Speaker 1: I mean this piece of music is really endured, it's special.
Speaker 1: There's some other music from that era. There's some South
Speaker 1: African songs and that South African pieces of music that
Speaker 1: have really endured, and others do not. And I know
Speaker 1: some music is better than others, right, how do we
Speaker 1: define that? I mean, I mean Sister Bettina a song
Speaker 1: I'm sure you know is you know a big part
Speaker 1: of popular culture right now? Why is that better than
Speaker 1: other music? And I mean this is a question that
Speaker 1: that really I think keeps you know, it keeps people
Speaker 1: talking and arguing for hours and hours.
Speaker 3: Yes, one point of interest, A Beethoven composed this piece
Speaker 3: when it was blind, isn't that interesting?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 5: And it was already blind that came with this master piece. Well,
Speaker 5: I think it's a classic. When I say classic, I
Speaker 5: don't mean that only classical music produces classics, you know.
Speaker 5: And Lagoon Langa by sung by Miriam Mackaba is the
Speaker 5: South African classic, and and and so what makes music
Speaker 5: like that survive? How do you define it as a classic.
Speaker 5: It's a very difficult question to answer, but I think
Speaker 5: often when the composed is genuine and again goes deep
Speaker 5: inside themselves or they're especially inspired, you get something great,
Speaker 5: whether it's a little song that comes up other than
Speaker 5: people just doing it for pure entertainment or to make
Speaker 5: a quick bark, or to follow a trend. Music that
Speaker 5: just follows trends for the sake of doing so usually
Speaker 5: don't last very long.
Speaker 1: It's about it's a big word, authenticity. It's about that
Speaker 1: that it has to be a real feeling.
Speaker 3: Yes, exactly, you hit it on the nail. It's about authenticity.
Speaker 3: And I think people can tell when music is just authentic.
Speaker 3: But also it's about skills, you know, composers those days trained.
Speaker 3: You know, they're not just taking chances and just writing
Speaker 3: this or writing that, So it's authenticity coupled with skills
Speaker 3: and then of course inspiration. Then you produce a classic.
Speaker 3: So they are stiven. You and I have defined it.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm about to test our definition, Bongani. There are
Speaker 1: plenty of people who predict that artificial intelligence is going
Speaker 1: to take over everything, and I've heard pieces of sound
Speaker 1: that claim to be music that were composed by something
Speaker 1: that is not human. Can music be composed by something
Speaker 1: that is not human and then enjoyed by people who
Speaker 1: are human?
Speaker 5: Well, I think it potentially can be composed by people
Speaker 5: that are not human, so because you know, it draws
Speaker 5: from all sorts of symbols, and it draws from material
Speaker 5: composed by humans for status. But just to take this
Speaker 5: a step forward, I saw the other day an orchestral
Speaker 5: conductor like a robot conducting an orchestra, and so some
Speaker 5: of these artificial things are never going to replace the
Speaker 5: real thing. When you go to a concert hall and
Speaker 5: hear a live orchestra, or you go to am a
Speaker 5: match and see a rag great rugby match, it's even
Speaker 5: better than TV it's better than because it's the real experience.
Speaker 5: You are part of the occasion. You also are communicating
Speaker 5: with other people. So I don't think it's going to
Speaker 5: result in music dying, but obviously it will have some impact.
Speaker 1: It's a great analogy, actually a sport match. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Bongani Tembe is the chief executive and artistic director of
Speaker 1: the Amzanzi National Philomonic Orchestra. Bongani, I really enjoyed that,
Speaker 1: Thanks very much. Indeed, the concert film screening at Stay
Speaker 1: Canny Corse Cinemas from the twenty fifth to the thirtieth
Speaker 1: of July No Money Show, Friday buz Blitz the Friday
Speaker 1: Busblit's first question on the Friday Bus Blitz. Thisce evening
Speaker 1: which classical composer began to lose his hearing and his twenties,
Speaker 1: but still created some of the world's most famous symphonies.
Speaker 1: Oh double one double A three, oh seven, oh two
Speaker 1: two one four four six, five six seven, Ray Hannah
Speaker 1: in Melville, Ray Hanna, high Hello. Do you know the answer? Rayhnna?
Speaker 2: It's Beethoven.
Speaker 1: It is Beethoven, Ray Hannah. Okay. He started to lose
Speaker 1: his uh, started to go deaf in his twenties, but
Speaker 1: still created some of the biggest masterpieces, including the Ninth Symphony. Okay,
Speaker 1: next question. Jaku and Jetour are brands owned by which
Speaker 1: Chinese car maker that is looking at opening a manufacturing
Speaker 1: plant in South Africa. Jaku and Jettour are owned by
Speaker 1: which Chinese car maker.
Speaker 3: Oh no, I'm.
Speaker 1: Sorry, Ray, Hannah keho in Pretoria High. Jaku and Jetour
Speaker 1: are brands owned by which Chinese car maker that wants
Speaker 1: to open a factory here. I'm gonna say my Hindra,
Speaker 1: oh keho, No, I'm going to give you another guest.
Speaker 1: Mahindra is not a Chinese car maker. They're a car maker,
Speaker 1: but they're not Chinese. Come on, Carol.
Speaker 4: Oh any.
Speaker 1: No? Okay, okay, all right, Carol, thank you. Oh double
Speaker 1: one double A three oh seven O two two one
Speaker 1: four four six five six seven. Jacu and Jettour are
Speaker 1: brands owned by which Chinese car maker, And of course
Speaker 1: they're thinking of opening a factory here, Doctor Elberton, Doctor High,
Speaker 1: I'm well, doctor, go for it.
Speaker 3: I think it's cherry.
Speaker 1: It is cherry. Doctor, yes, it is cherry, and they're
Speaker 1: looking at opening assembly plant here. Okay. Next question on
Speaker 1: the Friday bus. Let's what is the deadline for Trump's
Speaker 1: latest tariffs? Uh?
Speaker 3: I think it's the end of July.
Speaker 1: Ah, I'm gonna give it to you first of August. Yes, doctor,
Speaker 1: it's the first of August. I'm going to give it
Speaker 1: to you. Congratulations. Okay, it's the first of August. Okay,
Speaker 1: so this is the latest Taco deal, if we call
Speaker 1: it that? All right, doctor, next question, here we go.
Speaker 1: Which telecoms Giant is now revisiting a thirteen billion rand
Speaker 1: deal to buy a major stake in Massive after reaching
Speaker 1: a new agreement with a competition commission being a big
Speaker 1: story this week?
Speaker 3: Doctor, Uh can it take again? I think I miss empty?
Speaker 1: It's not empty? And doctor, I'm sorry. Let's try Ruvi
Speaker 1: in Boksburg. Revi, do you know the answer?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 3: Actually that that's a question. While waiting for you, so
Speaker 3: I don't know what it is?
Speaker 1: Okay, Which which telecoms Giant is revisiting a thirteen billion
Speaker 1: round deal to buy a major stake in Massive after
Speaker 1: their new agreement with the Competition Commission.
Speaker 3: No, I would have said B, but I think I'd
Speaker 3: be wrong.
Speaker 1: All right, reve Sorry, let's try let Sai in shoshankove
Speaker 1: Let Ci.
Speaker 3: Hi, I I think it's what is it called mobile China?
Speaker 1: No, it's I sag and Lenesia say g Hi.
Speaker 3: Okay, I'm I'm answering the question of the communi viture.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I'm sorry. KG. We've moved on. I'm okay.
Speaker 1: Last person, Your Han, Your Han?
Speaker 5: Hi?
Speaker 1: Do you know the answer? It is votoicon your Han.
Speaker 1: Congratulations you're the winner of the Friday bis Blitz Tonight