Bootlegger brews up expansion. Plus: SA’s demerit points disaster

This week, Bruce chats with Ricky Ruthenberg, CEO of Bootlegger Coffee Company, about building one of South Africa’s most recognisable coffee chains from a single Sea Point store in 2013 to 116 locations today – with 15 to 20 more planned before year’s end. Ruthenberg unpacks the two-model strategy, the cautious push into Namibia and Africa, and why the coffee revolution in South Africa is still far from over. Meryl Pick of Old Mutual Investment Group makes sense of a complicated week in oil markets, where Brent has been squeezed lower by China stepping back from imports and Russia flooding crude onto the market, while refining margins have hit levels not seen since 2001 – meaning lower oil prices are not yet translating into relief at the pump. And William Brederode, tech and trends journalist at News24, covers Adnoc’s $1 billion acquisition of Shell’s South African fuel station business, the forced labour tariff hearings in the US and what they reveal about South Africa’s compliance gaps, and the chaotic rollout of the AARTO demerit point system for drivers. This podcast is sponsored by Capitec. To catch every episode, click the follow and subscribe buttons on News24's Spotify, Apple, and YouTube podcast channels, or catch up on past episodes here. Editions drop on Thursdays at 17:00.