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Small parties wield big power in South Africa's coalition political landscape. Chris Steyn speaks to Move SA President and Jo’burg mayoral candidate Rali Mampeule, ALJAMA-A’s Jo’burg Mayoral candidate Ashley Mama and the African Transformation Movement (ATM) Youth Leader Bafana Tshabalala. They each share their worst experiences of living in Johannesburg, their visions of saving the city, and their desire for cooperation - instead of hostility - between parties. “All politicians should be like bishops and pastors, that their whole sole aim is to make sure that they preach the word of God. I get very surprised when politicians go and they debate and they hate each other. And I ask myself, when do they have the time to go on the ground and actually help the people that need the help”, Mampeule says. Tshabalala adds that coalition negotiations and agreements should not have at its centre “who gets to benefit from the benefits of Blue Lights”, but about ensuring that the city works and ensuring that the services are delivered to the people. “It should not matter who gets to deliver those services”. Meanwhile, Mama urges citizens to be more active, because “it does not help you to lament the situation. Because if you keep leaving the situation currently as it is, there will be a revolt that we won't be able to control.”

Political analyst Prince Mashele tells Alec Hogg the ANC needs 35% nationally for a good night, that anything in the upper 20s would be a catastrophe, and that with the vote days away Johannesburg voters still have no idea who its mayoral candidate is. SRF chairman Dr Frans Cronjé says South Africa is halfway through a two-step regime change, and only a DA-ANC deal uniting the middle class and the aspirant middle class holds the country together. Willem Els weighs Paul O'Sullivan's bid to block Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi at the Hawks.

Platō Coffee, a well-known South African brand founded by brothers Stephan and Petrus Bredell, started in a shipping container in Irene and is now heading for almost 180 shops, with expansion overseas under way. In an interview with Biznews, Bredell explains why the brand’s clean, modern white design and friendly baristas who know your name and your order have proved its biggest edge in London. When somebody remembers your name and order, he says. it matters in the AI age. He also talks about the success of their Harare shop, their collaboration with UK matcha brand PerfectTed and their plans to open in the US. And what does he put the success of Platō, and of Slingshot, the hospitality group he is now building with his brother, down to? Connecting the dots of failure, he says, and a healthy dose of “delusional confidence” as an entrepreneur.

In this week’s NdB Sunday Show, Chris Steyn and Willem Els of the Security Initiative for Africa (SIA) cover Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia’s announcement that he will seek Cabinet approval for the appointment of General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi as the National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPC) (The Hawks) followed by a threat from forensic investigator Paul O'Sullivan to go to court to stop the appointment; the arrests of former IDAC Chief Advocate Andrea Johnson and sacked Crime Intelligence (CI) Deputy Chief Major General Feroz Khan; sacked Ekurhuleni Metro Police Chief Lieutenant Julius Mkhwanazi being hit with another charge, this time in relation to the murder of Witness D; the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) hunting luxury vehicles allegedly being hidden by tender don Hungwani Morgan Maumela; as well as the Pretoria High Court order that former BOSASA COO Angelo Agrizzi has to pay the State R1,66 billion in proceeds linked to corruption.

With five days to go before the local government elections, Prince Mashele told Alec Hogg what a good night and a catastrophe would look like for the ANC, and why he expected neither. He was blunt about Herman Mashaba, whose biography he wrote, and set out the offer he believed could tip ActionSA towards the ANC rather than the DA in Johannesburg. He dismissed Gayton McKenzie's kingmaker ambitions, said he was worried about what an MK win would mean for KwaZulu-Natal, and explained why South Africans stay loyal to parties the way they stay loyal to soccer clubs. Then he turned to his own plans: a movement due to launch in Soweto in March, with a leadership line-up he said would not shy away from talking about race.