BizNews Radio

South Africa just joined a short and unflattering list of countries facing individual US visa restrictions, and Freedom Front Plus leader Corné Mulder says he saw it coming from a manifesto launch stage days before it happened. He tells Alec Hogg why he thinks Cyril Ramaphosa's habit of avoiding decisions has left the country exposed to an American administration that has run out of patience, why the ANC seems willing to simply wait out the Trump presidency, and why he believes ordinary South Africans, not the "comrades" benefiting from ANC patronage, are the ones now pushing back. He also lays out his read on the coalition scramble coming after 4 November, throws down a direct challenge to the DA over Tshwane and Johannesburg, and explains why he thinks South Africa's next real change of government could arrive well before 2029.

South Africa's townships are not a side economy. According to GG Alcock, author of the Kasinomics book series, they're a trillion-rand-plus market that the country's biggest listed companies are already quietly fighting over, from Shoprite's cash-and-carry pivot to Capitec's entrepreneur accounts to Pepkor's handset financing. Alcock, who grew up in a mud hut in Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal, and never went to university, sat down with Alec Hogg to explain why the xenophobic crackdown on foreign traders barely dented the spaza sector, why Pick n Pay's QualiSave format misread who actually shops in a township, how a social grant became one woman's ten-year start-up fund, and why an entire generation of township entrepreneurs is quietly building wealth in bread, eggs, hardbody chickens and handset finance while the formal economy stalls.

In their latest weekly chat, Chris Steyn and Political Commentator Solly Moeng talk about both President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President Paul Mashatile having been declared unfit - because they are too ill - to perform official duties; the US the visa restrictions for certain - still unamed -government officials; the performance (or lack) of US Ambassador Roelf Meyer; the 181 lost candidate crisis for the African National Congress (ANC) ahead of the Local Government Elections (LGEs) in November this year; the body tally of raped and murdered women in Ekurhuleni rising to 9 as Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi gives criminals a heads-up of a lockdown; the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) dropping charges against National Commissioner Fannie Masemola; and a year of sittings of the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry into Police and Political Capture.

Washington stopped talking about South Africa in the abstract this week. Marco Rubio named individual officials for visa restrictions over land seizures, race-based discrimination and incitement, and the US ambassador in Pretoria called it only the first move. Hudson Institute's Joshua Meservey explained why Washington chose a scalpel over a sledgehammer, and why South Africa's own dealings with Tehran, Moscow and Hamas made this outcome close to inevitable. Denker Capital's Kokkie Kooyman weighed in on how South African banks are quietly benefiting from the same Iran war that's rattling oil markets, even as FirstRand heads for the exit in the UK and the country drifts closer to Beijing and Moscow. AfriForum's Jacques Broodryk laid out a disturbing new report on the patterns of torture behind 47 farm attacks. And on Wall Street, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to fight an oil-driven inflation spike, sending stocks lower.

The night before this interview, Marco Rubio picked up a weapon Washington has never used against South Africa before: visa restrictions aimed at individual officials, not the country as a whole. Hours later, the US ambassador in Pretoria said it was only the start. Joshua Meservey of the Hudson Institute had spent months arguing publicly for exactly this approach, and told Alec Hogg why the scalpel beats the sledgehammer, why AGOA is not off the table whatever the ambassador implies, and why South Africa's own record with Tehran, Moscow and Hamas made this outcome close to inevitable. He also had a hard question for South Africans weighing in on BEE and land expropriation from here: does it matter that Washington agrees with you, if agreeing with Washington is now politically radioactive.