Daily Maverick

In this episode of the Readiness Report, Redi Tlhabi traces a familiar and dangerous pattern in modern leadership: paranoia as power. From Silvio Berlusconi to Jacob Zuma to Donald Trump, she unpacks how leaders who see criticism as personal attack begin to govern through grievance, blurring the line between policy and vendetta, statecraft and self-image. Tlhabi argues that when leadership becomes branding, institutions are hollowed out, credibility collapses, and ordinary people pay the price. A stark warning about what happens when ego overtakes governance and when the state is turned into a tool for settling scores.
This episode was made possible thanks to The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom: 
https://www.freiheit.org/sub-saharan-africa  
Hosted by: Redi Tlhabi
Edited by: Joel Seboa
Produced by: Emilie Gambade & Joel Seboa
Original Theme Music & Design by: Bernard Kotze
You can listen to the podcast everywhere, including Spotify!
Support journalism that protects democracy. Become a Maverick Insider.
https://tinyurl.com/SupportDailyMaverick
 
You can find us on Instagram here:  
https://www.instagram.com/dailymaverick/ 
On TikTok here: 
https://www.tiktok.com/@dailymavericksa
Or on Twitter here: 
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article_tag/x/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Listen as Redi Tlhabi speaks with political scientist and PARI executive director Sithembile Mbete about the United Nations at a
moment of deep, deep strain. They talk through why decades of debate on Security Council reform have led nowhere, how the veto entrenches global inequality, and what this paralysis means for Africa and the global South. It is a conversation about privilege, stalled change, and the kind of crisis that may be required to finally force reform.

This episode was made possible thanks to The Friedrich Naumann
Foundation for Freedom: https://www.freiheit.org/sub-saharan-africa
Hosted by: Redi Tlhabi
Guest: Sithembile Mbete
Edited by: Joel Seboa
Produced by: Emilie Gambade & Joel Seboa
Original Theme Music & Design by: Bernard Kotze
You can listen to the podcast everywhere, including Spotify!
Support journalism that protects democracy.
Become a Maverick Insider. https://tinyurl.com/SupportDailyMaverick
You can find us on Instagram here:
https://www.instagram.com/dailymaverick/
On TikTok here: 
https://www.tiktok.com/@dailymavericksa
Or on Twitter here: 
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article_tag/x/
 
00:45 US House of Representatives Passes AGOA Bill 
01:38 South Africa's Uncertain Inclusion in AGOA
02:12 US Lawmakers Push for Stricter Reviews 
02:54 Bilateral Relations Review Act 
04:22 Political Scientist Joins the Discussion 
05:01 AGOA as a Diplomatic Initiative 
05:50 South Africa's Diplomatic Importance 
06:48 Historical Tensions in US-South Africa Relations 
09:18 Neglect in US-South Africa Relations 
13:32 The Role of the United Nations 
14:50 Expectations vs. Reality of the UN 
24:30 Reforming the United Nations
 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In a searing conversation, Redi Tlhabi is joined by journalist and editor Tony Karon to interrogate what Washington calls a “limited military operation” in Venezuela and what critics have described as a kidnapping of a sovereign president in the name of oil.
From the revival of the Monroe Doctrine as a modern-day “Donroe Doctrine”, the idea that all of the Americas fall under US dominion, to the long history of regime change from Iran and Chile to Africa and the Middle East, the episode asks a stark question: is the United States openly returning to an era of imperial, extractive foreign policy?

Hosted by: Redi Tlhabi
Guest: Tony Karon
Edited by: Joel Seboa
Produced by: Emilie Gambade & Joel Seboa
Original Theme Music & Design by: Bernard Kotze
You can listen to the podcast everywhere, including Spotify!
Support journalism that protects democracy. Become a Maverick Insider.
 https://tinyurl.com/SupportDailyMaverick

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Redi Tlhabi sits down with B20 Sherpa Cas Coovadia to unpack the summit’s strong outcome, the real barriers to mobilising capital for a just transition, and what it will take to unlock investment in emerging markets. They also tackle the political fallout from the US boycott of South Africa, and what it actually signals for global cooperation.
Hosted by: Redi Tlhabi
Guest: Cas Coovadia
Produced by: Emilie Gambade & Joel Seboa
Original Theme Music & Design by: Bernard Kotze

You can listen to the podcast everywhere, including Spotify!

Support journalism that protects democracy. Become a Maverick
Insider. https://tinyurl.com/SupportDailyMaverick
 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When John Steenhuisen abruptly removed Environment Minister Dion George and replaced him with DA spokesperson Willie Aucamp in mid-November, it left many observers scratching their heads. Daily Maverick’s Rebecca Davis explains. 
Reporting by: Rebecca Davis 
Edited by: Joel Seboa  
Produced by: Emilie Gambade 
Sub-edited by: Kevin Flynn 
Support journalism that protects democracy. Become a Maverick Insider. https://tinyurl.com/SupportDailyMaverick 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.