Rob Rose and Zukile Majova are back for episode six of Sharp Sharp, the weekly podcast on South African politics, money and power from Currency News and Scrolla.Africa.
This week they start with a man being eaten by a crocodile in the Komati River — and use it as the perfect metaphor for what is happening to ordinary South Africans right now. Paraffin is R28 a litre at the regulated price and closer to R40 by the time it reaches a village spaza shop. It is the essential fuel of the poorest South Africans heading into winter and the price is now completely beyond what people can afford.
Rob and Zuks then get into the HSRC survey showing that support for democracy has collapsed from 65% in the mid-2000s to just 36% today. One in three South Africans now believes it does not matter what government is in power because nothing changes. Zuks explains why that fatalism is dangerous and how it opens the door to strongman leaders like Jacob Zuma and Donald Trump.
Then they get into NSFAS, the student funding body that is under administration again despite a budget of R60 billion a year, and the deeply questionable new appointment to fix it.
And finally the Chad Du Plessis award of the week goes to Gwede Mantashe’s department for getting the fuel price calculation wrong by a rand due to a decimal error. Chad strikes again.
Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
