The NdB Sunday Show: Renaldo Gouws - De Beer honoured, Mchunu slammed, MPs living it up, cadres warned - and Juju’s guilt

On the first Sunday Show since the passing of the irrepressible Neil de Beer, host Chris Steyn honours his fearless spirit of resistance by renaming it the NdB Sunday Show. In his tribute, commentator Renaldo Gouws describes De Beer’s life “as a testament to courage, conviction, and an unyielding love for our nation”. He goes on to tackle some of issues that would have equally enraged Neil, including “Special Leave” Police Minister Senzo Mchunu’s unleashing an “extraordinary amount of force and also abusing his power in order to do that” on a podcaster who had bruised his ego with a satiric sketch. To better enlighten voters, Gouws, a former Parliamentarian, reveals all the perks MPs get in addition to their salaries. He also warns what drastic lifestyle changes are in store for politicians if they are hit with personal sanctions. “…it’s going to be a very tough time. And I think that would be the thing, ironically, that would actually put South Africa on the correct path again because if you hit these cadres where they feel it the most, which is in their pockets, then that is when we will see a change in South Africa.” Lastly, he calls on Parliament’s Ethics Committee to act against Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Commander-in-Chief Julius Malema following the Equality Court finding that he and his party are guilty of hate speech and incitement to violence..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..Watch here.Listen here.Edited transcript of the interview.Chris Steyn (00:02.919)It is with great sadness that I welcome you to this Sunday Show in the knowledge that I will never again be able to bring you the voice of Neil de Beer. For Neil, this show was a platform of resistance. Resistance against the corrupt, resistance against the criminal, resistance against spineless leaders, resistance against those complicit in the suffering of a nation.And in honour of his spirit of resistance, I rename the show today as the NdP Sunday Show. And please, at 6 p.m. tune in to the BizNews TV channel to watch a compilation of Neil's most inspirational and funniest moments. With me now is Renaldo Gous, former parliamentarian, industrial psychologist, and podcaster who would like to pay his own tribute to Neil before we start. Welcome, Renaldo.Renaldo Gouws (01:14.434)Hi Chris and yes, what a sad day for South Africa and what a sad day for the show and I know that you and Neil were very close. I know that you captivated audiences around the world, you know, expats and it's just such a loss and, you know, it's times like these where we always ask why do the good die young? You know, especially if you look at the context of what we have in South Africa that manages to live until 80, 90. And then the good is always taken from us at such a young point. With that being said, I did write something because I wanted to do him justice. So I'll just read it here. To the BizNews family, today we host the show with a heavy heart to honour a true son of South Africa, Neil de Beer, who left us on the 30th of August, 2025. His life was a testament to courage, conviction, and an unyielding love for our nation.Neil was a fearless voice for change, a man who dared to speak truth to power, no matter the cost. As the President and Founder of the United Independent Movement, he championed justice, transparency and economic freedom, inspiring countless South Africans to believe in a better future. His role in forging the Multi-Party Charter showcased his commitment to uniting diverse voices for the common good.Through the Sunday Show on BizNews, he captivated us with his sharp insights and unapologetic honesty. Even as he battled illness with extraordinary resilience, his words got through the noise, holding the powerful accountable and giving hope to the voiceless. As a former intelligence operative of uMkhonto we Sizwe and National Security Advisor to President Nelson Mandela, Neil's journey from the shadows of apartheid to the forefront of democracy was nothing short of remarkable.His entrepreneurial spirit shown through leaving a legacy of innovation. But above all, Neil was a beacon of hope, a family man, a friend, and a leader whose laughter and lessons will echo in our hearts forever. Neil de Beer’s passing is not just the loss of a man, but of a piece of South Africa's soul. Yet his vision lives on in us and let us carry forward his fight for justice, unity, and a South Africa that belongs to all. Rest in peace, Neil. Your light will never fade.Renaldo Gouws (03:34.84)Thank you. Chris Steyn (03:36.416)Thank you, Renaldo. Now onto the topics that would undoubtedly have enraged Neil. Shall we start with the Police Minister who is on special leave, but there's yet been another drama surrounding him.Renaldo Gouws (03:52.896)Yes, so with regards to that and also let me just say that this hat is in honour of Neil. We are mourning today and that is why we are doing this. With that being said, so Senzo Mchunu is the gift that just keeps on giving. There is this incident with Anton Taylor, local comedian, in which he made a satire video or a video that just made some fun of Senzo Mchunu and the state of South Africa.And in essence, in that video, Anton Taylor referenced Senzo Mchunu saying that he gave him his BMW and three prostitutes. Now, I don't know if the Minister doesn't understand satire or comedy, but you can clearly see from the way in which Anton Taylor did that video that it was satire. So then Senzo Mchunu decides, well, you know, he feels insulted by this. So then he went to go and open a case and manipulated the Hawks in order to go and raid Anton Taylor's property to get access to his cell phone. Now, if that is not an absolute misuse of power, even even go so far as to say an abuse of power and a waste of taxpayers money than I don't know what is because at the moment what we are looking at is a Member of Parliament and a Minister that whose ego has been bruised. And his way of getting back at this individual is by using using an extraordinary amount of force and also abusing his power in order to do that. Now the question that we have to ask is how is somebody allowed to misuse that power? Why isn't there checks and balances in place? You know, for instance, the judge that signed off on this raid, why did they not ask more questions? When this case was opened, why wasn't Anton Taylor contacted for his side of the story? Ultimately, what we ended up with here is just the Minister doing as he wishes. Now this did happen two months ago before people think he still has the power today in order to do that. No, he did this before the other allegations came out which just once again illustrates that there is a lot more to Senzo Mchunu than we thought. So ultimately the target here is censorship and I'm sure you are aware that for the longest period of time now…Renaldo Gouws (06:16.545)…the government has consistently said, you know, we need to make sure that podcasters are held accountable. And this was their moment to try and indicate that them doing this will be to the benefit of South Africans. Well, this blew up in their faces because ultimately this just also shows the other side of the coin, because we've only been seeing the one side. You know, when podcasters said controversial things and then the public says, but you know, why aren't they regulated? Well, here's the other side of the coin. If you are going to regulate podcasters and we know what is ultimately going to happen because that is what always happens with the government that the ANC is a part of and that is censorship, censorship, censorship, censorship. We do not want that in our Constitution. We have the freedom of speech. And if that freedom of speech moves over into hate speech, then there are ways for people to take that further.Censoring people is not the answer because ultimately what we are going to end up with is just the government having people that are Ja Broers and saying exactly what they want to hear.So ultimately another gross abuse of power: Taxpayers paying for that because remember sending the Hawks to go and raid a house means that you have to pay for them to go and to that specific area if there weren't Hawks there, flights, hotels…I mean, this could easily have been over a hundred thousand Rand for such an unnecessary raid. So this was all at the cost for taxpayers because a Minister's ego was affected. It's just unacceptable. Chris Steyn (07:48.374)Now, Neil and I were always surprised that we didn't get that knock on the door, but maybe it's still coming for you and I now. Okay.Renaldo Gouws (07:55.918)Same here, same here. I've padlocked my door in a way that if they want to kick it down, they're going to take some time. So I'm just making it difficult for them.Chris Steyn (08:05.11)You know, while we're talking about the Minister who is on special leave, undoubtedly getting his salary, I'm just wondering whether he's also getting all those perks, those Parliamentary perks that our voters don't even know about. You were in Parliament for three months. Tell us about the perks.Renaldo Gouws (08:28.909)OK, so so let me just right off the bat say that most parliamentarians didn't actually ask for these perks. These are perks that have gradually happened over the last 31 years. So when I mentioned this, don't blame every single parliamentarian, of course. But when you see the amount, you have to ask yourself why have no parliamentarian spoken out about this. My intention in Parliament was to eventually raise this, what I'm about to tell you now. But yeah, hold on to your chair because this is going to be an exciting ride. So we all know that a normal Member of Parliament gets one point three million Rand a year. Now, if you were a Chief Whip, if you are a Deputy Minister or a Minister or the leader of a political party, that goes up exponentially. So I believe a Minister gets two point four, two point five million a year. So their base salary, you can go and Google what that is. But I'm going to give you a little behind-the-curtain look because I entered that fray for a little bit, for three months. So above that, when you become a member of Parliament and you don't live in the Western Cape or specifically in Cape Town, you get a once-off fee, you get a once-off payment to establish yourself and that is 25,000 Rand that you get. And that is now to pay for furniture, to go and live in the Parliamentary village or whether it's to move your furniture. In essence, you just get the amount paid into your bank account. So you don't have to give them slips. You don't have to give them anything. You just get 25,000 Rand in your first salary. Then of course, you get the Parliamentary housing for people that don't live in Cape Town. Now that could be a two-bedroom or a three-bedroom house. And of course, your family can come and live with you or you your better half. Now, on top of that, you get tools of trade. Now, tools of trade gets renewed every two years. So every two years, once you have the current tools of trade that you have, you can keep that. You can give it to a family member or you can go and sell it on Take a Lot or, you know, on Facebook Marketplace. But the value of that is seventy five thousand Rand. So you get a laptop, you can choose for a high end HP or an Acer or a MacBook. Renaldo Gouws (10:54.047)It's the same with the cell phone. You can choose the iPhone or Samsung high-end phone. You get a tablet and you know, once again, a Microsoft tablet or an Apple tablet. And then, of course, all of them are loaded with data. So you get that on whatever service provider you're on. So whether it's MTN or Vodacom or Cell C you go to, you get the VIP package. And usually that is five thousand minutes a month and between 50 to 100 gigabytes a month on your phone. So you don't have to pay for anything of, you know, when it comes to data or airtime. Then you get 75 flights as a Member of Parliament. And that makes sense because you have to fly from one part of the country to the other, whether it's on oversight or not. But what a lot of people don't know is the spouses get flights to it adds up to roughly 25 flights for a partner and then two flights per year per extra family member up to two family members that taxpayers are paying for. Then of course you get PARMED, which is Parliament's medical aid. Now you can't choose to not use PARMED and it is a very, how can I put it? It covers a lot more than your normal medical aid. It goes up to 300% above the going rate. So, you know,…. Renaldo Gouws (12:19.813)…specialists that usually charge 150 percent or 200 percent above the normal rate. Don't worry about it. You covered. You can go and get a beautiful pair of veneers and the taxpayers will pay for that. Now you pay six thousand five hundred Rand a month for that medical aid. So it is a lot when you start off with. But every year that you are a Member of Parliament, that amount decreases and the government subsidises the rest. Ultimately, if you are in Parliament for long enough,that fee goes down by more than 50% and that stays with you for the rest of your life. So if you are only a member for one term as a Member of Parliament, after five years, you can get a reduced fee of 50% and then that is that for the rest of your life, which is obviously also something that taxpayers have to fund. But here's the kicker and this is something that a lot of people don't know. If you are on ParMed, you move up to the top of the list for organ donations. Yes. So if something happens to you whilst you are a Member of Parliament, if there is this little Jannie that needs a new heart transplant, Rsek Jannie! Ons worrie nie oor jou nie. Senzo Mchunu kort ’n nuwe hart and then they just move you to the top of the organ donors list. Yes.Renaldo Gouws (13:44.076)And you can go and verify that if you don't believe me. But that is that's quite intense. Then, of course, the pension fund. And this is something that that I found fascinating. And I will be open with how much I received. So I was a Member of Parliament for three months, three months. Eventually, when I was kicked out and a couple of months later, I get an email saying, where can we pay your pension fund over? And I was like, three months. What am I going to get? Seventy five thousand Rand is what I received for three months as my pension. So I then went and I worked it out and the way that the pension fund is structured is that you put in roughly about 5,000 Rand and the government doubles that. So you put in 5,000 Rand and the government puts in 10,000 Rand. So they double what you are contributing. So over a five-year period, you can get between 1.2 to 1.5 million Rand depending also on how the investment is doing. So one term above the salary, you get an extra 1.2 to 1.5 million rands saying thank you for being such a good soldier. I mean, like are you shocked already, Chris? Are you? All right, and the best is yet to come. You also get 1,500 Rand a month for sundries, you know, for maybe your internet because you have to work from home or you need to get that new power bank because you're always on your phone in Parliament. Renaldo Gouws (15:13.515)So that is also what you get a month. And then meals at Parliament. Jong, die mense eet lekker daar in Parliament. By the way, Ek weet die mense in the comments sê, Renaldo jy moet meer Afrikaans praat. Well, ek probeer. En een iemand het gesê Renaldo praat Afrikaans met ’n Engelse aksent. En ek moet net vir jou sê, Nee! Ek praat Afrikaans - en dit is hoe ek dit praat. Ek kom van die baai af. But anyway, meals at Parliament is cost price. So you can get a home cooked meal and that'll cost you about 75 Rand. Now, where would you get a home cooked meal for that price? So they do two meals a day within Parliament where you can go and get food, you know, can get breakfast and you can get a late, let's call it a brunch or a late, early dinner, if you will. And that is pretty much cost price. And then there's also a bar. Now I'm not a drinker, so I didn't really go into the bar, but I'm only assuming that a beer is probably very cheap there. A lot of people would like to go there and and watch the Springboks play, because that'll probably be a very cheap bowl that they'll have to get. And then of course, the one thing that also shocked me is the food and drinks that you get at committee meetings. Now I understand when it is the sitting of the plenary that perhaps there are food available because that is long hours. But when you get this, when you sit in a committee meeting, there was always like little wraps available, some cool drinks for you, some hot coffee or some delicious snacks for you in between. And I mean, that must also rack up because if we've got 400 members of Parliament, you can just imagine that that bowl must be substantial every month. Then you get a subscription to Press Reader. I can understand that, but that is also worth a couple of thousand Rand. And if you times that by 400, once again, you see how this impacts people. Lastly, and I think this was the most outrageous thing. I want to show you this little card over here. This little white card…Renaldo Gouws (17:10.716)…is a parking card at the airports. Now this is loaded, preloaded with a hundred thousand Rand and you can renew this every single year. So every year you can go and get or ask them to reload this for a hundred thousand Rand. Now a hundred thousand Rand times 400 MPs is 40 million Rand a year just for undercover parking for parliamentarians.Tell me that is not outrageous. It's absolutely insane.Chris Steyn (17:45.258)I'm a little speechless now, but let me, let me just think what I want to ask you next. The opulent lifestyles of some of the African national Congress leaders. Do they realise what personal sanctions would mean? Can you tell them? Because they have been really flippant about it and defiant as if though it's not going to bother them. Renaldo Gouws (18:14.262)So yes, I think the ANC and even some people within the EFF and whomever has sung songs about killing people, they need to realise that they think that sanctions are going to hit the country, but in actual fact, sanctions are going to come for the individuals. And we've heard this multiple times. And at the moment, there's also this one thing going through the United States Congress in order to sanction individual members of Parliament. And even outside of Parliament, you know it could be people that negatively spoke about the United States and have also done things that, you know, America and South Africa considers not to be acceptable. So just some of the things that can happen is an asset freeze, meaning that if they have any secret bank accounts overseas that deals with dollars, that assets could be frozen.Then of course you've got the transaction bans meaning that if they use Visa or MasterCard the Americans can decide you're not going to use our technology and therefore if you think about it most banks in South Africa use Visa and MasterCard and then of course American Express is another one so they could be limited quite severely by not being able to get a card to use which means that it's pretty much they're going to be put in a situation where they can't transact in any way, shape, or form. Then we've also got travel bans. And this isn't just to the United States. This is any of the partners of the United States, trade partners, that pretty much means the entire UK. It means Australia. It means, of course, the United States.So and then, of course, people are asking, will this impact them in Dubai? It could be because the United States have got relationships with Dubai. Then there's also secondary sanctions. And this is the one I think that is really going to hit the cadres and its secondary sanctions and sectoral sanctions. Now, the big thing here is that if, for instance, let's use an example. Let's say the ANC cadre or the EFF cadre… Renaldo Gouws (20:34.708)…suddenly goes, OK, well, can't bank. Let me try to get a bank account in Namibia. Now, the secondary sanction means that that bank, if they use Visa or MasterCard or American Express for their card issuing and for the Swift payments that are used, if the United States finds out that this bank has given a card to this cadre, then they can put those sanctions on those banks as well, which in essence means that they are blacklisting the individual, but they will blacklist the individuals that or the organisations or institutions that go against the sanctions that they use when it comes to American technology or American software, et cetera, et cetera. So it's going to be a very tough time. And I think that would be the thing, ironically, that would actually put South Africa on the correct path again because if you hit these cadres where they feel it the most, which is in their pockets, then that is when we will see a change in South Africa. So that is just some of the things that could happen, but those are very severe and I think that that would really make a cadre realign their viewpoints and suddenly go from Communism to liberalism really quickly.Chris Steyn (21:55.702)Well, while we wait to see whether Economic Freedom Fighters Commander-in-Chief Julius Malema will be amongst those hit with sanctions, he has suffered a blow with that hate speech verdict. Renaldo Gouws (22:12.808)Yes. So let me just say it's about time that that bliksem was held responsible, because how many years now have Julius Malema said the most outrageous things about South Africa and South Africans? I mean, we can go back to 2009 when Julius Malema was the Youth Leader of the ANC singing Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer over the years saying we're not calling for the slaughtering of white people, at least for now.And then of course, ultimately what happened and then caused him to be held responsible was the following, and I'll quote it: Tell that white man to try me. I'll come many times here in the Western Cape appearing in a court case because no white man is going to beat me up and call myself a revolutionary the following day. But then it's the follow-up sentence that really got him in trouble, which is You must never be scared to kill. A revolution demands at some point. There must be killing because the killing is part of a revolutionary act. Now, you know, Chris, I just don't understand why it took this long for the courts to see the light. We have been seeing this hatred and vitriol being spit by Julius Malema at the people of South Africa, white people, Indian people, Coloured people and some black individuals.So ultimately, we have got one of the biggest racists in this country that has managed to be in Parliament for two full terms going on for a third term now, and there's just been no consequences. So now the important thing to note also is that this wasn't just a guilty finding against Julius Malema. This was a guilty finding against the EFF as an organisation too. The first time in our democracy, perhaps even in the existence of South Africa, that a political party has been found guilty of hate speech. So now also the question is, well, what is the consequences going to be? Because they found him guilty. Well, we don't know at this point. The South African Human Rights Commission, which, by the way, you know, I've had issues with, but I'll tip my hat to them this time for doing a good job. They have said that they will go for as much as they can get out of this. I believe.Renaldo Gouws (24:29.834)You know, there's no criminal sanctions that could be imposed. So he can't go to jail, but he can face up a penalty of up to a three hundred thousand Rand fine. But here's the real thing that I want to see some action on. The Parliamentary Ethics Committee now needs to step in because we've seen previously with my case and with Gayton McKenzie's case, they couldn't act on it because we weren't members of Parliament when the things happened that we were accused of. Julius Malema has now been in Parliament for over a decade and he's been saying these things for over a decade. So the question is: Wanneer gaan hulle wakker skrik? When are they going to wake up and when are we going to do something about this? Because you swear an oath. Let me actually do this, Chris. I want to show you something and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for getting out of the frame. But this is the oath that you make to Parliament. Let me just get it in the frame there. There we go. So this is the oath that you make. And let me just read what it says. I Renaldo Gouws swear that I will be faithful to the Republic of South Africa and will obey, respect and uphold the Constitution. Well, he was just found guilty of breaching the Constitution. So his oath is null and void. Therefore, you should not be a Member of Parliament. And then if you go above that and you go with regards to how a Member of Parliament should act. Well, I think it's quite clear that with the shadow of VBS hanging over his head as well as all the hateful things that he said at what point are we going to say this is not a calibre that a Member of Parliament should be a member of Parliament should be an upstanding citizen of this country that should always put the people of South Africa first. Now, please tell me whenever has Julius Malema put the people of South Africa first? Never he's always put himself first and that is why we are also in the situation we are in right now where we have to beg and plead for government to do something about somebody that is consistently singing for the killing of people. This is so reminiscent of Apartheid, it's actually scary. But yet the media and the ANC, they act like this is not a serious issue. Even our courts have gone so far as to say that Kill the Boer is not a problem and people should be able to sing it. And then the only thing I have to say to that is this.Renaldo Gouws (26:55.22)…reminds me very much of the court system during Apartheid that also found racist acts as acceptable and not a problem. So pointing at this and telling me, well, the Constitutional Court decided something. Well, the courts during Apartheid also found things acceptable that should never have been acceptable. So, moenie vir muy ’n k…rede soos dit gee nie because it doesn't make sense. Thank you. Sorry.Chris Steyn (27:15.318)Indeed, Renaldo, thank you so much. I just want to remind our viewers to please tune in at about 6 p.m. tonight on the BizNews TV channel to watch that tribute package to Neil De Beer who passed away yesterday morning. And thank you so much for all the messages of support that I've received from you during Neil's illness and since yesterday morning.That was Renaldo Gouws and me, Chris Steyn, on The Sunday Show. Thank you, Renaldo. Renaldo Gouws (27:56.268)Thank you very much, Chris.

The NdB Sunday Show: Renaldo Gouws - De Beer honoured, Mchunu slammed, MPs living it up, cadres warned - and Juju’s guilt

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