Mailbox: A capitalist South Africa is not the solution for us all - Hassen Lorgat

Key topics.Critique of Hersov and Pollak’s pro-Trump, anti-ANC capitalismExposes racial inequality and apartheid’s lingering economic legacyWarns against right-wing populism masking as meritocracy and reform.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.The auditorium doors will open for BNIC#2 on 10 September 2025 in Hermanus. For more information and tickets, click here..By Hassen Lorgat.Rob Hersov has been a regular on your programmes and, it appears, in South African media generally. The discussion was themed SA must win the ideological battle, reject ANC socialism and embrace capitalism [BizNews 19 Mar 2025] and this call he makes everywhere. However, this conversation between Alec Hogg and Hersov on the necessity for capitalist triumph - whilst interesting - does not present a solution that is sustainable nor desirable for us all. At best, it will be short-lived as long as redress around land reform, economic democracy and racial and gender justice are not addressed.In the BizNews piece referenced above, he lays out his line of march. First, he calls for South Africans to reject the ANC and others on the so-called Left, who for him are socialists, corrupt, incompetent etc. Accordingly, they must be challenged ideologically by capitalist thinkers and billionaires. Furthermore, he argues that if South Africa wants to get into Trump’s good books of Trump (and by implication West), the ANC South Africa must:Drop the International Court of Justice (ICJ) genocide case against Israel.Stop the Expropriation without Compensation Act (EWC).Change on race matters and diversity issues (DEI stuff). Inspired by Trump's MAGA movement, it would appear that the same playbook is at play for the likes of Hersov. A radical cynic told me that the campaign here at home should be called Make South Africa White Again (MASAA). It follows that the so-called race laws and affirmative action are their targets. The USA must support the Western Cape, a provincial government that does not condone corruption and bad governance. In addition, they must target the ANC leaders and all other provinces. The Trump government must move the US embassy there, it is well run, not corrupt and so on. This global and national political strategy is centred on amassing more power and wealth and control over our world - finish and klaar.These trends articulated by Hersov, Pollak and others are part of the global rightwing movement of anti liberals or illiberal activists, who rail against mainstream media, the courts and the system of checks and balances; representative, constitutional democracy. They underwrite rightwing populism that affirms the rule and power of elites - preferably if they are white.Hersov likes Trump because the current president is a disruptor and a lover of powerful and wealthy persons. It is worth noting that, in these ideological struggles, Hersov is not alone, but ably assisted by Joel Pollak, Afriforum, Brenthurst Foundation and many others. Recently Hersov made a call for rightwing podcasters to unite and coordinate messaging. Some of these messages are seeping through to the public - on 20 May, just after 4pm, a caller Mike from Newlands called SAfm and his message came directly from the same hymn sheet.In most of their engagements, facts and truths are casualties in their rush to convince us of the need for them to rescue us - a sinking country. Let me delve into some of their key arguments here..Drop the case against genocidal Israel.The US and fellow travelers - including Afriforum, Hersov, Pollak - continue to insist South Africa drop the genocide case against Israel. In the face of USAid ending support for HIV Aids programmes, Pollak says that if you can pay for the ICJ case, you can pay for HIV Aids. Pollak stated this clearly in POWER CHAT – Ferial Haffajee and Breitbart's Joel Pollak on democracy, foreign policy, and power (30 March 2025).In addition, Pollak - like Hersov - comes out in support of the so-called Afrikaner refugees. Their support is based on the existence of the so-called race based laws. Pollak goes further linking these refugees with other supposedly suffering groups. He accuses the government of not listening to these groups but it seems that his overriding political agenda is the defense of Israel. In his Power Chat podcast, he asserts that South Africa falsely accused Israel of a genocide, because Israel responded to a truly genocidal attack on Oct 7. He also tried to peddle the old lie, until he was challenged by the host, that Iran had paid for South Africans ICJ case. I was doubly pleased because the Haffajee from Daily Maverick (DM) was forthright: South Africa budgeted for this case and it was transparently explained to parliament. This view I had indeed argued against others in DM before: see my article entitled South Africa before the ICJ, not a case of sour grapes. There I argued that both DM and Brenthurst Foundation clearly had the intention “to undermine the ICJ ruling. Both articles and the video continue the same negative narrative that downplays any talk of a genocide and, importantly, a victory for South Africa-Palestine and international human rights as evidence in the court case.”In the discussion of Afrikaner so-called refugees, Pollak actually brings in South African Jews: “This government doesn't listen. And so, the only reason I think the United States hasn't given Jewish South African refugee status is that Jews can go to Israel. And so, people can choose to stick around in South Africa and make the best of it. And I think there's an admirable quality to that choice. I think there is a prospect for change in South Africa and I applaud the people working to do it.”This was a new cheap shot from someone who does not respect international law because they so often fall foul of it. Recently international human rights law and institutions found that Israel is occupying Palestinian lands and this glib statement is not only ignorant but an affront to human rights. The ICJ ruling of 19 July 2024 is considered a landmark judgement as it found that Israel’s occupation of the Gaza strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful. The finding also ruled that the settlement regime, annexation and use of natural resources - all are illegal. The court also commented on Israel's apartheid and racist legislation and affimed the necessity for full reparations to Palestinian victims and facilitate the return of displaced people.So when Pollak glibly states that South African Jews have the right of return to a land - Palestine - that many were not born in, it is insulting. As a result of this systematic forced displacement, there are now more than 7.25 million Palestinian refugees who are denied their right to return to their homes simply because they are not Jewish. Meanwhile the children of those ethnically cleansed today use the KEY as the symbol of their right to return to their homeland.Like many others, it would appear that both Hersov and Pollak seem to act as if they are Donald Trump's brain - a leader they helped create alongside Musk and others. They both seem to believe that Trump is a visionary leader of this fight-back against wokism, etc. Pollak for example states that South Africa insults Trump and, in addition, what makes him unhappy is the bad friends, Iran, Qatar and so on that South Africa keeps.After that interview, the very transactional Donald indeed went to Qatar and came off quite handsomely. The gift and trade with Qatar after this is captured on the White House website as business: an “economic exchange agreement with Qatar, $243.5 billion in US - Qatar commercial and defense deals.” I will not enter the issue about personal gifts or government to government trade and so on, suffice to say that Trump took the richest men like the CEO and presidents of Quantinuum, Lockheed Martin Parsons Corporation, amongst others with him to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, has little to do with strengthening equality, justice and democracy but power of those who are already wealthy and powerful - the oligarchs. .Read more:.BN Briefing: Daybreak is one of many; Afriforum’s 45m-view video; Cyril flunks body language test.Support the Western Cape and punish the rest.To pressure the ANC led government to bow to their wishes, Hersov and his comrades have argued that the US must support the Western Cape whilst they pressure the ANC government by various means including tariffs and so on. Both Pollak and Hersov believe that the Western Cape is great, whilst the rest of the country is bad. The ANC must rely on the masses to defend the integrity of the borders and the country and cannot rely on Johann Rupert to argue its case for it as happened at the Oval Office recently..Race Matters .Surprisingly, Alec Hogg joins Hersov when he rants against redress on the grounds of race. Hersov repeats wherever he has a platform that we have 140 odd race based laws which stop innovation and growth, etc. (these are never spelt out). In fact, this lie of 142 number comes from groups like AfriForum, an Afrikaner interest group. They argue that racial laws of the past were wrong and they are wrong now. (Did you hear this argument from a golfer recently from the government side ?)It is widely agreed that their analysis has many flaws and includes as racial laws - laws that end discrimination.Harber, in his analysis, correctly confirms this superficiality with references to a number of examples. I will only list two from there, in particular: the 1997 SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport Act and the SA Weather Services Act of 2001. The former does not mention race but insists that the selection of the board should be equitable and representative, taking into consideration the importance of redress measures in sport. The latter is a fair weather principle: that the board be “broadly representative of South African society” and that the Weather Service in all aspects considers transformation.We cannot play games with racism as it is not mere discrimination or tastes of who one likes or not. Racism is both system and structure that is exploitative and oppressive and operates at the micro and macro levels impinging on individuals and groups as well as institutions and is reinforced by these interactions. It is an intergenerational scourge that has its roots way back from the days of slavery, colonialism, separate development to apartheid… and yet it persists.What we need now, is not our reiteration to non racism but active anti-racism that uproots the discriminatory features as well as its ugly underbelly of exploitation and cheapening of Black lives. This must be accompanied by active anti sexism that will challenge the patriarchy that the MAGA adherents so proudly wear as a badge of honour.Accusing the SA government of racism implies that they have succeeded in ending racist laws and practices. Nothing can be further from the truth. I seek your indulgence to look a bit at education - a key pillar where racism hides.When we were growing up under apartheid, the educational policies were racially stratified and the investments were pyramid shaped. At the apex were the whites and at the bottom, the black masses. We all understood the intention of Dr H. F. Verwoerd when in 1953, as Minister of Native Affairs at the time when Bantu Education was introduced, he said: “When I have control over native education, I will reform it so that natives will be taught from childhood that equality with Europeans is not for them.” These words were translated into impacts on the ground. (source: 1991, Pam Christie published Right to Learn: the struggle for education in South Africa (pages 110-11-12) Table 4 Per capita expenditure on education in South Africa .Table 5 Per capita expenditure on education in South Africa in ratio form .These figures are obscenely racist and, as Christie explained, it revealed that in 1975-6, for every 1 rand spent on an African child, R3,33 were spent on a ‘coloured’ child, R4,52 were spent on an Indian child, and R14,07 were spent on a white child. So 14,07 times more money was spent on a white child as on an African child. When one goes down the table, it is evident that the gap remains very large. Since 1976, there has been some change. The gap is now narrowing to some extent, but it still remains very large.The per capita figures show how whites received the lion’s share, whilst the spending amongst indian and coloured too begin to show disparities. The biggest losers were African learners and this is revealed across and down.Before moving on, we must not forget how class sizes and allocation of good teachers impacted on learning and its outcomes. The class sizes were huge for black learners, and lean and tidy for whites. The education programmes were hierarchical and authoritarian. It all added to the meagre per capita allocation for black learners compared to whites - with the ideology of the land, the hidden curriculum coincided with the baaskap of white supremacy. Little has changed yet, there is a fight back aimed to keep us from progressing.With whites at the top, other black groups were stratified in terms of divide and rule strategies with the mass of black workers below. Subjects like mathematics and science deliberately kept away from black african learners because it was envisaged that black people had to learn practical skills for manual labour as higher thinking, creative work was not to be for them. It was above their station. To fix this is an intergenerational challenge. Thus, whilst we have not done a great job to remedy the above, even with the best intention, thirty (30) years are not sufficient to undo what was perpetrated over generations. This is not to give the ANC led government a free pass for not doing more.The counter-attack on race, diversity, class implies that the masses have been on the ascendancy and that social justice and equality reigns. Nothing can be further from the truth. Those who are leading the onslaught are billionaires and include persons whose beliefs on racial and gender equality and democracy are questionable.Today South Africa remains, as the World Bank and others have confirmed, the most unequal society in the world. The World Bank (WB) argued that:“Race is the largest contributor to inequality, and its contribution is growing. The legacy of apartheid continues to exacerbate economic disparities. Race explained almost 41 percent of overall inequality in 2018, up from 37.5 percent in 2008 (Figure 2), and overshadowed the role of factors such as location, education, employment outcomes, and demographics. Differences in educational attainment are the second most important driver of inequality, especially post secondary or tertiary attainment. Disparities in access to education, which is key to human capital accumulation, contribute about 30 percent to overall inequality. Average levels of human capital remain low—the World Bank’s Human Capital Index (HCI) estimates that a child born in South Africa in 2020 would on average reach only 43 of its potential productivity as an adult.”.Conclusion.The worship of private property whether owned by a racialized minority or not, is neither desirable nor sustainable. It runs across all faiths and, given our inherited shared Anglo Saxon tradition, we cannot ignore what came from: the radical tradition including the church and the common persons. They opposed the aristocratic enclosures of common lands - a selfishness and greed that appears to be on the agenda again. Fighting against land reform and livelihoods and other real issues such as hunger and inequality are not only ideological issues, but matters of life and death. Maintaining power and privilege will not resolve these..Credit https://libcom.org/article/1642-1652-diggers-and-levellersWritten in 1649, Gerrard Winstanley’s True Levellers Standard Advanced: Or, The State of Community Opened, and Presented to the Sons of Men talks of the value of common ownership - not selfish excessive private ownership that monopolised all forms of wealth and power. It is a reminder that these issues will not be resolved by today's podcasters or social media pundits. He wrote thus: “In the beginning of Time, the great Creator Reason, made the Earth to be a Common Treasury, to preserve Beasts, Birds, Fishes, and Man, the lord that was to govern this Creation; for Man had Domination given to him, over the Beasts, Birds, and Fishes; but not one word was spoken in the beginning, That one branch of mankind should rule over another.”Later in the essay he calls for:“But when once the Earth becomes a Common Treasury again, as it must, for all the Prophesies of Scriptures and Reason are Circled here in this Community, and mankind must have the Law of Righteousness once more writ in his heart, and all must be made of one heart, and one mind.”Many believe that these values today still have value. The late Pope Francis warned against the unfettered pursuit of money - “the dung of the devil” -, and insisted that poorer nations and developing countries must not only be the suppliers of raw materials or cheap labour to the wealthier nations. When Pollak, Heshov and others argue that we make our places American centric (as Hersov said about Simontown) or the persistent lobbying that Starlink enters our market without respect for our history and challenges, they are not supporting national sovereignty. They want to keep in place the iniquitous structure and systems of global capitalism which has got renewed oxygen under the leadership of Trump.Trump, Vance, Musk (unelected) are using public office to shakedown others to get business control and dominance, mixing financial power with political power. The line of politics is mixed up so much that the Oval office was used by Johann Rupert, supposedly on the Ramaphosa government's side, to canvas for Starlink to enter South African markets without conditions, recently. What a shame. But not all US Presidents were like this and one must work for better as the people of the US deserve it as do the people of the world. Theodore Rooseveld is on record when he said in 1912 that: “To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day. Unhampered by tradition, uncorrupted by power, undismayed by the magnitude of the task, the new party offers itself as the instrument of the people, to sweep away old abuses, to build a new and nobler government.”I will be failing if I do not say a final word about the supposed great fight back. It is in the interests of white supremacy and not equality and justice, masked around concepts of meritocracy, and seeming unfair promotions of black (indian origin South Africans, so-called coloured and african) people. These debates for the first time really have helped me understand the phrase "when you have had privilege for so long, equality looks like oppression”. We all know that 30 odd years after the democratic breakthrough, whites still remain the wealthiest and powerful.In South Africa, the richest 10% of the population own more than 85% of household wealth, while over half the population have more liabilities than assets, the report showed. That gap is higher than in any other country for which sufficient data is available, the group added. The richest 1% in South Africa have likely increased their share of wealth since the end of apartheid, the group said.All of us have an obligation to debate honestly and not rely on power to shake-down an adversary. Our agency demands that we dissent when lies are sprouted masquerading as the truth.

Mailbox: A capitalist South Africa is not the solution for us all - Hassen Lorgat

Related Stories

The hollowing out of Eskom: De Ruyter's prophecy becomes reality

Rob Hersov’s Cabinet of Extraordinary People

Rob Hersov: The Mafube template - saving SA one municipality at a time

Rob Hersov: My theory on what's holding SA back. Warning: it's cultural