🔒 Premium: Rob Hersov on ‘dam-busting’; rejuvenating SA’s Rainbow Coalition; and Capexit post-2024

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Since global entrepreneur Rob Hersov spoke out at BNC#2 in September 2021, only a trickle of business leaders have joined him in openly questioning the ANC misrule of South Africa. The public, however, has been overwhelmingly supportive – taking a lead from someone who had the courage to call out SA’s naked emperors. In this typically candid interview with BizNews founder Alec Hogg, Hersov addresses how to break the logjam that’s stalled the Rainbow Coalition – and why he’ll be fully behind Cape Independence should an ANC/EFF alliance rule SA after the 2024 election.

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Timestamps for the interview:

  • Rob Hersov on making a positive impact – 01:20
  • His agenda is and what is he is aiming to achieve – 04:10
  • On openly speaking about the ANC – 08:50
  • The Zille/McKenzie tension and how the DA and PA ought to be natural allies – 12:20
  • On South Africans’ “pathetic complacency” and the their lack of action – 15:05
  • Teaming up with the PA and batting the ANC out of the Western Cape – 17:40
  • The issue between Michael Beaumont and John Steenhuisen – 19:00
  • The 2024 elections, saving the nation from the ANC and a possible ‘Capexit’ – 20:25
  • On Gayton McKenzie and the ‘Free Republic of the Western Cape’ – 22:00

Some extracts from the interview: 

On South Africans’ “pathetic complacency” and the their lack of action

South Africa is shell shocked. People are shell shocked. Every single day, if you read the papers, if you go on BizNews, if you read Daily Maverick, Daily Friend, you are just delirious. It’s more corruption by the ANC, more stealing. There’s the Zondo Commission, there’s Andre de Ruyter, there is loadshedding. It’s endless and my wife said to me, a few months ago, this is unbelievable. What is wrong with South Africans? They just sort of suck it in and accept all these terrible things – they should hit the streets and strike and riot and get upset and get angry. I said, okay, well, I’ll go and march with DA up against Luthuli house, which I did. Not a single big business person was there – they were at home watching their rugby, a braai and just getting on with life. And that’s the problem. South Africans are pathetically complacent. They’ll give money to charity, but not to ActionSA and DA etc. And with charity, it makes them feel good but it is papering over the cracks. It’s putting plasters on the wounds created by the ANC. What we should be doing is giving the money to the opposition parties to get rid of the ANC. And it’s the wrong way around. Maybe, the smart South Africans are the ones that have left. They are gone, they have said that this is unfixable so we’re out of here. What’s wrong with South Africans?

Read more: Hersov: Swellendam by-election loss a warning for bickering Rainbow Alliance

On the 2024 elections, saving the nation from the ANC and a possible ‘Capexit’

I’m a 100% believer that if, in 2024, the ANC remained completely in power, on their own or in partnership with the EFF, we need to get behind a Cape Exit with all our resources possible and get Gayton McKenzie and the PA to buy into it. Gayton might be the first president of the New Free Republic in the Western Cape. Why not? But let’s focus on 2024, try and save the country from the ANC. And if we fail, let’s get behind ‘Capexit’ as urgently as possible. Everyone knows we need to get out of South Africa because the EFF will own the ANC, and they will destroy us faster than the ANC is doing. 

Read more: Rob Hersov: Why am I still doing this? “Enough is enough” – make a stand and vote

On Gayton McKenzie and the ‘Free Republic of the Western Cape’

I think there’d be more of a democracy, this would be a democratic-run business. But Gayton has his right principles, right values, and he would be a very good first president of the Free Republic of the Western Cape. And the fact is, I asked him a question. I said, “Gayton, you don’t seem to have a bench, a cabinet of qualified people like the DA does. You don’t have those people.” And he goes, “If I’m elected as president, I will hire the best people on the basis of merit for each job.”

Comment from BizNews community member George Carthew:

I want to comment on the question regarding an autocratic leadership style, particularly regarding Gayton MacKenzie and Paul Kagame. As I recall, you commented that an authoritarian leadership might be counterintuitive to a democratic one. I have a slightly different view, and I share the leanings of Rob Hersov (as I understood them) – namely, that we would do well with some autocratic leadership in South Africa. For me, democracy (in principle) can have an inherent built-in counterintuitive characteristic – one man’s rights may differ from those of another yet remain a democracy in action – resulting in a stalemate. This is a substantial contributing factor to the situation in SA right now. Nothing happens because whatever could get done (in many instances) simply doesn’t because it infringes on opposing democratic rights. To put context to my view, imagine a doorway to progress in South Africa. On the one hand, you can have an autocratic leader (with sound morals and values) walk through the door and start getting things done, as opposed to the other hand, where you have two or more leaders with differing (competing) democratic rights (and values?) clogging up the doorway all trying to get through first and ending up not getting through to progress at all.

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