Daily Insider: Contrasting Joburg’s servant leader and its prime opportunist

LATEST ON BIZNEWS RADIO (on iTunes): Deciphering the Zuma legal playbook with Adv. Paul Hoffman (Click here for Spotify)

LATEST ON BIZNEWS.COM:  

• Net closing on former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste – Hermanus mansion, wine farm, Bentley, wife's jewellery seized by SARB
• World-class Kokkie Kooyman of Denker Capital on 'greylisting' and the bank shares to buy now
• Data reveals frightening surge in cancer rates since the start of Covid-19 vaccination in April 2021 – coincidence
• Parliament's paltry performance…kicking the can down the road
• Never enough for SA's politicians – Cyril pulls the handbook
• SA's blueberry industry panics, 40k jobs on the line as ANC's 'developmental state' monopoly implodes
• "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself" – Prof Noakes on Ancel Keys' Cholesterol Con
• Deciphering the Zuma legal playbook with Adv. Paul Hoffman
• Jaltech's cryptocurrency baskets are the unit trusts of the crypto market
• We need to have an honest debate about farming rhino to save them – Jonathan Oppenheimer
• Sending money out of South Africa? Know your limits
• 'The opportunity for votes lies with the disenfranchised' – Chris Pappas Q&A (Archives)
• 'The power is in the voters' hands': Athol Trollip Q&A (Archives)

NB: Getting this newsletter second hand? Click here for your own copy. It's free and takes under a minute.

From what I hear, during her 10 months in office former Joburg Mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse built a sizeable fan base in Soweto – the voting base of SA's biggest Metro. On the other hand, the 8 seat (of 270) turncoat in her once ruling compact, Gayton McKenzie's ANC-partnering Patriotic Alliance, appears to be shrinking fast in its heartland of Eldorado Park.

That's one of many contrasts between two people at the centre of the Metro's turbulence. Phalatse, a medical doctor, turned to politics in frustration at what she witnessed serving Joburg's poorest in Alexandria. McKenzie, who served seven a 15-year sentence for armed robbery, is a shameless opportunist who makes no effort at hiding his intentions.

My interview with Phalatse yesterday suggests she can be counted among that most rare of the species, what Athol Trollip describes as "a conviction politician". She strikes me as the real deal – a servant leader. The personification of much that is good about 21st Century South Africans. McKenzie, from his actions and blustering on YouTube, not so much.

Democracy is far from perfect. Like the stock market, it tolerates aberrations, sometimes for extended periods. But given time, as with share prices there's a rebalancing. With coalitions set to play a huge role after the 2024 National Elections, let's hope we see a reversion to the political mean well ahead of SA's next big voting day. Now just 18 months away.

• Netflix seeks ways to get subscribers to return after visits decline – with insight from The Wall Street Journal
• UK markets are on sale. Nobody wants to buy. With insight from The Wall Street Journal
• Vladimir Putin's cannon fodder – with insight from the Wall Street Journal
• Survival tips for tech startups as funding dries up
• Survey 'screams' capitulation with rally set for early 2023
• Mystery stock surge is probably just another bear market rally – with insight from The Wall Street Journal

To receive the Daily Insider every weekday at 6am in your inbox click here. You can also sign up to the weekend's BizNews Digest for a wrap of the best content BizNews has to offer, for a leisurely Saturday read.