Democracy Unplugged

"The emperor has no clothes... but I'm not saying it,'' has been the great failure of South Africa's citizenry lately. Can South Africans ever view contentious issues through a lens that's not tainted by race and power agendas? What is the role of dissenting voices like Helen Zille for the sanctity of democracy in SA? What are the visceral, quantifiable concerns of South Africa's voting public? Is Cyril Ramaphosa showing tendencies of tyrannical lust with his wildly oscillating Covid-19 laws and messaging? And is Trump's approach to WHO leading us to Cold War 2?

Should we be testing everyone for Covid-19? Is there going to be a second wave in Johannesburg and if yes, is this a bad thing? What are the overall effects of the health sector's response to Covid-19 globally? Could South Africa reopen the economy through track and trace monitoring of citizenry? Has the hubris of liberalism condemned Hong Kong to tyranny from China, and thus made a war between China and America inevitable?

From Bridgette Motsepe-Radebe‘s alleged scandalous links to Botswana, to the impact of the elections in Somalia... Gareth, Kanthan and guest Jean-Jacques Cornish tackle the week's biggest political stories. And while we're all still grappling with the ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic, the team debates how unlocking countries should work.

Why can't anyone just print money? What's the difference between consumer and asset inflation? Are public sector employees useful to an economy? And just who is Finance Minister Tito Mboweni referring to when he says: "The hippopotamus must shut its mouth"? The battle to be King of Ideology continues to rage between religion and secularism, and Bheki Cele may be the only man capable of keeping South Africa's taxi industry on a leash.

Are Economic Keystrokes good, or are they a landmine for the tax paying citizenry? Can business function without a competent state intervening heavily to create conditions for economic prosperity? What is the role of tax in the economy? Is gender based violence linked to economic activity? We all hate Keynesian theory until crisis strikes... why is that?

Phumlani Majozi joins us to discuss the notion of good ideas and organising a country properly. Can government, business and labour ever march to a single beat? Hong Kong took decisive action after they were liberated, is that a replicable model for other nations who achieve liberation? Is the idea of race-based politics hindering poverty alleviation? Is BEE fundamentally flawed?

Did the townships of South Africa get the lockdown right vs the suburban approach? Will South Africa's private healthcare system be crippled because of lockdown? How the country reopens will come at a political cost and the vultures are circling already it seems. The tensions between systemic power and racial subjugation are at an all time high in America after George Floyd's murder - where to now for the home of the brave?

Is it a good idea to have private security firms to carry out state justice? What is distributive justice and how does it shape ideology? Does the private sector serve society at large better than a capable state? If a government doesn't trust its citizens, what is the logical conclusion? Armed forces are trained to kill, so what happens when their barrels are aimed at their own citizens?

How does the formative ANC structure differ from the one we see today ideologically? Does Covid-19 render the political landscape fertile for totalitarianism in South Africa? Is the economic and philosophical illiteracy of news reporters dangerous for society at large? If we lose a generation of black graduates in the formal economy because of lockdown regulation, what does that mean for the future of South Africa's social landscape? WHO should pay the biggest price globally for this pandemic?

Frans Cronje joins us this week and his suggestions about policy vs on the ground policing of Covid-19 will not be served well by the annals of history. Is the dissonance between the ANC and the Western Cape government political, or is it led by fact? How should we read the data around the case fatality rate? Death vs Economy... is it just about "market before life"? Frans Cronje's book "The Rise or Fall of South Africa" is available now on Kindle.