Valuetainment - May 23, 2025


＂Zuma's A Gangster＂ - South African Billionaire Rob Hersov CALLS OUT Presidential CORRUPTION


Episode Stats


Length

10 minutes

Words per minute

162.65872

Word count

1,691

Sentence count

164

Harmful content

Toxicity

25

sentences flagged

Hate speech

9

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

After 31 years of living in America, Europe, and mainly the UK, I decided to return home to South Africa in 2017. I went back because I was homesick and because Jacob Zuma was destroying the country. And that makes a lot of sense.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 And after 31 years of living in America, Europe, and mainly the UK,
00:00:04.720 I decided to go back to South Africa in 2017.
00:00:08.580 I read that.
00:00:09.580 Yeah, 31 years of season.
00:00:10.760 Why did you go back?
00:00:11.740 And people are going the other way.
00:00:13.040 They're leaving in droves.
00:00:13.980 Yeah, there's brain drain that's taking place over there.
00:00:16.880 I went back because I looked my wife in the eyes and said,
00:00:19.880 my parents are still alive.
00:00:21.520 My father's 99 this year, mother 1991.
00:00:25.200 Our name is still reasonably well-known in South Africa,
00:00:28.340 being an industrial family.
00:00:30.380 And I want to go home.
00:00:31.540 I'm homesick.
00:00:32.660 But we'll only go home for two to three years because Jacob Zuma,
00:00:35.880 the president at the time, is destroying the country.
00:00:39.980 Let's go back, show our kids, see South Africa, and then leave.
00:00:44.160 And what I'm not going to do is get involved in politics
00:00:48.640 or invest in anything in South Africa that has any long-term horizon
00:00:52.820 or involves the government.
00:00:54.000 That makes a lot of sense.
00:00:54.920 So you say-
00:00:55.440 So what did I do?
00:00:56.220 No, but wait a minute.
00:00:56.780 You just said that the president of South Africa is destroying the country,
00:01:01.320 and that's why I'm going back for two to three years,
00:01:03.500 but I'm not going to get involved in politics.
00:01:05.220 That makes a lot of sense, Robert.
00:01:06.820 Yeah, I really stuck to that.
00:01:08.220 Yeah, it makes a lot of sense.
00:01:10.380 So why is he destroying the country and how is he destroying it?
00:01:13.020 So I'll give you a quick potted history.
00:01:14.280 In 1994, apartheid ended, and the country and government
00:01:18.840 was handed over peacefully to the majority, the black majority.
00:01:23.620 And for 12, 14 years, South Africa was actually a success story.
00:01:29.400 It was the miracle democracy, the miracle story.
00:01:32.140 The West said, we've won, we've saved South Africa, there's democracy.
00:01:36.280 And the country grew at 3%, 4%, 5% a year.
00:01:39.380 There was meritocracy, there were black, white, colored Indian people
00:01:42.180 in all the jobs, and everything was going well.
00:01:45.240 In 2008, the rot began.
00:01:47.160 So there was Mandela, Mbeki, and then President Jacob Zuma, 0.51
00:01:52.640 complete gangster, rogue villain.
00:01:55.280 He's a gangster, Jacob Zuma? 0.98
00:01:57.140 He's the gangster.
00:01:58.520 And he instituted a thing called state capture.
00:02:02.500 All our state-owned enterprises, railways, electricity supply,
00:02:07.120 South African airways, he put loyalists in place
00:02:10.360 whose only job was to steal.
00:02:12.680 And hundreds of billions of rand were stolen and offshored.
00:02:19.440 And that was when the country began its descent
00:02:23.040 into potential economic collapse.
00:02:25.980 This is in 08?
00:02:27.180 This is 08, 09, till 2017.
00:02:31.180 So state capture is a type of systemic political corruption
00:02:33.560 in which private interests significantly influence
00:02:35.340 a state's decision-making processes to their own advantage.
00:02:39.240 The term was first used in World Bank in 2000,
00:02:41.400 describing certain Central Asian countries
00:02:43.380 making the transition from Soviet communism
00:02:46.160 where small corrupt groups use their influence
00:02:49.440 over government officials to appropriate
00:02:51.440 government decision-making
00:02:53.160 in order to strengthen their economic positions.
00:02:55.540 Okay, so 2008, 2009, he's doing this.
00:02:59.540 He begins it.
00:03:00.320 He begins it.
00:03:01.080 And they remove all the middle-class, small-town, big-city employees
00:03:09.100 who for decades have been handling maintenance
00:03:13.380 of the local sewage plant.
00:03:15.780 You know, all those jobs that the smaller people 0.96
00:03:18.820 in smaller jobs do day-to-day to keep the economy going.
00:03:22.180 And they put ANC, the government, loyalists in place
00:03:26.300 who had no competence and who ended up stealing and breaking.
00:03:31.820 Every one of our state-owned enterprises,
00:03:33.900 either bankrupt or stolen to death as of today.
00:03:37.880 But in 2017, the ANC elected a new president,
00:03:43.220 because they had over 50% of the votes,
00:03:45.120 President Cyril Ramaphosa,
00:03:48.140 who everyone believed would save the country.
00:03:51.760 He's been just as bad as Zuma. 0.96
00:03:54.760 And he arrives tomorrow to meet President Donald Trump.
00:03:59.100 He arrives tomorrow to meet President Donald Trump.
00:04:00.840 Ramaphosa.
00:04:01.960 Yeah, he said he was negotiating with the president.
00:04:05.320 So tomorrow might, if it's recorded,
00:04:07.800 tomorrow might be in the past.
00:04:09.460 That's right.
00:04:10.060 Yeah.
00:04:10.860 So now how do you feel about him versus Jacob Zuma?
00:04:15.380 Jacob Zuma was fundamentally evil and malevolent. 1.00
00:04:20.460 He's like a populist, clown, dangerous. 1.00
00:04:25.040 And he's trying to come back into power. 1.00
00:04:27.120 And he'll be way, way, way more dangerous if he does.
00:04:31.160 Cyril Ramaphosa is now head of the ANC.
00:04:33.620 And he was a trade unionist.
00:04:35.940 He was one of the first South African black billionaires.
00:04:38.300 He has the McDonald's franchises in South Africa.
00:04:42.100 He understands the mining industry.
00:04:44.380 He's the kind of guy you would actually like having a meal with,
00:04:47.240 like talking to.
00:04:48.700 But he's like a pillow.
00:04:50.560 He takes the shape of the last person that sat on him.
00:04:54.580 He'll tell you what you want to hear.
00:04:57.240 Then he'll meet trade unionists,
00:04:59.020 tell them what you want to hear, and so on and so on.
00:05:01.120 Have you met him before?
00:05:02.240 I've met him, but I refused.
00:05:03.860 He's trying to meet me.
00:05:04.660 I refused to meet him.
00:05:05.800 Zuma or the existing president?
00:05:07.180 I've spoken to Zuma and I've met Ramaphosa.
00:05:10.380 They're both equally bad because what they've done over the last 14 years
00:05:15.540 is institute racism, anti-white, anti-coloured, anti-Indian racism, 0.82
00:05:21.980 socialism, and their government has been kleptocratic and ineptocratic. 0.97
00:05:28.080 So on one hand, stealing. 0.99
00:05:30.560 On the other hand, completely incompetent.
00:05:32.580 They have de-industrialized our country and we are growing at 1% economic growth 0.89
00:05:38.960 and our population growth is 2%.
00:05:41.900 What does that mean?
00:05:43.020 We get poorer every year.
00:05:44.520 The country is falling apart because of the ANC.
00:05:47.440 Yeah, I'm looking at some data here.
00:05:50.260 Since South Africa's GDP has stagnated, averaging 0.8% annually from 2012 to 2022.
00:05:56.220 Yeah, 2008, 2009, Jacob Zuma gets in.
00:05:59.700 Compared to 4.8% the previous decade, 94 to 04,
00:06:05.340 unemployment reached 33.5% in 2024,
00:06:09.200 with youth unemployment at 61%.
00:06:12.300 Highest in the world.
00:06:13.560 Highest in the world.
00:06:14.280 How?
00:06:15.280 By complete incompetence and malevolence, evil. 0.99
00:06:20.080 They're pushing anti-white racism and socialism by the day. 0.98
00:06:25.360 And let me give you the worst of it.
00:06:27.120 We have a policy called Black Economic Empowerment, BEE.
00:06:31.580 The reason Starlink isn't in South Africa yet
00:06:35.080 is because the South African government said to Elon Musk,
00:06:38.080 if you want to bring Starlink to South Africa, 0.88
00:06:39.620 you've got to give 30% of your business to a black person, 0.97
00:06:44.940 and we'll tell you who. 0.81
00:06:46.740 Who said this?
00:06:47.400 Jacob Zuma?
00:06:48.000 Our government says this.
00:06:48.980 It's a government policy.
00:06:50.860 So whatever business you're running,
00:06:52.580 I'm doing $100 million a year.
00:06:53.780 I built this thing myself.
00:06:55.100 I have to give it to a black person, 30% of it, 1.00
00:06:58.080 and they pick and choose who it is.
00:07:00.520 If you have any dealing with the government.
00:07:03.620 If you have any dealing with the South African government.
00:07:05.060 So if I have a government contract,
00:07:06.560 and I'm doing business with them,
00:07:08.620 30% of the ownership of the company 0.92
00:07:11.040 needs to go to a black person that they choose. 0.96
00:07:13.480 Or that you choose that's acceptable to them.
00:07:16.280 Or that you choose that is acceptable to them.
00:07:18.660 But in most cases, these people.
00:07:20.220 I say it to Rob. 0.96
00:07:20.320 Rob is a black person in South Africa, let's just say. 0.98
00:07:23.380 And you say, no, Rob is not good. 0.97
00:07:26.300 Then I say Humberto, and Humberto is a black person. 0.72
00:07:28.580 You say, yeah, we'll approve that one.
00:07:29.740 Yeah.
00:07:30.120 That's how it works.
00:07:30.700 And they don't have to put any money off.
00:07:32.580 You effectively have to fund it.
00:07:34.140 Is this a law?
00:07:36.820 It's a law.
00:07:37.680 If he searches it, he'll find it?
00:07:40.100 Type in BEE, or Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment.
00:07:45.000 B-B-B-E-E.
00:07:46.880 Have a look.
00:07:47.320 South Africa.
00:07:48.320 And it's getting worse.
00:07:49.500 They're trying to institute a law of any private company
00:07:52.320 of 50 or more employees has to have BEE,
00:07:56.060 whether you work with the government or not.
00:07:57.340 So like a real estate agent.
00:07:58.580 This is currently on the table.
00:08:02.440 But I'll give you one worse law than this.
00:08:06.400 What's that?
00:08:07.020 You ready for these three words?
00:08:08.060 I do.
00:08:08.580 Tell me what this means to you.
00:08:10.440 And it's been signed in January.
00:08:13.880 Expropriation without compensation.
00:08:17.520 Unpacked.
00:08:17.840 Would you invest in this country that says we can expropriate
00:08:21.900 not just your land, not just your mines,
00:08:25.140 the watch of your arm and your house without compensation
00:08:28.260 if it's in the public interest?
00:08:31.360 What's the incentive for me?
00:08:33.900 Well, you'll never invest in South Africa with a law like that.
00:08:35.660 No, why would I do that?
00:08:36.600 You wouldn't.
00:08:37.580 Why would I invest anymore in South Africa?
00:08:39.480 I won't.
00:08:40.520 Foreign direct investment has dried up. 0.98
00:08:43.520 And our government, our moronic ANC government, 0.99
00:08:47.120 continues to institute. 0.98
00:08:49.360 Donald Trump is angry with South Africa.
00:08:51.680 I mean, it's amazing we've even made his priority list
00:08:53.780 because he calls South Africa DEI as a country. 0.98
00:08:59.160 It is racist and socialist and destructive 0.96
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