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South Africa is not only dealing with a National Shutdown this week, but also with a couple of political hand grenades. In his latest chat to Chris Steyn, political commentator Solly Moeng his gives take on the alleged assassination attempt on Crime Intelligence (CI) boss General Feroz Khan just days before he was due at the Madlanga Commission, which heard testimony today that allies of the General had offered MKP MP Vusi Shongwe a R10-million bribe to back off pursuing testimony from him; as well as bombshell allegations from embittered former Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen. “…Who owns the truth? Do political leaders and other office bearers take decisions because they really came to a point of being informed that this was good for South Africa, or are they doing it because somebody else is paying somebody else to convince them that’s the way to go?” Moeng also comments on breaking news of violence erupting between marchers and residents in Yeoville amid relative calm on National Shut Down day.
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Edited transcript of the interview
Chris Steyn (00:00.975)
South Africa is not only dealing with a National Shutdown this week, but also with a couple of political hand grenades. Let us hear more from political commentator Solly Moeng. Welcome, Solly.
Solly Moeng (00:15.308)
Hello, hello Chris. Lovely to see you.
Chris, I’m getting calls from friends from overseas. People are watching this country. They’re like, Surely, what is going on in your country? It’s almost like we have institutions that are reaching a stress point. It’s like security issues, governance issues, what do you call it? Immigration issues, everything all lumped in together. And these investigations into crime, killings, it’s and then the political parties doing their own thing, you know, either positioning themselves for the elections coming up or… It’s unstoppable.
Chris Steyn (00:52.247)
Unstoppable. It certainly seems like it. Solly, first the National Shutdown today was the deadline, is the deadline, from anti-immigrant groups for undocumented foreigners to leave South Africa. There’s been some violence in Johannesburg, in Yeoville, where marchers and residents threw stones at each other. But otherwise, it has been relatively peaceful.
Solly Moeng (01:16.962)
Yeah, it’s a good thing. Look there have been very, very strong calls for there to be no violence. And it’s a good thing that even the leader… Zuma was also quoted as saying we don’t want violence. Government has made it clear there shouldn’t be violence. Of course the government takes the responsibility for this, but it’s a good thing that the strong call for no violence has been largely heeded. Of course there have been some unfortunate deaths leading to this thing.
What really surprises me, Chris, is the number of foreign nationals. People say some people have documents, but decided it’s not safe, they’re going to leave anyway. But the sheer number of people who suddenly emerged, Malawians in KZN, in Western Cape, in Johannesburg, Eastern Cape, people who are just quietly living their lives in South Africa. I mean, so what do we get out of it? Of course we want legality, we want everybody to be here legal. I think that everybody who is in South Africa, South African or not, must have some form of documentation that says who they are. There’s no doubt about that. I hope that, you know, people who deserve to be here will be here, but they cannot be here illegally.
Look, we don’t know where it’s going to land in the end. It’s just one day of making a statement, a statement that has been clear; the whole world is watching this statement. But we also have at some point to talk about the ramifications for Africa for South Africa. Many people in Africa, in the rest of Africa, are very angry at us. I’ve seen a video, I hope it’s also isolated, of Nigerians that are attacking two South African black women in the streets in revenge to what’s been happening, what is reported to have been happening to their own people. There’s a lot of anger. I would have friends from Benin, from Kenya, who are worried about what’s going on.
It’s a difficult thing. It’s very layered. We I don’t think that doing nothing about it is the way to go, but how we handle it will leave a mark on South Africa’s image. There’s no doubt about it.
Chris Steyn (03:28.197)
It’s now just after three o’clock in the afternoon, so let us hope there is no further violence today, Solly.
Solly Moeng (03:37.293)
Yeah, let’s let’s hope so. Let’s hope that … .but I think this may this look they’ve made their message clear; it’s out there.
But it doesn’t mean that every single foreigner is going to leave South Africa. But I think that government then must come in to say, Okay, South Africans we’ve heard you even if it even if it’s just reactionary, right? To say this is what we’re going to start working towards.
We know that several political parties are already positioning themselves around this topic ahead of the next local government elections. So it it shouldn’t be used as something that’s just for political opportuniti opportunism that will end, you know, soon as soon as another topic comes up.
Chris Steyn (04:18.559)
To those political hand grenades. The Matdanga Commission has heard from MKP MP Vusi Shongwe that he was offered a R10-million rand bribe to back off from pursuing testimony from Crime Intelligence boss General Feroz Khan, who now has apparently survived an alleged attempted assassination.
Solly Moeng (04:42.316)
Yeah, you know, Chris, first of all I need to say congratulations to the Madlanga Commission. We’ve had many, many commissions since the end of Apartheid. A lot of times they had been used to whitewash criminal activity linked to senior strong politicians. I wonder whether Cyril Ramaphosa expected this Madlanga Commission to turn out as it has. It’s a good thing that it’s shining all that light into the crevices of darkness, institutional takeover, you know, State Capture in different forms.
Now this thing that’s coming out about the bribe. Obviously, there are people out there with interests which have penetrated state institutions, including the police services, which are beginning to feel threatened. And and they don’t hesitate. Look, there’s a lot of speculation around whether or not, you know, Khan’s shooting was staged. The facts are that he is in hospital, he was shot, he’s still alive, hopefully he’ll survive another day to come and finish his story where he left off.
But it’s dangerous. HGe will need protection. And other people like him will need protection. But South Africa must know the truth. And the justice system must get involved. And it’s a good thing that the Political Killings Task Force has been roped in into this because we know that we can trust that they will do the right thing for South Africa.
Chris Steyn (05:58.746)
This commission is definitely seen as one with teeth. We’ve seen assassinations to prevent people from testifying, and we have even had…Remember Brian Mogotsi tried to stage his own assassination as well to disappear. The last thing he wanted to do was testify before the Madlanga Commission.
Solly Moeng (06:21.056)
Exactly. And it’s amazing this man has played all sorts of tricks. I mean, the shooting of his car and all that stuff. I mean look, the thing is South Africans have the right to be cynical because you know there was the Brett Kebble story, remember? There was the Gavin Wood story. People are still saying this dude is probably living somewhere on an island, you know, enjoying his life. People are even saying things about the former Ambassador of South Africa to Paris who died of killing himself. Some people are saying maybe it’s not dead. So
And people could be wrong in these things. But the thing is South Africans have reason to be cynical when these things happen because we never know who owns the truth, who manufactures the truth, who is being manipulated. The truth is there’s there’s a lot of all of that in the basket. So we have to be extremely discerning, not to not to be led by you know, by tweets or by news headlines. We need to read more, to ask more questions, to check stories because there’s a lot happening, there are lots of interests that are being
Chris Steyn (07:26.309)
Mm, that is a brilliant question, Solly. Who owns the truth? Let’s go to that bombshell from embittered former Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen.
Solly Moeng (07:40.111)
You know, you and I spoke about him last week, a day before he was removed, and we were saying, given what’s going on, maybe he should be removed. Okay, I don’t think they removed him because of what you and I were saying on this platform. It happened like within twenty-four hours, he was removed.
And then he went into that interview. I have never seen anything like that. Basically he took one grenade and threw it at several people. Boom, boom, boom, boom. At his friend, Geordin Hill-Lewis, the new leader of the DA, at Tony Leon, the founder of the DA as we know it, because former leader veteran, now heading that communications agency.
And the DA basically is saying, Well, this is what these people have been doing. Yeah, there’s the whole ….thing that is also involved that apparently has been playing tricks to remove him because he wasn’t playing ball: apparently he should have at that White House meeting admitted that there was indeed a white genocide in South Africa and he didn’t.
I mean like again who owns the truth? But I think Tony Leon, it’s true that and I saw the response by the DA and by Tony Leon. Of course they have the right to lobby. Lobbying happens all the time. The ANC gets lobbied…the question is who gets swayed by these things and to what extent does the action they take serve the Republic, South Africa. Now Tony Leon should have, in my view, Tony Leon should have, you know, disclosed. You know, I mean everybody knows it’s on the website; it’s online that he’s the chairman of this company. But the extent of his involvement with the DA, a party that he led and the kind of things, especially Starlink, which has been in the media and the role that he’s been playing, I think that it’s a tough thing. It’s not a criminal of course offense, but it’s a reputational offence.
Again it’s about back to the question we’re asking, who owns the truth? To what extent is there other stuff that is happening?
Solly Moeng (09:39.452)
That is just pure manipulation. Do political leaders and other office bearers take decisions because they really came to a point of being informed that this was good for South Africa, or are they doing it because somebody else is paying somebody else to convince them that’s the way to go? We don’t know that. And I’m telling you that it’s happening not just in SA, it’s happening throughout, across the political space.
Chris Steyn (10:02.114)
Hm. Some people seem to think that Steenhuisen is preemptively going to war to be in a stronger position should further allegations emerge about his conduct as party leader personally and otherwise.
Solly Moeng (10:20.759)
Yeah, look, I don’t see him in the short term….it’s going to be hard for him. But one should never dismiss people in politics.
Remember Zuma when Mbeki fired him after those allegations of corruption in the Arms Deal and all that other stuff with Shabir Shaik. When Zuma was fired, he left the party, went out there, he came back strong with the people who used to be referred to as the as the Wounded Coalition, you know, the Coalition of the Wounded, the the ANC Youth League at the time led by Malema, the Communists led like by Blade Nzimande Zimande and COSATU led by Zwelinzima Vavi at the time. They came back very strong in Polokwane and removed Mbeki from power.
So Zuma is known to have mastered the art of playing victim. He’s really good. Nobody can commercialise victimhood as Zuma can.
So let’s see what happens to Steenuisen. I think clearly there’s going to be tensions between him…There are already tensions between him and his friend, the new leader of the DA…. And it’s not going to be an easy ride for him over the next period.
We have to see whether he goes elsewhere to reinvent himself as a consultant. Maybe I mean that farming community that liked the work that he did. Maybe some of them might want to work with him. Maybe Ramaphosa might say, you what, thank you for doing what you did because you’re giving us something to use against the DA. Let’s make you ambassador to you know, somewhere out there. Nobody can stop him. The president can decide I’m going to make you an ambassador in a different country.
Solly Moeng (11:59.628)
So it’s gonna be interesting to watch which way John Steenhuisen jumps, and where he emerges. But I think it’s not going to be a very comfortable place for him to be in the same room as these people that he’s just thrown this grenade at.
Chris Steyn (12:15.36)
Indeed, thank you. That was political commentator, Sully Moeng, speaking to BizNews, at the start of an exceptionally explosive political week in South Africa. Thank you, Solly.
Solly Moeng (12:29.013)
It’s a pleasure. It’s a pleasure, Chris. Thank you. Lovely talking to you.
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