Political commentator Solomon Weng tells Chris Steyn what he makes of patriotic alliance leader Gaten McKenzie and what voters should be watching.

If we look at Gaten McKenzie, he's all blaster.

You know, he really just loves his voice.

But he's a strong voice.

He says a lot of things, but he's been accused of things that are not nice, even though some of these, all of those things have not been proven, you know.

But he's not, I mean, the whole appointments of boards, you know, and apparently favoring his own friends, the expenses, the public funds that he uses in his own, in his overseas travel, and he doesn't seem to care.

I mean, you can't sit outside of government and speak out against the abuse of public funds, public resources, public position.

Anybody else?

Who else would it be? Is it that hard? Yeah, I don't know, but I think sometimes I'm being unfair to Musi Maimane and to, what's the fellow from Rajmizan's, Sungezo Sunzebo.

They're not ministers, of course.

They are in government.

They occupy, you know, oversight positions, you know, important, you know, the budget and the, what do they call it, looking at the finances.

What was the position again? So I think it's important that they keep, so no, they had outside, their positions were able to say, but you must managing public funds here, here, here, here.

inside of government, they are able to say, well, how do we then use the same voices to influence the way things are done? How do we? And Seng Izo has been very good in saying, no, there have been investigations, but there are no charges.

Who would you single out there?

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Look, this commission, unlike all the other commissions that came before it, including the Zonda Commission, has created a lot of excitement, but positive, you know, how to say, interest and trust of the public.

that it would lead to something.

It would lead to something.

So it's important that the commission also, of course, it doesn't call people to testify under public pressure.

If there's potential evidence that will help it achieve its mandate, irrespective of who that person must be, who must be called, it has to call those people.

It cannot just you know, give us peripheral evidence from the branches of a tree, if you want, while the core evidence that sits in the trunk of the tree is not core because there might be some political sensitivities around such evidence.

Which other commissions of failure stand out for you, Sonny?

How would you have liked President Cyril Ramaphosa to have handled the Zondo Commission report?

Look, I think the institutions that we currently have are not helpful because in sen- in, in terms of Section 84.2f of the Constitution, uh, the president appoints the, the, the commissions of inquiry and he determines the terms of reference thereof.

But the problem is that when the presi-...

Okay, the president is a deployed member of the, of a political party.

In, in this case he's a deployed member of the ANC.

Now, if the evidence that ends up with the commission points to the party, the, the most powerful party, to the people to whom the report must be handed with recommendations, then I think the chairperson of the commission, in, in this case Zondo, maybe he could have come up with a way to recommend.

Of course, he can't create in, in- structures that don't exist but you could make a, you could have made a very strong recommendation that maybe a, an independent multi-discipi- discipline- plinary body that is led by indepen- an independent person gets given the responsibility to ensure that the report's recommendations are, are, are, are, are take- are, you know, are, are properly implemented, not selectively, not politically managed.

Which other commissions of failure stand out for you? Sorry.

It's great to have you.

[laughs] No, no, no, no, Clarence.

I don't represent any party.

I'm just quite fascinated, uh, by this phenomenon of colored vote and, and or not parties.

It's absolutely true that voters must and will be looking at whether or not a particular party will-- is the best suited one to, to respond to their daily needs in service delivery, transportation, affordability of housing, uh, health, uh, health services, uh, gangsterism in the Western Cape, safety, you know, especially in places like Mitchells Plain and the Cape Flats generally.

But I think that they should also look at what, uh, the, the, the record of the parties that are, uh, presenting themselves in front of them.

If the party says is a broken place, okay? Uh, you can't, you can't, you can't give to somebody a job, some-- the person who's failed this badly elsewhere, who continues to fail, and you think they're going to succeed when they come to your neighborhood simply because you're not happy with the person who's there.

What has stood out for you in recent days?

Sibanyoni was something else.

This man, I mean, it's very clear that he's very feared and he's used to being very feared.

And he was trying to play that game that we came into those series with the attitude that he is Sibanyoni.

And I'm really happy that Madanga basically put him back to where he belongs.

I'm disappointed that Ramaphosa, when that video of him was showed with Madashi and this man, as president and commander-in-chief of our joint armed forces, he didn't stand down and say, dude, you can't, that's wrong.

And if you do that, you're going to be arrested.

But in the meantime, he has been granted leave to appeal his conviction and sentence for a firearms discharge.

He's now gone to the High Court to try and challenge the decision to withdraw charges against National Commissioner General Fani Masamora.

Yeah, look, we have elections coming up.

I think politicians have to try and stand for something.

But at the same time, look, I think that if there's a case to be answered, there must be.

Marcel Miller was accused of PFMA-related charges.

Okay, he could have stopped corruption at the time he didn't do it.

50 million rands were paid to the criminal network, to the McLaren-linked criminal network.

On top of that, South Africa's relations with the US have taken another nosedive or two, Solly.

And these devices must be new ones because as far as I know, his previous seized devices have not been returned to him.

Yeah, that's correct.

They first went to his home, I think it was in October last year, they took his devices, as you say, and they were never returned.

So it's very clear this time that they're very specific about what they're looking for.

They're not just on a fishing expedition, this is a judiciary-led process.

They were very specific about which devices they want to take from him.

They're obviously very clear about more or less what they're looking for, in terms of the communications between him and other people, the tracing of Manis' possible fraud.

They didn't have to tackle him and wrestle him for them, but I don't think he had a choice.

Internationally, how would you encapsulate the state of relations between South Africa and the United States?

I was beginning to think that with Rolf Mayer representing us, we'd be in a much better place than aging white Afrikaans men representing this country.

They have not kicked him out of the U.S., but it seems like he's not good enough for them.

He's not good enough.

Now, Boesel is saying he didn't really come up with it.

Somebody said, well, maybe in an interview, somebody said, what about Mbeki? I don't know why they threw Mbeki into that conversation.

And he decided to say, yeah, he wouldn't be such a bad man.

I'm bracing myself.

Um, National Commissioner Fannie Masemola, the National Prosecuting Authority has dropped charges against him.

Yeah.

Look, we, we, we, first of all, we didn't know where the allegations or the nature of the allegations and, and they were not tested in any court of law.

Obviously, you know, the revelations that have come out in subsequent months or weeks, weeks have driven, have gotten to the point where it doesn't make sense to keep the charges, uh, against Masemola, but I think he still, if I were him, I would still want those charges to be, to be proven.

All right? Um, uh, but it's a good thing if, if there's nothing to be proven against him or to be, to be, uh, given everything, everything considered without having gone, gone to the courts.

I think it makes sense that they give him time to come back and explain and do the work that he must be, uh, doing to, to hopefully stabilize the situation.

But look, it's not going to be enough to drop a few names anywhere within these structures.

Uh, what would you like to rant about this week?

He says the party has to act on the AK Alias matter or risk looking more and more like the party it criticizes.

I think because it's the DA, the DA has always, you know, put itself out there.

And I, I think it was right to put itself out there, you know, because South, South Africans wanted to aspire for something better, for something that says we can still be that democracy.

But the thing is, if it keep, keeps failing its own tests, 'cause it can't keep saying, uh, "Well, the ANC does this, it's unaccept- acceptable." You know, uh, cadre deployment is not acceptable.

Deploying, deploying the wrong people into positions is not acce- acceptable.

Not vetting people is not acceptable.

But then it happens within its own rank.

Talking about leading, the founding chief of the Economic Freedom Fighters, it has become increasingly clear that he has to be hauled before the Medlonga Commission of Inquiry, Solly.

Reverend Frank Chikane being left off the list in Johannesburg, surely he was the party's only hope there.

Yeah.

[laughs] I, I, I'm surprised that he hasn't really said much, has he? I'm trying to find out what he's been saying about this.

Look, the ANC has always mastered the art of finding a face that, that, that, that is, um, that could be acceptable generally.

I mean, that's how they found Ramaphosa.

At the time, Ramaphosa was a smiling face, a friendly face that could go into any door, right? And then he became the Ramaphosa that we know today.

So I thought maybe they thought, "Yeah, Rama- you know, there's not a lot of scandal around Chikane.

Solly, I forgot last week to give you space for a rant, so you are allowed a double rant this week.

Diplomats say they've never seen this level of political assassination.

Yeah, it's very sad.

It's absolutely sad.

I mean, let's start...

Look... we're treating all these assassinations that are happening, and usually they happen as we head towards elections, right? Because we don't have any, you know, the entry level or the entry, how to say, the qualifications into politics and so on are very, very, very low.

Anyone can go in there, or lots of people who want to go in there and have their chance to eat, right? So they will kill one another.

We've seen people within the same political party as killing, you know, killing one another because this one, apparently is preferred for the position or prefers themselves for the position or, you know, they will make, enable others to eat if they're there.

But how about the level of corruption that's emerged from KZN subs?

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He's learning a lot from the ANC.

You know, look, the ANC has had 32 years o-of, of putting their own people in all the key, um, um, uh, positions of state, both in South Africa and in our foreign missions abroad.

So this guy has come in.

It's not just one.

Apparently four, five, six, seven boards, the, the National f-um, Film and Video Foundation, National Library, uh, SA Boxing, et cetera, et cetera.

So he come, he comes in to say, "Okay, look, we are in.

Now, details are emerging of the relationship between tenderpreneurs Kat Matlala, who is on trial and appearing before the Mhlangu Commission of Inquiry, and Mnguni Maumela, who is not on trial, who is not appearing before the Mhlangu Commission of Inquiry, and, um, whereabouts seem to be a mystery.

Yeah.

[laughs] Oh, it's about time.

I think it's about time.

I mean, this man's name has been, like...

Like that name that shall never be mentioned for far too long, you know? We know that he is related in one way or another with, uh, President Ramaphosa.

We know that Ramaphosa has denied knowing him, and then he was filmed, you know, apparently taking his c- casual walk and suddenly, you know, this guy opened his gate.

While you're on the lack of accountability and the lack of consequences, what else happened in the past week that you would like to rant about?

The full video is on biznews.com.

I think, um, the DA, as we head to these next elections, is, it's inadvertently giving its political opponents all sorts of things to say.

But you are not holier than us.

Look at here.

Look at what happened to the...

There was the, the matter of the, the former leader Tony Leon, uh, his agency apparently going behind the scenes to influence political decisions.

Now there's this matter here.

He said he resigned, uh, in 2024 to pursue a political career, but he was still chairman of the group until this year.

It fell apart at the last minute.

And they were silly to think they would get away with that kind of clo-...

You know, that sort of thing one cannot hold on to forever.

I mean, it's the same people.

Now, the, the, the, the, um, uh, the advocate in the IDEX office who came with the, who came out and said, "But that's not true.

Yeah, that's not true.

These are the things that happened." If, uh, Johnson, for instance, now is coming out that she was not a good leader.

Seems to have come about because she had, Zinte had said that she wanted to build an organization like AfriForum.

Solly, let us talk about the unintended consequences that have emerged from, uh, foreigners being chased out of the country.

Yeah.

I mean, [laughs] it's quite interesting.

It seems like there are, there are two camps now.

There are people who are saying, "Aha, we told you the foreigners were not the problem," and other people are saying, "Hmm, yeah, maybe we, we overreacted here." Because suddenly people who employed foreigners as gardeners, as, as, uh, as, as delivery guys on motorcycles, as, uh, who had them as tenants in their little apartments or homes and stuff, suddenly these people have left.

About 67,000 people, I think, were, were, were signed out of the country.

Now the gap they left behind is being felt.

And many people who had hoped to get jobs once the foreigners left ended up in long queues and disappointed.

The full interview is on biznews.com.

You know, the last time we discussed Zuma, I said Zuma is being Zuma.

I'm, I'm quite impressed by how South Africans pre- pretend to be surprised.

I mean, this was long coming.

This was very long coming.

I mean, Zuma was never going to exclude his son from it.

Even his Duduzane, Duduzile, the, the twin sister, I think there's going to be a time when he's going to bring him, to bring him in, uh, to bring her back in rather.

We still do not know what findings that report contains.

Has former President Jacob Zuma just secured the future of his MKP with the appointment of his son Duduzani as deputy president?

You know, the last time we discussed Zuma, I said Zuma is being Zuma.

I'm, I'm quite impressed by how South Africans pre- pretend to be surprised.

I mean, this was long coming.

This was very long coming.

I mean, Zuma was never going to exclude his son from here.

Even his Duduzani, Duduzile, the, the twin sister, I think there's going to be a time when he's going to bring him, to bring him in, uh, to bring her back in rather.

Meanwhile, the city of Cape Town is making a much harder push for bigger policing powers.

Four political parties have now joined in a constitutional court bid to try and overturn President Cyril Ramaphosa's impeachment committee interdict.

Yeah, it was, I think it was going to come at some point, isn't it? I think the pressure is going to keep growing.

Uh, I think a lot of people were, were quite surprised by the court allowing Ramaphosa to, to, to, to, to win a case on the basis that his reputation would be harmed.

We had this discussion before.

What reputation? Why, why do other people have to go through this and he doesn't? So, but on the, on the other hand, I think people might say, look, the hearing of the actual matter in terms of Phala Phala is going to happen in September, which is not too far.

Why not wait? So it's going to be interesting to see whether the court is going to say, "Guys, please, just wait one more month, and then this thing will be ventilated in a court of law," or whether they, they pass it.

E- everything is not on, on substance.

In a development that might be related to Phala Phala, a murder investigation into a death of General Sandile Mufase, who was apparently investigating an unauthorized undercover operation to cover up, uh, wrongdoings at high level.

How about the 300,000 rand for work money and the 250,000 rand for patkos, Zoli?

Yeah, I have no sympathy for her.

I have no sympathy for people like her and others.

But I also...

You know, if you really think about it, people who work really hard for their money don't go around giving money to politicians in brown envelopes.

It's the tender system again.

If you really work hard for your business, you're not going to start putting money into envelopes.

Harvard board decimated.

At what point do we start to look at the business relationships for that and put aside the diplomatic aspects of it? Because I think about something like Starlink, that has a whole different set of ramifications around it.

Yeah, look, we've always said there were at least 600 plus American companies that invested in South Africa.

South Africa is, America is not a socialist, communist party country where private business has to obtain government permission to invest.

We're not under sanctions.

If were that the case, that would probably be a bit of a problem.

But I think American communists can come here wherever they see opportunities, they will grow.

The diplomatic issues are diplomatic issues, and we know that they relate entirely or mostly on South Africa posture, on Israel and Palestine, maybe to an extent on Russia.

but from global players without needing to have every conversation spill over into a diplomatic one

He says South Africa's criminal justice institutions are now themselves under scrutiny, and the country needs answers from the people meant to protect them.

I was amused by the Malanga hospital ward [laughs] that everybody was sharing on social media.

It, I mean, w- we should be laughing, but we are laughing, but we shouldn't really be laughing at this stuff.

The truth is, of, of the matter is that the entire criminal justice system, at least the police, the crime, uh, pol- uh, uh, security system is in court right now.

It's in the, it is in the co- Malanga Commission now partly in co- in the court as well.

So these are the people who were d- who's, who are heading institutions were d- that were designed to stand between South Africa and hell, but instead they are the ones who are being, who are being scrutinized for, for wrongdoing.

IDEC, and we know that the leader of IDEC, uh, decided to, to, well, for some reason became sick and hospitalized the day w- she was supposed to also appear.

Every week there is high drama, but this week it was extraordinary.

[laughs] I was amused by the Mbalula hospital ward [laughs] that everybody was sharing on social media.

And I mean, w- we should be laughing, but we are laughing, but we shouldn't really be laughing at this stuff.

The truth is, of, of the matter is that the entire criminal justice system, at least the police, the crime, uh, pol- uh, uh, security system, is in court right now.

It's in the, it is in the co- Mbalula Commission now partially in co- in the courts as well.

So these are the people who were de- whose, who are heading institutions were, that were designed to stand between South Africa and hell, but instead they're the ones who are being, who are being scrutinized for, for wrongdoing.

IDEC, and we know that the leader of IDEC, uh, decided to, to, well, for some reason became sick and hospitalized the day when she was supposed to also appear.

Has that celebration become almost meaningless in the face of what has become of the country since he was president? Uh, what kind of leader can fill his shoes?