Sunday Times Politics Weekly TimesLIVE Podcasts

South Africa allowed Zimbabwe to be run into the ground, says Mmusi Maimane on the Sunday Times Politics Weekly, blaming the government for the influx of Zimbabweans into SA.
“If it wasn’t for the ANC’s policy on the government of national unity when [late former president of Zimbabwe Robert] Mugabe had lost elections we wouldn’t have this influx of Zimbabweans,” says Maimane as he is quizzed by Sunday Times deputy editor Mike Siluma.
Zimbabwean citizens fled to SA because of economic turmoil and political violence, among other reasons, in 2007. SA had been a mediator in that country’s political conflict. 
According to census figures there were just more than a million Zimbabweans in SA in 2022.
The topic of undocumented migrants is dominating the political agenda in the run-up to the May 29 elections. Maimane proposes borders be secured and foreigners be legalised. He believes he can document foreigners in two years.
Maimane has criteria for foreigners wanting to become citizens: learn SA's laws, speak South African languages and don’t set up your own community in SA.
That’s just the tip of the wide-ranging conversation with Maimane in this instalment of the podcast. Maimane talks about a grand coalition of opposition parties; parties he can work with; solutions to crime, saying localised policing, metro police and private police should be merged; and the controversial National Health Insurance which he says is populist and timed for the election.
Don't take our word for it — listen, and share your views.

The DA should have burnt the ANC flag instead of the national flag, says ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba says in a wide-ranging interview on the Sunday Times Politics Weekly podcast.
The party stirred controversy earlier this week when it launched its election campaign advertisement showing the national flag in flames. The DA has defended the advert, with federal chair Helen Zille saying the alternative to being rescued is dying. The party’s election slogan is “Unite to rescue South Africa”.
Asked about his ambitions, Mashaba said: “Being president of the country or being a premier are the last jobs I want, but I am committed to finding a solution to our country’s problems.”
He said he blames former president Thabo Mbeki for many of the country’s problems, saying his advice proved to be “disastrous” and “he’s got the experience of destroying”.
Mashaba told podcast host Mike Siluma that ActionSA has proposed renaming eThekwini after the late Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
He also discussed his party’s plans for economic recovery and immigration.
Listen and share your views.

Anele Mda, an independent candidate vying for a seat in parliament, says political parties will be chasing after independents but she won’t work with any party. She is our guest on the Sunday Times Politics Weekly podcast with Sunday Times deputy editor Mike Siluma. 
We kick-start the conversation by asking her why it was important to publicly rebuke the IEC for not displaying her photo during the signing of the Electoral Code of Conduct.
Eastern Cape-born Mda tells us how she was bitten by the politics bug as a child and about her journey in politics. 
She is a former ANC member and founding member of COPE.
In a significant milestone in our democracy independent candidates have a seat at the table with established political parties for the first time in the country’s history to contest elections. 
“We are the ones who will set the agenda. Political parties will be the ones running after us, not the other way around,” she says.
Mda says she is not planning not to become entangled with any political party.
She also took swipe at some parties. “Imagine having to sit in the ANC in this day and age and lie and say there’s a good story to tell? What good story to tell? Imagine being in the DA and sit there and lie and say there’s a whole intentional embrace of Africans in the DA … Imagine me going to an EFF where I am going to be led by a demagogue that does not respect any woman leader … Imagine me going to Rise Mzansi, sitting there and acting as though ’no we’re an honest new political party that is not aligned’. Who funds you?” she said.
More is covered in detail in the conversation. Listen, subscribe for free and share with your circle.

One of the big election stories has been the Jacob Zuma factor and his uMkhonto weSizwe Party.
According to polls and by-election results, the party has outshone parties such as the EFF and the IFP.
In this episode of the Sunday Times Politics Weekly we explain and hopefully demystify the Zuma/MKP phenomenon in our politics, and how it might impact our body politic after May 29.
Our guests this time are Sanusha Naidu, senior research associate with the Institute for Global Dialogue, and Susan Booysen, visiting Wits professor.
We hear on the podcast that Zuma feels wronged by corruption allegations against him and is out for revenge against his successor President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Booysen tells us the MKP is a revenge party that will wreak havoc on the ANC, and it could damage it much more than it has so far. Booysen explains which parties the MKP is taking votes from, and if polls and by-elections are good predictors of the May 29 election results.
Naidu says Zuma’s purpose is about vindicating himself because he did not finish his second term. On the party’s court battles with the IEC, Naidu says, “I get the sense we’ll have to deal with security now more than ever before in this election”.
There are a lot more interesting perspectives from our panellists who are hosted by Sunday Times deputy editor Mike Siluma. Listen and share your views.

Mike Siluma sits down with Election expert Ebrahim Fakir to discuss the upcoming South African elections and what you need to know from how they work, to how they are calculated and what you need to do!

Veteran trade union leader Zwelinzima Vavi has had his setbacks, but the “tragic mistake” he is still kicking himself for was to support Jacob Zuma in becoming president of the ANC and the republic.
The only mistake, and the biggest mistake, is that I was convinced by some members of both Cosatu and the SACP that the then deputy president of the ANC, Jacob Zuma, was going to be good for the agenda of the working class and therefore we must rally workers behind him.”

In this episode of the Sunday Times Politics Weekly, politics reporter Sisanda Mbolekwa is joined by Saftu general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi to unpack a variety of issues, including the state of trade unions in the country, his views on South Africa’s political landscape, the upcoming general elections and what it will take to fix some of the biggest crises facing the country.