Sharp Sharp

Financial Mail x Scrolla

The Financial Mail and Scrolla.Africa join forces to bring you South Africa's sharpest weekly conversation. Rob Rose and Zukile Majova sit down each week to talk straight about politics, money, and power. No spin. No script. Just the truth.

  1. 2 ngày trước

    Herman Mashaba tells Sharp Sharp: Helen Zille is the Red Line

    ActionSA president Herman Mashaba joins Rob Rose and Zukile Majova in studio for episode 28 of Sharp Sharp, the weekly podcast on politics, money and power from the Financial Mail and Scrolla.Africa. Mashaba makes his position clear: he will not work with Helen Zille. Rob and Zuks question him on his fallout with the DA, his conditions for coalitions and what that means for the fight to govern Johannesburg. The conversation also covers immigration, his record as mayor and his plans to fix the city. The hosts challenge his claims about undocumented migrants and press him on how he would turn his promises into action. From building Black Like Me to taking on Joburg’s political battles, Mashaba explains what drives him and why he believes he can win voters back.

    Herman Mashaba tells Sharp Sharp: Helen Zille is the Red Line

  2. 1 thg 10

    The Dark Art of Election Polling

    Rob Rose and Zukile Majova are joined by Gareth van Onselen, CEO of Victory Research, for episode 27 of Sharp Sharp, the weekly podcast on politics, money and power from the Financial Mail and Scrolla.Africa. Can we trust the polls? Gareth explains how election polling works, what separates good research from bad numbers, and why a poll is a snapshot rather than a prediction. They examine sample sizes, margins of error, political bias and the questions journalists should ask before reporting a headline figure. The conversation turns to South Africa’s local elections. Gareth unpacks the ANC’s turnout problem, the DA’s prospects in Johannesburg and Tshwane, and the forces behind the rise of MK and the Patriotic Alliance. They also explore why voters staying home can matter as much as voters changing parties, what the ANC’s candidate-list failures mean for affected municipalities, and how wishful thinking shapes the way we read polls.

    The Dark Art of Election Polling

  3. 24 thg 9

    End of the Road for Fikile Mbalula?

    Rob Rose and Zukile Majova return for episode 26 of Sharp Sharp, the weekly podcast on politics, money and power from the Financial Mail and Scrolla.Africa. The pressure is building on Fikile Mbalula. The ANC secretary-general is being blamed for the party’s failure to submit 181 council candidates on time. He also faces Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s vote-buying allegations and threatened legal action from AfriForum over comments about an Eastern Cape school principal. Rob and Zuks ask whether one of the ANC’s great political survivors has become too much of a liability for the party to protect. They also examine the crisis at the top of the police, the collapse of Johannesburg’s inner city and the residents being left without basic services. The episode ends with Donald Trump’s claims about South Africa, the real problem of rural crime, the fight over Starlink and whether Thabo Mbeki could help repair relations with Washington.

    End of the Road for Fikile Mbalula?

  4. 17 thg 9

    Trump's Fake South Africa

    Rob Rose and Zukile Majova are joined by Patrick Smith from Africa Confidential for episode 25 of Sharp Sharp, the weekly podcast on politics, money and power from the Financial Mail and Scrolla.Africa. The Trump administration has announced targeted visa restrictions for foreign nationals involved in race based discrimination, repeating its claims that South Africa is persecuting Afrikaners. Rob, Zuks and Patrick ask why Washington remains committed to this distorted picture, what it could mean for business and diplomacy, and whether anyone can repair relations between the two countries. The conversation turns to the women whose bodies were found across Ekurhuleni. The team examines South Africa's failure to confront gender based violence, the collapse of trust in the police and why crime has not become a major election issue. They also unpack Fikile Mbalula's court battle with Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma over allegations of vote buying within the ANC. Mbalula denies the claims. The episode ends with Africa's successful campaign for the United Nations to use maps that show the continent at its true scale. New episodes every week.

    Trump's Fake South Africa

  5. 10 thg 9

    Beware the Death of the ANC

    Rob Rose and Zukile Majova return for episode 24 of Sharp Sharp, the weekly podcast on politics, money and power from the Financial Mail and Scrolla.Africa. The ANC failed one of the most basic tests facing any political party: submitting all its candidates for an election. Nearly 200 ANC candidates across several municipalities could be affected after the party missed the IEC’s deadline. Rob and Zuks ask what the failure reveals about the collapse of the ANC’s internal machinery and whether secretary-general Fikile Mbalula will be held accountable. With November’s local elections approaching, Mbalula has admitted that a disastrous result could bring down the ANC leadership before its 2027 conference. The conversation turns to the succession battle and why electoral chaos could strengthen Paul Mashatile while Patrice Motsepe and Zweli Mkhize remain possible challengers. Then comes the bigger question: what happens to South Africa if the ANC collapses? Rob and Zuks examine whether the DA is broad enough to replace it, the danger of the EFF and MK Party filling the vacuum, and why the ANC’s decline may need to be managed without allowing the country to collapse alongside it.

    Beware the Death of the ANC

  6. 3 thg 9

    How Low Can We Go?

    Rob Rose and Zukile Majova are joined by Patrick Smith from Africa Confidential for episode 23 of Sharp Sharp, the weekly podcast on politics, money and power from the Financial Mail and Scrolla.Africa. The week began with two Airlink jets flying dramatically low over Cape Town Stadium ahead of the Springboks and All Blacks Test, sparking a global safety debate. Rob and Zuks use it as the perfect metaphor for a party that never seems to plan ahead, the ANC, which missed the IEC's deadline to submit candidate lists in several Eastern Cape municipalities, risking being locked out of contesting those areas entirely. From there, the conversation turns to deputy president Paul Mashatile's prolonged and largely unexplained absence from public life, and Zuks makes the case for why Mashatile may have little incentive to campaign hard for an ANC win right now. Patrick joins for a deep dive into Zambia, where president Hakainde Hichilema was sworn in for a second term this week under deepening controversy. Notably absent from the inauguration was South Africa's own president, Cyril Ramaphosa. The team unpacks the international response, the ongoing legal fight over former president Edgar Lungu's body, and asks a bigger question, why doesn't popular anger over stolen elections and rising costs ever seem to topple governments in this part of Africa?

    How Low Can We Go?

  7. 27 thg 8

    The Curious Case of the ANC's Missing Mayors

    Rob Rose and Zukile Majova pay tribute to country music icon Dolly Parton, who died this week aged 80, before turning to the ANC's election manifesto, launched this weekend in Diepsloot, one of the areas where the party has failed to deliver basic services for three decades. Rob and Zuks pick apart promises of free electricity and water that ring hollow given municipalities owe Eskom over R110 billion, and electricity costs have risen 900% in twenty years. They then dig into the real story behind the ANC's continued refusal to name its mayoral candidates for Johannesburg and other metros. Incumbent Dada Morero remains in the running despite the city's collapse, Loyiso Masuku carries the taint of a Covid-19 era procurement scandal, and veteran Reverend Frank Chikane is being floated as an alternative, though his family reportedly has doubts. Zuks explains why the ANC is stalling right up against the IEC's deadline, fearing a repeat of Jacob Zuma's 2024 strategy of peeling off disgruntled councillors ward by ward. The conversation turns to the Democratic Alliance's own headache, the fallout from finance spokesperson Mark Burke's exchange control scandal, and what it might mean for donor confidence and the party's carefully built reputation for clean governance. The episode closes on a story about a motorist who called South Africa's 10111 emergency line to report a mob attack in progress, and was hung up on, and what that says about the state's relationship with the people it's meant to serve.

    The Curious Case of the ANC's Missing Mayors

  8. 20 thg 8

    Zambia's Election Nobody Believes

    Rob Rose and Zukile Majova are joined by Patrick Smith from Africa Confidential for episode 21 of Sharp Sharp, the weekly podcast on South African politics, money and power from the Financial Mail and Scrolla.Africa. Patrick unpacks Zambia's disputed election, where incumbent president Hakainde Hichilema was declared the winner with 60% of the vote, but mismatched turnout figures between the presidential and parliamentary ballots, an opposition leader now in hiding after an armed raid on his home, and a jailed bishop have left many unconvinced. Rob, Zuks and Patrick ask why SADC, the regional body meant to hold governments to account, stayed almost entirely silent on it. From there, the conversation turns to South Africa's own zama zama crisis, the illegal mining economy that has become impossible to ignore, and the wider pattern of artisanal mining stretching from Ghana to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The episode closes on a brewing scandal for the DA. Finance spokesperson Mark Burke is accused of moving R4 billion offshore in breach of exchange controls, and Zuks and Rob ask what it could mean for Helen Zille's campaign to become mayor of Johannesburg.

    Zambia's Election Nobody Believes
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Giới Thiệu

The Financial Mail and Scrolla.Africa join forces to bring you South Africa's sharpest weekly conversation. Rob Rose and Zukile Majova sit down each week to talk straight about politics, money, and power. No spin. No script. Just the truth.

Thông Tin

  • Nhà sáng tạo
    Financial Mail x Scrolla
  • Năm hoạt động
    2026
  • Tập
    28
  • Xếp hạng
    Sạch
  • Bản quyền
    © Financial Mail x Scrolla
  • Trang web chương trình
    Sharp Sharp

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