0:02 As much as our press media in South
0:05 Africa are, they always want to get a a
0:07 stab in at Fox News and they're like,
0:09 "Ah, the American Fox News, they they
0:11 kind of they're propagandists for Donald
0:14 Trump." It's like, well, it takes one to
0:17 no one, guys, because that is exactly
0:19 what is happening right now uh with with
0:21 Ramapoa and it's been happening. It's
0:22 been happening for a while really. I
0:25 would say that um the the South African
0:28 press has been pushing uh Ramapoa
0:30 specifically since the Zuma days, but it
0:34 kind of reached a a um I would say a
0:38 peak during the lockdowns when he was
0:40 called majestic and when he was said it
0:43 was like decisive leadership because he
0:45 kind of closed the economy down. It's
0:46 like no no the ANC has been very
0:48 decisive about that for many decades.
0:51 So, uh this is nothing new. But suddenly
0:54 he's this great um and they they
0:56 positioned him again as as a father of
0:57 the nation. We're going to have the
1:00 family meetings waiting patiently.
1:01 Sometimes he's an hour late, waiting
1:04 patiently for our daddy to come in and
1:06 tell us what the new rules are. And the
1:09 press was very keen on that. He didn't
1:11 answer one question from the press once
1:14 ever during co and the press never said,
1:17 "Hey guys, this is why are we here? Why
1:19 can just send us an email? Why are we
1:21 here in this room listening to you when
1:22 you don't take questions? The press
1:24 didn't care about that. They didn't
1:25 care. They reported it, called him
1:27 majestic, called him decisive, blah blah
1:29 blah blah blah. So, this is nothing
1:32 nothing new. But again, it's there's a
1:35 doubling down now. The the press media
1:38 thinks that the United States is
1:40 attacking South Africa. That is not what
1:42 is happening. I have not read anything
1:44 from the Americans insulting South
1:48 Africans. I have seen a lot of antipathy
1:49 towards the South African government,
1:51 the political elite. I have seen a lot
1:54 of that. But somehow somehow we must now
1:57 the press thinks we must now close ranks
2:00 around our political elite. Why do why
2:01 are they taking ownership of these
2:04 cretins who have really harmed this
2:06 country that have really kind of stolen
2:09 the fiscus blind? Why are they closing
2:11 ranks around these people? Um, so yeah,
2:14 it's it's it's I think the idea of an
2:16 objective press is is false. I think
2:19 it's it's uh something that creates
2:20 false comforts for a lot of people. So I
2:22 don't think we can say what they mean.
2:24 They need to be objective. But they need
2:28 to at the very least be more open about
2:30 the role that they are now playing. They
2:31 are not playing the role of the fourth
2:34 estate. That is that is very clear. They
2:35 are not playing the role of the fourth
2:37 estate against the South African
2:40 government. Yes, they expose corruption.
2:42 And again, no, no one has taken that
2:44 away from our mainstream media. No one
2:46 has said, "Oh, you're not really
2:47 exposing corruption." Of course, they're
2:50 exposing corruption, but that is like
2:52 the same thing that uh in in a
2:54 government department, an inspector
2:57 general has to do. He has to he's
2:58 supporting the government department
3:01 that he works for by exposing corruption
3:04 inside that institution. He is cleaning
3:06 up the institution to ensure the
3:09 institution can um prosecute its agenda
3:12 more fully. So what is the press doing?
3:14 They are trying to help the government
3:16 by exposing corruption in government.
3:18 They are trying to get the bad apples
3:21 out of government so that the state can
3:23 do the things that it wants to do more
3:25 heavily. That is not supposed to be the
3:27 press's role. The press cannot just
3:31 assume as our press does that this the
3:33 government's agenda is the right one.
3:34 Like the press didn't do this during
3:37 apartate. They didn't assume oh you know
3:39 the group areas act is actually great
3:41 and we really want pe the government to
3:43 implement this more fully. So we really
3:45 need to kind of get some of these
3:47 radical nationalists out so that they
3:49 can uh have a more humane implementation
3:51 of the group areas act. That didn't
3:53 happen. That didn't happen from the
3:55 English press, which is now our dominant
3:58 press. The English press rightly said,
4:00 "Yes, there's nationalist radicals, but
4:02 that doesn't matter. The the agenda is a
4:04 problem. The the policy of the
4:06 government is a problem." Or if they
4:07 didn't say it's a problem, they said,
4:10 "Liz, there's at least another side to
4:13 this policy that we need to kind of uh
4:14 take cognizance of." That is not
4:16 happening right now. That is not
4:18 happening with specifically the agenda
4:21 of Sarama Poison's administration. So
4:22 that's that's a big problem and and I
4:25 think Zakes, you're right. This is a uh
4:28 uh this is very close to a Fox News type
4:32 um situation that's developing uh around
4:34 uh the persona of Sir Mapoa specifically.
