the anc has been damaged by economic stagnation, a protracted energy crisis, and massive inequality. my guest today is the leader of the biggest opposition party, the democratic alliance, john steenhuisen. could he become south africa s first white leader since apartheid? john steenhuisen, welcome to hardtalk. great to be with you, stephen. well, it s great to be here in cape town. let s start with a very simple question. when you said not so long ago, there is a changing of the guard coming in south africa, the anc s decline is terminal. it s just a matter of how fast, did you really believe that? of course i believed it then. i think it s a fair assessment about where the anc find themselves in the last local government elections, in 2021, they, for the first time in post democratic south africa, lost their majority and fell below 50%. this obviously allied with the fact that our economy s not growing, we ve got 30 million people living in poverty, 12 million people une
for radio 4 called frontlines ofjournalism, billed as your reflections on the most difficult stories you have covered. one of those is certainly ukraine. we heard the news that the afp journalist had died, killed, we re told, by russian artillery. he was 32 years old and this is a conflict you know very closely. yes, he was killed somewhere in the east, somewhere near bakhmut, where i have spent quite a bit of time, i was there at the end of last year. these things are tragic and in all the years i have been doing this, i have known quite a few people who have been killed. i was reading his twitter account today and if you go back to may 1st he has posted a video where he and some soldiers, who are accompanying him are lying down and he is describing them pure terror as artillery fire comes in. in those moments, and you must have been in those moments, there must be a decision to make about whether you stay? if you are in a situation where shells are landing, you don t ha
my guest today is the leader of the biggest opposition party, the democratic alliance, john steenhuisen. could he become south africa s first white leader since apartheid? john steenhuisen, welcome to hardtalk. great to be with you, stephen. well, it s great to be here in cape town. let s start with a very simple question. when you said not so long ago, there is a changing of the guard coming in south africa, the anc s decline is terminal. it s just a matter of how fast, did you really believe that? of course i believed it then. i think it s a fair assessment about where the anc find themselves, in the last local government elections, in 2021, they, for the first time in post democratic south africa, lost their majority and fell below 50%. this obviously allied with the fact that our economy s not growing, we ve got 30 million people living in poverty, 12 million people unemployed, and loadshedding, rolling blackouts, which have reached into every home and switched off the
in northern ireland s council elections, sinn fein says the democratic unionist party must return to power sharing government at stormont. sinn fein is now the largest in local government as well as the assembly. now on bbc news. the media show. hello and welcome to this edition of the media show, and this week? our guest needs very little introduction. jeremy bowen joined the bbc as a trainee journalist in 1984 and he is now bbc news s international editor, one of the bbc s most recognised faces. welcome to the show. thanks very much for having me. you have a new series for radio 4 called frontlines ofjournalism, billed as your reflections on the most difficult stories you have covered. one of those is certainly ukraine. we heard the news that the afp journalist had died, killed, we re told, by russian artillery. he was 32 years old and this is a conflict you know very closely. yes, he was killed somewhere in the east, somewhere near bakhmut, where i have spent quite a bit o
weekend. let s dive right into the week s top stories. the big story, of, course we have two hot wars for the president to navigate on the world stage. the republican-controlled house has voted to formally authorize its impeachment inquiry into president biden despite failing to provide any evidence of wrongdoing by the president. the vote was strictly along party lines with all 221 republicans voting yes, all 212 democrats voting no. republicans say the move will grant them the ability to better enforce their subpoenas in the courts. house oversight chair republican james comer has accused hunter biden and other biden family members of engaging in, quote, shady business practices. but as we said, has yet to reveal any evidence of wrongdoing or influence peddling by the president himself. so here is what several house democrats said ahead of the vote. see the biden impeachment investigation isn t a who done it. it s a what is it? it s like an agatha christy novel where the