thank you for having us, and welcome to luthuli house. it s a great pleasure to be here. how disappointed are you with the state south africa is in today? south africa is undergoing challenges like many other countries. but i think to put us into a category of a failed state, it s an exaggeration. ican give. but you think that s a conversation that south africans are having amongst themselves? well, it comes from pockets of the powerful thinkers in the country who project us as displaying characteristics of a failed state, of course. we may not be too defensive to that. if certain things are not resolved, we will become a failed state. but we are notjourneying towards that direction. but the reality is that if you are a young south african reaching adulthood today, you only have a one in two chance of actually finding a job. 50% of young people are out of work. a state should be able to provide work for its people, should ensure that the economy functions. we have a south afr
of an energy crisis. it seems set to get worse. what do you think it is doing to this country? well, its aim is to collapse this country and undermine the democratic project, because those in power have relegated their responsibilities, to who, we don t know. they have not maintained the power stations. they have not built the new ones that are functional. and as a result, we are where we are. the interim ceo of eskom, the state owned energy company, said yesterday that over the coming months of winter they might get to a stage eight situation, which means there could be power cuts for pretty much 12 or more hours per day. but you have gone further. you have said that you think the grid will collapse. in fact, you said south africa is going to be plunged into darkness within two weeks. why are you exaggerating? i m not exaggerating. i said this before they told you there was a stage eight coming. the stage eight is to prepare you that the worst are coming. and i m telling you
thank you very much. it s a pleasure to talk to you, mr malema. we are speaking as south africa is in the middle of an energy crisis. it seems set to get worse. what do you think it is doing to this country? well, its aim is to collapse this country and undermine the democratic project, because those in power have relegated their responsibilities, to who, we don t know. they have not maintained the power stations. they have not built the new ones that are functional. and as a result, we are where we are. the interim ceo of eskom, the state owned energy company, said yesterday that over the coming months of winter they might get to a stage eight situation, which means there could be power cuts for pretty much 12 or more hours per day. but you have gone further. you have said that you think the grid will collapse. in fact, you said south africa is going to be plunged into darkness within two weeks. why are you exaggerating? i m not exaggerating. i said this before they told you
features of the economy that is fluctuating at an international level, which has had an impact on our own economy, but also partly some of our own weaknesses in terms of managing the economy well. we are under recovery. and objectively, the covid 19 messed up a lot of countries. the ukraine/russia war in itself has shattered most economies in the world and it has brought a high level of cost of living and a number of challenges that have affected adversely the developing nations. so some of the features that we see in terms of the economy of south africa are not immune to us only. if you look at the state of unemployment in europe, in some of the advanced economies, it is ea rth shattering. yes, nothing like it is here, though. and, mr secretary general, we have to face one simple fact. your party, the anc, has been in powerfor 29 years, and you quite literally cannot even keep the lights on in this country. we have been in power for less than 30 years. and in that. three dec
but right now, south africa is in a big mess, with a protracted energy crisis, shocking levels of unemployment and inequality, and systemic corruption. my guest is the secretary general of the anc, fikile mbalula. is his party about to pay the price of failure? fikile mbalula, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having us, and welcome to luthuli house. it s a great pleasure to be here. how disappointed are you with the state south africa is in today? south africa is undergoing challenges like many other countries. but i think to put us into a category of a failed state, it s an exaggeration. er. ican give. but you think that s a conversation that south africans are having amongst themselves? well, it comes from pockets of the. ..powerful thinkers in the country who project us as displaying characteristics of a failed state, of course. we may not be too defensive to that. if certain things are not resolved, we will become a failed state. but we are notjourneying towards that di