- Rob Hersov, a prominent entrepreneur, addressed the Durbanville Business community, urging them to stay proactive despite recent political changes.
- He emphasised the importance of businesses continuing to contribute to South Africa’s growt.
- Hersov also predicted significant political shifts by 2027, calling for unity among pro-democracy and capitalist parties.
Don’t get complacent and think ‘because we have now got a piece of government we don’t have to do anything.’ We’ve got to up our game, we’ve got to keep doing it, and we’ve got to do it well,” Rob Hersov, a South African and UK entrepreneur and private investor, advised businesspeople at a meeting of Durbanville Business last Wednesday.
The meeting at Hussar Grill at The Village Square in Durbanville was attended by a full restaurant of businesspeople from Durbanville, Bellville and Brackenfell.
“We’ve got the Government of National Unity (GNU), and it’s a miracle that it happened,” Hersov said. “The fact that Jacob Zuma joined MK and took 15% from the ANC, forced the ANC to look for a solution to protect themselves against him. And they ended up teaming up with the Democratic Alliance (DA), IFP, Patriotic Alliance (PA) and everyone else.
“We would have had the ANC for another five years if it weren’t for Zuma. I think the GNU will hold together, at least until 2027. I has to, because if it doesn’t everybody, including the ANC, knows what the other option is – complete chaos.”
Turning the corner
“Whether we are turning the corner, I think, is too early to say,” Hersov said. “My international friends and investors are still not interested in investing in South Africa. South Africa is not investable. There’s too much broken, too much to fix and too much uncertainty. The investability of South Africa is tied directly to the political dynamics.
“We still have the highest unemployment rate in the world. We still have a broken rail network. Our infrastructure has collapsed. We have the worst ports in the world.”
Municipal elections
Hersov said his prediction is that the municipal elections are not going to happen in 2026, but in February 2027.
“And only then, when we see what happens in the municipal elections, can we say that we’ve turned the corner,” he said.
“If you look at the GNU, and you look at the positions that the DA was given, other than Home Affairs and Basic Education, the rest are sort of B-category ministerial positions.
“The DA didn’t get any of the prime ideological positions they wanted, such as Trade and Industry, but there are a lot of director general positions that the good guys have, which can make a difference.
“And take note, the DA has been very quiet; it hasn’t been a big announcer. And what I think the DA and PA are doing, as a policy, is keeping quiet for the first 100 days. But they are making incredible inroads, incredible efficiencies, incredible changes that they’re going to announce, I reckon, in the next 30, 40 or 50 days.”
Open people’s eyes
“It’s going to open people’s eyes to what can be done by good people in government absolutely, and to how bad the ANC has been over the last 30 years, that they have destroyed institutions.
“South African Airways is a good example. It used to be the best airline in Africa and one of the great airlines in the world. Under the ANC it became an employment agency, nothing to do with aviation and, as a result, it’s bankrupt.
“It has bankrupted every single state-owned enterprise, because the ANC is a market-based organisation that is only interested in patronage – partner employment, jobs for friends and feeding at the top.
“When the DA’s Leon Schreiber and Gayton McKenzie, and all the other ministers announce what they’ve been up to for the first 100 days it is going to embarrass the ANC, and the voting population is going to notice.”
New party
“What we need the good people in government to keep doing is deliver results so that in the municipal elections in February 2027 the ANC will be ejected from every single urban area in South Africa.
“It will become an entirely poor person and rural party. And I think the ANC will further splinter and further disintegrate, and will cease to actually exist in the next election cycle in any meaningful way.
“My hope is that the DA, IFP, PA and all the other pieces, the FF Plus, come together and form a new party. Instead of egos and fighting with one another, they actually form a new party – a centrist party, a capitalist party, pro-democracy, pro-rule of law and pro-West.
“So that’s what we’ve got to do between now and 2037; keep the good guys in power, keep them funded and keep supporting them!
“Let us not get complacent. You’ve got to continue to give money to the PA, the DA, AfriForum and, you know, the business chamber. You’ve got to join Durbanville Business, and you’ve got to make these things happen.
“If we can do that we will create something at the next national election, where our country will actually take off like a rocket. So, I’m very nervously looking now at 2027.”
