DJ WARRAS & ROB HERSOV: Speaking Freely in South Africa Comes With Real Threats

In order to sustain their business model, they need the place to be a shit hole. That's how they raise money.

He walked up to me in the Capital Hotel in Sandton and said, "Rob Hersa, we've been looking for you. Duduzane Zuma is pissed off with you.

We know where you live." South Africa right now finds itself being the custodians of a sound, that Afrotech sound. That is a South African sound. I'm young enough to do the work, you know, and something I'm passionate about is taking back Johannesburg CBD.

You got a security firm?

I've got a security system.

Do you have security? Do you have—

It depends where I go, but generally speaking, nobody wants to kill me as far as I know. And when they do, I'll know who it is. I'd like to make an impact here in this country. I think, you know, like, I'm not particularly interested in politics. Like, I'm not like that interested in it where it's like, I really have ambitions. I want to serve in the flipping legis— No. I want to be a positive influence. A positive influence on this country. Because I've been blessed. You know what I mean? I'm famous. I was on TV for many years. I was on radio for many years. Most places that I go, somebody recognizes me. You speak every language. I've literally got this whole new generation of people who recognize me from TikTok. So people will come—

I'm a fan.

I thank you.

Look how much trouble you're in.

Right? People will come and they'll be like, hey, you're that guy on TikTok. And sometimes it'll be a 65-year-old bali from Bloemfontein, or it'll be a 16-year-old boy at the garage. They'll be like, hi sir, how are you? I see your TikToks. And then they engage me and ask me questions about the stuff that I said, which means these people are watching the whole clip or the full interview. So it's having an impact. And I'd like that impact to actually yield some sort of results. I don't just want to be famous for nothing so that I can continue my horizontal vices. I'd like to also be famous in a way where it's like some of the things that I'm invited to and some of the people that I'm speaking to actually want to put their money, their time, their effort, their energy where their mouth is. You know what I mean? Because I had a meeting with a bali. He's a very influential bali with lots of money. And he's had a long and successful life, right? Owns a lot of property in the Johannesburg CBD, very passionate about the turnaround of the Johannesburg CBD. And he said to me, I'm old. You know what I mean? I'm not going to be around for much longer. But all of this money that I have, if I can give this money to something that is going to turn the city around, then I will rest easy because this is the city that made me. And to see it turned into a shit hole, it's not going to go down well. You know, you had that other topi who bought Kuro. Yes. He spent like 7 billion or something on Kuro in order to provide free schooling for those deserving of it. Now that is the type of impact you want to have. And I'd like to be there. I don't have the billions, but like I said, I'm young enough. Yes. Yeah. But I'm young enough to do the work, you know, and something I'm passionate about is taking back Johannesburg CBD.

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Um, I think that allows you to get behind Gogo Helen. I don't know if Gogo Helen is the, the horse that I would back. Um, is there another horse? I would, honestly speaking, the only horse that has proven to me he can and will do what it takes in that city is Herman Mashaba. He had a run. When he started doing what was going to make the impact, they said he's xenophobic. And at the time, we were hurt by words. That shit is over. Now people, well, I don't give a fuck what you think of me. You can say I'm racist, sexist, misogynist, call me whatever. I couldn't give a damn. Because I'm about how are we getting the work done. Things fixed. And when Herman Mashaba came in and he was like, we need to do something about the amount of illegal foreigners that are invading our city. And the degradation in the city. And these fucking NGOs are working against us. I agree. Because their sustenance, in order to sustain their business model, they need the place to be a shithole. That's how they raise money.

Isn't that terrible?

It is absolutely shocking.

And they get money from Open Society and all those places. That's it.

Remember when Trump cut US aid?

Yeah.

And everybody got angry.

Yeah.

Even though he cut it equally to everybody.

German.

That's it. They were like, oh, he hates South Africa, he's cutting our aid. I'm like, He cut $40 million in funding for condoms in Mozambique. Bet you Trump hasn't even given Mozambique a second thought, but he's not sending $40 million worth of condoms. It's more condoms than there are men in Mozambique. What the fuck?

What's going on?

Because USAID was a massive slush fund.

Yeah, complete sellout.

Monies were being sent all over the world. That's it. And we have a similar thing in the CBD. You will try to do something in a building where you're like, okay, these people are not paying rent. The building is fucking wasting away here because Maintenance needs to be done. If we are to get in, do the maintenance and fix the buildings, people need to get out. If I give that example, I'll have 10 lawyers there within an hour telling me they can't move these people unless I can provide alternate accommodation. Boss, everyone comes from somewhere. Go back there. There's so many people in a lot of these buildings that are genuine, hardworking people who just want a safe place to stay. They want to get to work and back. They want to raise their children, put them in school, build something for themselves back home where they come from. These are the people you meet and they are like 85, 90% of the people. But there's that 10% that don't want progress to happen. And I think Herman is the horse that I would back to do that because he did it before and unfortunately was stopped in his tracks by people with an agenda.

Whatever.

Yeah.

You got a security firm.

I've got a security firm.

Do you have security? Do you have?

Well, it depends where I go, but generally speaking, nobody wants to kill me as far as I know. And when they do, I'll know who it is.

So I don't have security.

Are you yet to meet, or have you met somebody who's like, fuck you, I hate your opinions?

Yes.

In person?

Yes. Mark Liffman.

Really?

Walked up to me in Joburg with his two guys behind him.

Yeah.

He was wearing a mask because it was during COVID Yeah. I was with Nick Ferguson, my business buddy. He walked up to me in the Capital Hotel in Sandton and said, Rob Hersov, we've been looking for you. Dudu Zanazuma is pissed off with you. We know where you live. And you know who I am. And I went, no, you're wearing a mask.

Yeah.

And I heard Nick go, we're dead now.

Yeah.

But it's in the hotel lobby. I mean, it was pretty—

what was he pissed off about? Was he pissed off about your views on designing?

He didn't say. It was a 2-minute interaction. He said, you better watch out.

And then, yeah, that's all.

Other than that, I mean, like, I've seen your videos, people, young people, and few females. Auretse, you a singer or a dancer?

Neither. I play the music. I'm a DJ.

And what's your music that you love? What's your new—

My new thing, I'm actually starting, I'm recording a YouTube mix series. So I start actually this weekend. So what I've tried to put together is, there is a YouTube channel, which we've merged with. That's got quite a big subscriber base. It's a music subscriber base. South African one? South African one. We'll be changing it into like a record label channel. Because what I want to do is, you know, being famous, I always say to people, I had a boss named Claudi Motswaneng, you know that guy? Yes, we know the name. That guy, he used to call his meetings in the auditorium at the SABC. And it was like a meeting for all the talent, all the on-air talent. So whether you were on a soap opera, you were a presenter, whatever, you had to come to this meeting. And then he'd be there in front, you know, he'd wait for everybody to sit down. And then he'd be like, ah, icons, how are you? And then we were like, hey, how are you? And it was like, you have to attend this meeting.

Yeah.

Okay. Either the production company or your boss or the commissioning editor, somebody senior would tell you, hey, you have to come to this meeting. So you had all the famous faces of South Africa from the SABC in this room listening to Cloudy. And then he obviously had something to say, but he'd just go off the cuff. He wouldn't— whatever he'd prepared, he'd leave that there by the podium. And then he used to say, you know, guys, something that bothers me, how can you be famous and broke? It's like, okay, it's like today I was driving in. And I saw, then he names the person, like he'll say, I saw whoever, I saw Rob Herschel. He's driving Toyota Tazz. How can you be driving Toyota Tazz? You must have thought, I'm on another planet. I'm on another planet. But the point of what he was saying is he was trying to, there was a point to his little speech. He was saying how powerful the platform is and how we must use the platform, you know, to have influence, have impact, and make money. And he was right in that when you famous, like, you have a different rapport with people. And what I'd like to do with this fame, if you will, is I used to be a DJ. I stopped DJing because I believe it died as an art form and it became like a gimmick thing. You know, like if you had a big bum and titties, you could be a DJ. And that's just not the vibe. It didn't matter what you were playing. And this past weekend, I attended the Kunye Festival, Shimza's event that he does. Once every second month or so. One of the most amazing shows you'll attend. I was standing immediately behind the DJ box. I was in the crowd there. When he dropped his now global hit, Fire, I promise you that place went apeshit. And the pyro and the production. And I was like, fuck, you know, there's something special about music that allows us to communicate with the world. And South Africa right now finds itself being the custodians of a sound, that Afrotech sound. That is a South African sound. Afrotech and 3-step. The biggest DJs in the world are playing it globally. Okay. But it's a sound from here. And I just feel like I would like to do what I can to also be in that space.

Okay.

Play that type of music. But we need to be the proper custodians of the sound.