South Africa is Uninvestable: Rob Hersov's BRUTAL Assessment of the ANC

South Africa is uninvestable under the ANC. This is Rob Hersov. It's September 2025. Dear fellow South Africans and anyone still foolish enough to believe in the ANC's promises. I stand before you today not as a pessimist, but as a realist. Not as someone who hates this country, but someone who loves it. Too much to watch it burn in silence. And burn it is, under 30 years, 30 years of ANC misrule that has transformed what once was Africa's powerhouse, economic powerhouse, into a cautionary tale of how quickly a nation can destroy itself. And the title of my speech today is not hyperbole. It's not political rhetoric. It's cold, hard facts backed by 3 decades of devastating evidence. South Africa is uninvestable under the ANC. And if you're still putting your money into this economy under their leadership, You're not investing, you're gambling with your family's future. So let me be crystal clear from the outset. This isn't about race. This isn't about the past. This is about competence, accountability, and results. And on every single metric that matters, every single one— economic growth, job creation, infrastructure, and safety— plus governance, the ANC has failed the whole country spectacularly. The ANC have taken a country that was handed to them as a functioning first-world economy, and what have they done? They've systematically destroyed it. And they've done this through corruption, incompetence, and ideological blindness. And the numbers don't lie, even when politicians do. Since 2008, South Africa's GDP has grown by an average of only 1.3% per year. And that's slower than our population growth rate, which has on— been on average over that period, 1.4%. Think about what that means. We're literally getting poorer every single year. Our economy is shrinking per capita while the ANC leadership gets richer and the rest of us get poorer. In 2024, our GDP growth was a pathetic 0.58%, and some quarters even showed contraction— going backwards, not stagnating. This isn't a developing economy. This is a dying economy, and the patient is on life support while the doctors are looting the medicine cabinet. Thank you, ANC. Let's start to talk about corruption, because that's where the story really begins. The ANC didn't just fail to prevent corruption, they institutionalised it. They turned it into a business model. State capture wasn't an accident. It was the plan. And the numbers are staggering. They'll make you sick. Conservative estimates put the cost of state capture at 1.5 trillion rand. That's roughly $100 billion stolen from the South African people, from you, over just 4 years. Other estimates go as high as $500 billion. And to put that in perspective, that's more than our entire annual national budget stolen. And that's money that should have been used to build schools, hospitals, roads, and power stations. And instead, the ANC elites, the BEE piglets, have built mansions in Dubai and opened Swiss bank accounts. Our Corruption Perception Index score is 41 out of 100, which means we rank 82nd out of 180 countries. We're below the global average, and we're stuck in the same category as countries emerging from civil wars. This is what 30 years of ANC governance has achieved. We've become a byword for corruption on the international stage. We are the new Nigeria. And what has President Ramaphosa, Spineless Cyril, done about this? He gave us a confession.

In his own words, he said, for a decade, individuals at the highest levels of the state conspired with private individuals to take over and repurpose state-owned enterprises, law enforcement agencies, and other public institutions. Billions of rands that were meant to meet the needs of ordinary South Africans were stolen.

A decade. He admits they allowed this to happen. For a decade while he was Deputy President. While Cyril was Deputy President, this happened. And now he wants us to trust him to fix it? I mean, that's like an arsonist being asked to put out the fire he started. But corruption's just the beginning. Let's talk about load shedding, the ANC's gift that keeps on taking. This isn't just an inconvenience; It's economic sabotage on a national scale. Load shedding costs our economy up to R900 million every single day. And that's not a typo. Nearly a billion rand per day. Mining, the backbone of our economy, operates at just 60% capacity during severe load shedding outages. We're literally mining at third world levels in what should be a first world economy. And the human cost? Crime spikes by 15% during load shedding and outages because criminals know the street lights are off and security systems are down. They even know in advance these things are going to happen. And students in townships can't study at night, which has been leading to a 22% decline in matric pass rates in areas with frequent outages. And that's disgusting. We're not just destroying our economy. The ANC is destroying our children's futures. Over 30%, over 30% of small businesses don't have backup power. And when the lights go out, they close their doors. When they close their doors, people lose jobs. When people lose jobs, they can't feed their families. This is the ANC's economic policy inaction. Systematic destruction disguised as governance. Let's talk about jobs and employment. The ANC promised jobs. What they delivered was the highest unemployment rate in the world. The highest. Our official unemployment rate is 32.9%, but youth unemployment, the official number, is 44.6%. Nearly half of young people in this country have no hope of finding work. And this isn't just a statistic. It's a national emergency that the ANC has normalized. But here's what they don't tell you. Only 12% of South Africans actually pay income tax. Think about that. Think about that in a country of 60 million people, only 7 million are working and earning enough to pay tax. The rest, well, they're either unemployed, underemployed, or working in the informal sector. 100,000 people pay all the tax, pretty much. Meanwhile, 62% of the Black population receives state grants. We've become a welfare state funded by a shrinking tax base, and this is not sustainable. This is not an economy. This is a Ponzi scheme where fewer and fewer people are supporting more and more people while the ANC elite skim off the top. And what's the ANC solution? More of the same. You know, when you hit rock bottom, what do you do? You keep digging, ANC style. More BEE policies that create jobs for the connected few while destroying opportunities for the many. More "cada deployment" (cadre deployment) that puts party loyalty ahead of competence. More regulations that strangle small businesses before they can grow. Since 2008, when gangster Jacob Zuma got elected, our debt-to-GDP ratio has tripled, tripled, from 24% to 75% of GDP, We now spend 20% of all government revenue just servicing our debt. That's the same amount we spend on health and policing combined. But think about what that means. For every rand the government collects in taxes, 20 cents of that goes straight to paying interest on money they've already spent. Money that was supposed to build infrastructure, create jobs, and improve services. Instead, thanks to the ANC, it's gone. Stolen, wasted, or spent on keeping the ANC's disgusting patronage network happy. We're borrowing money to pay interest on money we've already borrowed. Think about that. This is the definition of a death debt spiral, and the ANC is driving us deeper into it every single day. Our economic decline index is 8.2 out of 10, and it's getting worse, not better. The ANC has built what they call a developmental state, but what they've actually built is a patronage state, a mafia state that repeatedly gives civil servants above-inflation pay rises, pay rises, bails out failing state-owned enterprises, and steals vast sums through corruption. They've turned government into a feeding trough for the connected elite. All the names are in the Zonda Commission while the rest of the country starves. The world has noticed. Foreign investors aren't stupid. They can read the same statistics as me and you and the ones I'm sharing with you today. And they can see a country where the lights don't work. The trains don't run, the ports don't function, and the government cannot be trusted with a rand, let alone billions in investment. Tourism, which contributes 3.7% to GDP, is hemorrhaging money as 40% of hospitality businesses have been forced to invest in diesel generators instead of improving customer experiences. That's pretty depressing. And we're experiencing an investment exodus. Nearly one-fifth of the white population that was here in 1994 has emigrated, taking their skills, their capital, and their tax contributions with them. They're gone and they're not coming back. All right. Where should you put your money? Now, you might be asking, Rob, If South Africa is uninvestable under the ANC, where should I put my money? And that's the right question. And I have clear answers for you. I have 5 answers. And the key here is to think beyond the ANC's reach. Think beyond their ability to regulate, tax, or steal from you. Think global, think digital, think assets they can't touch and sectors they can't destroy. First, gold, the ultimate safe haven. South Africa may be destroying its economy, but it's still sitting on some of the world's largest gold reserves. The irony is delicious. The ANC can't manage the economy. They're too incompetent and too stupid. And even with that moron and communist Gwede Mantashe as Minister of Mining, who's chased billions away to other countries, the ANC can't destroy the gold in the ground. I know they like to try, but they can't. And while the ANC destroys the rand, gold holds its value. It's done very well last year and this year. And while the ANC prints money to fund their patronage networks, gold maintains its purchasing power. Second, you knew I was going to say this, Bitcoin. Bitcoin is the digital gold for the digital age. And this is where it gets interesting. South Africa has one of the highest cryptocurrency ownership rates in the world, per capita, alongside Nigeria. Imagine that. Why? Because people are desperate to get their money out of the reach of incompetent governments like the ANC. Bitcoin is digital gold, but better. It's portable, divisible, and impossible for governments to confiscate or inflate away. The ANC can't print more Bitcoin. They have no control over Bitcoin. They can't steal it from state-owned enterprises. They can't use it to fund cater deployment. And the regulatory environment is improving. It's actually improving. The Financial Sector Conduct Authority, FSCA, granted license to 248 cryptocurrency firms in 2024. And more again this year. And major institutions like Signia have launched regulated Bitcoin investment products. AltFest, this week, Warren Weekley's business, became the African Bitcoin Corporation. Even Microsoft's investing R5.5 billion in South African digital infrastructure. South Africans are already spending well over $100,000 a month crypto for everyday items. They're using it for financial services, for payment. And the third area, technology and AI, artificial intelligence. The future is digital. While the ANC destroys the old economy, the new economy is being built by entrepreneurs who don't need permission or the infrastructure. Africa's tech sector raised $30 billion by 2025, and these companies can operate from anywhere. Serve global markets, and they don't depend on Eskom keeping the lights on. The beauty of tech investment and AI is that it's location independent. Think about it, okay? In this beautiful Cape Town, a software company here in Cape Town can serve clients in New York, London, or Singapore. An AI startup can process data in the cloud without worrying about load shedding. These businesses are building the future while the ANC is stuck in the past, in an ideological, moronic past. And Microsoft's big R5.5 billion investment shows that global tech giants see the potential. They're not investing in the ANC's vision. They're investing despite the ANC's vision. They're betting on South African talent. And innovation, not South African government or South African government's lack of competence. Fourth investment area: tourism. South Africa has world-class destinations and a third-world government. But you've got to be smart about this one, because even though South Africa has world-class destinations that no amount of ANC incompetence can destroy, Take, for example, Table Mountain. It doesn't care about load shedding. Or the Big Five. Don't worry about corruption. And the Cape Winelands. They don't depend on government efficiency or anything related to the government. Tourism contributes 3.7% to GDP, but here's the opportunity. Okay. South African tourism businesses. That can operate independently of government infrastructure. And these are the ones that are thriving. These are the ones you should focus on. Private game reserves with their own power generation. It's a good example. Or boutique hotels in wonderful locations with solar systems. Or wine estates that are energy self-sufficient. These type of businesses are succeeding not because of the ANC, but in spite of the ANC. So the key here is to invest in tourism assets that don't depend on government. Final area, the fifth investment thesis of mine is Western Cape property, the safe haven province. And this is where the data becomes really interesting. Okay. While the national property market grew by 5.2% in the year to January 2025, Western Cape property surged ahead with 8.7% growth. This province, the Western Cape, has emerged as a hotspot for investment buyers, with 34% of all bond applications in the final quarter of 2024 being for investment properties. Why? Because the Western Cape works. It has the most competent provincial government, the DA, in the country. It has the most reliable infrastructure. And it has the lowest crime rates. It has the best schools, the best hospitals, and foreign buyers have increased their share from 2.9% to 3.7% between 2019 and 2024 because they recognize quality governance when they see it. Well done, DA. The Western Cape, the gorgeous Western Cape. Has sustained its increased market share and entrenched itself as a major hub for investment, exceeding 30% of total property deal volume nationally. 30% of total property deal volume nationally. I mean, this isn't an accident. It's the result of competent governance creating an environment where investment can flourish. Cape Town's property market continues to defy South Africa's economic challenges. Because it's run by people who understand that good governance attracts investment, while bad governance, the ANC, destroys it. The Democratic Alliance may not be perfect, but they understand basic economics in a way the ANC never has and never will.

Those municipalities that do best are not ANC-controlled municipalities, and I can name it here because there's nothing wrong with competition. They are often DA-controlled municipalities.

So the choice before us is stark. You can continue to believe in the ANC's promises, continue to invest in their vision of South Africa, continue to hope that somehow magically, maybe, the ANC will become competent after 30 years of failure, misrule, and uselessness. Or you can face reality. The reality is the ANC is ideologically committed to policies that destroy wealth, discourage investment, and punish success. The ANC believe in racial nationalism over economic rationalism. They believe in catered deployment over competence. They believe in state control over market freedom. These are not policies that create prosperity. These are policies that create poverty, and 30 years of evidence proves it beyond any reasonable doubt. So my advice to you is simple. Diversify out of ANC risk. State-proof yourself. Put your money in assets they can't touch, sectors they can't destroy, and jurisdictions they can't control. Gold, Bitcoin, technology, tourism done right, and Western Cape property. These are your hedges against ANC incompetence. And don't let loyalty to a flag blind you to the facts on the ground. Don't let nostalgia for what South Africa could be prevent you from protecting what you have. Don't let hope triumph over experience when your family's financial future is at stake. The time for tough choices is now. The ANC had 30 years, 30 years, to prove they could govern. They had 30 years to show they could grow the economy, create jobs, and build a prosperous society. They had 30 years to demonstrate that their ideology could deliver results. They failed spectacularly, comprehensively, and catastrophically for all of us. They inherited a first world economy and they've turned it into a third world basket case. World on ANC. They took a country with functioning infrastructure, first world, superb infrastructure, and they broke it. They broke it so they could steal it. They took a society with hope and filled it with despair. And the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That's insanity. And continuing to invest in South Africa under the ANC leadership is not just insane, it's financial suicide. I'm not telling you to leave the country. I'm telling you, you need to be smart about where you put your money. And I'm telling you to protect your wealth from an ANC government that has proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that it cannot be trusted with the economy or your money. The ANC and people like RMB's Paul Harris will tell you that criticism like this is unpatriotic, while Paul hides in his security-gated enclave. They'll say I'm talking down their country. They'll play the race card because they have no other cards left. But the real unpatriotic act is destroying a country's future and destroying a country's economy through corruption and incompetence. The real racism is implementing policies that keep millions of black South Africans poor, unemployed, and desperate. And the real betrayal is stealing money meant for schools, hospitals, and infrastructure. I love this country too much to lie about its condition or to stand down. I care about its people too much to pretend that the ANC's failures are somehow successes. I respect your intelligence too much to ask you to ignore the evidence of your own eyes. South Africa can be great again. South Africa has the resources, the people, and the potential. But it will never be great under the ANC. Their ideology is incompatible with prosperity. Their methods are incompatible with growth. Their values are incompatible with success. So make the tough choice. Protect your wealth. Diversify your investments. Put your money where it can grow and not where it can be stolen or destroyed by the ANC. Invest in gold that holds its value even when currencies collapse. Invest in Bitcoin that governments can't debase and can't touch. And invest in technology that doesn't need government permission or government permission to succeed. Invest in tourism that showcases our natural beauty despite government incompetence. Invest in Western Cape property where good governance still exists thanks to the DA. The ANC has made South Africa uninvestable. Don't let them make you poor too. The choice is yours. Choose wisely. Choose based on facts, not feelings. And choose based on evidence, not emotion. And please choose based on 30 years of ANC failure, not 30 seconds of ANC's lies and promises. Your financial future depends on it. Your family's security depends on it. And your children's opportunities and their future depend on it. Don't let the ANC further destroy your wealth the way they've destroyed our economy. State-proof yourself. And repeat after me: Futsak ANC!