Tony Leon

WATCH | Seminal ideas, discussions and revelations: The best of News24’s On The Record summit brnw.ch/21x0WLH

@Newzroom405 @ZinikokaMhlaba The far better and more disturbing question is why were they decommissioned in the first place -go ask the same Mineral Resources dept

International Relations Minister, Ronald Lamola says the Department of Mineral Resources is looking at recommissioning some of the refineries as a possible solution to fuel price volatility due to the Middle East Conflict. @ZinikokaMhlaba has more Watch: tinyurl.com/4e8s4mpn

Very good by @Bruceps. I ask again, how many people in the cabinet or the senior civil service have ever started or run a business? And by run I mean, been responsible for a P&L. And by responsible I mean, at risk of being fired if the numbers don’t stack up. Not everyone in government needs to have done so, of course. But it is perverse that when it’s the private sector that creates jobs, and when you have 40% real unemployment, almost no one in charge has any experience of actually starting or running a business.

Well you either abandon transformation or you abandon growth... the evidence is in and abundantly clear the ANC at least can't do both at the same time and as equal priorities.

The ANC, Ramaphosa downwards, has knives out for Prof William Gumede over his demolition of the BEE scam. Latest bombshell: secret mining research found 46 politically connected people secured 60% of BEE deals, becoming millionaires or billionaires overnight. WSM’s column on @Politicsweb. politicsweb.co.za/opinion/willia…

LIVE | If criminal justice system isn't fixed soon, 'we won't have a country left' - Anton du Plessis brnw.ch/21x0U2a

Our Deputy President is running something called a 2-Face review of the B-BBEE thingy. He further adds that the B-BBEE thingy is going nowhere—whether we like it or not. He then mumbles something rhetoric & incoherent about transformation & economic equality as his parting shot. END.

LIVE | ‘South Africa needs a strategy’ - Irish economist David McWilliams brnw.ch/21x0Tw6

@PieterDuToit Brilliant presentation so much acuity wrapped inside engaging blarney

Irish economist and author David McWilliams ask which type of countries thrive. Its not those countries where command and control is central, he says. “It are those countries that are liberal, open, tolerant, messy and chaotic…” Embrace disruptors, and find a strategy.

Economist Adrian Saville on how difficult it is to start a business in South Africa, at News24’s On the Record Summit: “Governance, compliance, regulations…wow…”

Bruce Whitfield quotes the SA Reserve Bank’s Lesetja Kganyago: “When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.” Follow our On the Record Summit live on news24.com

When businesses have to teach economics, something is wrong As global shocks feed into fuel, logistics and inflation, South Africa’s public debate still too often treats price increases as moral failure rather than economic reality. Businesses cannot absorb every shock indefinitely — and a policy environment that ignores this only deepens the crisis. 🔗 Read: resolvecommunications.co.za/when-businesse… #FuelPrices

Tony Leon | External shocks, internal failures: ‘Parasitic state’ will use war as excuse news24.com/opinions/colum…

"In South Africa, according to documents obtained by Forbidden Stories, secret meetings took place between Russian agent '9477' and Fikile Mbalula.. Mbalula’s advisor, Bongani Mbindwane, allegedly received $3,000 per month in early 2025 in exchange for his services."

@Shembe_Sandile @zilevandamme He could nominate and people to serve in the posts see the interim constitution of 1993

@TonyLeonSA @zilevandamme Sorry, was FW de Klerk not Mandelas deputy..? Where did de Klerk get the authority to appoint cabinet members..?

Did he explain to you how, despite representing the NP, Despite representing the party that was the architect and enforcer of apartheid, Despite his party having imprisoned Nelson Mandela for 27 years, Despite the ANC winning the majority of the vote, Despite all of this, when his heart should have been filled with revenge and unbridled anger, Despite all of this, Despite it all, Mandela appointed him, Roelf Meyer, a Deputy Minister of Law and Order during the height of apartheid’s brutalities, its enforcer, and later Minister of Defence as tensions rose when it ended, Did he tell you that despite all of this, Nelson Mandela opened his heart and invited him into his Cabinet? Did he tell you that Nelson Mandela’s spirit was not an anomaly? Did he tell you why the transition was largely peaceful, when all expected a race war? Did he tell why even Nelson Mandela would not have stopped a people angry and hurt, but they too, chose not to do this but co-exist and 32 years later, this has not changed? Did he tell you the core of “why,” as a reflection of “who?” Forgiving to a degree of self-harm. Trusting when distrust ought to prevail. Loyal when disloyalty would not be misplaced. Did he tell you as a result most South Africans just want to live in peace and get along? Did he tell you that a dark underbelly of violent crime exists in South Africa? Did he tell you that the cause of the violent crime is the same cause in the American cities that sit with some South African cities in the upper echelons of cities with the most homicides in the world? The flaws in humanity. Flawed humans that exist as a feature of the human race, no geographic boundary contains. Governing errors that like in the US, exist in SA. Did he tell you that much of this violence occurs within communities, therefore, if you must reduce it, intra-racial rather than between them, and is not driven by racial ideology? Did he tell you that inter-racial violence is not a defining feature of South Africa’s crime patterns? Did he tell you that most violent crime is not targeted by profession, and farmers, account for a tiny statistical fraction of overall category of killings, well under 1% in most years? Did he tell you to drop your preconceived notions of who South Africa is, because they are wrong, learn and speak from a place of truth? Did he tell you that, like he did, you will have to learn from your errors, dispel your racial & ideologically based fallacies, and talk? I hope you listened. I hope you do better. For your sake, for the US’s sake, for South Africa’s sake. We are complex, but we are not murderous savages devoid of humanity. We are a proud people. We are loyal people. And that means that closing ranks when a threat, an insult, or an assessment is wrong and unfair, is a guarantee. Political differences be damned. Race be damned. So unbreakable is that fortress of unity that we would sooner live with dire consequences behind it than live under the rule of an external force. I, personally, just an ordinary, Jane Public wish you well because if you do not succeed, a war of attrition will continue, and South Africa in a position of consequences be damned will not be first to fold because that strong is the need not to be subjected to anything that infringes on our sovereignty. Those consequences will be undeserved. And your failure to convince, deserved. There is a middle ground. Be like Roelf. Talk. Learn. Extend a hand. And a hand extended in genuine intent to build together will be warmly embraced. Without that, backs will turn so fast there will be nothing left for you to achieve. Good luck.

@zilevandamme My real issue is real history not an imagined version of it to panel beat a narrative

@TonyLeonSA Mandela accepted him, no? He could have said no? What is the real issue you have because this hair-splitting can’t be your gripe. ☺️

@zilevandamme It’s not hair splitting it’s accurate history - under the 1993 constitution the president had no legal or other right to reject nominees of qualifying GNU parties ie NP and IFP - if it did certain Inkatha ‘warlords’ would hardly have been welcomed by ANC