Who controls South Africa? (part 1)

Researching this series made me feel so hopeless in the face of powerful money and the lack of democratic transparency, that I’ll rarely write after this, and only about my country if it catches fire. Enjoy my company as you would a funeral, get that pot of black coffee I warned you to get last time, take a deep sip… and keep drinking darkness…

“There can be little doubt that these forces will do all in their power to prevent South Africa from fiercely concluding its case on the merits of the [Palestine/Israel] matter in the ICJ…. South Africa should not be blamed for doing the right thing. In the end we need to be absolutely vigilant and resolute. The path ahead will not be an easy one,” – President Cyril Ramaphosa

The U.S. Congress, in seemingly bizarre fashion, organised the ‘testimony’ of two South African journalists, Redi Tlhabi and Chris Maroleng, for its ‘Examining the Current U.S.-South Africa Bilateral Relationship’ session on on September 27 2023.

Unsurprisingly, it had a vodka twist, and would have been better named ‘American anger at South Africa’s friendly relations with Russia’.

The situation would’ve been farcical if the stakes weren’t so high for economically battered South Africa. At risk (and still is) the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade agreement worth billions. Along with a higher oil price, this strong-arming session likely contributed to the Rand’s drop in value at the time.

When Nelson Mandela was released in 1990, 28 years after the CIA arranged his arrest, the Rand was approximately 2.5 to the dollar. Now it’s 19 to 1. South Africa is embattled by local corruption and the winds of international forces – it doesn’t need another fight.

These are precarious times with the war in Ukraine, and the use of BRICS (of which South Africa is a member) as a capitalist tool for China, Russia and India to get bigger seats at the table of power (and not build a new table as some think). The West, simply, wants to keep eating more than its share.

This threat has increased with South Africa filing its genocide case against Israel on behalf of Palestine.

Israel is the USA’s ally, and the USA’s biggest foothold in the Middle East. Ukraine is the USA’s proxy war against Russia (and Ukraine itself as it’s being sold to Western corporations).

The USA is not known to be kind to those who challenge it, but that is the nature of empire. South Africa must expect political and financial attack. Media for Sale and ‘think tanks’ have sharpened their knives to earn their Western keep. In the mix are a bunch of billionaire donors to the misnamed liberal parties wanting to take over the country.

The situation is serrated with South Africa facing elections on May 29 this year, the most important since Apartheid ended 3 decades ago.

In trying to understand what’s happening, in order to see a future, I entered a spiderweb that’s entrapping me. You’ll have to decide if it’s a conspiracy for good or something else.

THE OPPENHEIMERS

The Oppenheimers are the family of mining monopoly infamy. They who made the “diamonds are forever” slogan, a marketing manipulation so successful that Edward Bernays, the master of propaganda public relations, must have been jealous.

Profiting from Apartheid and monopoly was ignoble, but children don’t have to continue the nature of their family. That’s trickier when they inherit that wealth, and their children do too. However, putting money to a great cause, such as rescuing South Africa from crime, is sure to lessen the stain of history. It must just ensure that it doesn’t become the crime itself.

Rebecca Oppenheimer has mostly been under the radar, though made minor news overseas when she put her beautiful Washington home up for sale. She, her sister and mother made a splash when donating R1-billion to South African COVID-19 funds.

Her uncle, Nicky Oppenheimer, also donated a billion. His son, Jonathan, is on the board of the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust (OMT) for which Rebecca is currently chair.

Nicky and Jonathan Oppenheimer founded the Brenthurst Foundation, a Johannesburg-based think tank operating across Africa. Their funders include the Council on Foreign Relations, United Nations, Rand Corporation, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), and, probably, themselves.

JEWISH FUNDED DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE TRIPS OVERSEAS?

Nationally, the Democratic Alliance (DA) is the official opposition to the ANC in South Africa.

In 2011, Darren Bergman, a DA councillor in Cape Town, had his trip to Jewish communities in Lithuania sponsored by the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). He met the Lithuanian Prime Minister and the Israeli Ambassador to Latvia. Bergman is now a DA member of Parliament.

It’s unknown who funded the controversial trip of DA Leader Mmusi Maimane to Israel in 2017. He was accompanied by high-ranking DA members which included Michael Bagraim, Member of Parliament and formerly the President of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies.

The DA refused to reveal the private funder of their trip, but their companion stood out. Alan Fischer is a Zionist activist and journalist for The Jewish Report, a Cape Town based newspaper.

In February 2024, politics was heated in South Africa over Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza, and its raids of the West Bank. An argument in Parliament made the front page of The Jewish Report as ‘MPs hijack State of the Nation debate with antisemitic diatribes‘. In support of the header, those quoted were Darren Bergman, Michael Bagraim and Alan Fischer – all three went on those sponsored trips, with the latter 2 having met President Isaac Herzog.

When the Russell Tribunal on Palestine was held in South Africa in 2011, later submitting to the UN that Israel was practicing Apartheid, Fischer was protesting against it outside. As the head of Fairplay SA, he’s the counteroffensive to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement which works to end international support for Palestinian oppression. He can be seen as far back as 2012 in a Cape Town meeting with Mike Anisfeld from AIPAC, the most famous Jewish lobby group in the USA.

The ANC considered the DA to be undermining South Africa’s foreign policy with their 2017 excursion to Israel (and that would be emphasised by the DA going to Taiwan next), and responded with:

“The DA has been completely unwilling to challenge the Israeli government on its continued abuse of human rights and has never acted in solidarity with the Palestinians even during the height of Israel’s barbaric attacks on the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip the DA did not organize a single protest, let alone issue a statement condemning Israel’s criminal behavior.”

THE DA, GREG MILLS & THE BRENTHURST FOUNDATION

The Oppenheimer’s Brenthurst Foundation has similar amicable interactions with the Democratic Alliance (DA).

• Funding ex-DA Leader and now BOSA leader Mmusi Maimane’s trip to Kenya in 2019.

• Funding DA leader John Steenhuisen’s 2022 trip to Ukraine from which he returned with the propaganda message that “Ukraine has now become the new frontier of freedom in the world”.

• Michael Cardo was DA Leader Helen Zille’s speechwriter (she’s now Chair of the Federal Executive, the ultimate power in the DA). Until January this year, Cardo was a member of Parliament under three DA leaders – Zille, Maimane and Steenhuisen (current). During 6 of his years as a Shadow Minister, he wrote the biography, ‘Harry Oppenheimer: Diamonds, Gold and Dynasty.’ The Brenthurst Library assisted his research. 10 days after he announced his resignation from the DA, he was at the University of Cape Town to deliver a course on “get[ting] to grips with the multifaceted man behind the empire of Anglo American and De Beers.”

Greg Mills, who has a degree from the University of Cape Town (and lectured there), is the director of The Brenthurst Foundation.

He’s a guest lecturer at the NATO Higher Defence College. He works with British think tanks Centre for Defence and International Security Studies (CDISS), Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI), and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

He wrote a book which he self-describes as:

“From Africa to Afghanistan details Greg Mills’ four months as special adviser to General David Richards, the British Commander of the Ninth International Security Assistance Force (ISAF IX) in Afghanistan [Commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan], to help establish and run a civilian think-tank, the Prism Group, within the headquarters in Kabul.”

As staff of the Oppenheimer’s, Greg Mills has “directed numerous reform projects with African heads” of 13 states, yet that hasn’t made the headlines.

Greg Mills is pro-Israel, issuing reports and articles for The Brenthurst Foundation that are veiled as impartiality, but leak within. Note his words, 12 years apart:

“Today Israel is not only a world leader in diamond polishing and cutting, but more recently in software, semi-conductors and telecommunications, where the concentration of high-tech start-up industries has given it the monikers ‘Silicon Wadi’ and ‘Start-Up Nation’.” – 2011, after a trip to Israel

“Hamas appears born out of hatred so deep and anger so dark it surfaces in the rape and mutilation of victims.” – Dec 2023, not after a trip to Palestine

Greg Mills’ articles regularly appear in The Daily Maverick which, in conflict of interest, allowed him to write about the Brenthurst election poll.

He has an article about South Africa’s position on the Ukraine/Russo War on the website of RUSI, the world’s oldest think tank. Mills has many articles there because he’s a member of their Council and an Associate Fellow. But the article in question quotes a different Brenthurst poll, about South Africans being against the Russian invasion, without a disclaimer regarding his directorship of Brenthurst.

Greg Mills has visited Ukraine 6 times – was all that funded by Brenthurst?

How, as a researcher and journalist, can he not know the facts of the war unless the purpose is to serve Western war propaganda, and what does that then say about the possible motives of Brenthurst?

In Mill’s latest, on June 13, he mimics, “The most notable feature of this war has been the fighting ability of the Ukrainians, set against the poor performance of the Russian forces. The Russian forces have been depleted by heavy losses.”

RUSI focuses on military affairs, and feeds biased and false info to media such as the BBC. Any attempt at claimed impartiality is killed when looking at another RUSI article from last week, ‘Bankers Must Stand Up in the Fight for Ukraine’s Victory’.

RUSI absurdly claims to be independent but receives funding from the European Commission and U.S. State Department. Even George Soros pops up as a donor, via his Foundation to Promote Open Society (the sister organisation to Open Society Foundation).

RUSI has deep links to Western military. U.S. General (Retd) David Petraeus is one of its 3 Vice Presidents. He was involved in the USA’s infamous wars in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. He was the Director of the CIA.

The Brenthurst Foundation has also issued a slew of anti-Russia articles:

FUNDING THE OPPOSITION

In all, 6 members of the Oppenheimer family are massively involved in South African electioneering. Mentioned so far are Rebecca, Nicky and Jonathan Oppenheimer. The other 3, with figures tallied by the Daily Maverick, are:

• Mary Slack, the richest woman in South Africa, gave the DA R25m.

• Jessica Slack-Jell gave ActionSA R11.3m, BOSA R6m and the DA R2m.

• Victoria Freudenheim gave R26m to ActionSA.

Rebecca Oppenheimer’s funding the following ‘liberal’ opposition parties:

• Rise Mzansi (R15m) includes ex-DA leaders Khume Ramulifho, Nomsa Marchesi and Makashule Gana. Previously, the party was extremely reluctant to admit who their sponsor was.

• ActionSA (R3.3m) includes ex-DA leaders Herman Mashaba, Athol Trollip, Michelle Wasserman, Zwakele Mncwango, Michael Beaumont,Funzela Ngobeni and John Moodey. The latter also went on that Brenthurst Foundation trip to Kenya.

The DA is perceived as a party controlled by white people. That image was entrenched when its popular black leaders walked out. Consequently, it lost black and coloured voters, and is expected to lose more this election.

It’s possible that they, or their handlers (if they exist), set up their own competitors with some of their ex-members. They’d collectively retain or increase their vote share working together to oust the ANC, if not from national leadership then from major cities.

At one stage, ex-DA leader Mmusi Maimane’s name was the most mentioned regarding new political opposition, but the money appears to have recently shifted to Songezo Zibi (who will be discussed further on). Zibi’s got the election posters, but Maimane is a known name.

Nevertheless, against the expectation of his critics, Maimane recently collected 140,000 signatures, more than the 60,000 required to participate. He publicly distances himself from the DA, but said that that they approached him to make a “branch of the DA”.

Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster is Maimane’s deputy, and the co-founder of the BOSA party. Her profile on the party website includes wording similar, and sometimes exact, to that found on The Future Leader Forum, but notably excludes: “Ms. Hlazo-Webster is an alumni of Future-Elect, the United States IVLP, and an International Women’s Forum fellow.”

“The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) is the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program. Through short-term visits to the United States, current and emerging foreign leaders in a variety of fields experience this country firsthand and cultivate lasting relationships with their American counterparts. Professional meetings reflect the participants’ professional interests and support the foreign policy goals of the United States.”

To conclude the Oppenheimer’s role in the May elections, they’ve donated R89.1m (for American readers, that’s the purchasing power for approximately 64 middle-class houses).

Polls, and the questions that form them, can influence elections. Thus it’s a conflict of interest that their Brenthurst Foundation think tank released poll results stating that ANC support has radically declined to 39%, and that less people will vote for the ANC because of their foreign policy on Israel and Ukraine.

GEORGE SOROS AND THE OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATION (OSF)

Helen Zille, the Chair of the DA, was a director on the first Board for George Soros’s Open Society Foundation for South Africa (OSFSA).

Before she left in 2000 to become a provincial minister in the Western Cape, the organisation received backlash from the ANC after a letter was leaked to President Thabo Mbeki.

The letter’s author was Wilmot James, the CEO of a ‘think tank’ called IDASA. His funders included USAID, the Ford Foundation, and a CIA front called the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). James was asking the Open Society Foundation for financial assistance whilst controversially stating that more attention needed to be given to [the threat against] democracy during Mbeki’s rule.

IDASA was founded by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert who also worked for the Open Society Foundation. He was the second leader of the Progressive Federal Party (PFP) which was funded by Harry Oppenheimer. The PFP became the DP which became Zille’s DA.

James became a trustee of the Ford Foundation in New York, and then the Chair of the DA, the position Helen Zille currently holds.

RISE MZANSI

With Songezo Zibi’s launch of Rise Mzansi, the political party, he stepped down as director of the Open Society Foundation in South Africa, and as the director of the Rivonia Circle think tank which he co-founded, and whose funders he hasn’t revealed.

Previously, he worked for the Business Day newspaper, was head of communications for Barclays Africa Group (known to South Africans as ABSA Bank), and was a board member of the think tank Centre for Development and Enterprise (funded by ABSA, Anglo American, Kirsh, Soros, Rockefellers, Oppenheimers etc.).

The Head of Policy for Rise Mzansi is Mandla Isaacs. In 2023, he joined the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. Blair was the UK Prime Minister who, in 2003, led his country into invading Iraq under the false pretext of it having “weapons of mass destruction”. He also joined the Americans in Serbia, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan. He’s notorious for his relations with Middle East dictators and the Military Industrial Complex.

Isaacs writes for The Daily Maverick and was in the first group of students chosen for President Barack Obama’s Leaders program in Africa. Joining him was Daily Maverick columnist Andrew Gasnolar who would go on to be the director of the alumni from that program, a WEF Global Shaper, and a Goalkeeper for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Isaacs history with warmongers is absent from his biography on Rise Mzansi’s website.

ACTIONSA

Herman Mashaba, the leader and founder of ActionSA, was the DA’s mayor of Johannesburg. Before that, he was Chairman of the Free Market Foundation, a ‘liberal’ think tank aiming for an “open society”. It’s part of the USA-based Atlas Network which claims to unite liberal think tanks globally, but is associated with Brexit and the Koch Brothers whilst funding liberalism in Ukraine. The paradox could be explained if it’s about libertarianism instead of liberalism, or the powerful instead of ideology.

Furthermore, Temba Nolutshungu, is the director of the Free Market Foundation, and was when Mashaba was there.

• Nolutshungu is a council member of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) whose donors include the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund, and two major donors to the DA, the Millenium Trust (which will be detailed further on) and Germany’s Friedrich Naumann Foundation.

• He’s a trustee of the Helen Suzman Foundation which is named after a politician in the Progressive Party that eventually transformed into the DA. The foundation aims at the ANC government, and its donors also include the Millenium Trust and The Friedrich Naumann Foundation, as well as The Open Society Foundation, Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, Mary Slack and Daughters Foundation, and Kirsh Foundation (which will be detailed further on). It’s partners include E Oppenheimer & Son, NM Rothschild & Son The Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies and Research.

• Nolutshungu’s 2016 trip to Israel was sponsored by the South African Zionist Federation and the WZO’s Department of Zionist Operations.

ADVOCATE MARK OPPENHEIMER

Mark Oppenheimer, as far as I know, is not a relation to the Oppenheimer Family featured here. But he’s an example of how one can run in similar political/NGO/think tank circles.

He’s one of South Africa’s most famous advocates, and often an eloquent guest on podcasts, radio and TV.

He has delivered presentations to the Free Market Foundation and the Limmud Jewish educational festival, and acted, separately, for the Jewish Board of Deputies and the IRR in support of a DA application.

He also hosted a podcast series with Gwen Ngwenya, the DA’s Head of Policy.

He has appeared in media several times to be dismissive of the South African Government taking Israel to the International Court of Justice in 2023 and 2024.

On March 14, The Jewish Report related that Mark Oppenheimer said:

“This third piece of litigation will be paid for by the South African taxpayer but it’s unlikely that it will be for the benefit of South Africans. It will worsen the relationships with our trading partners like the United Kingdom, America, and the European Union, who all respect Israel’s right to protect itself from terrorist organisations like Hamas. It may, of course, very well benefit the African National Congress [ANC], which in all likelihood has been paid by Iran to facilitate this litigation.”

MICHIEL LE ROUX

Michiel Le Roux ran the now extinct-through-merger Boland Bank in Cape Town. He hit it big as co-founder of Capitec Bank, and is headquartered in Stellenbosch, home to billionaires, half an hour’s drive from the DA’s capital.

Le Roux is one of the richest people in Africa. He donates to many but the bulk goes to the DA.

His Millennium Trust foundation subsidises South Africa’s top 3 investigative newspapers which don’t investigate DA corruption – The Daily Maverick, The Mail & Guardian’s AmaBhungane, and Ground Up (all connected to George and Alexander Soros’ Open Society Foundation). The NGO Corruption Watch, which is based in Cape Town, also gets funds, and also doesn’t tackle DA crime.

Moshala is a funder of the Centre for Development and Enterprise think tank where Songezo Zibi, Rise Mzansi’s leader, used to be a board member.

As mentioned earlier, Moshala also contributes to the Helen Suzman Foundation and the IRR.

Interestingly, Le Roux was on the DA’s internal review panel that controversially recommended that Mmusi Maimane be removed as leader. That cleared the way for John Steenhuisen.

MARTIN MOSHAL

Secretive Martin Moshal is a notable billionaire because he could be the richest here.

He’s funding the DA (R35m), Action SA (R20.5m), and BOSA (R4m).

The Jewish Report gained a rare interview wherein he hoped that his donations would “[create] organisations that will gain significant support from the people in the upcoming elections, even to the point where these parties could eventually take control and govern the country.” He was exceptionally honest by saying that, “It’s a real possibility – the chances of which can be substantially increased through meaningful donations.”

The Moshal [Scholarship] Program operates in South Africa, Israel and the Ukraine. Pamela Cherry, the previous South African career coordinator, says that she hopes to see alumni in the boardrooms and Parliament.

Moshal also studied at the University of Cape Town, but was born in Durban where he and his brothers, at one stage, owned the biggest stake in global online gambling.

They own/owned Durban software developer Derivco which is/was listed offshore on the Isle of Man. When I knew it, it was considered to be best company to work at in South Africa (great salary, view of the sea, sushi for lunch, in-house childcare, great functions – a company that looked after its staff). It now has 13 offices, including Malta and the USA.

Moshal’s sister is Dr. Katryn Moshal. Derivco is one of the sponsors of CHIVA, her charity for children exposed to HIV.

Martin Moshal’s father’s death was described by The Jewish Report as “a giant has fallen”.

Moshal co-founded Entrée Capital with childhood friend, Avi Eyal. It’s an extremely successful technology venture capitalist firm, as well listed in the Isle of Man. It has offices in London, New York and Silicon Valley, but is headquartered in Israel.

Moshal describes it as “a dominant force in seed investing in Israel. This has been great for the wider ecosystem as well. If you look at how it is growing, beyond Early Stage to now include Early Growth and Global Investments, and some of the other projects (SigmaLabs, deals in the UAE), I think it’s incredible progress.”

Avi Eyal came to Durban as a child, and got a science degree at the local university before returning to Israel. His younger brother is Eran Eyal who used to work for Mosha’s company Derivco. Considering Entrée Capital’s investment in anti-fraud, accounting, and digital payment start-ups, it would have been embarrassing when Eran Eyal got caught as a con-artist.

• “Investigators were able to find only $450,000 (R6.6m) of the $42.5m (R628m) Eyal raised in an initial coin offering for the Shopin start-up.”

• Eyal went from being a swinger in Durban to an investigative reporter describing him at his trial as: “They brought him in with his legs and hands shackled. He was wearing a white yarmulke and holding a small Torah. He’s never been a practicing Jew, so I’m not sure if it was to receive benefits in custody, or maybe he was trying to change his life.”

• With incredible justice, Eran paid a small fine and got deported to Israel.

• Stephen Timm, who knew Eran, wrote a book about it, and was interviewed in a podcast by Business Day.

Entrée funds start-ups that include ex-Israeli military and intelligence personnel.

A result of the Abraham Accords was the UAE investing in Entrée Capital’s wealth fund. Ayi Eytal’s comment on the Abraham Accords was “Peace through superior economic relations.”

Martin Moshala is an advisor to Moriah College which teaches a Jewish education to children in Australia. He’s a trustee of the Moriah Foundation.

The promotional video for the foundation, as seen above, includes Marnie Perlstein. In her first unhinged post on Substack, she states debunked lies:

“Eighteen months ago, I wanted to start an antisemitism advocacy group called ‘They All Hate Us.’ Smart, educated, measured people in the Sydney, where I live, said, ‘you can’t call it that. It is so negative.’ ‘But it’s true’, I said, ‘everyone hates us’. Jewish people have been the meat in an antisemitic sandwich since the rise of the ‘Free Palestine Movement.’… Fast forward to Saturday October 7 when over 1000 Hamas terrorists stormed across the border into Israel and… murdered, decapitated, and burned tiny babies and gang raped our women, parading their bloody bodies through the streets of Gaza.”

In response to another substacker saying, “In Londonistan, the planned million march for Armistice Day yesterday by people who love terrorism, hate Britain and want to kill Jews went ahead,” Marnie said:

“Thank you for this – maybe for next weekend’s update you could focus on Sydneyistan, Australia.”

Marnie is married to Gary Perlstein who is the New South Wales President of the Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal (UIA), a major fundraising and Zionist advocacy group registered to the State of Israel. They have a web page where 5 Israeli Prime Ministers and two Presidents praise them.

UIA was “established at the World Zionist Congress in London on July 7–24, 1920 to provide the Zionist movement with resources needed to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.” [source wiki]. It has “supported the more than 3.5 million new immigrants that have arrived since the founding of the State of Israel,” helps them adapt to military service, and has assisted with rural settlement (which I assume is partly euphemism for illegally occupying Palestinian territory, and less Jewish areas such as Negev next to Gaza).

With regards Israel’s targeting of hospitals in Gaza, it’s paradoxically “fundraising for medical equipment for hospitals under fire” by Hamas.

Considering the web of interests, it’s unsurprising that Martin Moshal is on UIA’s Board of Trustees.

The South African branch of the UIA is called the United Jewish Campaign (UJC), and is based in Cape Town.

I was lengthy regarding Moshala and his acquaintances because I didn’t want to ignore the obvious good before asking if the Israeli connection has anything to do with the position of the pro-Israeli South African parties and think tanks he funds?

It seems unsurprising that the DA and ActionSA are critical of the ruling ANC’s positions and actions regarding Israel (and Ukraine) e.g., after the DA’s Ghaleb Cachalia labelled Israel’s actions as genocide, John Steenhuisen removed him from his cabinet – Cachalia quit the party.

Rise Mzansi’s leader, Songezo Zibi, is the odd man out regarding the conflict in Gaza. It would be interesting if he repeated the following now.

• In 2015: “U.S. upset about Palestine signing Rome Statute (ICC treaty). I thought Israel wouldn’t worry because it conducts its attacks ‘correctly’.”

• In 2020: “I think Israel needs to be free of the corrupt and opportunistic Netanyahu first.”

Although Zibi does not hark on Israel, he does believe it should be investigated for war crimes. On the weekend, Howard Sackstein, chairperson of the SA Jewish Report, said that “has lost him major Jewish backing.”

NATHAN KIRSH

The relationship between South Africa and Zionism digs deep, down to when South Africa’s Apartheid Government used to collaborate with Israel (there were antisemitic Afrikaner politicians in the ruling National Party but both countries had the isolation of apartheid in common).

Some of the National Party and army joined the DA, reaching its top ranks.

Nathan Kirsh’s family was once a major media power in South Africa, was associated with the National Party and later alleged to be a major DA donor.

The Forward reports that “The family of Natie Kirsh, a Jewish billionaire from South Africa, spearheaded the creation of Shine A Light,” an NGO turning valid criticism of Israeli crimes into anti-semitism e.g., Israel is not a coloniser.

The Forward’s excellent article also says that:

“The campaign to raise awareness about antisemitism in the United States has assembled an elusive coalition of organizations…

Kirsh has quietly been an important donor to Jewish causes for decades, particularly those focused on security, but has said little publicly about his philanthropy or his politics…

Carly Maisel, who previously worked for the Israeli embassy in London, manages the Kirsh family’s philanthropy and has served as a spokesperson for the project, spoke with the Forward in a brief telephone call.

Maisel and representatives for Shine A Light stopped responding after the Forward sent detailed questions about the project’s finances and Kirsh’s business activities in apartheid South Africa.”

Another allegation was that Kirsh was in business with an ex-Mossad member in a company called Magal Security Systems (now known as Magal Solutions after being bought by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., an Israeli State defense technology company).

• Magal kept Palestinians oppressed through contracts for fences and fence-surveillance equipment.

• In the USA, in 1995, the lobby group for Magal was owned by Roger Stone and Paul Manafort.

• A Magal sales agent, based outside Cape Town, was operating in South Africa as late as 2021.

Kirsh was also accused of funding the DA’s opposition, the EFF, a radical off-shoot of the ANC, allegedly to destabilise the ANC government.

The DA never revealed the source of their funding, ensuring the Kirsh rumour unsubstantiated.

ROB HERSOV

Another billionaire player is Rob Hersov. Like the Oppenheimers, he began as an heir to a mining fortune (AngloVaal). He got his first degree at the University of Cape Town.

He’s more maverick and visible than the rest, relishing controversy in the sudden and strange spotlight (after 30 years out of the country).

How much he’s donated, and to whom, isn’t summarised but some events are known.

“I have given money to the DA, ActionSA, organisations like AfriForum and the SA Institute of Race Relations (IRR),” he said. ActionSA’s Herman Mashaba said that wasn’t true, and that he’d only been paid R20,000 to speak at an engagement.

Mmusi Maimane’s was allegedly at Hersov’s 2022 birthday party, and later received R100,000 for BOSA.

Hersov also donated (at least) R30,000 to The Penuel Channel which belongs to Penuel Mlotshwa, a vlogger on YouTube. Hersov has been mentioned or interviewed in at least 20 videos there. Notably, Mtlotshwa released ‘Why I Am Voting for Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance (PA)’.

Hersov has trumpeted McKenzie too many times to count, and was strangely given a large platform by the Media, especially by Alec Hogg’s BizNews (where Stuart Lowman, the General Manager, is ex-Bloomberg and CNBC).

BIZNEWS, ROB HERSOV & GAYTON MCKENZIE

BizNews is located in Hermanus, outside of Cape Town. Hersov was the opening speaker for its 10th birthday and conference last week. He was followed by keynote speakers Herman Mashaba (ActionSA) and Ian Cameron (who joined the DA last week).

Considering all that has been said in this post (and will be in the next), it’s unsurprising who else was there – Helen Zille (DA Chair), John Steenhuisen (DA Leader), Herman Mshaba (ActionSA Leader), Mmusi Maimane (BOSA Leader), Corne Mulder (FF+ Chief Whip), and Gayton McKenzie (PA Leader).

So was David Ansara (CEO Free Market Foundation), Frans Cronje (CEO IRR), Anthea Jeffery (Head of Policy Research IRR), Wayne Duvenhage (OUTA), and Stafford Maise (ex-CEO Google Africa).

Only 180 seats were available, allegedly for R5,400, so we must rely on the people who were there to tell us what happened.

Hogg’s feedback from the event was ecstatic, and he, again, highlighted Hersov and MacKenzie’s PA:

“Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie is an acquired taste. After his BNC#6 address… I’d wager many more members of our tribe were transformed from outright critics into members of the Rob Hersov camp….

Listening to the messages in the wind at BNC#6, it looks very much like the ANC and DA-led MPC are shaping up for a post-election Government of National Unity… That kind of arrangement would also leave McKenzie and the PA in the wilderness…

The DA doesn’t need to publicly warmly embrace McKenzie and the PA. But at the very least least tone down the malice. Driving his party into the arms of competitors is illogical. And potentially destructive for the entire MPC (Moonshot coalition) project that, as Steenhuisen’s posters tell us, could be South Africa’s salvation.”

He didn’t mention that Hersov claimed that ex-President Jacob Zuma’s party was funded by Russia, that Julius Malema’s EFF is funded by London, that the DA had snaked him, and implied that McKenzie was a better option for leader than Steenhuisen.

That info was courtesy of Hersov’s guest, Mlotshwa from The Penuel Channel. Maybe the clincher news was that speech being Hersov’s farewell from ‘political activism’, something Mlotshwa doubts.

“MY BIBLE COMMANDS ME TO STAY WITH ISRAEL”

No one knows where the PA stands politically. It began with the DA but now seems to side with whichever party will give it municipal positions. But Hersov and McKenzie have one major item in common – Israel!

In July 2023, McKenzie said: “A delegation of the Patriotic Alliance visited Israel to learn more about coalitions. President of Israel Isaac Herzog gracefully shared great knowledge.”

Notably, when Mmusi Maimane was DA Leader, he, John Steenhuisen (now Leader), Michael Bagraim (MP) and Geordin-Hill Lewis (now Mayor of Cape Town) were also welcomed by Herzog.

A month into Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, Mckenzie defiantly, and seemingly without realising (or not caring) he’s a Goy, and that there are Christians in Palestine, stated:

“My Bible commands me to stay with Israel. My Bible says to me that: He who curses Israel, is cursing himself. He who blesses Israel is blessing himself… I will not listen to the ANC, but to the Bible. I am a Christian, and I listen to the Bible.”

On November 12, 2023, in Cape Town, Hersov videobombed a peaceful protest against Israel, saying, “Fuck these guys.”

SOUTH AFRICA MATTERS

Antisemitism, like all racism, is wrong!

Conversely, if South Africa is being manipulated to promote Zionism that kills Palestinians and boosts the careers of local politicians, that’s wrong too.

Can a democracy exist if voters don’t know the motives of the party they’re voting for?

It’s unknown whose funding the ruling ANC since it unofficially became bankrupt, nor the EFF (founded by ex-ANC Youth Leader Julius Malema).

Consequently, propaganda has taken root i.e., that, directly or indirectly, China and Russia (and criminals) are their backers. Someone must be backing them but, without evidence, why is it being spread by people favourable to the DA and their splinters?

In return, the role of the Oppenheimers in election funding becomes anti-white rethoric. The EFF has already made an entire newsletter about it. If their election support declines, it becomes the fault of white monopoly capital. If they improve, they stood against white monopoly capital.

South Africa matters. It has strategic minerals and influence on Africa, the ‘game board’ for the West versus the East. The 2024 elections will determine South Africa’s difficult balancing act between superpowers, and where its morality (if any) stands.

Was what happened in the U.S. Congress another move in that great geopolitical game? I’ll discuss that and the bigger role of the Open Society Foundation next time…

* * * * * *

Although it could be read as a standalone, this was Part 3 of the Spiderweb series.

• Spiderweb #1: Is South Africa a threat to the USA? “South Africa has been building ties to countries that undermine America’s national security and threaten our way of life,” says Congressman John James.

• Spiderweb #2: The Fake Munich Security Conference 2024 – The elite guest list at the USA’s military version of Davos included Alexander Soros, Anthony Blinken and South Africa’s Emma Louise Powell.

• Spiderweb #3: Who controls South Africa? (part 1) – A mystery about George Soros, Martin Moshal , Michiel Le Roux, Nathan Kirsh, Rob Hersov, the Oppenheimers, The Brenthurst Foundation, and the Democratic Alliance.