BNC#9 | Hersov Q&A: Joburg's mafia problem and Zille's odds; BEE and EWC; corporate silence; AI bets

Rob Hersov isn't sure Helen Zille can fix Johannesburg. Not because she isn't capable, but because of who she'd be fighting: an "international mafia" he says has spent 20 years perfecting the art of looting the country's richest city and knows exactly how to disappear when the pressure's on. In this unfiltered BNC#9 Q&A, Hersov compares Joburg to 1920s Chicago, weighs up whether South Africa needs an El Salvador-style crackdown, and explains why he's told his own kids to build their careers overseas rather than at home. Then the mood shifts: he makes the case that AI is about to hand young South Africans, with nothing but a smartphone and an idea, the kind of opportunity no generation has ever had. Contradictions and all, it's Hersov at his most candid.