Randall Abrahams in cahoots with eNCA have launched “Both Sides“, a podcast packaged and promoted as a  provocative new podcast that swaps bright lights for low-lit candour, playing on a moody ’70s jazz-lounge, set up, while they claim that the series is built for nuance & not noise, I watched the debut episode, which actively met thag week’s headlines head-on, I’d say it was in fact “noise”.

Featuring the loudest in politics as the first guest, Helen Zille, Federal Chair of the Democratic Alliance, aimed to confront South Africa’s policing crisis and argues for a credible commission of inquiry, before unpacking the constitutional limits of ministerial authority.

She is currently on a PR run to promote the prospects of her leading in Johannesburg, so it checks that they would discuss the city municipal state and the ongoing leadership crisis within South Africa’s historic financial capital. Zille outlined what she calls a coherent plan to rescue the city: stabilise essential services, rebuild the rates base, and restore execution capacity. She also signals her intention to run for Mayor of Johannesburg, pending party approval.

She revisited her path from school-governance activism to provincial leadership, frames sustained economic growth as the only durable way to address historic injustice, and weighs the promise and peril of AI.

She served warnings and promises within the noise of political promises that will currently be at an all-time high.

I have mixed feelings about the podcast.