South Africa's first non-ANC president in 2029?

In this interview, Mmusi Maimane discusses South Africa’s political future, coalition politics, non-racialism, and the possibility of the country electing its first non-ANC president in 2029. He argues that South Africa needs reformers focused on the future, not only on addressing the legacies of the past.

Key topics

• Why Maimane left the Democratic Alliance and founded Build One South Africa, which he says better reflects his vision for a non-racial country.
• His concern that South African politics is increasingly shaped by racial, ethnic, and tribal identities rather than shared political ideals.
• How apartheid’s spatial legacy, unequal education, and economic inequality continue to reinforce racial divisions.
• Build One South Africa’s ambition to offer a centrist, non-racial alternative, attract younger voters, and play a role in coalition politics.
• Maimane’s opposition to the “balkanization” of South Africa and to political movements organized around ethnic or racial nationalism.
• Why he believes many former ANC voters are moving toward MK and the EFF rather than BOSA.
• How he would approach South Africa’s relationship with Washington, including the role of trade and broader African cooperation.
• His rejection of white genocide claims as a false narrative amplified by domestic political actors.
• Why Maimane describes himself as a reformer—and how he sees faith, Ubuntu, and shared values as sources of national unity.
• His belief that South Africa could elect its first non-ANC president in 2029, and why he thinks he could be that leader.

Timestamps

00:00 — Could South Africa elect its first non-ANC president in 2029?

01:27 — Why Maimane left the DA and how he sees the political landscape

03:47 — What a de-racialized South Africa could look like

06:42 — Race, inclusion, and leaving the Democratic Alliance

08:34 — Why Build One South Africa is still growing

10:30 — Coalition politics and the role of a centrist “kingmaker”

11:29 — Where former ANC voters are going

13:24 — Coalition red lines and working with corrupt parties

14:32 — How Maimane would approach South Africa’s relationship with Washington

15:31 — The white genocide myth and its domestic political roots

18:23 — Trade and practical steps to ease tensions with the US

19:15 — Why Maimane wants to be seen as a reformer

21:07 — Mandela’s legacy and the need for a new generation of leaders

22:04 — Faith in a secular, multi-religious country

23:31 — Shared identity, churches, and the search for political unity

25:19 — Why Maimane thinks a non-ANC president could emerge in 2029

26:49 — Why he believes he could be that leader

Notable quotes

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“I want to be seen as a reformer.”

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“Mandela was the Moses, he certainly didn't send us into the promised land.”

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“I believe I could be” the first non-ANC president in 2029.

keywords

South Africa, de-racialization, coalition politics, economic reform, social unity, Musi Maimani, Build One South Africa, political change

key topics

De-racialization of South Africa

Coalition politics and role of Build One South Africa

Economic and educational reforms for equality

Managing international relations and foreign policy

Urban renewal and infrastructure in Johannesburg

sound bites

"Liberation movements fragment their surrogates, often the immediate beneficiaries."

"Building a non-racial centre is essential for South Africa's future."

"Johannesburg must be reimagined as a financial and technological hub."

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PLO Lumumba on ethnicity, Traore's rule, power in the Sahel, and Africa’s future

We speak with Patrick Loch Ochieng Lumumba, widely known as PLO Lumumba, about African politics, identity, and the continent’s struggle to build stable, people-centered governance.

PLO reflects on his own journey as a public intellectual, from his name and upbringing to his education in Belgium, his martial arts background, and how he wants to be remembered

PLO Lumumba explains how he came by the name PLO: which comes from his initials, and why the name became part of his public identity.

*He discusses the legacy of being named after Patrice Lumumba and how that shaped his awareness of African history and anti-colonial politics.

*He shares how studying in Belgium happened through scholarship and academic opportunity rather than a deliberate plan.

*He argues that public speaking comes naturally to him and says his public persona is different from his private one.

*He traces his political thinking to Pan-Africanists like Julius Nyerere and Samora Machel, especially their emphasis on moving beyond sloganeering and ethnic allegiance.

*He says ethnic identity has been weaponized by political elites across Africa to win office, access resources, and entrench power.

*He proposes proportional representation and rotational office holding as possible ways to reduce the zero-sum nature of politics in ethnically diverse countries.

*He says constitutional reform alone cannot eliminate “political bad manners” if the deeper culture of politics remains unchanged.

*He argues that prosperity and better resource management can reduce the intensity of ethnic competition for power.

*He points to Ghana and Tanzania as cautiously hopeful cases, while saying Rwanda, Burkina Faso, and the Sahel remain uncertain or too early to judge.

*He warns that expelling former colonial powers only to invite new external powers can amount to “swapping one slave master for another.”

*He says Africa is still disorganized regionally and continentally, making it vulnerable in a new global scramble for minerals and influence.

*He describes himself as a committed public intellectual, not just an orator, and says he values disagreement because it sharpens ideas.

*He recalls being deported from Zambia after comments about the treatment of opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema.

*He closes by saying he wants to be remembered as a warrior for truth, justice, and an Africa that stands on its own feet.

00:00 - Burkina Faso, foreign influence, and whether regime change is truly a success

00:27 - Who PLO Lumumba is and why his name matters

00:56 - Why Martine Dennis went to Nairobi to speak with him

01:22 - The burden and meaning of being named after Patrice Lumumba

03:16 - How he ended up studying in Belgium

04:14 - Private self versus public persona

05:13 - What shaped his Pan-African politics

06:39 - Samora Machel, ethnicity, and the “tribe must die” idea

07:05 - Why identity politics is resurging across Africa

08:29 - Can African constitutions solve ethnic politics?

10:25 - Why he supports proportional representation and rotation

12:50 - Why prosperity matters more than constitutional words

13:20 - The Congo example and the cost of disorganization

16:11 - Ghana, Tanzania, and other countries that give him hope

18:08 - What would have to happen for Rwanda to become a model

18:36 - Why Burkina Faso is too early to call a success

20:25 - The danger of replacing Western influence with Russian, Chinese, or other influence

21:49 - The rise of executive power grabs across the continent

23:15 - Politicized armies, ethnic capture, and weak institutions

24:08 - The new scramble for Africa and why regional blocs are failing

26:27 - How he sees himself as a public intellectual

28:45 - Why he tries to be measured and write to leaders first

29:14 - The Zambia deportation episode

30:06 - How he wants to be remembered

31:01 - Martial arts, discipline, and what he does for fun

#plolumumba #kenya #traore

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Africa can’t win the AI race as 55 states

Professor Arthur Mutambara argues that AI is a revolution on the scale of fire, electricity, and the steam engine, and says Africa must respond as one bloc rather than 55 fragmented states.

He explains the five layers of the AI industry, the risks of superintelligence and autonomous weapons, and why Africa needs energy, data centers, talent, and continental-scale coordination to have any real leverage.

In this episode: Arthur Mutambara lays out why AI is not just another digital trend, but a civilization-level shift with implications for industry, geopolitics, and human development.

He says AI has five layers - energy, chips, infrastructure, models, and applications - and Africa must participate in all of them, not just consume the final products.

Prof Mutambara argues that without energy and digital infrastructure, there can be no meaningful AI development anywhere on the continent.

He warns that AI systems inherit the values and biases of the data and people who build them, which is why Africans must harvest, curate, store, and train on their own data.

He makes the case for African unity at scale, saying South Africa, Nigeria, and other individual states are too small to compete alone in an AI economy dominated by China and the US.

He links AI to industrialization by pointing to productivity gains, efficiency, innovation, and cost savings across agriculture, mining, education, healthcare, and manufacturing.

He says Africa needs data centers on the continent for data sovereignty and AI sovereignty, while acknowledging the land, energy, and water costs they bring.

He distinguishes between digital AI and physical AI, saying humanoids, drones, and driverless cars are the next frontier and that China is moving quickly there.

He warns that jobs will be modified more than destroyed, but only if African countries develop skills, urgency, and participation across the AI stack.

He says recursive self-improvement could arrive around 2028 and artificial superintelligence by 2036, making governance and global regulation increasingly difficult.

00:00 - AI as a revolution on the scale of fire and electricity

00:30 - Arthur Mutambara’s background and why his perspective matters

01:30 - Superintelligence, recursive self-improvement, and weaponized AI

02:34 - AI as a general-purpose technology for development

02:55 - Why AI depends on digital transformation and infrastructure

03:22 - The five layers of the AI industry

04:14 - Africa must build, not just consume, AI

05:18 - Energy, data centers, and critical minerals as Africa’s leverage

05:52 - What a GPU is and why hardware matters

06:55 - Bias in AI systems and the need for diverse creators

08:31 - Why Africa needs scale to compete in AI

09:17 - The talent, funding, and energy needed for AI factories

10:08 - Negotiating with China and the US as a continental bloc

11:07 - How AI supports industrialization and productivity

12:27 - AU awareness, urgency, and linking AI to human development

14:21 - Why Africa-first leadership and integration matter

16:25 - Partnering to manufacture chips using African minerals

17:49 - Geopolitical competition and the governance problem

19:45 - Why Africa should negotiate as one block on minerals

20:33 - Learning from China while protecting African interests

21:39 - AI, climate pressure, and the case for green AI

23:00 - Why Africa needs data centers on the continent

24:55 - Digital AI versus physical AI

26:04 - Job displacement, job modification, and new skills

27:43 - Recursive self-improvement and the 2028 timeline

28:57 - Artificial superintelligence and the 2036 projection

29:44 - What happens if Africa misses the AI revolution

He says:

*“We must be like China. We must be like India.”

*“AI is a game of numbers. It requires scale.”

*“We must be creators, not consumers.”

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