Schalk Dormehl: Corruption, Personal Sovereignty, and Opportunity in South Africa

Spread Great Ideas: The Podcast

Please welcome my thoughtful and thought-provoking friend, Schalk Dormehl. Schalk is an aspiring polymath and a fellow lover of liberty and action-based philosophy.

We jam on the past, present, and future political landscape of South Africa, personal sovereignty (one of my favorites), and civic responsibility in today's world. Lastly, we touch on entrepreneurship, crypto, and AI in the context of South Africa and on the global stage.

Schalk Dormehl Quotes From the Episode "Like you own yourself, you own the things that you make, you own the things that you trade the things you make with. Other people are not allowed to just randomly harm you, and you aren't allowed to just randomly harm other people."

- Schalk Dormehl on personal sovereignty and individual rights.

"The ANC has been an exceptionally negligent and poor steward of South Africa. The results have been massive amounts of unemployment and essentially the type of scenery that one would imagine when you read Atlas Shrugged."

- Schalk Dormehl on how the ANC's mismanagement of South Africa is comparable to the dystopian society in Atlas Shrugged.

"And the irony is if you look at the African countries, the corrupt countries that had communism did better than the non-corrupt countries that had communism. You can buy your way out of ridiculous rules in one system, but you can't buy your way out of the rules in another system."

- Schalk Dormehl on corruption and communism.

Additional Resources

• Free Market Foundation
• Sakeliga
• The History of Southern Africa: Every Year - YouTube
• Schalk Dormehl on X
• Schalk Dormehl on LinkedIn
• SwiftCom
• Jozi vs Jozi on X
• Hügo Krüger on YouTube

Show Notes

• 00:32 - Kicking Off with Schalk Dormehl
• 01:40 - The ANC’s Grip on South Africa: Politics Since 1995
• 03:44 - Johannesburg’s Fall from Glory: Economic Decline and De-Industrialization
• 04:38 - Blame Game Politics: How the ANC Uses Scapegoating to Stay in Power
• 06:02 - Race, Policy, and Power: South Africa’s Complex Political Landscape
• 10:54 - Land Seizures and Economic Fallout: The Truth About Expropriation Without Compensation
• 19:01 - Elon Musk vs. South African Bureaucracy: How BEE Laws Have Impacted Starlink
• 24:02 - The Death of Civic Responsibility: Why South Africa and Many Other Countries Struggle with Accountability
• 31:21 - When Communities Take Charge: Grassroots Resistance Against Riots
• 32:36 - The Mystery of the Power Grid: How South Africa’s Electricity Crisis Stabilized
• 49:21 - The Brain Drain: The Cost of Losing Skilled Professionals
• 1:08:12 - A Silver Lining for South Africa? How Government Fractures Could Lead to Change

Great ideas. Bold conversations. Be part of it, connect with us on X, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.