One Giant Ponzi Scheme

Episode 13 of We're Brothers, the weekly podcast that I record with my younger brother, David, who lives in South Africa.

After the initial group of 59 white South African refugees arrived in the U.S. last month (with all other refugee programs officially on hold or scrapped), another nine arrived last week. We provide an update on some of them, though honestly, we’re getting tired of the “story,” which was always one giant racist Ponzi scheme.

Meanwhile, very few visitors, including those from qualifying countries, will have an easy time entering the U.S. for the 2026 World Cup, despite it being mainly hosted here.

We also wonder whether there is a young politician on the continent—especially in South Africa—who comes close to 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani? Born in Uganda and now running for mayor of New York City, Mamdani has a real gift for galvanizing his base. Who’s his equivalent? TikTok politician Liam Jacobs (like a few others, we’re not impressed by his theatrics)? Julius Malema during the “Pay back the money” phase? Maybe Mbuyiseni Ndlozi—before he left parliament for a radio gig? (Though he is now doing soft peddle interviews with the obnoxious Helen Zille.)

As usual, we wondered about the most progressive athlete in South Africa who may have a career in politics; it seems like it is the white cricket player and national team member, Rusty van der Dussen, with his captain, Temba Bavuma, maybe second. If you remember, Van der Dussen was the only white member of the Proteas, how the country’s team is known, to take a knee to protest racism during games, and he openly criticized his reactionary white teammates.

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