Like a box of Quality Street, everyone has their favourite favourite. Herewith some tastes from left, right, and centre.
Our podcasters have carved out a place in our social and news landscape that rivals established MSM channels like SABC and News24, not only in terms of viewership numbers but also in entertainment value and relevance.
In South Africa, there has been a proliferation of podcasts across the political spectrum, offering a colourful selection of hosts, each bringing a unique flavour, texture and follower base.
The IRR flagship podcast, the Daily Friend Show, is the place to go for analysis and insight from South Africa’s leading liberal opinion site. Expert analysis, forecasting, and writing are backed up by the prestigious IRR (Institute of Race Relations) policy papers and extensive library.
No topic is taboo, nothing is off-limits, and host Nicholas Lorimer has a calm and generous interview style.
The show currently broadcasts half hour episodes daily, Monday to Friday. Lorimer is excited to be adding long-form interviews with external guests in 2026 and looks forward to 2026. “The year ahead looks like it will be dominated by local government elections, wherein we eagerly anticipate the further disintegration of the ANC. We will report on it in no uncertain terms.”
In our box of chocolates, The Daily Friend Show would be the classic milk chocolate; light, smooth and politely sweet. Widely liked, rarely loved or hated it with a passion.
On the right-hand side of the spectrum, Renaldo Gouws suits sharper tastes.
There’s always that one, isn’t there? The one people have strong likes or dislikes for. Love him or hate him, Gouws just says ‘Tsekl!” (bugger off) and continues in his brash and irreverent style, making up rules as he goes along.
Until recently, it was considered prudent to separate party politics, showbiz, and personal opinion. Gouws ignores the lines by not only being a podcast host but also a member of parliament at the same time. Furthermore, he has been a member of the DA and is now a member of the Freedom Front, cementing the observation that politics has become a constant livestream popularity contest on our screens, competing with Netflix for our attention. It is a clash between the conservatives, the liberal, and the more progressive.
As a prominent conservative voice, Gouws says: “2025 has proven that the South African spirit is not merely one of endurance, but active resistance. The battle of ideas is far from over. I have no doubt that we have the fight left in us to win it.”
Gouws’ emotive style comes across as rudeness at times and can be hard to chew on, so he is the toffee finger in our selection, with some orange ginger for spice.
Do yourself a favour and try out some Bonsai Shongwe. His analysis is detailed, precise, delivered with the professional appearance of a lawyer, and then he hits you with Ecclesiastes 8:11.
Shongwe’s tagline is ‘South Africa through a biblical lens.” With a decent following, he is a regular guest on platforms like BizNews and State of the Nation. It shows again that, broadly speaking, South Africans share a family based christian value system, which makes us more similar than we sometimes realize.
He is looking forward to the resolution of the Madlanga commission and the ad hoc committee, as well as the Phala Phala enquiry, which he reminds us has not yet been finalized. “Justice delayed is justice denied’ is the term we might use in a more modern sense, but its biblical equivalent is found in Ecclesiastes: “If sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, the hearts of men are fully set to do evil.” Shongwe urges the constitutional court to stop being ‘chicken’ on this matter: “Their indecision destroys culture, kills investment and weakens the nation.”
Shongwe’s chocolate is sweetened with honey, not sugar, to reference the story in Judges 14, and roars with flavour like the lion.
On the lefter side of the spectrum, the Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh Experience is growing quickly. With a massive subscriber base, sitting at close to 400,000, his highly professional and polished presentation is paying dividends.
Like Renaldo Gouws, he takes pride in distinguishing himself from MSM channels.
Mainstream media, in return, often diminish the role of the ‘podcast bros,’ cautioning a lack of proper vigour in journalism, offering poorly thought-through opinions and passing it off as analysis.
Mpofu-Walsh certainly cannot be accused of any of those things. He has an impressive legal and political pedigree. His viewers comprise a surprisingly wide range in terms of demographics. He calls them his family, his ‘fam.’
“Listen up fam, 2026 is going to be a massive year in politics. It is going to be a turning point,” he says.
Issues SMWX is looking forward to include the local government elections, the Madlanga commission, and the DA leadership battle, on which he laments: “All the candidates for leadership are white men. The DA remains tone-deaf and going backwards in terms of representation. This will not help them move towards a more broad-based appeal.”
His chocolate will have to come in a red wrapper, considering his political lineage. Somewhat sweet, somewhat bitter, sometimes sticky, but it packs a powerful punch.
Podast report survey, in which I ask random people the same questions that I ask the experts:
I went around handing out coloured chocolates, asking for predictions on the local government elections, as they are top of mind. At the risk of focusing too much on colour differences, among blue, yellow and purple people, the most common answers were: “Are there elections? Again?” and “When was this? Nobody ever tells us anything.”
When asked who they thought would win the DA leadership battle, the person who chose a green chocolate, a motivational speaker, said, “I don’t care.”
The psychiatrist said she didn’t see big shifts in voting patterns, and the man who lives under the bridge with his wife and a brown dog asked me for R5 to buy bread.
In the past few days, the DA narrowly lost to the Patriotic Alliance in George and narrowly won to the Freedom Front in Tshwane, in both cases, at the expense of the ANC. Furthermore, Julius Malema looks like he might actually get jail time. Unpredictable times ahead.
SA politics is like Forrest Gump’s famous box of chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get. While everyone has their favourite favourite, the real enjoyment lies in the selection process and the privilege of choice. Sample widely to appreciate the comfort of your centre.
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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