‘Beware of the comrades!’ It’s a new clarion call by one Katlego Moagi, who has recently been a pain in the side of politicians in South Africa on social media platforms. Leadership Editor Prof JJ Tabane met her to understand the person behind ‘Citizen Concerned’, a YouTube channel that has rattled many a political cage.
I am always fascinated by how talented South Africa’s political landscape is. Littered with opinionated and truly powerful young people who can truly shape public discourse. But the environment is so polluted that those who put their heads above the parapet are often harassed by those who would rather not hear the truth and their blind followers can be even worse.
The profound story of Katlego Moagi is in that context. From the dusty streets of Soshanguve and Soweto with a poor background, her youth was made bearable by a resilient mother who sold vetkoeks to see them through school. Katlego defeated the odds to rise and become a foremost professional in her field of mining engineering and a foremost voice on our social media platforms on political matters of our day. As a quality assurer in her 9 to 5 job, the quality of her political commentary based on hard facts and research comes shining through. Her videos are well researched and entertaining, as well as hard hitting. They are not for narrow minded fans nor thin skinned politicians. Her articulation puts many radio and TV programs to shame. She speaks Truth to Power.
I don’t agree with her dismissal of the EFF in particular as a rogue socialist force who must be obliterated, but I can’t fault her logic on how she arrives at her conclusions on the range of topics she tackles. She takes the emotion out of the equation, although she delivers her commentary passionately. I agree with her that coalition governments may just be the way to go to reduce incompetence and corruption in our body politic, but differ with her about the shape of such a coalition.
Katlego’s value system is highly impressive. She lives by the scripture of ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ and she is dedicated like a faithful servant of God to use her gifts and talents in a manner that will aid her to account to her creator. This tends to shape all her pursuits and that light shows. Over Christmas, she departed from her clarion call to beware of the comrades to pray for the comrades; a twist many of her detractors did not expect.
Her family has been concerned about her safety, especially after insults and threats were meted out to her. She has been accused of being funded to attack the EFF, in particular, and also accused of being a former and failed prostitute, amongst the choice insults that came her way as a result of her brave work.
Her view is that someone has to do the work and it just happened to be her.
Katlego is cognisant of her role as a wife and a mother, things that also require her attention. Her two boys, she reckons, should not grow up in a socialist country that could thrive as a result of citizens not standing up for what they believe. The risk to their future, she believes, is greater than a risk to her own life. She is a Braveheart in the midst of being reminded of political killings in South Africa.
Her assembly of the road ahead of the 2024 elections is an interesting one. Katlego believes that the proliferation of new parties may result in choice fatigue for the voters, who may end up making wrong choices. This is further motivation for her fact-based commentary.
Katlego in her own words…
Give me a brief background about your upbringing. Who are your parents and what stands out about what you learnt from them?
I am my mother’s last-born child, raised with three older brothers by our single, strong, and selfless mother whose parenting went beyond her biological children to some of my cousins. We were born in Pretoria and raised in our grandmother’s house in Soshanguve, which was a ‘family house’ with several cousins, aunts, and uncles all staying there for most of my brothers’ childhoods. When I was six years old, my mother took the bold step of packing us up and taking us to Johannesburg. The reason behind this big move was that after years of unemployment, she had found employment in Johannesburg and her daily train commutes meant that she left and returned home in the dark hours of the day, while we were sleeping. Unsatisfied with seeing her children only over weekends, she decided to find a home closer to her work, hence we moved to Lenasia, Johannesburg. The first house we moved into had no electricity and plumbing; but before sorting that out, she woke up the next day to go fight to find school placements for us. My memories as a six- and seven-year-old are of us constantly moving from one house to another; three in Lenasia, one in Soweto, and one in Turffontein. Due to my father’s absence, my uncles played a big role in assisting my mother with all these moves. What I learned from my beautiful and bold mother is that when you want something, you go for it and simply because you want it does not mean that it will throw itself at you. Most of her life was not easy but she pressed on, being left to take care of four children in unemployment, not having enough to take care of everyone’s needs, and often choosing to sacrifice her needs for the needs of her children, trying several side hustles from selling fat cakes, snoek fish, and atchar to buying and selling handbags and perfumes and still praising and trusting in God Almighty in all the struggle. These and many memories of my mother’s resilience and selflessness taught me that no matter how many rocks life or people throw at you, it is up to you to choose to either allow all those rocks to become a high wall that blocks your path forward or to use those rocks to build a high mountain on which to stand! There is always a potential to see beauty from the ashes! The journey is NEVER linear or smooth, it is OFTEN crooked and full of thorns, but it is ALWAYS worth it!
What is your value system that guides your life and activities?
Hard as it is, I try to live by two Bible verses; Luke 6:31 and Matthew 25:21. Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, as human beings we are born evil and choosing good and right over that evil that comes naturally is a daily battle. So, as I go about my activities and life, the reminder to do to others as I would like them to do to me helps me turn from my natural evil to my desired good. I am also encouraged to give it my all in most areas of my life. I believe we all have so much potential in us and because of how demanding tapping into that potential is, we sometimes do the bare minimum—we sometimes neglect certain gifts, opportunities, and talents we have.
Why did you choose engineering and what persuaded you to go that route?
In High School I excelled in languages, English and Afrikaans, and I wanted to become a psychologist with the desire to help people. Since Engineering was thought to be the career to take to make money, my mother advised me to take that route. I did some of my own research (not enough) and ended up opting for Mining Engineering. I was accepted to study Engineering Metallurgy at the University of Johannesburg. Through hard work, excellent lecturers, some cross-nighting (studying throughout the night with classmates at university), and prayer, I came out with a BTech in Engineering Metallurgy. Although I am not passionate about Metallurgy, whether in theory or practice, I am grateful for the open doors that the qualification afforded me. I am also grateful for the non-academic lessons learned from the work I had to put in, for the life lessons from some of the lecturers there, especially the late Dr Kambuyi Katuku, and, of course, I am grateful for the friends I made there.
What fulfils you about your current job and what doesn’t?
Working in a multinational organisation means interacting with people from varying backgrounds, experiences, ways of thinking, and that means I am always learning something new about their lifestyles, values, beliefs, social and economic statuses. This gives me a chance to interrogate my own which is a refreshing, fulfilling, learning experience. What is least fulfilling about it is having to sit down behind the computer for several hours. The work I have enjoyed the most is where I have been practically engaging and interacting with people and products, not virtually, and I miss that.
What are the issues you are passionate about in life?
Family is the foundation of a lot of things and while some people who come from broken families still make it in life, it takes more effort to make it than it does for someone who came from a solid, loving, well-valued family. The right knowledge is important. With the right knowledge people are making things happen in life while others who lack the same knowledge are failing and suffering. What’s worse is some of the people failing don’t even know that their failure is due to their lack of knowledge, so obtaining the right knowledge and sharing it with others is a necessity. Then there is God. The seed is more important than the fruit, as the seed can reproduce the wholesomeness we see and enjoy in the fruit. Every good thing everyone on earth is seeking: health, wealth, provision, protection, etc are the fruits and the seeds are in God. He is the source of all life and good. We have been largely conditioned to focus on the fruit and not the seed, but with the seed, we can produce several fruit trees. We are able to do good, work harder, and be satisfied in honest labour that yields a harvest bigger than the time and effort investment.
Why did you start ‘Citizen Concerned’? What have been the challenges since you started? What has been the most controversial post?
I started ‘Citizen Concerned’ in 2020 when I felt like certain topics that should be on the minds and mouths of South African citizens were not being touched enough. I started off talking about drugs in South Africa, I had an episode on South African brands and did a documentary titled, ‘DEBT: Friend or Foe?’, considering how easily South Africans were getting into debt, among other things. These videos did not do so well and I stopped making videos. I did not stop getting frustrated by the incompetence, foolishness, and negligence that is in charge of this country. I would talk to my family, friends, and acquaintances about the state of things and we’d freak out over many topics and just feel angry that black people are not participating in exposing the rot of the communists in South Africa. It was so irritating that the communists were so corrupt, incompetent, greedy, you name it, and yet they expected us to vote for them. They inherited a well functioning country and divided it further. They inherited infrastructure and failed to not only maintain it, but they failed to build and improve on it. Eventually, 2023 came and there was that fire in Johannesburg and it really pained me that people had died in that building. Many people died in that Joburg building and the government is the one to blame. That was a poorly maintained building, unsafe and rotten. A building worth millions hijacked and the government did nothing to get it back. Undocumented foreigners died in that fire and our government again is to blame because our borders are not secure and instead of ranting about it at home, I decided to share my thoughts with the rest of the country.
There is a lot of reference to the EFF in most of your postings. Is there any particular reason for this focus? How have the EFF supporters responded to you? How do you handle insults?
In my view, people need to BEWARE OF ALL THE COMRADES as politicians by virtue of their power and influence can be very dangerous for the nation. While ALL Politicians are dangerous, some pose a greater danger than others and the EFF falls under that category due to their policies. The ANC is definitely among the comrades, but people assume that I only mean the EFF. The EFF policies of socialism, communism, and nationalisation have been proven time and time again, by various leaders across the world, to be detrimental to the lives of citizens and yet they still hold on to them. I found it strange that we have so many people that support them but I realised that our nation also does not involve itself in researching these topics. Most of the information I share is also new to me. I didn’t know these things so when I hear something being said, I go and research to find out if it’s true or not. My love for South Africa and the desire to stop South Africa from ending up like Mao Zedong’s China, Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela, Joseph Stalin’s Russia, Fidel Castro’s Cuba or Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe is what makes me warn anyone willing to listen against the EFF and the ANC. The EFF has a huge potential of making South Africa like or even worse than the aforementioned nations because they are divisive and honestly very racist. They don’t seem to care about the truth. Their leaders will say anything to win and that to me is a worrying feature of this party. While some EFF supporters respectfully disagree with me in comments and direct messages on social media, some opt to be very hostile in their comments, direct messages, and posts on social media. One of them went to the extent of creating a smear campaign against me, telling Twitter users that I am a former or rather failed prostitute, to stop people from listening to my content. After the prostitute posts, there were posts regarding my accent. Maybe I was naïve when I started but I was really shocked that they could go that low in trying to discredit me instead of factually debunking what I was saying in my videos. Four months in this space, I am no longer as shocked when I read the insults—my first response is now pity for the insulters because I see them as people who are deeply deceived. I say that because if it was a sensible and reasonable supporter of the EFF they would respond without lies, insults, and smear campaigns, without calling me derogatory names or threatening me, but they would formulate sensible responses countering my points (as some EFF supporters do).
The channel is very polished for an on-the-fly YouTube channel with serious research, with slick video production—not a usual standard of the podcasts we have seen. What’s your secret?
Quality is important to me, not only because I have been working as a Quality Manager for several years but also because I have found that sometimes valuable content does not reach its intended audience, not because it is not valuable, but rather because it is not packaged well. I believe that my content is valuable, especially now as we get close to the 2024 elections and I hope that the quality thereof encourages people to watch, learn, and get all the value it has to offer. I would love to post way more frequently than I currently do, but because the quality of research, sound, and visuals are of great importance to me, I post less often. It takes time/money to get a good enough product. Hopefully, life changes in a way that I will have more time to dedicate to ‘Citizen Concerned’ and offer even more valuable, quality products.
You recently asked the public to donate money for you to translate your videos into other languages. Care to elaborate? How is the fundraising going?
Although the videos are generally well received, I fear that they are not reaching the citizens who are not fluent in the English language. Most of which are citizens more deceived by the ANC and EFF comrades. I would not want people to be deprived of the message because they do not understand the language. As it is, due to my 9-5, I am unable to do as many videos as I would like to. Receiving donations will help me either take time off work without worrying too much about my livelihood or outsource translations to ensure that the videos are in a language that non-English speaking citizens hear and understand so that they receive this valuable information ahead of casting their vote. Some people have expressed that they would like to donate, but due to their economic status, they currently cannot, and they instead share the content. I am grateful for all the support I have received thus far from all the Concerned Citizens. I also have a great community of supporters on YouTube and they help fund my projects by joining my YouTube membership programme where they donate varying amounts monthly.
Where do you see your life in five years?
Considering that before September 2023 I was one of the young people who did not watch news much or pay attention to politics, where I have gotten in five months is something worth appreciating. In the next five years I see myself with enough time and resources to dedicate to ‘Citizen Concerned’ as an organisation that challenges the comrades to do better for the citizens that they have been appointed to serve. I see ‘Citizen Concerned’ challenging the status quo in South African culture, education, economy, focus, and direction. I see the influence of ‘Citizen Concerned’ broaden to a huge scale—on YouTube and beyond. Just as five months ago I did not know that I would be here, I am confident that if I keep at it, I will be pleasantly surprised at where my life and our ‘Citizen Concerned’ will be in five years’ time.
Tell me about your immediate family, how do they feel about your venture? Have you ever been threatened?
My husband and I have two sons and although both my husband and I know that there is a danger in what we are doing, it is our view that if we cower and shut up now before communism and socialism are fully in place in South Africa, we are aiding their establishment. If we value our lives over our children’s future, over our nation’s long-term well-being, then we and many others really won’t have a voice, and our children and the next generation will judge us for being silent when we could have and should have spoken. My family also consists of my mother and three older brothers who are very concerned about my safety, and they have asked me to slow down with the content or stop altogether, out of fear that the comrades will do what they have done to some whistleblowers. While it is a bitter pill for them to swallow because they love me and care for my safety, I have made it clear that even with the risks that exist, this is something that someone has to do and I happen to be one of those doing this risky, necessary task of truth telling. So far, I have received comments and direct messages from a few people who reminded me about political deaths in South Africa. There was a comment on Instagram telling me that I have a big mouth and political killings are real in South Africa—not sure if that can be taken as a threat or not.
What is your overall comment about the 2024 elections? Do you believe coalitions can work? What kind of permutation do you see in terms of possible coalitions?
With all the new parties, the options are really increasing which may result in choice overload. It may seem like having a lot to choose from is good, but what if people experience decision paralysis and choose to not vote for anyone or choose a bad option? The decision made by the Multi-Party Charter shows some maturity and humility that has been needed for years. I am happy that they did it. Ideally, parties with similar core values and policies should be coming together, but I guess the desire to be the head of the organisation hinders such possibilities. I do believe that coalitions can work, they may even help reduce the number of incompetent and corrupt decisions made by one party because the party they are in coalition with is holding them accountable. Coalitions should be made where competence, free markets, and honesty is valued. There are parties like the EFF and ANC whose record proves that they are not very competent or honest, so those should be disqualified from anything reasonable. The problem is shunning them altogether will result in those two joining each other. The ANC needs to be isolated and kept far from the government, but the EFF and MK, while having stolen votes from the ANC, also pose the risk of returning those votes to the ANC because they don’t seem to care about anything except their success as a party. I really hate that the coalitions have been failing a lot in recent years but lets see how it plays out this time around. I am curious to see what the outcome will be. Apart from the political parties, I think the private business should be more involved in educating citizens and driving awareness. We wouldn’t be where we are now if our people were exposed to information that informs their decision making, particularly when it comes to voting.
What is your quick views on the following:
- Abortion: Short term solution with long term trauma.
- Teenage pregnancy: A life altering occurrence that can be avoided through firm family foundations and adequate education.
- Sugar daddies: Desperate men creating dangerous options for desperate young women.
- Prostitution: Could be significantly reduced if the economic status would improve.
- Marriage: A building block of decent communities and its success depends on the One who initiated it, God.
- Divorce: Too common resulting in the absence of male role models and fatherless homes, all children need both parents.
- MK Party: Shocking how many citizens quickly ran towards it when they knew the dirt behind its leaders.
- Patriotic Alliance: Wonderful promises, worrisome past.
- Julius Malema: Articulate, influential, great speaker, and a hypocrite.
- Cyril Ramaphosa: Promising start, disappointing finish.
- Immigration: Out of control, we need border security.
Prof. Onkgopotse JJ Tabane is the Editor of Leadership Magazine.
