Deputy President Paul Mashatile is a flawed individual who should probably not be president, journalist and author Pieter Du Toit tells Peter Bruce in this edition of Podcasts from the Edge. In The Dark Prince, his new book on Mashatile, Du Toit lays out the complex web of personal and financial relationships that keep President Cyril Ramaphosa’s probable successor “so intertwined that his life seems to be funded by individuals directly dependent on government contracts”. Du Toit says: “In 2009 [when corruption charges against former president Jacob Zuma were withdrawn] large parts of the commentariat were saying: ‘Let’s just give this guy a chance. He connects with people at grassroots level.’ And I think if we decide to say: ‘Let’s just give Mashatile a chance’, we’d make a grave mistake. He lacks a political compass. He is someone who is open to influences outside of what can be considered proper. He’s a deeply problematic character.”