South Africa's presidential candidates were put under pressure tonight in a short but chaotic Q&A session covering the country's biggest problems, their opponents, accusations against them, cabinet plans, and what citizens should judge them on after their first week in office.
Despite the noise around the debate, the answers gave voters a clearer look at each candidate's priorities, personalities, and leadership style.
1.The Biggest Problem Facing South Africa
The first question asked candidates to identify South Africa's biggest issue and explain how they would fix it.
Tharshey focused on South Africa's lack of players and poor understanding of game mechanics. His plan is to recruit more players and create instructional videos on YouTube to help citizens learn the game.
Storm pointed directly at the country's military weakness, blaming "perma eco players" for weakening national damage output. He argued that more players need to move into sustainable war builds, calling it the current meta.
Suit also highlighted declining player numbers, player retention, and the threat from larger countries such as Germany and Venezuela. His solution was aggressive advertising, steady community growth, and using nearby wars to keep new, old, and returning players engaged.
Dog gave a diplomatic answer, saying South Africa is increasingly seen as a thorn in the side of larger powers. He argued that South Africa has strong allies, but needs to reach out to powerful communities to exchange technology and build lasting friendships.
Corruption gave the shortest answer, saying he would like to "have fun."
2.Who Would Be the Worst President?
The second question asked candidates to name who they believed would be the worst president.
The answers were less policy-focused and more personal.
Dog named himself, saying he would be the worst candidate because he is lazy and already has many responsibilities in the community. He added that while he believes he can bring value, much of the actual responsibility would likely fall onto the government.
Suit chose Corruption, joking that the reason is because "he's corrupt."
Storm chose Dog, joking that he would "Bark up the wrong tree."
Tharshey said the worst candidate would be whichever candidate is most popular other than himself, because they are standing in the way of his rise to "Emperor of Mankind" - quickly correcting that to President of South Africa.
Corruption also named himself.
3.Accusations Against the Candidates
The third question asked candidates about the biggest accusation currently against them and what they wanted to say to their accusers.
Dog said the main accusation against him is admin abuse. He acknowledged that there had been "sketchy times," but said he has spent most of his time helping the community in an integrity-focused way. He added that he believes in doing what is right, not only what the rules say.
Storm joked that the accusation against him is that he is "a slut," before giving a more serious answer: that he only won his last election because he had no competition. He defended his term by saying he stepped up when the country needed leadership, learned a lot, listened to players, and ran a successful first term.
Suit said he was unsure what his biggest accusation was, but later joked that he would spend the national budget on suits - and admitted that accusation was correct.
Corruption said SARS was coming after him "for some reason" and gave no further comment.
Tharshey said he has no accusations against him because he is "the pinnacle of mankind" and the "god emperor," while also noting that he is still new enough that most people have not had time to develop problems with him.
4.Cabinet Plans
The fourth question asked candidates who they were considering for cabinet positions.
Storm gave the most complete cabinet list, naming MadamGoth as VP, SinisterSmiley as MOFA, Fumblator as MOE, Arogon as MOD, and BinyaElsweyr as Shadow Minister or Super Aid.
Tharshey named Squid as VP and said his cabinet would include RevoLushen, mTrumper, Weasel, and Swift from his community. He also said he was offering Suit a position to help run and lead the Imperium.
Dog said he is not running in a party because too many cabinets are based on personal connections. He said his cabinet would be chosen based on who is most fit for the role and who the community trusts. He later agreed with Suit for VP.
Suit named Dog as VP and said he has several people in mind for other positions, but does not want to make promises before checking availability after the election. He said SinisterSmiley would most likely be MODA, Effingere would most likely be MOD, and Fokof would be shadow.
Corruption said he is considering no one.
5.What Should Citizens Judge After One Week?
The final question asked candidates what specific result citizens should judge them on after their first week.
Suit gave the clearest answer, saying citizens should judge him by how involved they feel in the game and community. For him, engagement is the main measurement.
Storm argued that voters should not judge him only on the first week, because they already have a whole term to look back on - something he said his opponents cannot claim.
Tharshey said citizens should judge him on how much of the world South Africa has conquered, how players count and retention grow, and whether quality video guides are being made for citizens.
Dog answered shortly: citizens should judge him "by my bite and not my bark."
Overall
The Q&A showed a clear split between the candidates.
Suit and Tharshey focused heavily on player activity, growth, and engagement. Storm leaned into war readiness and his previous experience. Dog presented himself as a more trust-based and diplomatic candidate, while also openly admitting his limitations. Corruption mostly kept his answers short and unserious, leaning into the meme side of the race.
For voters, the main choice seems to be between experience, community growth, war preparation, diplomacy, and pure chaos.
Whatever happens next, South Africa's election is clearly not short on personality.
Side notes:
•AI was only used to clean up spelling, grammar, and punctuation. The content and summary are my own.
•To avoid bias, I am writing this in a way that seems like I have never met these people before in my life
•I purely made this article so that people who could not view it live, can read it in one place.
•Other candidates like Void was not mentioned because he did not participate
Secret Code (Not important to the article, just a fun challenge):
Iipe xyseshqs jbh gwq hhw tbferk gbx lbfnkxqgchqg vh mks vhmhficxz quugqsy. Ylsspctozl shx, Bnnto. Thwd bch.