Helen Zille faces a disciplinary hearing from her party as an apparent “litmus test” of its credibility as a champion for the people. President Jacob Zuma, similarly, is facing off with NEC members for his shenanigans, having already navigated the party’s ethics committee, the stalwarts and having subjugated its youth and woman’s leagues. The president, it […]
Marius Oosthuizen
Marius Oosthuizen is a faculty member and researcher at the Gordon Institute of Business Science. He teaches leadership, strategy and ethics, and heads up the Future of Business in SA Project. He is passionate about ethical and strategic leadership and writes about political-economy and current affairs.
Marius completed the Oxford Scenarios Programme at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, UK. He holds a masters in strategic foresight from Regent University, Virginia Beach, US an honours bachelor in systematic theology from the University of South Africa and is pursuing a masters in applied social and political ethics.
His expertise is in the field of stakeholder dialogue, scenario planning, strategic foresight and systems thinking. He is a member of the advisory council of the Association of Professional Futurists and recent participant in the London-based School of International Futures’ Scenario Retreat on European Union Foreign Policy.
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
10 things Ramaphosa should do in his first 100 days as president
Let’s imagine for a minute Ennerdale and Coligny have stopped burning. The knife-fight in the ANC is over and the 2019 elections have come and gone. Now Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is the fifth democratically elected president of South Africa – and will have inherited a deeply flawed country with a stagnant economy and a […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A Le Pen victor in France!? Fault lines and the Future of the EU and Europe
As France undertakes its general elections this week, the world’s eyes will be on Marine Le Pen as concern grows about the future of the European Union (EU). Lingering insecurity, especially in the wake of the most recent terror attack on police on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, will have a marked effect on voter sentiments in […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Zuma’s South Africa is not in a crisis, yet
As a scenario planner, it is my job to paint a picture of the future – or alternative futures, different realities that may materialise depending on the choices we make. Late Thursday night, President Zuma bulldozed the good guys out of the executive and shut the door on his handlers in the ANC. The Nkandla […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News/Politics
Open Letter to President Zuma: Reshuffling for a Dream Team Cabinet
Dear Mr. President, the grapevine is abuzz with news that you’re thinking of playing a national game of Russian roulette with cabinet – pun intended. I understand your desire to reshuffle. You can’t be very comfortable surrounded by individuals who have their own mind, a sense of conscience and a commitment to principles of good […]
Posted inGeneral
Trump, CNN and the irony of media hysteria
The President of the United States, during a “campaign rally”, refers to a terror incident in Sweden which never took place. He bases his reference, and subsequently his policy approach, on a FoxNews interview with a fringe documentary filmmaker. The story of the Trump-fib hits the news cycle and goes around the world. Finally, CNN […]
Posted inGeneral
SONA: It’s time to abandon the dream of state-led transformation
This week the president of the republic will address us during the state of the nation speech in parliament. In all likelihood his speech will be interrupted by a noisy and semi-rational red beret brigade accusing the president of thievery, illegitimacy, of undermining the constitution and breaching his oath of office. This will all be […]
Posted inBusiness, Equality, General, News/Politics
Are South Africans really all capitalists at heart?
The South African news cycle often is awash with nationalist rhetoric from the emerging and vocal opposition, raging against the African National Congress. These quasi-socialists hold out an image of an economically liberated Southern Africa, a picture of Mzansi at peace on the land – their land. The capitalists too have a vision for South […]
Posted inBusiness, Equality, General, News/Politics
Where is the wealth Malema wants to redistribute?
In a conversation about South Africa’s socio-economic malaise with a thoughtful sociologist from abroad, he asked the burning question that is shaping South African politics: “where is the wealth?” We talk often in South Africa about wealth redistribution, black economic empowerment and socio-economic rights. Our constitution at the outset sketches a socially just society as […]
Posted inGeneral
Has the time for ‘talks about talks’ come in SA?
The student protests of the last year are reminiscent of the 1976 student uprisings. Those protests were the precursor to a political change in South Africa less than a decade later. When young, educated “born free” South Africans express anger and impatience it’s time to pay attention. They have shown they want action. They want […]
Posted inGeneral, News/Politics
The assassination of Shaka the unifier is a lesson for the ANC
South Africans celebrate the enigmatic historical figure of Shaka Zulu, the military revolutionary who rose from illegitimacy to be a unifying monarch who used alliances and the occasional judicial assassination to build a Zulu powerhouse on South Africa’s east coast in the 1800s. Ironically, while Shaka’s use of military power, diplomacy and patronage succeeded at […]
Posted inGeneral
State capture: Just a big BEE deal
Thursday was a momentous day in South African democracy. A Chapter 9 institution, empowered by the Constitution, reported on an investigation into the sitting state president and called for the formation of a judicial enquiry into so-called state capture. Notwithstanding the fact that people are innocent until proven guilty, the prima facie evidence is that […]