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Articles by Marius Oosthuizen
Look up, South Africa: Wounded, yes, but still breathing
South Africa is battered by violence, corruption and division. Yet beneath the grief, a stubborn spirit still breathes — refusing to surrender hope and its future. Dr Marius Oosthuizen is a strategic foresight expert and writes in his individual capacity as a South African citizen. Opinion This article is an Opinion, which presents the writer's personal point of view. The views expressed are those of the author/authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Daily Maverick.
South Africa: Letter to US Ambassador Bozell - Afrikaners Are Being Used As a Political Football
South Africa's problems with crime, racial rhetoric, land reform, economic empowerment and foreign policy are serious. They do not add up to 'white genocide'. Relations between South Africa and the US have deteriorated to a point where what were once domestic South African disputes have become matters of American foreign policy.
Letter to US ambassador Bozell — Afrikaners are being used as a political football
South Africa’s problems with crime, racial rhetoric, land reform, economic empowerment and foreign policy are serious. They do not add up to ‘white genocide’. Dr Marius Oosthuizen is a strategic foresight expert and writes in his individual capacity as a South African citizen. Opinion This article is an Opinion, which presents the writer's personal point of view. The views expressed are those of the author/authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Daily Maverick.
MARIUS OOSTHUIZEN | The tsotsi struggle or the struggle for justice
South Africa still obsesses over “the struggle” and its heroes. The words appear in speeches, songs and political campaigns. They summon a time when the moral lines were clear: apartheid was evil, resistance was necessary and those who sacrificed their freedom — or their lives — deserved to be called heroes. That history should not be trivialised. But history can be honoured so mechanically that it becomes an alibi for failing the present.
MARIUS OOSTHUIZEN AND NICK BINEDELL: Security and economic strength vital for middle powers after the rupture
For much of the past three decades countries such as South Africa lived comfortably in what might be called a useful fiction: that global integration would reward good behaviour, multilateral rules would constrain bad actors and raw power and economic openness would reliably translate into shared prosperity. That fiction is over. What has replaced it is not a transition but a rupture, as recently argued by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at Davos.
Why the National Convention fell short
Last week South Africa hosted its inaugural National Convention, as part of the National Dialogue process. For those of us who have long argued for a citizen-led process to rethink and renew our democratic compact, the mere fact of its convening was a modest triumph. The symbolism of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s presence lent the event a measure of legitimacy.
Skill the Boer — a response to Ernst Roets and Tucker Carlson
This week, Ernst Roets, former deputy CEO of AfriForum, appeared on The Tucker Carlson Show in the US, spotlighting what he sees as the dire plight of Afrikaners. His supporters are cheering, seeing a champion for their cause. His critics are fuming, branding him a privileged, treasonous racist, peddling misinformation. So, who is right? Don't want to see this? Remove ads Roets made four bold claims — about South Africa’s collapse, the ANC’s governance, Afrikaner persecution, and societal breakdown.
Open letter to US Congress — Requesting patient commitment to SA
Dear Congressmen/Congresswomen Let me say at the outset, the very idea of South Africa as a nation is at first absurd. That a nation so divided by race, so brutalised by history and so incoherent can be united in its diversity, is unthinkable. Yet, we are largely peaceful. Don't want to see this? Remove ads That in such a cacophony of difference and diversity, South Africa can produce a life of dignity and hope for its people, is unimaginable.
As Zuma’s MK party rises, so will other regional ethno-nationalist uMkhontos
Jacob Zuma’s MK party has hijacked the brand and remnants of the armed struggle wing of the ANC and is now attracting high-profile members from the EFF into its ranks. MK received 14.58 % of the national vote (4,584,828) and won the most votes in KwaZulu-Natal with 45.3%, ahead of the IFP on 18% and the ANC on 17% in South Africa’s most populous province. Don't want to see this?
Stop parking in bays for the disabled - because they matter!
A disabled lady could not get to her car parked in disabled parking, because a man parked his vehicle (SUV) in front of the shop where his wife was browsing. Fortunately, a concerned bystander saw the woman’s predicament and confronted the man in the SUV to move his vehicle and find an alternative, correct parking. I have never considered parking tickets as fair. This was until my son told me he got a R10 000 fine for stopping on disabled parking.
the ANC hierarchy of greed
The famous psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed a hierarchy that outlines a five-layer model of human needs, depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. These include needs for food and clothing, safety, the need for love and belonging or friendship, esteem, and finally self-actualisation — the expression of one’s identity and ideals. The basic premise the theory suggests is that the most basic level of needs must be met before individuals can attend to needs higher up in the pyramid.
OPINIONISTA: South Africa may be on the verge of ‘going to the dogs’ but disaster can still be narrowly averted
Every South African I talk to is asking whether the country is “going to the dogs?” Well, what does it mean to “go to the dogs”? In ancient China, criminals were expelled from the walls of the city and left to live on the rubbish dumps in the outskirts, literally among the dogs that scavenge for food. So, is it likely that increased rolling blackouts and corruption, economic stagnation and general social decay are turning South Africa into a rubbish dump?
OPINIONISTA: The moral case to overthrow the abusive ANC – it is beyond rehabilitation
As I work with leaders in civil society, especially those from the black community, I have witnessed a deep loyalty to the ANC accompanied by a deep sadness. Loyalty, because the ANC is the liberation movement to which many black civil society leaders owe their freedom. A loyalty that goes deeper than a passive sense of having been liberated by the ANC, they are themselves “ANC people”. They grew up in the movement. They were the foot soldiers of the liberation Struggle and the ANC was their home.
OPINIONISTA: Ramaphosa can only set the tone on social compacting – all of us have a role to play
Dr Marius Oosthuizen is the head of the Centre for Leadership and Dialogue at Gibs. He serves on the executive committee of the Indlulamithi Scenarios Trust, and is the director, scenarios of the World Energy Council. To pretend that the system is not primed for an explosion is to be either dishonest or deluded. That the system has not exploded is precisely because of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s approach and the way it offers some of what we need.
OPINIONISTA: As the last ANC Parliament looms, a new generation of political leaders must step forward
Dr Marius Oosthuizen is a scenarios planner and the director for leadership and dialogue at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, GIBS. He writes in his personal capacity. What becomes of the South African political landscape as the ANC’s self-defeating disease of incumbency takes its inevitable toll? In 1987, Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, the Progressive Party MP and leader of the white Opposition, wrote a memoir titled The Last White Parliament: The Struggle for South Africa.
WAR IN EUROPE OP-ED: Call for the South African government to unequivocally condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Dear fellow academics, clergy and civil society leaders, There is a moment in time when the injustice of a situation worsens, such that it becomes the immediate concern of all conscientious persons. These are moments of moral and ethical immediacy that compel one to take a stand for what is right. The current developments in Ukraine represent just such a moment. For the greater part of the past 75 years much of the world has been at peace.
OPINIONISTA: Three paradigm shifts that will redefine South African politics and the way we do business
Three important shifts might take place in South Africa in the next two decades that will upend the political landscape and create new opportunities for political competition and collaboration. Events on South Africa’s political landscape over the past two decades have been rather boring. Apart from squabbles within the ANC and its alliance partner Cosatu, very little has changed since 1994.
OP-ED: Beacon of democracy: Building a new consensus in South Africa means imagining a new way of doing things
(Illustrative image | Sources: Flickr | EPA / NIC BOTHMA) South Africa now faces a resource squeeze, where dwindling public revenue, expanding public spending and a stagnant private sector have created an unsustainable state wherein the national democratic project is at risk. The quest for socioeconomic transformation is urgent. South Africa’s democratic transition is a pre-eminent example of political change achieved through dialogue-based consensus-building.
OPINIONISTA: Economics 2021: Shifting South Africa’s debt burden on to the black middle class…
… and the black middle class is allowing the ANC to move the burden of its economic incompetence on to the shoulders of its children. It is difficult to talk about economics in South Africa without talking about race. The persistent legacy of apartheid means that economic realities were baked into the racial composition of our country and racial inequity is baked into our country’s economic structure. This pattern largely persists, like yeast that permeates a lump of dough.
Covid-19 and the AfCFTA: How Africa can help itself
RONAK GOPALDAS As Director of Signal Risk, an exclusively African risk advisory firm, Ronak focuses on the intersection of politics, economics and business on the continent. He was previously the Head of Country Risk at Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), providing in-depth analysis of economic, political, security and operational dynamics across sub-Saharan Africa. During his time at RMB, he also served on the Africa and International Management board, as a strategist and a number of exco positions.
OPINIONISTA: Senseless Senekal showdown is a test for our democracy
As a white, male, Afrikaner South African, the violence meted out by farmers at the first Senekal court appearance was unacceptable and irresponsible. Let me also say, for the EFF to arrive in their thousands to confront the Afrikaners with shouts of 'shoot, shoot... kill the Boer' is unacceptable and amounts to incitement to violence and hate speech. The showdown in Senekal is a collision of two myths, neither of which hold the seeds for a hopeful future for South Africa.
OPINIONISTA: That Clicks ad was shockingly tone-deaf, but EFF’s response tramples on our democracy
That the Clicks hair advertisement made it through to publication is a shocking example of a business behaving in a tone-deaf manner. But the EFF’s anti-democratic response has shown that they act with impunity – that they consider themselves above the law. Dear Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, and Minister of Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, please don’t fail our democracy.
OPINIONISTA: Inequity is baked into our society: Let’s deconstruct the cake through radical reconciliation
After the fall of apartheid, most South Africans disassociated themselves psychologically from our horrid past and went on to live their lives exactly as before. Worse, we outsourced our national reconstruction project to the politicians. We need radical reconciliation to effect proper change. South Africa is stuck in a socio-economic rut and solutions to our challenges are unlikely to come from the politicians or from technocratic debates. What are we going to do about it?
OPINIONISTA: What I wish SA’s middle class was talking about
The ANC’s approach to the economy was to try to transform the golden goose through BEE, while plucking it naked to feather their own nests. Some in business pretentiously went along with it, while knowing better. When business media writes, “South Africa is in an economic crisis”, the people say, “we know”. When civil society cries, “South Africa is in a socio-economic crisis”, the people say, “we know”.
OPINIONISTA: Five burning questions for Herman Mashaba, Lindiwe Mazibuko, Julius Malema and SA’s academic youth
An open letter to Herman Mashaba, Lindiwe Mazibuko and Julius Malema and to the youngsters studying in the faculties of political science, law and economics across South Africa. Dear Herman, Lindiwe, Julius and friends, The reason for my letter is to pose five pressing questions to you that need to be answered for South Africa to forge a better path. I would really appreciate your help in answering these.
Africa: The Poor Lose Again - Impact of COVID-19 On Africa
analysis By Jakkie Cilliers, Marius Oosthuizen, Stellah Kwasi, Kelly Alexander, Tk Pooe, Kouassi Yeboua and Jonathan D Moyer The impact of COVID-19 is usually measured in rates of infection, deaths, jobs lost and the hit on national economies. But there's another metric - the surge in extreme poverty - that describes the most severe effect of the pandemic on people in Africa.
ISS TODAY: The poor lose again: Impact of Covid-19 on Africa
(Photo by Bill Wegener on Unsplash) Extreme poverty rises in all scenarios modelled in a new study of Africa’s development trajectory. First published by ISS Today The impact of Covid-19 is usually measured in rates of infection, deaths, jobs lost and the hit on national economies. But there’s another metric – the surge in extreme poverty – that describes the most severe effect of the pandemic on people in Africa.
South Africa: Mr Ramaphosa to Borrow to Give Is to Gamble With the Future of Our Nation
Dear Mr President, please don't finance grants from debts, thinking South Africa can consume itself out of the Covid-19 hole. The pandemic has wreaked your plans for a high-growth economy during your first term in office, Mr President. I get how frustrating that must be. After all your hard work on the Investment summits, the Jobs summits and the various other stakeholder engagements you initiated during the first months of your Presidency, all has come to naught.
OPINIONISTA: Mr Ramaphosa to borrow to give is to gamble with the future of our nation
Dear Mr President, please don’t finance grants from debts, thinking South Africa can consume itself out of the Covid-19 hole. The pandemic has wreaked your plans for a high-growth economy during your first term in office, Mr President. I get how frustrating that must be. After all your hard work on the Investment summits, the Jobs summits and the various other stakeholder engagements you initiated during the first months of your Presidency, all has come to naught.
We must act now to prevent food riots
By Marius Oosthuizen It pains me to write this, but unless certain actions are taken soon, we will drift towards a worst-case scenario during Covid-19. First, the president has done a superb job to get the nation moving proactively in response to the pandemic. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize too has been a godsend in his portfolio at this time, and with his team, has done well to stem the spread of the virus.
South Africa: We Must Act Now to Prevent Food Riots
Our problem is not that we don't have enough food in South Africa. Our problem is that the food is only available to those who have cash, and the poorer you are, the less likely you are to live near a retailer. It pains me to write this, but unless certain actions are taken soon, we will drift towards a worst-case scenario during Covid-19. First, the president has done a superb job to get the nation moving proactively in response to the pandemic.
OPINIONISTA: We must act now to prevent food riots
Our problem is not that we don’t have enough food in South Africa. Our problem is that the food is only available to those who have cash, and the poorer you are, the less likely you are to live near a retailer. It pains me to write this, but unless certain actions are taken soon, we will drift towards a worst-case scenario during Covid-19. First, the president has done a superb job to get the nation moving proactively in response to the pandemic.
South Africa: Life After Lockdown - Reopening the Country Safely
What we need is to think now about what a safe reversal of the lockdown might mean. The reality is that in the absence of a medical breakthrough, such as a cure or therapy which mitigates the risks of Covid-19, the reality of opening up our society in spite of the virus will become inevitable. Amid the COVID-19 lockdown, we must start a conversation about what it means to safely open up our society. Why?
OPINIONISTA: Life after lockdown: Reopening SA safely
What we need is to think now about what a safe reversal of the lockdown might mean. The reality is that in the absence of a medical breakthrough, such as a cure or therapy which mitigates the risks of Covid-19, the reality of opening up our society in spite of the virus will become inevitable. Amid the COVID-19 lockdown, we must start a conversation about what it means to safely open up our society. Why?
OPINIONISTA: The Pre-Budget Speech – if Tito Mboweni were honest
Today, I submit before this august House the national Budget. It reflects, to the best of my judgement, the Twitterati’s opinion of the nation’s financial situation. Madam Speaker, Mr President and dishonourable members, and in the absence of an uninvited FW De Klerk, all protocol observed. When I took an Oath of Office.
South Africa: Time to Overcome Apartheid, and FW De Klerk
The EFF's agenda in Parliament last week, of redirecting the attention of the nation from the President's State of the Nation address to former President FW de Klerk, is a destructive distraction. It is morally and politically intolerable to tell people to "get over apartheid", a cynical form of social, political and economic oppression. Worse, it left millions of people with psychological scars by subjugating them to unfair treatment.
OPINIONISTA: Time to overcome apartheid, and FW De Klerk
The EFF’s agenda in Parliament last week, of redirecting the attention of the nation from the President’s State of the Nation address to former President FW de Klerk, is a destructive distraction. It is morally and politically intolerable to tell people to “get over apartheid”, a cynical form of social, political and economic oppression. Worse, it left millions of people with psychological scars by subjugating them to unfair treatment.
OP-ED: Western democracies are at risk of normalising notions of apartheid
Women dressed in Handmaids cloaks and hoods hold signs protesting against US President Donald Trump in front of the Massachusetts State House in Boston. (Photo: EPA-EFE / CJ Gunther) The rise of the right in the West represents a return to pre-World War II nationalism, dressed up in the language of ‘the protection of sovereignty and the ‘people’s interests’. In the final analysis, the political tide is rising against the globalism and inter-state openness that has marked the last half-century.
Political path must be adjusted radically - is Herman Mashaba the answer?
Politically, SA has been heading down a path towards state-led socialism. This is why we have retained ownership of the large and largely bankrupt state-owned enterprises (SOEs), such as SAA, Eskom and Denel. The assumption is, from a socialist point of view, that the state should be the arbiter of socioeconomic progress.
Marshall Plan urgently needed to rebuild the country
I am not going to waste time outlining our unemployment problem, our economic stagnation problem or the remnants of our state incapacity problem. Rather, let me jump right in and say we need a Marshall Plan to rebuild the country. The country needs rapid implementation of a game-changing set of projects that will set us on a new path. This plan should not be a grand, national policy such as the national development plan, bogged down in 400 pages of technocracy.
OPINION | Marshall Plan needed to rebuild the country
OPINION | Marshall Plan needed to rebuild the country PREMIUM By Marius Oosthuizen - 20 June 2019 I am not going to waste time outlining our unemployment problem, our economic stagnation problem or the remnants of our state incapacity problem. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
OPINIONISTA: SA civil society: The road less travelled
It has become clear that South African politicians will not, of their own volition, serve the national interest. It’s also apparent that SA’s business community will not demonstrate an enduring commitment to the long-term future of the country in the face of dysfunctional politics. What arises from these two immutable observations is that the country’s future lies in the hands of civil society. Civil society in South Africa has no power, is poorly co-ordinated and scantly funded.
OPINIONISTA: Can the SARB provide a short cut to jobs and growth?
To right the national ship will require investment. It will, of course, require public sector investment as well. The Magashule, Masina and Yengeni camp in the ANC want to allocate resources that we simply do not have, to their socialist project of national reconstruction. This week we saw the internal debate in the ANC about the mandate of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), spill out into the open.
Everyone needs to raise their game to right the national ship
SA became the darling of the world when Nelson Mandela overcame the odds and led a national movement of reconciliation in what had become, under apartheid, a pariah state. A quarter of a century later, we witnessed the ascension to power of the man who stood beside Madiba when he emerged from prison and said, “I stand before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people”.
OPINIONISTA: Did the ANC get the memo?
I remember walking up Government Avenue to the Union Buildings during the Zuma Must Fall march. There were thousands of South Africans of every race, colour and age side by side, and we had one thing in common – we were sick of corruption.
OPINIONISTA: Navigating South Africa’s public discourse, dialogue and debate
South Africa has rightly been described as ‘a noisy democracy’ by Somadoda Fikeni. In any given week, one might witness a prominent politician such as Helen Zille, Makhosi Khoza or Herman Mashaba sparring with a talk-show host like Eusebius McKaiser, a journalist like Redi Tlhabi or with members of the general public. There seems to be an endless supply of the spectacle of verbal food-fights over anything from race relations and migration to inequality or political incorrectness.
How we can do better at reversing apartheid’s legacies
It has become popular in government circles to talk of “reversing the legacies of apartheid”. These are factors which continue to limit black people’s access to jobs and economic opportunities. The lofty and noble ambitions for a post-apartheid future raise two important questions. The first is: do policymakers really understand the complex system that gave rise to apartheid’s legacies? Not the monolithic idea of apartheid, but the inner workings.
How we can do better at reversing apartheid’s legacies
It has become popular in government circles to talk of “reversing the legacies of apartheid”. These are factors which continue to limit black people’s access to jobs and economic opportunities. The lofty and noble ambitions for a post-apartheid future raise two important questions. The first is: do policymakers really understand the complex system that gave rise to apartheid’s legacies? Not the monolithic idea of apartheid, but the inner workings.
How we can do better at reversing apartheid’s legacies
It has become popular in government circles to talk of “reversing the legacies of apartheid”. These are factors which continue to limit black people’s access to jobs and economic opportunities. The lofty and noble ambitions for a post-apartheid future raise two important questions. The first is: do policymakers really understand the complex system that gave rise to apartheid’s legacies? Not the monolithic idea of apartheid, but the inner workings.
How South Africa can do better at reversing apartheid’s legacies
It has become popular in South African government circles to talk of “reversing the legacies of apartheid”. These are factors which continue to limit black people’s access to jobs and economic opportunities. The lofty and noble ambitions for a post-apartheid future raise two important questions. The first is: do policymakers really understand the complex system that gave rise to apartheid’s legacies? Not the monolithic idea of apartheid, but the inner workings.
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