
Hermann Pretorius
Hermann Pretorius studied law and opera before entering politics and, latterly, joining the IRR as an analyst. He is presently the IRR’s Head of Strategic Communications. He describes himself as a Protestant, landless, Anglophilic, Afrikaans classical liberal.
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Articles By This Author

Rise Mzansi, despite good intentions, ends up sharpening Vorster’s pencils
- By Hermann Pretorius
- . Feb 3, 2024
Rise Mzansi’s manifesto, unveiled on 20 January with ambitions to contest the national and provincial elections, brings a seemingly refreshing perspective to South Africa’s political

Time for South Africans to disown the peddlers of poverty
- By Hermann Pretorius
- . Dec 13, 2023
When Sébastien de Place, president of the Foreign Trade Advisors for France in South Africa, warned the government last week of the risk to foreign

Key to better SA is a growing economy
- By Hermann Pretorius
- . Oct 28, 2023
With the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) just days away, the government must realise that increasing taxes to fund reckless, wasteful, and inefficient spending would

The arrogance of power: the ANC’s assault on accountability
- By Hermann Pretorius
- . Jul 9, 2023
Civil liberties in South Africa are at grave risk, with police brutality and state violence being commonplace and, seemingly, untamed. It is vital to understand

Even the aged buffalo has horns: understanding the stubborn and formidable strength of the ANC
- By Hermann Pretorius
- . Aug 21, 2022
In about 600 days, South Africans will be voting in the 2024 elections. For the first time since the middle of the twentieth century, just

Inflation and incumbency: a tiger on the prowl
- By Hermann Pretorius
- . Jul 25, 2022
A key theme of global politics is starting to emerge: incumbents shouldn’t sleep too soundly – the tiger of inflation is loose and scenting blood.

Show South Africans you are serious
- By Hermann Pretorius
- . Jun 26, 2022
It is approximately 680 days until the 2024 national and provincial elections, elections that will be unlike anything we’ve seen: an election in which the

Boris Johnson: he let the moment move on without him
- By Hermann Pretorius
- . Jun 7, 2022
It feels like only last week: the Conservative Party, with Boris Johnson as leader, charging to the most significant Tory election victory since Margaret Thatcher.

Post-ANC governance: is this it?
- By Hermann Pretorius
- . Apr 17, 2022
We’re four months into new governments in some of the key cities of our country. And after more than 120 days of the trial run

Ignorant armies, confused alarms of struggle and flight
- By Hermann Pretorius
- . Apr 3, 2022
‘And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.’ From Dover