
Marius Roodt
Marius Roodt is currently deputy editor of the Daily Friend and also consults on IRR campaigns. This is his second stint at the Institute, having returned after spells working at the Centre for Development and Enterprise and a Johannesburg-based management consultancy. He has also previously worked as a journalist, an analyst for a number of foreign governments, and spent most of 2005 and 2006 driving a scooter around London. Roodt holds an honours degree from the Rand Afrikaans University (now the University of Johannesburg) and an MA in Political Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand.
- Total Post (96)
- Comments (15)
Articles By This Author

SA belongs to her people, not politicians
- By Marius Roodt
- . May 14, 2022
Sometimes politicians say things that confirm what we know about them. It may be a throwaway remark or a pattern of language, but once people

Bad day at the office for ANC in Wednesday by-elections
- By Marius Roodt
- . Apr 22, 2022
The ANC got a bloody nose on Wednesday, losing two wards in by-elections, while retaining one ward in eThekwini. The DA held on to a

Pitfalls for the Wild Dogs: lessons from abroad
- By Marius Roodt
- . Apr 7, 2022
Coalitions are increasingly becoming a fact of South African political life. Until a few years ago very few of South Africa’s municipalities were governed by

Government is swimming upstream trying to get migrants to return
- By Marius Roodt
- . Mar 10, 2022
Emigration is a perennial topic among middle-class South Africans, and in the last few years it seems more people (of all races) have been considering

New electoral system proposal for SA not fit for purpose
- By Marius Roodt
- . Feb 12, 2022
A new electoral system is on the cards for South Africa, but what has been proposed is, frankly, a mess. The new system will be

There are people behind the numbers
- By Marius Roodt
- . Jan 11, 2022
By now we all know the numbers and the scale of the crisis that South Africa faces. On the expanded rate of unemployment, nearly 50%

An electoral threshold for South Africa?
- By Marius Roodt
- . Nov 27, 2021
The recent local government elections resulted in a number of watershed moments for South African politics, notably the decline of the ANC’s share of the

Lessons from Monday’s election
- By Marius Roodt
- . Nov 6, 2021
The local government election at the beginning of this week could possibly be called what Americans describe as a ‘realigning’ election. It is the first

Will the ANC ever grow up?
- By Marius Roodt
- . Oct 30, 2021
I recently spent a weekend away with some university friends. We were all together in one of the residences of the erstwhile Rand Afrikaans University

Race obsession hobbles South Africa
- By Marius Roodt
- . Oct 9, 2021
Recent events again show how South Africans – or at least those in the chattering classes – remain obsessed with race, to South Africa’s detriment.