In a brisk, plain-spoken BNIC#2 Q&A, economist Dawie Roodt argues that South Africa's future prosperity won't be engineered by bureaucracy but built outside it—through skills, private capital, and technology that decouples work from place. He frames Bitcoin as an idea (money as a social construct), pours cold water on gold's fundamentals despite recent gains, and pegs the Rand's fair value near 17 on purchasing-power parity—stronger absent political shocks. With SOEs effectively "privatised by default," he backs full concessioning of Eskom and Transnet, urges a shift from credentials to skills, and warns high debt leaves markets vulnerable to external triggers. The ultimate safeguard, he says, is South Africa's democracy—use it to vote out decay and protect the institutions that remain.
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