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BCom Finance student defends UFS Economist of the Year title

06 November 2025 | Story Tshepo Tsotetsi | Photo Stephen Collett

University of the Free State (UFS) BCom Finance student Reatile Seekoei has again claimed the top prize in the UFS’s second annual Economist of the Year competition.

The event, hosted on 31 October 2025 by the Department of Economics and Finance in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS), brought together UFS students, academics, and parents at the Bloemfontein Campus to celebrate emerging talent in the field. The group was joined by sponsors from Sanlam and Santam.

The competition has quickly become a highlight on the academic calendar, offering students an opportunity to bridge classroom theory with real-world practice. It challenges them to apply their understanding of economic trends, policy analysis, and data interpretation to forecast future developments, helping them grow from students into confident, career-ready economists. The event also recognised the top-performing students in the department – from first-year level to master’s – in celebration of academic excellence.

Turning theory into practice

According to Prof Johan Coetzee, Head of the Department of Economics and Finance, the competition aims to give students a platform to apply what they learn in class to real-world scenarios. “The purpose of it is to expose students to macroeconomic indicators and to apply their forecasting skills,” he explained. “It forces students to read up on the news, to know what’s happening in the world around them, and to articulate their understanding clearly. In a world increasingly driven by AI, we need humans – we need economists – to set the narrative. This prepares them for the world of work.”

Prof Coetzee added that the judging focuses on both technical and communication skills, with 40% of the score based on forecasting accuracy and 60% on presentation and articulation. “Economists must not only understand the numbers, but also communicate what those numbers mean,” he said.

From conceptual thinker to confident economist

For Seekoei, winning the competition again was both a challenge and a statement of growth.

“I came into this competition for the second time with one goal: to defend my title,” he said. “To win again is thrilling because I had to deliver more than I did last year. It pushed me to grow from a more conceptualised economist into a mature one who can apply indicators and present economically well.”

His presentation impressed the judges with its structured approach. Seekoei built a framework that combined a baseline analysis of South Africa’s economy with an interpretation of leading indicators, inflation trends and monetary-policy direction. He credited his success to the guidance of his lecturers and his belief in self-discipline. “The key to my success is believing in myself,” he said. “It was me against myself. I had to deliver better than what I did last year, and that confidence made all the difference.”

The competition also saw outstanding performances from other finalists, including BCom student Malek Suhail as the first runner-up and BCom Law student Lunghile Rivombo as the second runner-up, both of whom impressed the judges and their peers with their analytical skill and innovative approach – a testament to the faculty’s interdisciplinary strength.

Prof Coetzee expressed gratitude to Sanlam and Santam for sponsoring the competition and helping to make the initiative possible. Their support, he noted, plays a vital role in nurturing future economists who are both analytically strong and socially aware.

As the department looks ahead to next year’s competition, Seekoei’s back-to-back wins set a new benchmark – one that will no doubt inspire his peers to challenge themselves, think critically, and forecast with both precision and passion.

News Archive

ANC is not a party of the people - Mbeki

2010-08-30

“The unions in this country do not understand the political economy of South Africa. They think that the ANC is the party of the people. The ANC is the party of the black middle class. The fact that the masses vote for it does not mean they control it. The policies of the ANC favour the black middle class and the established businesses. They do not favour the working class.”

This was said by renowned economic and political commentator Mr Moeletsi Mbeki, brother of former president Thabo Mbeki, during a guest lecture he recently presented to Economics students of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein.

“You just have to look at the types of houses that the ANC government builds for ordinary South Africans,” he said.

“If you had a party that was a pro-working class party it would not have built these so-called RDP houses that are being built by the ANC government. The unions have all along been under the illusion that the ANC is the government of the working class and (Zwelinzima) Vavi and them are now beginning to realise that this is not the case.

“The public-sector workers are in a special dilemma. They think the ANC is their ally but at the same time they feel they are not getting any benefits out of this alliance. Therefore you are beginning to get a very acrimonious environment emerging between the public-sector unions and the government.”

Regarding the current issue of the Protection of Information Bill and the proposed media tribunal that have brought the media and the government onto a collision course, Mbeki said the ANC government was trying to muzzle the media because it wanted to safeguard corruption within government.

“The question of freedom of information is very closely linked to the rise in corruption in the government,” he said.

“What the politicians are doing is that they are trying to hide that corruption. The media in this country have been playing a very critical role in exposing cases of corruption. That is why Vavi now has bodyguards.”

He said he recently met Vavi, the General Secretary of Cosatu, surrounded by four bodyguards. He said Vavi told him that he was getting death threats because he was opposing corruption in government.

Mbeki said the economic policies of South Africa were the “worst in the world” because they benefited people who were already rich and militated against the emergence of entrepreneurs.

“In fact, one of the serious downsides of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) is that it takes people who should normally be entrepreneurs and who should be creating new companies and new jobs, out of that space and just makes them wealthy. BEE has been a disaster because it created this massive economic inequality; it created this class of idle rich who have tons of money but do nothing,” he added.

He said the under-investment in the economy was having dire consequences in terms of unemployment and poverty. He said this, coupled with the growth of consumption that Black Nationalism was driving, was actually driving down the ability of the economy to absorb labour.

“What really lies at the bottom of our economic problems in South Africa is that we have too much of a one-party dominance of our political system. We need more competition in our political system and until we realise the policies of the ANC are not going to change,” he said.

Mbeki’s guest lecture was on the topic: Architects of Poverty: Why African capitalism needs changing.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za
30 August 2010

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