2019 Individualist Seminar

The 34th Libertarian Spring Seminar has come and gone.  The conference was held at the Riviera Hotel in Velddrif from 17th to 20th October. The initial target was to have 100 to 120 attendees including a number of well-known South African speakers. That number reduced to about 80 attendees at the start of the seminar week, with finally 64 people showing up and 17 people withdrawing or failing to pitch at the last moment. Despite the reduced numbers this was still one of the biggest seminars to have been held in recent years.

This was a particularly difficult seminar to organise, with many challenges emerging, particularly in the last week. Our keynote speaker, Helen Zille, withdrew just a week before the start of the seminar.  Another important speaker, economist Dawie Roodt, withdrew just three weeks before the seminar.  On the Wednesday before the seminar we first received unconfirmed reports of rioting in the township at Velddrif.  Alarming messages from an early-arriving delegate concerning the potential for riots in the town and the closure of the hotel due to striking staff did not make matters easier.  Eskom also chose this weekend to reinstate load shedding which interrupted several talks. These events  starkly Illustrated the reality of the current South African situation. Thankfully most delegates appeared to ignore these warnings and did arrive for the seminar.

Overall it appears that the seminar was rated as a great success by the delegates.  Many fascinating talks were presented by a diverse mix of speakers. Interesting alternative events such as bokkom eating, an air show,  and knot tying demonstrations entertained the delegates. A trip down memory lane was provided by Des and Dawn Lindberg on Saturday night. As ever, the most fun was had in the many intense conversations outside the main hall.

You can view the program below, and the programs for our past seminars here.

The Ria Crafford Award for best speaker was won by Jacques Pauw, by quite a wide margin.