Zille woos future business strategists

Embracing the future: Premier Helen Zille talked on the DA's strategic plans to win over the country.

"I've never seen Bus Strat this full," texted a fourth-year business strategy student on her BlackBerry during an address by Western Cape Premier Helen Zille at UCT last week.

Invited to share her insights on strategic thinking in government, the leader of the country's official opposition filled the New Science Lecture Theatre (NSLT) on the morning of Friday, 7 October. Zille urged students to, as observed by famous Canadian ice-hockey player Wayne Gretzky, "move to where the puck will be", as opposed to where it currently is.

Remembering late entrepreneur Steve Jobs as a visionary and an inspiration on her own political career, Zille related the now Democratic Alliance's journey from being a party that won a mere 1.7% in the 1994 general elections to one that can now garner at least 20% of votes.

Some students would maybe have picked up that Zille was walking her talk - "creating a space to own". In between outlining her party's strategy to eventually win the majority in the National Assembly, a healthy serving of political rhetoric ensured that a good number among the next generation would certainly give more thought to donning blue at the next polls.