Ninety One for Tomorrow Award

Dennis Davis is one of South Africa’s most respected legal minds, having served as a Judge of the High Court in Cape Town from 1998 to 2020 and as Judge President of the Competition Appeal Court from 1999 to 2020. During this time, he helped draft both the Competition Act of 1998 and the Companies Act of 2008, shaping the legal architecture underpinning South Africa’s economy.

Beyond the bench, Dennis chaired the Davis Tax Committee, which reviewed and reformed key aspects of South Africa’s tax policy, and holds honorary professorships at the University of Cape Town, the University of the Western Cape and Wits, teaching tax, constitutional and competition law. He has held visiting posts at Harvard, Toronto, Melbourne, NYU, Georgetown and Florida, authored eleven books and more than 200 academic articles, and is a familiar voice to South African audiences as host of Judge for Yourself on eNCA.

Alec Russell is the FT’s foreign editor, responsible for overseeing its network of foreign correspondents and its coverage of great global themes. He was the editor of FT Weekend from 2016-2023. During his tenure, it won a series of awards including European weekend newspaper of the year and UK weekend newspaper of the year. He also launched the FTWeekend festival in London and then in Washington.

He was previously the FT’s news editor and also the opinion editor. A long-time former foreign correspondent, he has reported from Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Washington, winning a number of awards. He has written three books. The latest is After Mandela: the battle for the soul of South Africa.

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As one of South Africa’s most respected investigative journalists, Pauli van Wyk has exposed the corrupt dealings of both the public and private sector. Her investigations into the EFF revealed their involvement in the VBS scandal.

She was also instrumental in the exposure of the corruption of Bain & co and Tom Moyane at SARS.  She writes about the justice cluster, state-owned companies, state politics and the inescapable collision course they’re on.

Upon joining Daily Maverick’s Scorpio she became a member of the global award-winning #GuptaLeaks team. Van Wyk was awarded the Vodacom Journalist of the Year 2018 in the Investigative category and, in 2019, she took home the Black Pixel Award for Best Online Journalist at the IAB SA Bookmarks Awards.

Johann Kirsten is Professor and Director of the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) at the University of Stellenbosch. After completing his BSc Agric Hons in Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University he started his career as an agricultural economist in the Department of Agriculture where he quickly learned about agricultural economics in practice. In that period, he completed his MSc Agric at the University of Pretoria and published several papers from the thesis. In 1992 he joined University of Pretoria as a lecturer, and this started his academic career of more than 30 years while also completing his PhD in 1994. For twenty of these years, he was Professor and Head of the Department of agricultural economics at the University of Pretoria (1996 -2016). In this period, he supervised many M and PhD students and developed the UP department into one of the leading Agricultural Economic departments on the African continent.  During the years at UP he was President of the Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (2001-2003), and during 2006-2009 also vice president of the International Association of Agricultural Economists which gave him the responsibility of crafting the academic programme for the conference in Beijing, China in 2009. 

His research focus was always on matters related to agricultural policy. At first, it was on agricultural development policy, then on land reform policy and for the last 20 years on policy and economic matters related to ‘origin-based foods’. In this regard his research activities contributed to the establishment of regulations in South Africa in 2019 and then finally the registration of Karoo Lamb as South Africa’s first Geographical Indication on 27 October 2023. 

Redi Tlhabi is an international broadcaster, policy strategist, and scholar–practitioner of international relations whose work bridges Africa and the world. She brings over two decades of experience at the intersection of diplomacy, media, and governance – advising multilateral institutions, governments, and private sector leaders on how to translate complex policy into actionable communication and public engagement strategies.

As Founder and CEO of Rewired Global Strategies, she leads a hybrid policy and media consultancy that connects African perspectives to global decision-making arenas. Her advisory and convening roles span the United Nations, World Bank, G20, African Union, and Bled Strategic Forum, where she designs and moderates high-level dialogues on multilateral reform, trade, and technology governance

Her expertise lies in U.S.–Africa relations, multilateral reform, development finance, and the political economy. Redi has presented before the U.S. Congressional Committee on Africa and continues to work with global institutions to strengthen Africa’s agency in shaping the evolving world order. 

A former chief anchor for BBC, Al Jazeera, and ENCA, Redi is an award-winning international journalist and narrative strategist who has moderated over 50 high-level multilateral panels and produced influential media platforms on governance, gender, and global affairs. Her literary work includes two award-winning books, “Endings and Beginnings” and “Khwezi”, both recognized for advancing social justice and public accountability in South Africa.

She holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Westminster, London, and degrees in Communications and English Literature from the University of Johannesburg. Her board service includes the Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity, Section27, and Women in Safe Cities International. In 2025, she received the University of Johannesburg Alumni Dignitas Award for her contribution to global dialogue and leadership.

Redi combines academic rigor with narrative empathy- amplifying African voices in global policy debates and building bridges between citizens, policymakers, and multilateral systems.