Stellenbosch sends three finalists to the 2011 Budget Speech Competition

Wilondja Mubangu, Pierre Vercueil and Kate Rich are Stellenbosch University's top 10 finalists in the 2011 Nedbank and Old Mutual Budget Speech Competition. Wilondja is representing the Department of Economics at the postgraduate level of the competition while Pierre and Kate are undergraduate finalists.

The 2011 finalists will be hosted at a banquet in their honour on the eve of the Budget Speech on the February 2012 where they will engage with some of South Africa's prominent business people, government officials and the South African Minister of Finance, Mr Pravin Gordhan.

Wilondja Mubangu is currently enrolled as an Honours student in Economics and earned his BA in Economics from the University of Kinshasa in 2006, and also completed extra third-year subjects at the University of the Cape Town. He is interested in doing research in fiscal and monetary policy, international finance and econometrics.

Pierre Vercueil hopes to complete his BA degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the end of this year, after which he is contemplating studying French and mathematics before returning to study for an Honours degree in economics. According to Pierre, being part of this year's Budget Speech Competition has granted him the opportunity to investigate and understand certain areas of the South African policy-making process, and the primacy of politics over economics for which it often allows.

Kate Rich plans to enrol for an Honours degree in Economics in 2012. She is interested in development economics, and particularly economics of education. Kate believes that a more effective education system is essential for greater economic growth and human development in South Africa.