A veteran voice in South African economic analysis is taking on a new role. Roelof Botha, former Department of Finance policy advisor and Finmedia Economist of the Year, has been appointed economic advisor to BetterBond.
Source: Supplied. Roelof Botha, former Department of Finance policy advisor, Finmedia Economist of the Year, and for 28 years the resident economist at PwC, has been appointed economic advisor to BetterBond.
With 28 years as PwC’s resident economist and more than five decades of experience across government, industry and business, Botha brings extensive insight into the forces shaping the economy.
His appointment will broaden BetterBond’s economic and property research, providing clients and industry stakeholders with independent analysis of trends influencing South Africa’s residential property market.
Decades of insight
Few economists in the country have viewed the South African economy from as many vantage points as Botha. He is known across South African business media for his measured, evidence-led assessments of the economy.
Over more than 50 years, he has analysed the South African economy from inside government, industry and the boardroom.
He served as an economic policy advisor in the Department of Finance, headed the economics division of the South African Federated Chamber of Industries and spent 28 years as resident economic advisor to PwC.
His research focus has included the residential property market and monetary policy, alongside macroeconomic forecasting and small business development. He holds a doctorate in economics, has published more than 1,000 articles and research reports and has delivered keynote addresses at numerous conferences and seminars.
Jonathan Kohler, Landsdowne Properties
24 Jun 2026 Botha has co-authored the monthly BetterBond Property Brief for several years, and the new appointment substantially widens that mandate. He will provide regular macroeconomic overviews to BetterBond's management, staff and clients, focusing on the indicators and trends bearing directly on the residential property market.
He will also lead new research supporting property developers and other participants across the residential value chain and will represent that analysis in media commentary and interviews.
Independent by design
“There is no shortage of economic commentary in South Africa. There is a shortage of the kind that holds up six months later,” says Stephan Potgieter, chief executive officer of BetterHome Group Mortgage Origination and BetterBond. “Botha has spent five decades reading this economy through every cycle it has produced, and he has built his reputation on interpreting what the data supports rather than what the room wants to hear. For an industry where households commit to 20-year decisions, that honesty and accuracy is worth a great deal.
“I take pride in my association with BetterBond, which plays a key role in the facilitation of home ownership in South Africa,” says Botha. “This is a sector whose expansion is vital for driving economic growth, creating jobs and ensuring socio-political stability.”
Botha remains a self-employed economic researcher and continues to advise other organisations, including the Optimum Investment Group, Currencies Direct and Gopa Worldwide Consultants. For BetterBond, that independence is central to the appointment.
“Botha’s value to us has never rested on his agreeing with us,” says Potgieter. “It rests on the fact that he brings an independent record to the work we publish, and that our clients, our estate-agent partners and the public can weigh what he says on its own merits. That is exactly the standard we want applied to it.”
