Political Analyst
Based: Cape Town
Daniel Silke is an Independent Political Analyst and Keynote Speaker specialising in South African and International politics. He has a specialist interest in political parties and elections and is a renowned Futurist lecturing widely on issues surrounding globalization and the future of the world.
Mr Silke holds a Masters degree in International Politics from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Mr Silke has served six years in publicly elected office between 1995 and 2001 having faced three elections. He has served four years as a Member of Parliament in the Western Cape Provincial Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa after being re-elected in 1999. He has held the Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Economic Affairs, which includes the portfolios of Economic Development, Tourism, Agriculture and Transport. In addition, he served on the Committees of Finance, Health and Gambling and has been Chief Whip for his political party. He is also a former City Councillor in the City of Cape Town having served on that city’s Economic Development Portfolio Committee. Mr Silke was attached to the Institute for the Study of Public Policy at the University of Cape Town where he tutored students for five years.
Mr Silke contributes widely to publications both in South Africa and overseas. He currently writes for the Australian Quarterly published by the Australian Institute of Policy & Science in Sydney. He has been the foreign correspondent for the Juluka magazine based in Los Angeles, California for over 10 years. Mr Silke has co-authored academic chapters in publications on South African politics and is often published in major newspapers and online. His press comments are regularly quoted in publications as far afield as Dubai, Jamaica and Pakistan. He is a regular guest commentator on both e-tv and the SABC and is often heard on Radio France International, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and many other leading broadcasting networks.
Mr Silke currently lectures widely throughout the world on contemporary South African and Global Issues. He recently completed a semester at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida where he participated in the Dialogues of Innovation lecture series. He was the Rooney Visiting Scholar at the Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mr Silke has enjoyed three seasons as guest speaker at the South Palm Beach lecture series in Florida, USA and has presented to the Financial Planners Association of Australia in Sydney. He has lectured to the prestigious World Affairs Council in Washington DC and the American Committee on Foreign Relations. He has recently lectured for CISCO and Microsoft Corporation and has delivered presentations at Duke University (North Carolina), Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia), Transylvania University (Kentucky), Washburn University (Kansas), the Philadelphia Bar Association and for Rotary International amongst many others. His local client list includes Standard Bank, FNB, Price Waterhouse, Deloittes and Alexander Forbes amongst many others. He is contracted by a number of major US travel companies (including Regent, Cunard, Silversea and Holland America) to provide lecture and seminar series.
