On Tuesday the 7^th of January, Wian Hattingh passed away. His heart simply stopped.

He was one of the founding members of this paper, and without his help, this project would have been impossible.

He was responsible for the elegant design of this website, and many campaigns online and in print, for several major parties in this country, including the DA and ASA, as well as several foreign political campaigns abroad, and was widely regarded as a unique talent.

But Wian was also a member of the founding team at Snapscan and key person in design and marketing. He was an avid promoter of cryptocurrency and key team member at MoneyBadger, among other tech startups in the Cape.

His artistic facility for oil painting was exquisite, and was exhibited in the Zeitz gallery in Cape Town, as well as the Tate gallery of modern art in London, and had only just begun to turn his hand to ceramics. His taste in food and wine was impeccable, only surpassed by his love of opera. His dark sense of humour was a light in difficult times.  

His views were eccentric, and sometimes extreme. But he spoke with conviction, and was never intimidated by a lack of popularity or any fear that his career might be impacted by even the most controversial perspectives.

Despite his often barbed rhetoric, he remained soft at heart, and was kind in ways he would never advertise. He was loyal to those around him, and always promoted his friends to those who could benefit them.

While he would sometimes mention differences with his father, he held him in the highest esteem, and would often repeat his paternal advice with admiration, even if he sometimes could not bring himself to follow it.

He remained a romantic to the end, and dedicated himself to the cause of Cape independence by whatever means he could, even when he felt it was a fool’s errand.

He was a great talent, and had many great things before him.

We will miss him terribly.

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