Andre Vlok: Redefining Conflict Resolution in South Africa
Mapping a Way Through Conflict: Why South Africa Needs a New Language of Resolution
Conflict is everywhere, in our workplaces, our communities, our politics, and our personal lives. Yet despite how central it is to our daily experience, we remain remarkably ill-equipped to deal with it well.
Too often, we rely on outdated tools, reactive processes, and surface-level solutions that entrench the very problems we are trying to solve.
In this deeply reflective and experience-rich article, Andre Vlok shares insights drawn from decades of legal practice, mediation, consultancy, and academic work in conflict resolution. With clarity, honesty, and a distinctly South African lens, he challenges us to rethink how we understand conflict, not as something to suppress or fight, but as something to skillfully navigate, transform, and learn from.
This piece invites leaders, professionals, and citizens alike to step out of the cycle of repetitive conflict and into a future defined by competence, courage, and constructive engagement.
We are honoured to share his journey with our readers.
“I am one of those fortunate people who love what I do, and who really do not see the need for much of a work/life division. After practising law for more than twenty years I took the step about about nine years ago of starting a group of specialist national consultancies, where we consult on conflict management."
"This is mostly for management and workplace conflicts, although I also do a fair amount of high profile political and personal mediations. The work includes everything from disciplinary inquiries to mediation, from advanced team coaching to negotiation representation in those difficult but crucially important business transactions.
As much as this is of course all personal work in the boardrooms and on the factory floors of South Africa we have also developed a slightly more academic side to the consultancies, which mostly stems from my own training, and where we have distance training courses (mostly online) where teams and individuals can train in effective conflict management as tailor-made for their specific industry and business.
I also enjoy this academic foundation for the practical work, and I have written three specialized conflict books, on South African conflict, on artificial intelligence related conflict, and on the increasingly important urban conflict. I am currently working on a comprehensive upgrade book on elite negotiation strategy and skills. I am one of the essay authors in the second edition of the Routledge Handbook of Peacebuilding, where I contributed an essay on global mediation.
My passion for understanding and working with our South African conflicts is the result of realising over the last number of years how bad we generally are with these conflicts, how we continue to deal with them, using old, outdated and harmful tools to fight with the symptoms of such conflicts, as opposed to understanding and dealing with the causes and triggers of those conflicts. This consigns us to a repetitive, cyclical conflict trap, where we are stuck, and where the harder we fight the more we remain where we are. Underneath all of our legitimate concerns with productivity, performance, compliance and the quest to thrive (and survive) lies the one golden thread that runs through all of this: human conflict.
Given my background, a practical, measurable and manageable set of results are very important to me, and I continue to keep a wary eye on not advising, designing or implementing conflict solutions that are not viable and practical in the South African context.
South African businesses are under immense pressure from a range of sources, and every manageable advantage should be optimized, so we try to not just act as consultants but to, where appropriate, internalize these conflict knowledge and skills at workplaces as a fully transferable skill.
This requires a fresh and bold look at some of the outdated perceived solutions that hold us back, from the manner in which our businesses approach workplace diversity to our outdated disciplinary processes and philosophies. We are stuck in the same place because we keep on using the same processes and perceived solutions.
I am dedicated to improving South Africans’ conflict competency, as that will allow us to transcend all of our current fears and limitations, and enable each of us, in our own way, to contribute to our workplace or our family, to our community or our country, for their sake or our own, to reach our true potential.
We live in the midst of a seemingly insurmountable whirlpool of conflicts, old and new, and we have not as yet mapped the way to professional, political and personal conflict competency.
I live in Gqeberha, while I travel countrywide most of the time. I am married, I have one son and we have a large tribe of animals that add to life’s good moments. I have a rather diverse lot of personal interests (for a workaholic), ranging from reading, chess, music (jazz and classical music), being outdoors in nature and a lot of other activities. My faith is extremely important to me, and I am a member of St Bernadette’s parish in Walmer.”
Andre Vlok’s work reminds us that conflict competency is not a luxury, it is a necessity for sustainable leadership, healthy workplaces, and a thriving society. Whether you are facing complex workplace disputes, leadership challenges, or high-stakes negotiations, the right approach to conflict can become a powerful advantage rather than a constant drain.
If you or your organisation require guidance, mediation, training, or strategic support in conflict management, Andre welcomes engagement and conversation. Connect with him directly through his contact details to explore how practical, context-aware conflict solutions can make a measurable difference. Because when conflict is handled well, it doesn’t divide, it transforms.
Article compiled by Stella Ashworth for Bay Talk Hub.
Bay Talk Hub sincerely thanks Andre Vlok for sharing his valuable insights and expertise on conflict resolution. We appreciate his meaningful contribution and continued commitment to strengthening conflict competency in South Africa..
