Gareth van Onselen studied at Wits University, obtaining a master's degree in sociology before entering the world of politics in 2001. Until 2012, he worked for the Democratic Alliance in various capacities, most of which involved communications and political analysis. He then worked for the Sunday Times as a senior reporter and for the Institute of Race Relations as head of politics before joining market research company Victory Research as its CEO in 2019. He writes a weekly online column for BusinessLIVE, and sometimes for Business Day, something he has been doing since 2010. He is a liberal, a humanist and a published author but, most of all, a political animal with a deep love for ideas, statistics and argument.