Easter offers a rare pause in the relentless pace of corporate life. It’s a chance to trade spreadsheets for spirituality, boardrooms for family tables and deadlines for deep breaths. For finance leaders, it’s not just a long weekend – it’s a deliberate reset that fuels the year ahead.
As South Africa prepares for the Easter long weekend, a time of spiritual reflection, family reunions and much-needed rest, we asked five chief financial officers how they plan to spend the break. From Dr Dumisani Dlamini (Soul City Institute) firing up the braai and Aneshree Naidoo (Webber Wentzel) celebrating her birthday; to Vincent Motholo (UCT) escaping to the countryside, Tommie Koeries (Much Asphalt) embracing quiet devotion, Roselyn Madiba (Citibank) juggling church and rugby festivals and Richard McDonald (Digby Wells Environmental) heading to Dullstroom to fish – their plans reveal that even the most numbers-driven minds need time to recharge, reconnect and reset.
Dr Dumisani Dlamini, CFO, Soul City Institute
“Easter is a time of deep reflection and reconnection. It’s centred around church services and a massive Sunday lunch where the extended family gathers. It’s the one time of year where the ‘CFO hat’ is completely off, and I’m just the guy responsible for making sure the braai stands are ready.”
Aneshree Naidoo, CFO, Webber Wentzel
“Easter is a very special time for me, as I was born on an Easter Monday, so the weekend is inherently celebratory. This weekend has spiritual meaning too for my family, like many families around the world. There will be good connection moments for my family and friends. It is important to step away from work and school routines to rest, reset and rejuvenate. I’ve found that I return stronger when I do this. And while you’re away from routine, you can always action community-orientated gestures; there’s always something you can do (big or small) to ‘give back’ to people, communities and charities in need.”
Vincent Motholo, CFO, UCT
“Since we've moved to Cape Town we normally go into the outskirts of the city to take time off. We immerse ourselves in the small communities that we find ourselves in, we also do go to church in whatever community we’re in. Last year we went to McGregor, it’s a quaint little town outside Cape Town. We went to the NG Kerk and they were preaching in Afrikaans and also tried to accommodate English speakers, which was great. But we actually just enjoyed the atmosphere of it all, and we enjoyed the Afrikaans sermon. It was also an escape of sorts where we actually close off our minds from our familiar environment to do something different.”
“When we used to live in Gauteng, we used to go visit my grandparents’ home in the Northwest. I really look forward to our small escapes, because it’s that break in between, where you get to breathe, recharge and come back again. It doesn’t happen once in a year, it continues now and again.”
Tommie Koeries, FD, Much Asphalt
“Easter is a very religious period for me and my family. I use it to spend time with my family and take a pause for spiritual reflection. We stay at home, attend the church services because it’s a deeply spiritual time for us as a family. I like to reflect on the meaning of Easter.”
Roselyn Madiba, CFO and controller, Citibank
“We are a Christian household. But also, it’s school rugby season so we split between the two events. We attend church service on the main days and sometimes we’ll also do the Thursday service. It’s a night of conscious worship and reflecting on the events that led up to the Thursday before Good Friday. It was the night that Jesus was arrested and we normally attend events at the Every Nation Church.”
“Then we spend time with the children and their activities. Easter coincides with the rugby festival for our son so we attend those events too. I don’t really cook so we normally eat whatever’s on grandma’s table. She really puts out a beautiful spread with seven colours, my favourite, being the spinach. Grandma also makes delicious lamb or chicken curry. My daughter is a great cook and she makes amazing lasagna.”
Richard McDonald, CFO, Digby Wells Environmental
“We’re going to Dullstroom for the Easter weekend. We left it until the last minute because we didn't know what we were going to do. So now, we decided we are going away for a bit and hopefully we will catch some fish! We usually go to church at Christmas time and when there’s special events.”
“For our meals, I like to cook, so I will be packing groceries for Dullstroom. The evenings are getting chilly now, so I could probably do the old-fashioned roast, lamb and vegetables and something like that. My wife is not a fan of cooking so I try to do all the cooking at home and I enjoy cooking. My speciality dishes are spaghetti bolognese and mushroom risotto.”
