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Steering Committee . . .
 Rashad Cassim: Stats SA
Rashad Cassim is the Deputy Director General, Economic Statistics, in Statistics South Africa. He is responsible for the production of all official economic statistics in the country. Before joining Statistics South Africa in July 2006, he was the head of the school of economics and business sciences at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg for three years. Prior to that, he was head of a think tank in South Africa called Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS). He has a PhD in economics from the University of Cape Town and his areas of interest include trade policy, economic growth and the relevance of research to policy-making.
 James Fairburn: University of Kwa Zulu Natal
Jim Fairburn is an Associate Professor in the School of Economics and Finance at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has been in Durban since 2003, prior to which he spent eleven years at the University of Sussex. He did his postgraduate work and started his lecturing career at the University of Southampton, and before that worked for three years at the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London. Since working at IFS he has had an interest in industrial organization, particularly in the field of competition policy. His main research interest is in the field of incentive contracts and what is variously known as organizational economics or personnel economics. Working at Sussex and UKZN has also encouraged an interest in aspects of trade theory and development economics.
 Johannes Fedderke: Director ERSA
Johannes Fedderke is Head of the School of Economics, at the University of Cape Town, and the Director of Economic Research Southern Africa. His research interests center on the determinants of economic growth, with special interest in the role of institutions in long run economic development. His published work includes empirical and theoretical contributions, and has provided cross-country, panel and country specific time series evidence on the interaction of growth and institutions. Recent extensions of his work have examined the effectiveness of performance intensity of aid in dynamic theoretical models, and the impact of governance on growth employing dynamic heterogeneous panel estimation techniques. He obtained an MPhil and PhD in Economics from the University of Cambridge, and has held tenured positions at the City University of London, and the University of the Witwatersrand. He has served as Visiting Professor at the RAND Graduate School, Oxford, and the University of the Witwatersrand.
 Alan Hirsch: Presidency
Alan Hirsch was born in Cape Town, and educated in South Africa and the USA, with degrees in economics, economic history and history from UCT, Wits, and Columbia University. He also trained at Georgetown University, and was a visiting scholar at the Harvard Business School.
He worked as an economics lecturer and economic policy research director at the University of Cape Town from 1984 to 1986 and from1989 to 1995.
Hirsch joined the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as Chief Director, Industry and Technology Strategy in 1995. In 1999, after spending a year at Harvard, he returned to the post of Chief Director, Business Regulation and Consumer Services in the DTI. In 2000 he was appointed Deputy Chief Economist of the DTI, and Strategic Advisor on New Economy Policy. In 2002 he joined the Presidency as Chief Director Economic Sector, Policy Coordination and Advisory Services (PCAS). In 2007 he was appointed Deputy Director General and Deputy Head of the policy unit (PCAS) in The Presidency.
Hirsch managed a wide range of projects and programmes at DTI, leading trade negotiations, negotiations for a World Bank loan, initiating or modifying many of the supply-side measures and investment incentives operating since the mid-1990s. He also helped establish several new institutions such as Trade and Industrial Policy and Strategies (TIPS), Investment South Africa, the Micro-Finance Regulatory Council (now the National Credit Regulator), and the ICT Development Council.
Hirsch was a member of the boards of the Industrial Development Corporation, the State Tender Board, the National Training Board, and the ISETT SETA. He is currently a member of the National Advisory Council on Innovation, on the boards of the Meraka Open Source Centre, Denel, Denel Aviation, on the steering committee of Economic Research South Africa (ERSA) and chairperson of the board of Trade and Industrial Policy and Strategies—TIPS.
He has published widely on trade and industry policy issues and most recently published the book: Season of Hope—Economic reform under Mandela and Mbeki, published by the University of KwaZulu Natal Press and the International Development Research Council of Canada (IDRC).
 Alain Kabundi: University of Johannesburg
Alain Kabundi obtains his Ph.D. in 2007 from University of Johannesburg. His thesis was supervised by Dr. Francisco Nadal De Simone of the IMF and Professor Daniel Marais of the University of Johannesburg. In addition, member of Ph.D. committee includes Dr Ayhan Kose of Research Department of the International Monetary Fund and Dr Melanie Louw of ABI. The title of his thesis is “South Africa’s integration into the Global Economy: A Structural Dynamic Factor Analysis”. Alain Kabundi has obtained M.Com and B.Com Honours Cum Laude at the same institution. He is currently senior lecture at the University of Johannesburg. Dr Kabundi has visited the IMF first in 2003 as summer intern, and in 2004 and 2006 as a visiting scholar. He visited the research department of Bank of Botswana in 2007 where he conducted a training programme on econometric modelling. He was also involved in short-course training programme for Standard Bank and recently Coega Development Corporation.
Dr Kabundi current work received an award of best paper at the African Econometric Conference held in Cape Town this year. He also received the Founder’s medal awarded by the South African Economic Society for the best Master’s thesis in 2003. He is the winner of Finance Week first prize in 1999 and 2003 as the best Honour’s and Master’s student at the University of Johannesburg.
Alain Kabundi has two international publications, at the Economic Modelling and at Proceedings of the International Conference on Cybernetics and Information Technologies, Systems and Applications. His works with the IMF has been recognized with three IMF working papers, two country reports on France, and one country report on the Netherlands.
Dr. Kabundi fields of interest are applied econometrics, dynamic factor analysis, international macroeconomics, economic forecasting, and Artificial Neural Networks.
Ashraf Kariem: Presidency
Natalie Labuschagne: Treasury
Natalie Labuschagne holds a PhD in Economics from the Institute of International Economic Studies, Stockholm University, Sweden. Her research area was on Trade Policy with specific focus on the WTO agreements. She joined the National Treasury, South Africa in 2004 and is currently the Director: Macroanalysis in the Economic Policy Division where she works on monetary and labour policy. Natalie completed her B.Com (Hons) at the University of the Witwatersrand before accepting a scholarship in 1997 to complete her MSc in International Economics and Business at the Stockholm School of Economics.
 Murray Leibbrandt: University of Cape Town
Murray Leibbrandt obtained his PhD from the University of Notre Dame in the USA. He followed his studies with full time positions in the Economics Departments at Rhodes University and the University of Cape Town. In between he has held visiting positions at Cornell University and the University of Michigan. Currently he is a Professor in the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town and the Director of its Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit. He holds the DSD/NRF South African Research Chair in Poverty and Inequality Research.
 Christopher Loewald: Government
Christopher Loewald was appointed Deputy Director-General of the new Economic Policy Division of the National Treasury in March 2006. He ran the 2006 Budget as Acting Deputy Director General for the Budget Office and the Chief Director for Fiscal Policy. From 1998 to 2005 he was responsible for macroeconomic policy and international economic policy, including the development of the inflation targeting framework. He co-chairs the Macroeconomic Standing Committee of the Reserve Bank and Treasury, and is a member of the South African Statistics Council. He completed an M.A. and Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University.
 Michael McDonald: SEIFSA
Has participated on the Private Sector Export Advisory Committee, the Department of Trade and Industry’s Standing Committees on Export Incentives and GATT Issues, the South African Bureau of Standards Industrial Liaison Committee, the Bureau of Market Research Industrial Committee, the Industrial Technical Advisory Committee of Statistics SA, the Private Sector/Board on Tariffs and Trade Liaison Committee, the Economic Policy Standing Committee of Business South Africa (BSA), now Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), as well as Cluster Study Initiatives in the metal and engineering industries and the Steering Committee for the Private Sector Initiative of the Small Business Project.
From early 1992, participated extensively in the formation and running of the National Economic Forum (NEF). Also served as business convenor on the NEF Trade and Industry Working Group of the NEF from 1992 to 1994. Among the achievements of the working group was the preparation and negotiation of South Africa’s offer on trade liberalisation in the Uruguay Round of negotiations on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Gatt), now the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Since its formation early in 1995, has served as a business representative on the Trade and Industry Chamber of the National Economic, Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) and most of the Chamber’s Standing Committees including the Workplace Challenge Committee which was responsible for overseeing a government sponsored project to bring management and labour together at shopfloor level to confront productivity issues; the Co-ordinating Committee for the Fund for Research into Industrial Development, Growth and Equity (FRIDGE) which oversees investigations to improve the competitiveness of South African industries; The Proudly South African Task Team and the Nedlac Technical Sectoral Liaison Committee (Tesilico) where government, business and labour negotiated details of trade agreements including the SA/EU Trade, Development and Co-Operation Agreement concluded in 1999, and the South African Development Community Free Trade Agreement, aspects of were finalised in 2000 as well as the SACU/Mercosur Preferential Trade Agreement in 2004. Tesilico is currently considering positions to be taken by South Africa in the current Doha Round of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and possible bilateral trade agreements with the USA, China and India.
In November 2001 was invited by the Minster of Trade and Industry to join the South African delegation to the 4th WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar. Nominated by BSA as a business delegate to the South African delegation to the 5th Ministerial to be held in Cancun, Mexico in September 2003.
Also, over the last five years, has participated on behalf of Business in negotiations in Nedlac on the Department of Trade and Industry Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Strategy, the B-B BEE Scorecards and the Codes of Good Practice.
In August 2000, was appointed by President Mbeki to the Board on Tariffs and Trade as a part-time member. Appointment extended in August 2001 and January 2002 with further subsequent extensions thereafter. Appointed part time Commissioner in the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) in June 2003, reappointed in 2006. Currently serving as Chairperson of ITAC.
Appointed as business representative on the Board of Directors of the Proudly South African Campaign in June 2003.
 Elias Masilela: Chair ERSA Steering Committee
Elias Masilela is currently Chief Strategist at Sanlam, a role that involves advising the Institutional Cluster of the Group, in particular, and is the strategist for the whole Group in general, on matters of policy and compliance. He joined Sanlam in July of 2005, as its Stakeholder Strategy Head, following his role in the National Treasury as the leader of the social security and retirement reform programme. This is currently the biggest policy and legislative change that South Africa is faced with, since that country’s constitution.
In June of 2006, he was elected to Chair the Board of the South African Savings Institute (SASI), responsible for promoting the culture of saving in South Africa. Having been the architect of the reform, which is seen to be rolling out as originally envisaged, Elias is now playing an instrumental role in advising and crafting the role and participation of the private sector in the new dispensation.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences (Economics and Statistics) from the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) which he received in 1986 and a Master of Sciences in Economic Policy and Analysis with a specialisation in Money, Banking and International Economics from the Addis Ababa University (A.A.U.), received in 1995.
He also underwent training with the Harvard University, on Macroeconomic Policy and Management as well as Global Financial System: Structure, Crisis and Reform, in 1998 and 2001, respectively.
In May of 2008, he was appointed by President Thabo Mbeki to the Board of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). In August 2008, he was appointed by the Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, to the Board of the Government Employee Pension Fund (GEPF). In June of 2006, he was elected to Chair the Board of the South African Savings Institute (SASI).
He has also lectured widely, at the Swaziland Institute of Management and Public Administration (SIMPA), at the University of Swaziland (UNISWA), Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute (MEFMI) in Harare and the University of Pretoria, a responsibility he has held to this date. He has also served as a Consultant to the World Bank, Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Swaziland, Southern African Development Community (SADC); Finance and Investment Sector Unit (FISCU) and the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute (MEFMI), Harare.
His book, “Number 43 Trelawney Park; kwaMagogo” was launched in June 2007, and made it to the Top 40 List for the much coveted Alan Paton Award in the same year.
 Ismail Momoniat: Economic Policy and International Financial Relations, National Treasury
Ismail Momoniat is currently the Deputy Director-General of Economic Policy and International Financial Relations at the National Treasury. This division is responsible for tax and financial sector policy and international financial relations in the National Treasury. The responsibities include: preparing the annual tax announcements in the budget, as well as tax legislation, working closely with SARS; the regulatory framework for financial regulators, including the legislation applying to banks, insurance, retirement/pension companies and collective investment schemes; and regional integration (SACU, SADC) and relationships with IMF, World Bank, African Development Bank, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), OECD and G20.
He has a MSc (Economics) from the London School of Economics, University of London and MSc in Mathematics (Wits). Joined the National Treasury in 1995, and until June 2005 headed its division on fiscal decentralization, playing a leading role in shaping fiscal and budgetary relations between national, provincial and local spheres of government in the first 10 years of democracy. He has also driven key public finance governance legislation like the Public Finance Management Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act. Started his career as a lecturer in mathematics and organizer of the United Democratic Front and, after its unbanning, worked in the economic policy department of the African National Congress until he joined the National Treasury.
 Dorrit Posel: University of Kwa Zulu Natal
Professor Dori Posel holds an NRF Research Chair (SARChI) in Economic Development in the School of Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). Her areas of specialisation include migration, labour, household behaviour, and household survey design and analysis. She has published widely on research relating to labour migration and remittance behaviour; changes in labour force participation and employment; the determinants of earnings; and intrahousehold allocation. Dori holds a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst). She has been the recipient of numerous research awards and fellowships, including the Vice-Chancellor's Research Award in 2005. Before moving to the School of Development Studies in 2007, Dori was an Associate Professor in the School of Economics at UKZN.
 Nicola Viegi: University of Cape Town
Nicola Viegi is associate professor in Economics at the University of Cape Town. A graduate from the Scottish Doctoral Programme in Economics, he has held positions at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and he is currently Visiting Scholar at De Nederlashe Bank. His main areas of research are economic policy theory, macroeconomic modeling and regional macroeconomic integration. Current research includes inflation targeting under uncertainty, monetary policy and assets prices, macroeconomic integration in Southern Africa.
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