Government, Government, Government Government of South Africa Minister in the Presidency: Planning South Africa
Description of Work:

Current Positions

    * Minister in the Presidency: National Planning Commission of the Republic of South Africa since 11 May 2009.
    * Member of National Executive Committee (NEC) of the African National Congress (ANC) since 1991.
    * Member of Parliament since 1994.
    * Member of National Working Committee.


Academic Qualifications

    * Matriculated from Harold Cressy High School, Cape Town.
    * National Diploma in Civil and Structural Engineering, from the Peninsula Technikon.
    * Executive Management Programme from Stanford National University, Singapore.


Career/Positions/Memberships/Other Activities

    * Part of a youth movement who attempted to launch a bus boycott across all townships of the Western Cape (1975).
    * Initiated community newsletter entitled "Kenfacs" in the townships of Kensington/Factreton, the newsletter was used as a basis for community organisation around a series of civic issues (1979).
    * Part of a group who initiated the first community newspaper of scale, Grassroots (1980).
    * Active in bringing together a number of Parents Supporting Committee which were formed to generate community support for school boycotts.
    * General Secretary of the Cape Areas Housing Action Committee (1981).
    * Regional Secretary and National Executive Member of the United Democratic Front (UDF) (1983).
    * Repeatedly detained without trial or placed under house arrest, spending a total of 35 months in detention for these activities (1985 - February 1990).
    * Employed with the Mobil Foundation as a Policy Manager on Entrepreneurial and Community Development (May 1989).
    * Elected to full-time office in the ANC (August 1991).
    * Appointed as Head of the ANC's Department of Economic Planning (1991).
    * Responsible for the shaping of ANC's economic policy in this capacity (1991 - May 1994).
    * Appointed to the Advisory Committee of the United Nations (UN) Initiative for Trade Efficiency (August 1994).
    * Minister of Trade and Industry of the Republic of South Africa (1994 - 3 April 1996).
    * Governor on the Board of the World Bank, African Development Bank Group and Development Bank of Southern Africa.
    * Chairman of the South African Development Community Finance and Investment Sector.
    * Chairman of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund at Annual meetings in Prague in September 2000.
    * Served as Special Envoy to the Secretary-General, UN for the Conference on Financing for Development, held in Monterrey, Mexico from 18-20 March 2002.
    * Chairperson of the Development Committee, International Monetary Fund (IMF) since April 2002.
    * Appointed as a Commissioner in the Commission for Africa.
    * Initiated a programme of support for SMME's for South Africa's accession in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and initiated South Africa's entry into the global economy.
    * Serves on the Commission on Growth and Development as a Commissioner.
    * Appointed Special Envoy for Development Finance by the United Nations Secretary General Mr. BanKi-moon.
    * Minister of Finance of the Republic of South Africa (4 April 1996 - 10 May 2009).


Awards/Decorations/Presentations/Bursaries

    * Elected by the World Economic Forum as a Global Leader for Tomorrow (January 1994).
    * Awarded the Africa Prize by the German Africa Foundation, jointly with the then South African Minister of Finance, Derek Keys (September 1994).
    * Named Euromoney's African Finance Minister of the year (1997).
    * Inducted as a member of South African Academy of Engineering (February 2001).
    * Honorary Doctorate of Commerce from University of Stellenbosch (December 2001).
    * Honorary Doctorate of Commerce from University of the Western Cape (13 March 2002).
    * Honorary Doctorate of Technology from Technikon South Africa (15 November 2002).
    * Honorary Doctorate of Technology from Peninsula Technikon (16 March 2002).
    * Honorary Doctorate of Economics from University of Natal (02 April 2003).
    * Honorary Doctorate of Technology from Free State Technikon (2003).
    * Honorary Doctorate of Law from Rhodes University (2006).
    * Presidential award by the Institute of Personnel Management (IPM), Johannesburg (2 October 2006).
    * Management Excellence Award (MANEX) by Wits Business School (5 October 2006).
    * Awarded Johannesburg Press Association Newsmaker of the year for 2005.
    * Appointed Chancellor of the Cape Town University of Technology (1 June 2008).

Source: Ministry of Finance