The Brenthurst Foundation and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung present the Governance Accountability Platform (GAP) to facilitate debate on the politics behind Africa's development choices.

South Africa's unemployment number jumped to beyond 30% for the first quarter. But this quarter ended in March before lockdown bit deep in April, May and June. How bad has the economy been hit and what is the best road to recovery? Tune into this essential webinar to find out.

Short Biographies
Haroon Bhorat is Professor of Economics and Director of the Development Policy Research Unit at the University of Cape Town. His research interests cover labour economics, poverty and income distribution. He has co-authored and co-edited a number of books on labour market and poverty issues in Africa. Haroon has published more than 200 academic journal articles, book chapters and working papers. His commitments at UCT include lecturing Advanced Labour Economics (Hons), and supervision to Honours, Masters and Phd students.
 
Haroon has his PhD in Economics through Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a Cornell University research fellow. He holds the highly prestigious National Research Chair under the theme of Economic Growth, Poverty and Inequality: Exploring the Interactions for South Africa. In 2018, he was appointed by UCT Vice-Chancellor Prof. Phakeng as the university’s “SDG academic focal point” to help guide UCT’s strategic approach to engagement with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In September 2019, Haroon was nominated to sit on the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), established by President Ramaphosa to generate new ideas for economic growth, job creation and addressing poverty.
 
Haroon is a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution affiliated to the Global Economy and Development Program, and the Africa Growth Initiative (AGI), a Research Fellow at IZA, the Institute for the Study of Labour in Bonn, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Human Sciences Council (HSRC). He sits on the editorial advisory board of the World Bank Economic Review, is a Board Member of the National Research Foundation (NRF), the UNU World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), and also sat on the HSRC Board.
 
Haroon consults with international organizations such as the ILO, the UNDP, the World Bank, Ratings Agencies and emerging market fund managers. He sits on the Advisory Board of the UNDP’s 2019 Human Development Report, was a member of the World Bank’s Advisory Board of the Commission on Global Poverty, as well as a member of the Program Committee of the 2017 International Economic Association (IEA) World Congress. He is a member on the Advisory Committee of the joint United Nations and World Bank Policy Study on the role of Development in the Prevention of Violent Conflict. He is also a member of the UN/WHO’s High Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth. Haroon previously served as a member of the UN Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor (LEP), and was Head of Research for the UN’s High-Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
 
Haroon has undertaken extensive work for several South African government departments – most notably the South African Department of Labour, the Presidency and the National Treasury. Haroon was appointed as an Advisor on the South African Parliament’s High Level Panel on Acceleration of Change and Transformation. He served as an economic advisor to two past Ministers of Finance including Min. Pravin Gordhan, and previous Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe, formally serving on the Presidential Economic Advisory Panel.


Tim Cohen is editor of Business Maverick. He is a business and political journalist and commentator of more years than he likes to admit. He was previously editor of The Financial Mail and Business Day, and has written one book, A Piece of the Pie, about mine nationalisation in South Africa.  He lives in the middle of nowhere in the Karoo.