The Birth of a “South African Economic Think Tank”

South Africa will never have to rely on foreign expertise to determine its economic future.  Unlike most African countries, South Africa now has significant economic capacity and expertise within Government, and its universities continue to produce high quality graduates.  The United States Agency for International development (USAID) has made a significant contribution towards building economic capacity in South Africa and the Mandela Economics Scholars Program (MESP) Programs have been at the forefront of this campaign. 

“A worthwhile effort”, pronounced Thabo Chauke, a recent MESP graduate. Thabo completed a Master’s of Commerce Degree in Economics at the University of Cape Town.  He is now the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Deputy Director representing the Americas in the International Trade and Economic Development Division.  He manages relations and facilitates trade and investment between South Africa and North America.

 Dr. Neil Cohen, USAID’s Economist, has been responsible for the MESP since 1998. He asserts, “MESP graduates, like Thabo, are able to provide appropriate advice to Government because so many of them also come from poor communities and understand the economic conditions and needs of South Africans.”

Prior to independence in 1994, math and science education was weak and largely unavailable to the majority of South Africa’s population. This contributed to a serious shortage of black economists in and outside of Government.  Recognizing this deficit and the important role of economists in policymaking, the United States and South African Governments established the USAID MESP Program in 1996.  USAID has spent more than US$3 million on training 146 black-South African economic professionals.    

The first group of (MESP I) students pursued Ph.D. and Masters Degrees at various Universities in the United States.  Almost all of these scholars have returned to work for South African government departments. In 2001, funding was made available to assist three South African universities to upgrade their economics curricula and to attract and train qualified economists from previously disadvantaged groups.  USAID enabled these Universities to develop courses and provide 76 scholarships in the areas of labor economics, trade and regulatory policy and resource/environmental economics.

Thabo Chauke is one of the students who received a MESP Scholarship. He is convinced that if it was not for the support he received from USAID, he would not have achieved as much as he has in life and in work today.  Thabo comes from a poor and single parent family in Hammanskraal, a rural town that was previously part of the Apartheid ‘independent state’ of Bophuthatswana.  Thabo’s aunts and uncles scraped together enough money to get him through a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce, but this was not enough for him to further his studies in economics.  He even tried selling vegetables and sweets to raise the necessary funds.  

Thabo was offered a job at the Department of Trade and Industry in 1995 and held a number of junior positions.  He was determined to find a way to improve his knowledge and position.  Thabo heard about the MESP program from a previous MESP scholar.  He heeded the advice of his friend and applied for the scholarship.  Soon thereafter he was enrolled as a Mandela Economics Scholar at the University of Cape Town, where he successfully completed a Master’s Degree in Economics in 2005.

Ms. Miyelani Mashimbye, another MESP scholar, works as a Budget Analyst in the National Treasury.  For her, the MESP program “made my dreams come true”.  Similar sentiments are echoed by Basu Sangqu (Vanderbilt, MA 1999) who is Ambassador to The African Union  and Sehloko (Francis) Moloi (Harvard LL 2002) who is now the High Commissioner to India.

MESP Scholars such as Thabo, Miyelani and Selebogo are already having an impact on the design and implementation of economic policies in South Africa.  They form part of a large and increasingly influential ”South African Economic Think Tank” that was born out of MESP and will continue to play an important role in the development of South Africa.