Research Team

Michael Sachs has worked for over twenty-five years in public policy, politics and government in South Africa. He is former head of National Treasury’s budget office.

He spent nine years at the national headquarters of the African National Congress, where he coordinated economic policy and led the party’s research agenda. He holds an MSc in Economics from the University of London (SOAS) and a Masters in Public Admin (International Development) from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Professor Imraan Valodia, an economist, is Pro Vice-Chancellor for Climate, Sustainability and Inequality, and Director of the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits).

His research interests include inequality, competition policy, employment, the informal economy, gender and economic policy, and industrial development. Imraan has played a central role in establishing and leading the SCIS. He is recognised nationally and internationally for his research expertise in economic development.

Thokozile Madonko is a Researcher with the Public Economy Project. She is a Rhodes University alumna.

Using her Master's in political theory, she has worked in the areas of climate justice, development cooperation, public finance with a focus on health financing and gender-responsive budgeting, national, subnational, and parliamentary governance, transparency, and accountability. 

Dr. Philipp Krause is a visiting professor and research fellow at Wits. He is an international expert in public finance and public administration.

Until 2022, he led the technical team at CABRI, Africa’s network of ministries of finance, based in Pretoria. Previously, he served as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s deputy director for country finance. Between 2012 and 2016, he built and led the public finance team at ODI in London. He also held various appointments with the World Bank, GIZ and the government of Mexico.