BRIEF CURRICULUM  VITAE PROFESSOR BEN TUROK M P (ANC)

Professor Ben Turok has been a Member of Parliament in South Africa since 1995, representing the African National Congress.   In the 1994 democratic government of South Africa, he was appointed Head of the Commission on the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) and member of the Provincial Cabinet in Gauteng. In 1995 he moved to the National Assembly and served in the Finance Committee. He is currently a member of the Portfolio Committees of Trade and Industry, and of Foreign Affairs specializing in African development economics and politics.

Ben Turok has three degrees, in engineering, philosophy and political science and is the author of 17 books on development in Africa.  He has taught at the Open University UK, and the University of Zambia and lectured at many other universities across Africa. He is a visiting professor at the University of Kwazulu-Natal.  He has worked in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the UK, and has lectured or presented papers at conferences at a wide range of international institutions including the United Nations and the European Parliament.  He is a member of the International Development Economists Association.

He was the founding Director of the Pan-African policy research Institute for African Alternatives (IFAA) in 1986 with centres in the UK, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa. He returned from exile in 1990.

He is the Editor and Chairperson of New Agenda, South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy.  He was a finalist in the Sunday Times Book of the Year for Non Fiction for 2004 for his autobiography, “Nothing but the Truth”.

He has been a member of the African National Congress alliance for five decades, was formerly the National Secretary of the SA Congress of Democrats and a member of the National Secretariat of the Congress Alliance and drafted and presented the economic clause of the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People.  He was an accused in the 1956 Treason Trial and served three years in prison from 1962-1965.

In the last few years he has been deeply engaged in international work in support of Nepad. He is the Chairperson of the Nepad Contact Group of African Parliamentarians and has represented them at many international conferences.

He is also a member of the Executive Council of the Council of Europe’s North-South Centre, representing the South, and works in close association with the Association of European Parliamentarians (AWEPA). He is a member of the Executive Committee of “Mobilising Parliaments for Nepad” sponsored by the Pan African Parliament, Nepad Secretariat, AWEPA and others. He is also a member of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and led a parliamentary delegation monitoring World Bank activities in Kenya.

In 2008, the South African Students Congress (SASCO) awarded him the Frantz Fanon Award for “public dialogue” and “intellectual work” at the 15 National Congress in Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha.

CAREER

1954 - 1966       Full time official Congress Movement

1966 - 1969       Chief Surveyor and Town Planner: (Head of Region) - Tanzania

1969 - 1971       Editor of Sechaba, Official Journal of ANC, London

1972 -1986        Senior Lecturer, The Open University, United Kingdom (with a secondment for two years as senior lecturer to the University of Zambia-1979-1981)

1986 - 1994       Director of Institute for African Alternatives (IFAA), London, UK with branches in Senegal, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and South Africa.

1991                     Returned to South Africa from exile. Established IFAA branch in Johannesburg.

1993                      Member, Gauteng Provincial Executive of ANC

1994 - present   Visiting Professor: University KwazuluNatal

1994                  Head, Commission of Reconstruction and Development Programme:     Gauteng Government, Member of Provincial Cabinet and Legislature.

1995 – present   Member of National Assembly, Parliament.
Member of Finance Portfolio Committee, Trade Industry Committee, and Foreign Affairs.

2000 - present    Chair, Board of Directors, New Agenda, South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy and Institute of African Alternatives (IFAA)

2001- present     Chair, Board of Directors, Muizenberg Millennium Education Trust

2003 – 2005      Chair, Vrygrond Development Project Board

2004 -8            Member of Bureau and Executive Council,  Council of
Europe,  North –South Centre.
Co-President of Lisbon Forum, of Council of Europe

Has been involved with organisations such as United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in research and policy on Africa’s development over many years.  Has delivered lectures at many universities in Africa, Europe and USA.

POLITICAL HISTORY

1949  Chairperson of Socialist Society, University of Cape Town

1953  Member of Modern Youth Society

1954   Member of Communist Party of South Africa

1955: Full Time organiser Western Cape Action Council, Congress of the People

1955:         Wrote amended version of the Economic Clause of the Freedom Charter. Presenter of the Economic Clause of the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People.

1956:         Arrested in the Treason Trial with 155 others

1956          Elected unopposed as African Representative for five years, Cape Provincial Council

1957:        National Secretary Congress of Democrats

1958:          Secretary of the Secretariat, and Congress of Democrats representative, National Joint Executive Committee of the Congress Alliance.

1959        Member of the Regional Executive of the Johannesburg Communist Party

1960:          Underground in Johannesburg during the state of emergency, and member of Secretariat of S A Communist Party

1961:          Foundation Member of Umkhonto we Sizwe

1962:          Arrested for sabotage and sentenced to three years in Pretoria Central Prison

1963:         Co-accused in the Rivonia Trial

1966:          Escaped into exile

1966:          Intelligence Officer for Umkhonto we Sizwe - Dar es Salaam

1969:          Full time editor of Sechaba, in London office of the ANC

1970:          Member of the Executive, ANC, UK
1974    Founder and Editor, Journal of African Marxists.

1990:          Return to South Africa

1992:          Elected member of Provincial Executive Committee ANC Gauteng, and Head of Economics Department of ANC, Gauteng

1994           Elected to Provincial Legislature, Gauteng and appointed Head, RDP Commission and member of Provincial Cabinet

1995:         Moved to National Assembly.  Member of Portfolio Committees on Finance,  Trade and Industry, later also Foreign Affairs.

1997:          Elected Chairperson of False Bay Branch, ANC

2000    Founder, Chairperson and Editor of New Agenda, South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy

2003:    Member, Working Group on the African Union, National Assembly

2003:       ANC Whip, National Assembly

2003:      Convenor, Contact  Group, Pan African Parliamentarians for NEPAD

2002-4:    Representative of NEPAD Steering Committee at numerous meetings of African Parliamentarians

2003 – 4: Member Experts Advisory Panel for UNDP Human Development Report

2004:       Chair, Steering Committee, Conference hosted by UNDP, HSRC, DBSA, “Overcoming Underdevelopment in SA’s Dual Economy”

2004         Member, Executive Board, (representing the South), Council of Europe’s, North – South Centre, Lisbon.

DEGREES AND QUALIFICATIONS

1951      B.Sc. Eng (Land Surveying) University of Cape Town

1952      Government certification as Land Surveyor and Member of Institute of Land Surveyors

1966      BA - History of Philosophy and English Literature, University of South Africa

1970      MA - Political Science (by thesis):  University of Dar es Salaam

BOOKS and MAJOR PUBLICATIONS

1.     1974 Strategic Problems of South Africa’s Liberation Struggle, LSM Press, USA

2.     1976 South Africa - Inequality as State Policy, Open University Press

3.     1977 The Reality of Independence, Open University Press

4.     1979 (ed) Revolutionary Thought in the Twentieth Century, Zed books, UK

5.     1980 (ed) Development in Zambia, Zed books, UK

6.     1981 Legitimation in Post-Colonial Zambia, Open University Press

7.     1983 (co-ed) States and Societies, Open University Press, UK

8.        1987 (ed) Africa’s Crisis.  Institute for African Alternatives.

9.        1987 Africa: What can be done?, Zed books, UK

10.     1988 (ed) Oliver Tambo Speaks, Heinemann Press, UK

11.       1989 (ed) Witness from the Frontline.  Institute for African Alternatives

12.       1990 Mixed Economy in Focus - Zambia, Mission Press, Zambia

13.     1991 (ed) Alternative Development Strategies for Africa Vol l : Coalition for Change Vol 3 : Debt and Democracy, Institute for African Alternatives

14.     1993 Development and Reconstruction in South Africa, Institute for African Alternatives

15.     1994 (Joint author) Democracy and Development in South Africa, Institute for African Alternatives.

16.     1997  Author of Report on “Collusion by SA Banks”, Committee on Trade and Industry, S A Parliament

17      1997  Author of Report on Tariff Reform and Industrial Policy, Committee on Trade and Industry, S A Parliament

18      1998  Author of Report of Task Group on SA Reserve Bank,  Committee on Finance, S A Parliament

19      1998  Convenor of Report on Tariff Reform and Supply Side Measures, Committee on Trade and Industry,  S A Parliament

20    1998 Beyond the Miracle

21     2003 Nothing but the Truth, Behind the ANC Struggle Politics.

22    2002-4 Various papers presented at Conferences in Europe convened by Association of European Parliamentarians (AWEPA) and by the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe.

23       2004-8 Numerous papers on Official Development Assistance,,
Global economy, IMF and World Bank, SA economy etc

2008  (Editor)  Wealth Doesn’t Trickle Down. The Case for a Developmental State in SA

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