Trudi Makhaya was first asked to be Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic adviser in 2014, back when he was deputy president. "At the time I was starting a business and keen to start a family, [and I knew that] raising a child would be a journey," says Makhaya. So she declined.
In April 2018, newly appointed president Ramaphosa resumed the conversation. This time Makhaya "didn’t even think of saying no". Her daughter was two and she’d learnt how to juggle work and family. Besides, the political climate was exciting. "There was so much optimism; I felt a duty to my country."
She has two degrees from Oxford and plenty of private and public sector experience. It’s clear Ramaphosa saw her as a new broom. His plan to attract $100bn in investment to the country coincided with her appointment. In October she spearheaded the inaugural SA Investment Conference where almost $20bn was pledged. She also ushered in the recently announced SA Infrastructure Fund.
Makhaya’s interest in economics was piqued when, as a youngster growing up with her mom and grandmother in Bophuthatswana in the 1990s, she saw the industrial park near their home slowly die (after apartheid-era border-industry incentives fell away). This left a strong impression on her. After matriculating from St Barnabas in Joburg ("I loved boarding school … maybe it’s because I’m an only child") she studied law and economics at Wits and became a national debating champion in her free time. At Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship she immersed herself in development economics and the workings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In 2005, after a stint at AngloGold Ashanti, she was back in Oxford doing an MBA.
After four more years of private sector experience, she joined the Competition Commission in 2010, her first public sector job, first as part of the team investigating the bread price-fixing case, then the construction cartel, banking legislation and Telkom’s overcharging internet service providers. It was "an amazing streak" for the commission. Within three years she became deputy commissioner.
A change in leadership at the commission led to her fulfilling a lifelong dream: to run her own business. Building her consulting firm taught her valuable lessons. "I was surprised by how long it took to gain traction." Forced to think out the box, she started doing media commentary and writing a column in Business Day — a great marketing strategy, which raised her profile. "The president has other advisers but the media doesn’t pursue them as much," she says.
Dianne Hawker, a colleague when Makhaya worked at eNCA, describes her as "an all-round professional" and "never too cool for us lowly journalists".
Makhaya says her current gig is "by far the most important and challenging" she’s ever done. She was warned against taking a job where she’d be sitting on the sidelines, but "it doesn’t feel like that".
Ramaphosa has clear priorities on economic policy, investment strategy and unemployment, she says. In their (at least) weekly interactions "he is an active listener" and she doesn’t have to fight to be heard. But while she’s not a party office bearer, she has to ensure that "the best of ANC thinking" is reflected in what she does.
Tamara Paremoer — the other economist in Makhaya’s office — is inspired by her boss’s easy way with people and gift for explaining complex economic concepts to nonexperts. She "approaches the job like a consultant" and comes up with eminently practical solutions.
That said, Makhaya has inherited a country that has endured a decade of zero growth in per capita income, notes independent strategy adviser Shawn Hagedorn, and with her mix of academic prowess and real-life experience "should have a lot of ideas". But so far he’s been disappointed. The economy is so far off the mark, he argues, that "tweaks are not going to cut it" and neither are summits and conferences. But Makhaya is "not the all-guns-blazing type" says Hawker, and her boss has chosen to tread carefully after his narrow win of the ANC leadership.
Hawker expects to see real change from Makhaya after the elections. "Academically she’s special" — and "she’s untainted". She is, Hagedorn insists, "the person who could change the dialogue."
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