Honorary Professor, Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance

Rob Davies is an Honorary Professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town and a member of the Advisory Council on Trade and Industrial Development appointed by the Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Between 2009 and 2019 he served as South Africa’s Minister of Trade and Industry. He was elected as a Member of Parliament in the first democratic election in 1994, serving continuously for 25 years. Before entering Parliament he was Professor and Co Director of the Centre for Southern African Studies at the University of the Western Cape and professor auxiliar at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique between 1979 and 1990. Academically he holds an honours degree in economics from Rhodes University, a Masters in International Relations from the University of Southampton and a doctorate from the University of Sussex.