Staff

Full-time Staff

Annet Oguttu Director LLD Tax Law (UNISA) Prof Annet Oguttu is the director of the African Tax Institute and a professor in the African Tax Institute, as well as in the Department of Taxation at the University of Pretoria. She holds a doctorate in tax law. Her field of specialisation is international tax law. She is the author of the ground-breaking book entitled “Base Erosion and Profit Shifting: A Blueprint for Africa’s Response” (IBFD, 2021); the seminal book “International Tax Law: Offshore Tax Avoidance in South Africa” (Juta, 2015); co-author of “Tax Law: An Introduction” (Juta, 2020); has contributed several book chapters and has published numerous articles on various international tax topics. She is rated as an established researcher by South Africa’s National Research Foundation. She is a Research Fellow of: The IBFD Centre for Studies in African Taxation; the Abe Green Baum Research Fellowship of the School of Taxation and Business Law at the University of New South Wales; and the University of Michigan’s Presidential Scholars Fellowship. Prof Oguttu is a member of: the UN High-Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; the Davis Tax Committee which was appointed by South Africa’s Minister of Finance to assess South Africa’s tax policy framework; and she has served a Commissioner of the South African Law Reform Commission. Tel: +27 12 420 5538 E-mail: [email protected] ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1795-6669 Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=Ek--qScAAAAJ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Annet-Oguttu UPSpace: https://repository.up.ac.za/browse?type=author&value=Oguttu%2C+Annet+Wanyana
Riël Franzsen Professor LLD Tax Law (Stellenbosch) Prof Riël Franzsen occupies the South African Research Chair in Tax Policy and Governance and is an A-rated National Research Foundation (NRF) researcher. In 1990 he obtained a doctorate in tax law from the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) and in 2013 also obtained a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Pretoria. He specializes in land and property taxation and regularly acts as a policy advisor for the International Monetary Fund, United Nations, World Bank, and other entities. He has worked in this capacity in Africa (Egypt, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda), Asia (Thailand), the Caribbean (Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent & The Grenadines) and Europe (Albania, Croatia, Georgia, Romania, and Serbia). He has acted as an instructor for the IMF (Austria, Singapore and Saint Lucia), Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (China and Slovenia), Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (Macedonia), International Property Tax Institute (Czech Republic and Lithuania) and for The Hague Academy for Local Governance (Lesotho). He is on the Board of Advisors of the International Property Tax Institute, regularly participates in local and international conferences and has authored and co-authored many journal papers and book chapters on land and property taxation. He is co-editor of Property Tax in Africa – Status, Challenges and Prospects, published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in May 2017. E-mail: [email protected] ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4545-2775 Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=sdGSMwUAAAAJ ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Riel-Franzsen UPSpace: https://repository.up.ac.za/browse?type=author&value=Franzsen%2C+R.C.D.+%28Riel%29
Dirk Scholtz Senior Lecturer MPhil Taxation (Pretoria) Dirk Scholtz holds LLB, Bcom(Hons): Economics and MPhil: Taxation degrees from the University of Pretoria. His research is focused on tax incentives, tax harmonisation and taxation for development. He is currently enrolled for a PhD in Tax Policy at the ATI. Tel: +27 12 420 3470 Email: [email protected]
Mzwandile Ngidi Lecturer MPhil Taxation (Pretoria) Mzwandile Ngidi is a lecturer and PhD (Tax Policy) candidate at the African Tax Institute (ATI), Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, Pretoria University. His doctoral research focuses on tax law and policy issues, specifically on the development or design of an effective, efficient and equitable global corporate tax system. This includes the design of a cooperative compliance program (CC), tax control framework (TCF), beneficial ownership transparency, tax avoidance, evasion and tax-related illicit financial flows (IFFs) and effective taxation of artificial intelligence applications. His research interest is the taxation of multinational corporations, and the divergent effects of economic, legal, tax law and tax accounting rules on taxation of corporation profit. He holds LLB and MPhil (Taxation) from Pretoria University. He teaches various direct and indirect postgraduate modules and supervises post-grad students. Mzwandile has also participated and presented papers at local and international conferences. He is also a member of the Multilateral Cooperative Compliance Programs Group II Project led by the WU Global Tax Policy Center (GTPC) at the Vienna University of Economics. . Tel: +27 12 420 2131 Email: [email protected] ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1958-3843 Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&user=sUfPvnYAAAAJ UPSpace: https://repository.up.ac.za/browse?type=author&value=Ngidi%2C+Mzwandile
Lindelwa Ngwenya Senior Lecturer PhD Taxation and Business Law (University of New South Wales) Lindelwa Ngwenya holds a PhD in Taxation and Business Law from the University of New South Wales, a Master’s in Tax Philosophy (cum laude), a Master’s in Mercantile Law, and an LLB (Pretoria). Her expertise lies in the taxation of financial products and institutions, international tax, corporate tax, and informal sector taxation. She has 13 years of experience in tax research and has worked as a lecturer at the University of Pretoria, and a casual academic at the University of New South Wales. Her unique experience makes her a diversified researcher with experience in both quantitative and qualitative research methods and a passionate educator. She has also worked on several research and policy projects including tax and good governance, a review of tax treaty networks, and the alignment of agricultural policy with constitutional principles. She is currently a senior lecturer at the African Tax Institute at the University of Pretoria, a Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders (Sylff) Fellow, and a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society.
Lindiwe Sibande ATI Administrator Financial Management Diploma (Ekurhuleni College) Ms Lindi Sibande holds a Financial Management Diploma from Ekurhuleni College. She is currently enrolled at Oxbridge Academy in the Public Management program. She worked as an administrator for over seven years in various departments at the University of Pretoria. In her current role as Program Manager, she is responsible for all organizational, administrative, and financial matters of the African Tax Institute. Tel: +27 12 420 4553 Email: lindiwe.sibande@up.ac.za
Extraordinary Academic Staff
Odd-Helge Fjeldstad Extraordinary Professor PhD Economics (NHH) Prof. Odd-Helge Fjeldstad holds a PhD in economics from the Norwegian School of Economics. He has more than 30 years of experience from research and policy analysis in East and Southern Africa with a focus on the political-economy of taxation and reform. Odd-Helge has published widely, both scholarly and policy-oriented. His research has appeared in academic journals such as The Economic Journal, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, World Development, Journal of Development Studies, and Journal of Modern African Studies, and in books by Cambridge University Press, ZED/University of Chicago Press, Edward Elgar and Routledge. His experience also covers teaching, supervision and training in economic policy analysis, fiscal reforms, governance and the economics of corruption. His work has involved long-term collaboration with research institutions in Africa. He has been advisor for African governments on taxation and public financial management and has worked as consultant for bilateral and multilateral development organizations. Odd-Helge also serves as Senior Fellow of the International Centre for Tax and Development, UK; and Research Professor at Chr. Michelsen Institute, Norway, where he coordinates the research group on tax and public finance management.
William McCluskey Extraordinary Professor PhD Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal (Ulster) Prof William McCluskey joined the Valuation and Lands Agency in 1980, then the University of Ulster in 1985 until 2014. He was appointed as Professor of Property Studies at Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand from 2001-02. He was appointed as Visiting Professor to the University of Lodz, Poland and the University of Technology, Malaysia. He is currently Extraordinary Professor at the African Tax Institute, University of Pretoria, South Africa. His main professional and academic interests are in the fields of real estate valuation, property tax systems, computer assisted mass appraisal modelling and geographic information systems. He is a technical adviser on property tax issues with the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Union and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and has been involved in a number of expert missions advising on ad valorem tax issues including to Cyprus on the mass appraisal approach to the property tax revaluation and in Greece advising on the new property tax which was implemented in 2014. Others missions were to Albania, Bermuda, Botswana, China, Gambia, Georgia, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Kosovo, Lesotho, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Mauritius, Republic of Ireland, Slovenia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He is co-editor of Property Tax in Africa – Status, Challenges and Prospects, published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in May 2017.
Abdallah Ali-Nayea Extraordinary Lecturer PhD Tax Policy (Pretoria) Dr. Abdallah Ali-Nakyea is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana School of Law, Accra, Ghana. He is also an extraordinary lecturer at the African Tax Institute, Department of Economics and Management Sciences, University of Pretoria. He has worked as the Tax Policy Advisor to the deputy minister for Revenue at the Ministry of Finance in Monrovia, Liberia; a Resource Person for the Parliamentary Centre, Canada, and the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) for the training of Parliamentarians and Parliamentary Staff of Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia in Natural Resource Taxation and Petroleum Revenue Management; for the German Technical Co-operation (GIZ); for the World Bank. He has researched for the African Tax Administrators’ Forum (ATAF) and the ECOWAS Commission on taxation, tax incentives, and tax policies in the West Africa Region. Dr. Ali-Nakyea is the author of the book "Taxation in Ghana: Principles, Practice & Planning"; as well as the book "An Examination of Oil and Gas Taxation and Revenue Management in Ghana"; and a co-author with Dr. Benjamin Kunbuor and William Kofi Owusu Demitia of the book Law of “Taxation in Ghana”. He is also a co-author of Samuel Addo's book “Public Sector Economics and Finance”.
Cecil Morden Extraordinary Lecturer MS Economics (Illinois) Cecil Morden joined the ATI subsequent to retiring as Chief Director: Economic Tax Analysis at the National Treasury of South Africa. He holds a Masters in Science (Economics) from the University of Illinois, US. He was a teacher and lecturer before joining the CISR as a transport economist. He joined the South African government in 1996 as a Director in the Northern Cape Province and subsequently joined the National Treasury in 2000 as Director: Indirect Taxes. During his career at National Treasury he performed analyses on revenue forecasting and the impact of tax proposals and drafted multiple discussion documents and policy papers. He represented South Africa on the Working Party 2 of the Committee for Fiscal Affairs of the OECD from 2006 until 2010. He is a member a committee investigating the impact of value-added tax on the poor in South Africa.
Bernd Schlenther Extraordinary Lecturer PhD Tax Policy (Pretoria) Dr Bernd Schlenther is an independent expert who assists governments in improving domestic resource mobilization (DRM) and in addressing illicit financial flows (IFFs). He has extensive operational and management experience at the South African Revenue Service (SARS) in diverse fields including taxation, customs, enforcement, compliance, anti-money laundering, risk management and intelligence. He also has experience in outreach and capacity building initiatives that deal with regional and global topical issues. Bernd works as an external expert in Africa and Asia for various international institutions including the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Customs Organization (WCO). He holds a PhD in Tax Policy from the African Tax Institute (ATI) of the University of Pretoria and has published several journal articles and book chapters on the impact of corruption and money laundering on tax, the value of inter-agency cooperation and good governance to combat IFFs and the linkage between COVID-19 and IFFs.
Eric M. Zolt Extraordinary Professor J.D. (Chicago) Prof Eric M. Zolt is the Michael H. Schill Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus at the UCLA School of Law. He specializes in individual, corporate, and international tax law. Working with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, US AID and the US Treasury Department, Eric has served as a consultant on tax policy matters in over 30 countries. Before coming to UCLA, he was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis. Eric served in the US Department of Treasury, first as Deputy Tax Legislative Counsel and then as founder and director of Treasury’s Tax Advisory Program in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Eric also served as the Faculty Director of the International Tax Program at Harvard Law School. He is a co-founder of the African Tax Institute.
Astrid Haas Extraordinary Lecturer M.A. (Johns Hopkins) Astrid is an urban economist, working in both research and practice, supporting cities around strategy generally and specifically to strengthen their financial systems, with a focus on unleashing new opportunities for sub-national financing. She is currently a Fellow at the Infrastructure Institute at the School of Cities at the University of Toronto. In addition, Astrid has worked extensively with city governments across Africa and Asia in her diverse roles, including previously as an urban economist with the African Development Bank and Policy Director at the International Growth Centre. She holds an MA in International Economics and International Development from Johns Hopkins University. In 2016, she was nominated by the University of Cape Town as one of Africa’s Young Leaders and in 2020 she received Johns Hopkins University’s Outstanding Recent Graduate Award, for her work on urbanisation. For more information and list of publications please see: www.astridrnhaas.com.
Belema Obuoforibo Extraordinary Lecturer Belema R. Obuoforibo is the Director of the IBFD Knowledge Centre, and Member of IBFD's Executive Board. She is also Chair of the Centre for Studies in African Taxation (CSAT). She is also Chief Operating Officer of IBFD Asia and the Pacific. Belema is also a Member of the UN Subcommittee on Wealth and Solidarity Taxes, and Extraordinary Lecturer in International Taxation at the University of Pretoria. She is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Cape Town. Belema is a noted teacher, writer and editor in the field of international taxation. She is the Director of the annual Africa Tax Symposium, the leading global conference on African taxation. She is also joint Technical Director of the notable annual International Tax Conference, organised by the Foundation for International Taxation, India. She is also a member of the Executive Committee of the International Fiscal Association, Nigeria branch. Belema also serves on the editorial boards of leading international tax publications, including the Bulletin for International Taxation, and the European Taxation Journal. She is also widely published in international taxation, including as an author on the flagship IBFD publication, Global Tax Treaty Commentaries, for which she writes the chapter on Treaty Residence. Her experience as a lecturer and presenter has taken her across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. Belema also works in an advisory capacity for various African governments, particularly in matters relating to tax policy, tax treaties, and effective domestic tax legislation.
Lee Burns Extraordinary Lecturer Lee Burns is a former Professor of Taxation Law at the University of Sydney. Lee is an Adjunct Professor at the University of New South Wales and the University of Indonesia. Lee specialises in international and comparative tax law and for over 30 years has provided assistance on the design and drafting of tax laws under the technical assistance programs of international organisations
Associated Staff
Marius van Oordt Associate Professor PhD Tax Policy (Pretoria) Prof Marius van Oordt holds a PhD in Tax Policy from the African Tax Institute, University of Pretoria where he conducts research on indirect taxation in developing countries. He is an external expert at the International Monetary Fund and a member of various United Nations’ tax subcommittees. He has assisted over fifteen governments with their indirect tax policies and have written multiple policy papers for well-known organisations. Marius holds a PhD in Tax Policy from the University of Pretoria. E-mail: [email protected] ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2300-6603 Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=BC07ZOsAAAAJ UPSpace: https://repository.up.ac.za/browse?type=author&value=Van+Oordt%2C+Marius+Louis
Khodani Sengwane Lecturer LLM (Pretoria) Khodani is a Law Lecturer in the Department of Mercantile Law at the University of Pretoria. She holds the degrees LLB with distinction (University of Pretoria), LLM (University of Pretoria), and a Postgraduate Diploma in International Tax (University of Johannesburg). She is a doctoral candidate in Tax Policy at the African Tax Institute (University of Pretoria). Khodani is an admitted Attorney and Notary Public of the High Court of South Africa and is an independent contractor of a law firm. Khodani has published and presented papers at local and international conferences. Khodani was awarded the Oxford Prize for Best Overall Paper as a first-time presenter at the 2022 Society of Law Teachers of Southern Africa Conference.
Teresa Pidduck Associate Professor PhD Taxation (Rhodes) Prof Teresa Pidduck is a qualified South African Chartered Accountant. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Taxation at the University of Pretoria. She obtained a PhD degree from Rhodes University with a thesis entitled the South African General Anti-tax Avoidance Rule and lessons from the first world: a case law approach. Teresa regularly presents guest lectures at various South African universities on the topic of tax avoidance and has presented at numerous local and international conferences. She has published in both local and international peer-reviewed journals. Teresa’s energetic nature and love for the field of Taxation, Accounting and Law has resulted in the receipt of numerous local and international teaching awards. Her research focus area within the field of taxation is “the maintenance and expansion of the South African tax base and domestic revenue mobilisation”.
Fanie van Zyl Professor LLD (Unisa) Prof Fanie van Zyl is a Professor in the Department of Mercantile Law. He holds the degrees LLB, LLM (UP), LLD (UNISA), as well as a Diploma in Insolvency Law and Practice (AIPSA/UP). The title of his doctoral thesis is “The Collection of Value Added Tax on online Cross-Border Trade in Digital Goods” (2013). He is also an NRF-rated researcher. He is a visiting professor at the Gujarat National Law University, India. He served as an advisor for the Davis Tax Committee. He is a member of the African Tax Administration Forum VAT Technical Committee and he serves on the Scientific Committee of the African Tax Research Network. He is the holder of the 2018 International Association of Law Schools Visiting Professor Scholarship.
Ruddy Kabwe Lecturer LLD (Pret) Dr Ruddy Kabwe is a Law Lecturer in the Department of Mercantile Law at the University of Pretoria. Dr Kabwe obtained a Doctorate in Law from the University of Pretoria in 2024. Dr Kabwe’s thesis focuses on the use of technology to administer value-added tax on the cross-border trade in digital goods. He also holds the degrees LLB (UP) and an LLM (Tax Law) (Unisa). Dr Kabwe is an Admitted Attorney of the High Court of South with over four years post admission experience. Dr Kabwe previously lectured at Varsity College from 2019 – 2021 where he taught Tax Law, Taxation, Civil Procedure, Banking Law, Law of Negotiable Instruments, and Aspects of Financial Law. Dr Kabwe has published in Tax Law and certain aspects of Financial Technology in peer-reviewed local journals. Dr Kabwe has also presented papers at local and international conferences.
Philile Angel Khwela Research Assistant LLB (Pretoria) Philile Angel Khwela holds a LLB (law) from the University of Pretoria. She aims to focus her research on customs and excise tax. She is currently enrolled for an LLM in Tax Law, at the University of Pretoria. Email: [email protected]
Former Extraordinary Appointees
Roy Bahl Extraordinary Professor Prof Roy Bahl was Regents Professor of Economics and Founding Dean at The Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta Georgia, US. Formerly, he was The Maxwell Professor of Political Economy at Syracuse University, and before that was with the Fiscal Affairs Department at the International Monetary Fund, and on the faculty at West Virginia University. He has long worked on questions of tax and expenditure policy, and on intergovernmental fiscal policy. He has advised many developing and middle income countries, and frequently consults with international agencies and private businesses. He has served on several editorial boards for journals, and is the author and coauthor of numerous books and scholarly papers, including most recently, Reforming the Public finance System to Fit a more Urbanized China (2014), and Financing Metropolitan Governments in Developing Countries (2013). He serves on the board of directors of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is a director of the International Center for Land Policy Training and Research in Taiwan. He is the recipient of several awards, including The Dan Holland Medal of the National Tax Association, and The Aaron Wildavsky award of the American Society of Public Administration. His former students are working in universities, international agencies and governments all over the world. He is a graduate of Greenville College, and of the University of Kentucky.
Sijbren Cnossen Extraordinary Professor Prof Sijbren Cnossen has been associated with the ATI and its predecessor – the Southern African Tax Institute – since 2002. He has been an extraordinary professor since 2009. Apart from his collaboration with the ATI, he is an academic partner at the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (since 2006) and a senior advisor to the International Tax and Investment Center (since 2001). Formerly he was Professor of Tax Law in the Economics Faculty at Erasmus University (The Netherlands) from 1977-2001 and Dean of the Economics Faculty from 1984-1987. He is also a former Professor of Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Maastricht from 1999-2007. He has also acted as an Alternate Judge in the Dutch Tax Court from 1984-2006. He has lectured at universities, ministries of finance, and research institutes in Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States (Harvard University, New York University and University of Florida), and various other countries. He has also acted as a Consultant to the IMF, OECD, World Bank, European Commission, US-AID, HIID, GTZ, and various foreign tax committees. He has advised some 30 countries on the design of their tax systems, including China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Poland, the Russian Federation, and South Africa. Lastly, he is a Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion, an honour bestowed on him by the Dutch Government in 2016.
Sally Wallace Extraordinary Professor PhD Economics (Syracuse) Prof Sally Wallace is Professor of Economics and Dean of the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University and Director of the School's Fiscal Research Center (FRC). She recently served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at the International University of Grand-Bassam in Cote d'Ivoire, GSU's partner institution in West Africa. Previously, she was a Financial Economist at the US Treasury Department, Office of Tax Analysis. While at Treasury, she specialized in the analysis of legislation dealing with individual income tax and savings issues, pension plans, long term health care financing, and employee benefits and compensation. Currently, she is pursuing a research agenda in the field of public finance, specifically state, federal and international taxation and fiscal federalism. She is interested in behavioral aspects of taxation, the interdependence of federal and state and local governments, and the behavioral aspects of public spending and taxation.
Tomas Balco Extraordinary Lecturer Dr Tomas Balco is a tax professional with over 15 years experience in the private and public sectors. He has experience working as a consultant for multinational companies, different tax administration, the OECD, the United Nations and the European Commission. He is currently the Head of the Transfer Pricing Unit in the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD. Dr Balco hols a PhD from Masaryk University in Czech Republic.
David Solomon Extraordinary Lecturer David Solomon has been involved in research, education and training and policy development in the area of Urban Economics and Local Government Finance since 1980. He served for 20 years at The University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, as a lecturer, senior lecturer and professor, teaching, researching and developing new courses in the areas of Urban Economics, Local Public Finance, Property Economics, and Finance. From 2002 – 2004 he served as Head of School of Economic and Business Sciences. He has been active as an international consultant in the area of Local Government Finance, and has participated in several major projects both in South Africa and abroad, and has made inputs into the legislative process, and into national policy formulation. He is currently working on financial management reform in Somalia both at state and national level, and a review of property tax initiatives in Somaliland and Somalia (UN-Habitat). He has written and published numerous papers, and chapters in books on topics including land taxes, decentralisation, federalism, anti-corruption, and local government.