South Africa: Competition Commission appoints new Chief Economist

The South African Competition Commission is very pleased to announce the appointment of James Hodge, as the new Chief Economist, effective from March 1, 2019.

Hodge takes over from Liberty Mncube, the head of Economic Research Bureau and the Commission’s Chief Economist. The Commission will still have access to Mncube’s expertise.

Hodge joins the Commission from Genesis Analytics where he has been the managing partner of the Competition and Regulatory Economics (CRE) practice since 2005.

Prior to that he was a senior lecturer and postgraduate convener at the University of Cape Town’s School of Economics, as well as a senior researcher at UCT’s Development Policy Research Unit. His research and teaching was in the areas of industrial organization, regulation, and international trade.

He has provided expert economic advice and reports in hundreds of cases across the full spectrum of economic sectors and in a number of Southern and East African jurisdictions.

As an expert witness, Hodge has prevailed in numerous precedent-setting cases in the areas of abuse of dominance and public interest in merger control. These include the far-reaching Commission settlement agreement with Telkom that led to the wholesale separation of Openserve and the extension of public interest to affected suppliers in the Walmart-Massmart merger.

Hodge is considered a leading expert in sector-specific regulation. He has advised regulators and regulated firms alike on key economic issues shaping the oversight of important sectors of the economy.

Meanwhile, the Commission would like to announce reassignment of executives, with Makgale Mohlala moving to head Mergers & Acquisitions and Lebo Mabidikane to take over as head of the Cartels Division.

“The Commission’s management team has been stable for a while and I am excited that James will be joining us and strengthening the team. His experience speaks for itself. I am also delighted that we still have access to Liberty to provide expert testimony from time to time.

“We will continuously seek ways of maintaining the dynamism in our team through rotation which will expose the team to various disciplines. This has paid dividends at junior and middle management level,” stated Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele.