Durban - Tributes continued to pour in for Tanzanian economist Professor Benno Ndulu, 71, who died at Hubert Kairuki Memorial Hospital in Dar es Salaam on Monday.
He died after a short illness.
Ndulu served as a member of South Africa’s presidential economic advisory council from October 2019 up until his death.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said that during Ndulu’s multifaceted career, he worked in the World Bank Group and served as a governor of the central bank of the United Republic of Tanzania.
Ndulu was also respected as an academic economist at the University of Dar es Salaam.
Ramaphosa described Ndulu as an outstanding economic intellectual with an extraordinary and vibrant passion for African development and for the reconstruction and recovery of South Africa’s own economy. Ramaphosa said that Africa had lost a great thinker and visionary in the infancy of continental free trade
“We share this great loss with the people of Tanzania who in their generosity shared Prof Ndulu’s wisdom and vision with our nation through our presidential economic advisory council,” said Ramaphosa.
The council was announced by the president to ensure greater coherence and consistency in the implementation of economic policy and to ensure that the government and society in general were better equipped to respond to changing economic circumstances.
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said Ndulu was a senior advisor on the digital pathways at the Oxford programme, a position that saw him work closely with ECA
Executive secretary Vera Songwe said the ECA had lost a trusted, selfless friend who believed in putting Africa first.
“He passionately worked with us as we developed the continent’s digital transformation strategy. We will miss his energy and zeal to ensure digitalisation is indeed a solution for growth and development on our continent,” she said.
The Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at UCT described Ndulu as one of Africa’s greatest contemporary intellectual and practical leaders.
Ndulu was a member of the school’s international advisory board since the early days. Ndulu was an insightful friend and advisor to the school’s first director, Emeritus Professor Alan Hirsch.
“Ndulu was a bold, innovative and deeply insightful thinker. His impact on the economic development of Africa is without parallel. Equally significant was his impact on South Africa, through his relationship with universities. We have lost a kind and dedicated development intellectual and activist who will be impossible to replace,” said Hirsch.
Daily News