The smartest man in South Africa’s Parliament

Mark Burke is the type of politician South Africa needs in its National Assembly. His deep insight into economics lifts the level of debate in parliament and helps to hold leaders accountable.

Burke was born on 18 September 1989 in Kroonstad in the Free State and attended the North-West University (NWU), where he completed BA and BSc Honours degrees.

He then moved to the University of Cape Town, where he completed a master’s degree in computer engineering, studying under Professor Vincent Rijmen.

His master’s degree studies focused on enabling anonymous crime reporting on mobile phones in the developing world.

He spent a year researching cryptography, artificial intelligence and pattern recognition at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.

Burke received an Oppenheimer Scholarship to continue his studies at Cambridge University, where he completed a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in technology policy.

Through his studies, he developed the skills needed to meet the challenges of integrating technology, management, and policy.

He also received the Shaun Johnson Memorial Scholarship and completed a PhD in econometrics and quantitative economics at the University of Cambridge.

During his studies, he started his career. He joined FNB as an intern in 2011 and served as an ICT4D Researcher at the University of Cape Town from 2012 to 2013.

In 2014, he joined the Cambridge-based technology company Xaar as a project manager and later served as a consultant for Stroz Friedberg.

He returned to South Africa and worked as an analyst for Dalberg in Johannesburg before joining the Cape Town-based Edge Group as an associate, where he remained for five years.

He started a money transfer service for expatriate South Africans, ExpandRand, and later co-founded the fintech company Kastelo, which focuses on financial inclusion.

Burke showed great potential in his student years and was named as one of South Africa’s “100 Brightest Young Minds” in 2010.

He is also a keen sportsman and helped the University of Cape Town win the National Rowing Championship.

He is married to Talia Simone da Silva Burke, a senior lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Pretoria.

Mark Burke became a politician

Although Burke had a bright future in the business and academic fields, his love for politics saw him join the Democratic Alliance when he returned to South Africa.

Burke has been active in politics and activism since a young age and founded the Potchefstroom Debate Society while he studied at NWU.

As an undergraduate, he served as the campus chairperson for the Congress of the People shortly after founding the political movement.

He was elected as the provincial youth leader and provincial delegate to the party’s national conference.

In 2013, when he left South Africa to study at the University of Cambridge, he joined the Liberal Democrats, a liberal political party in the United Kingdom.

After he returned to South Africa and joined the Democratic Alliance, he quickly moved up the ranks at the political party.

He stood as a DA parliamentary candidate on the Western Cape list in the 2024 national elections and was subsequently elected to the National Assembly of South Africa.

He was sworn in on 25 June 2024 and is a member of the Standing Committee on Appropriations, as well as an alternate member of the Standing Committee on Finance.

He rose to prominence during the 2025 Budget debacle when he became the face of the resistance to the planned value-added tax (VAT) increase.

As the DA’s spokesperson on finance, he appeared on numerous interviews explaining his party’s opposition to the VAT hike.

He quickly became known as an expert on finance and the economy, a rare find in South Africa’s National Assembly.

He clearly explained why the planned VAT increase was anti-growth, anti-jobs and anti-poor, and why it would harm the local economy.

“It will lead to further poverty by taking money from people who can’t afford it and giving it to people who don’t know how to use it,” he said.

The DA won the war, which was a feather in Burke’s cap and ensured that he became a political leader to watch in South Africa.