Senior lecturer in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Cape Town (obtained both his master’s and PhD degrees in International Studies from Stellenbosch University (SU).
As an academic and researcher he is passionate about social justice and interested in understanding why South Africa is still struggling with socio-economic issues such as poverty and inequality. That’s why he enrolled for a degree in political science when he left his home in Limpopo for Wits in 2005 even though he originally planned to study law.

After obtaining his undergraduate and honours degree at Wits, Phaahla was awarded a Mandela Rhodes Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to individuals that reflect a commitment to the principles of education, reconciliation, leadership and entrepreneurship, for postgraduate study at a South African university or tertiary institution.

In 2015 he joined the foundation that celebrates the legacy of his role model – anti-apartheid activist and liberal politician Helen Suzman as a researcher.

At the Helen Suzman Foundation he was responsible for two research projects: “What the state does for the poor”, looking at state expenditure and how it alleviates suffering through the pension grant system and “The success and failures of Eskom”, looking at how the government has failed to deliver on its electricity obligations.

During this time, he gave several interviews and wrote several opinion pieces with specific reference to load shedding and how the increased costs of projects like Medupi and Kusile had put further stresses on Eskom’s ability to produce power.

From 2016-2017, he was a programme co-ordinator at the SA BRICS think tank, functioning under the auspices of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS). In 2017 he was included in the Mail Guardian’s annual 200 Young South Africans supplement.

He joined UCT in January 2018 as a lecturer in politics, comparative foreign policy analysis and advanced political economy. His aim is to encourage his students to become critical thinkers and to use their abilities and skills to make a difference in South Africa.