He holds a PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand, where he worked as senior researcher and acting director of the Society, Work and Development Institute, before joining the University of Pretoria in July 2010. One of his books (co-authored with Edward Webster and Rob Lambert), "Grounding Globalization: Labour in the Age of Insecurity" (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008), was the winner of the Distinguished Scholarly Book Prize, awarded by the American Sociological Association’s Labour and Labour Movements section in 2009. He has also published two books of poetry, "Retoer" (Protea, 2008) and "Veelvuldige gebruike vir huishoudelike toestelle" (2014, Protea); a collection of newspaper columns, "Toeris in Hillbrow" (Human & Rousseau, 2010); and released five CD’s, two solo and three with his now disbanded rock band the Brixton Moord & Roof Orkes.