Office Bearers

Mr Gus Mandigora

Gus Mandigora completed his LLB law degree at the University of the Western Cape and then proceeded to do a Masters Degree in International Trade Law at Stellenbosch University. He spent just under three years, first as an intern and then as a researcher at the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa (tralac.) Subsequent to that, he had a short stint at a Pretoria law firm before joining UK Trade and Investment as a Trade and Investment Adviser. He then joined BUSA as the Executive Director for Trade Policy in March 2011.

Ms Nomaxabiso Majokweni

Ms Majokweni, 42, has held senior positions in both the private and public sectors over the past 20 years. After graduating from the University of Transkei in 1990 with a B.Com(Hons) in Economics, she started her career in organizational development and recruitment at Alusaf Hillside Smelter in Richards Bay, KwaZulu Natal.

Her talents were spotted early, and she was recruited to the DTI in 1996 to become part of the first corps of post-liberation economic representatives. This group was sent abroad to position and market South Africa as a viable and competitive investment location and a source of high quality value added exports.

Ms Majokweni was posted to Hong Kong as South African Commercial Attaché, also responsible for Southern China. She was rewarded for outstanding service and promoted in 2000 to Washington DC as a Regional Director responsible for United States, Canada and Mexico.

The position entailed interacting and influencing leading multinational corporations, multilateral organisation, business associations, media and government. Her impressive success was recorded in facilitating expansions, re-investments and new investments by various companies including General Motors and General Electric.

In 2001, she returned to South Africa and was appointed Chief Operating Officer in Blue IQ, the Gauteng Province special purpose economic development agency, a position she held until 2003, where she was responsible for strategic planning, operational efficiency and subsequent commercialization of eleven multi-billion Rand strategic smart-industries economic development projects.

The projects spanned industries such as automotives, tourism, smart manufacturing, ICT, transport and science & innovation centres. Her strategic and financial planning capability led to the successful implementation of impactful corporate strategies, business plans and the establishment of project implementation vehicles such as Mbombela consortium for the Gautrain, Automotive Supplier Park in Rosslyn, Newtown Development, Cradle of Humankind, Innovation Hub, among others.

In May 2003 Ms Majokweni was appointed CEO of Sandton Convention Centre, a privately owned international convention centre. Leveraging her international and local business networks, she was able to turn the centre into an internationally preferred venue hosting a number of international conferences, exhibitions and special events that had never been held in the country before.

Her success in this position was anchored in a three-pronged business strategy which focused on operational and commercial excellence, market penetration and development, as well as making the Centre an “Employer of Choice.” With her strong business strategy orientation and knowledge of corporate governance, the Centre was put onto a commercially sound footing characterized by clean audits, impressive financial performance (with full P&L and balance sheet accountability), innovative business development strategy and excellent customer service culture.

In 2006 she started a consultancy, L’Avant Group, specializing in tourism & location marketing and customer experience optimization consulting. Over the past four years, the business has grown and its clients include international and national government agencies, municipalities (local economic development), hospitality establishments such as hotels and resorts.

She has undergone executive education training at the University of Stellenbosch Business School, and IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland.

4 August 2011.

Ms Futhi Mtoba
President

Futhi Mtoba is Chairman of Deloitte Southern Africa. She joined the firm in 1988 and rose up the ranks to become the first black female partner and subsequently Chairman at Deloitte Southern Africa. She is also the past President of the Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa (ABASA), a body dedicated to nurturing emerging black accountants.

She is a CA (SA), holding a Higher Diploma in Banking Law (Rand Afrikaans University); B Compt (Hons) (University of South Africa); BA (Econ) (Hons) (University of South Africa); BA (Econ) (University of Botswana and Swaziland).

Her commitment to the academic excellence and skills development of the younger members of society has led her to also serve as Chairperson of Council at the University of Pretoria and as a Board Member on the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation. The Allan Gray Orbis Foundation‘s specific mission is the fostering of job creation by funding the education and training of university students. The programme has been extended to offer promising learners from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity of completing their secondary school education at a leading institution, in order to ensure the realisation of their potential and to increase the pool of potential applicants for university funding.

During her term as ABASA President, she was the visionary behind the launching of the Nkuhlu Subvention Fund. This fund was set up to subsidise salaries of black chartered accountants who commit to lecturing at previously disadvantaged universities, thus encouraging them to pursue a profession in academia.

She is a Member of the Board of the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative. The Global Compact strives to be the world’s most inclusive voluntary initiative to promote responsible corporate citizenship, ensuring that business, in partnership with other social actors, plays its essential part in achieving the United Nation’s vision of a more sustainable and inclusive global economy and therefore achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

She is Chairperson and a Trustee of WDB Trust. This Trust is a woman-centred socio-economic development programme, targeting poor women by empowering them through access to reliable financial services, appropriate business skills and technical support as well as information and communication technology training.

In June 2009, she was appointed by Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), as Chairperson of the National Anti-Corruption Forum (NACF).

In 2009, Futhi was appointed a Trustee on the Board of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

In May 2010, Futhi was appointed President of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA).

Awards

• 2002/2003 Top 300 Empowerment Publication Awards - Top black Business Personalities of the year;
• 2004 Business Woman of the Year – Nedbank and Business Women’s association;
• 2005 Top 300 Empowerment Publication Awards – Top black Business Personalities of the year;
• 2005 OWIT (Organisation of Women in International Trade - USA) International Woman of the Year;
• 2006 International Women's Forum (SA)/Financial Mail – recognised as one of 50 of South Africa’s Most Influential Women;
• June 2007 International Achievement Award – National Association of Black Accountants USA (NABA);
• September 2008 Tuksalumni Laureate Award 2008.

Ms Veneta Klein

One of the most influential women in banking in South Africa, Venete Klein has a leadership style that perfectly combines compassion with big business. She is a financial powerhouse, humanitarian, mother and bridge-builder all rolled up into one rather formidable package. Klein may be small in stature, but her passion for creating business with heart is larger-than-life. She was appointed in January 2010 as Executive Director Absa Corporate Affairs and Sustainability. She previously held the position as Executive Director: Absa Retail Bank and boasts more than 32 years experience within the banking industry. She continues to thrive in the competitive world of high finance. Respected by colleagues and staff members alike, Klein is known for her motherly guidance and no-nonsense approach.

She was named Vice President Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), is a Director at the Ombudsman for Banking Services and National Business Unity (NBI) and serves on the Standing Committee for the Revision of the Banks Act (appointed by former Minister of Finance). Venete is also Business Woman of the Year (2009/2010), a Private Sector Representative on the National Anti Corruption Forum (NACF) and a visiting Professor at the University of Free State and regularly presents at Stellenbosch University, University of Louisiana and Cornel University (US) to MBA students. Over the years she has studied extensively overseas and is a graduate of Harvard and holds a number of international qualifications from MIT, Insead, IMD and Wits.

When it comes to firsts, Venete is always leading the charge. She was the first South African to be invited to serve on the World Trade Organization’s International Policy Commission. The first woman to serve as Vice Chair of the Agricultural Business Chamber, and the first woman to be appointed as President of the AHI (Afrikaanse Handels Instituut / Afrikaans Chamber of Commerce) in its 66 year history. Klein is a trustee of the Absa Foundation Trust as well as Community Impact Trust.

Mr Michael Spicer
Chief Executive Officer

Michael Spicer is the Chief Executive Officer of Business Leadership South Africa an association at CEO/Chairman level of the 80 largest South African and multinational enterprises in the country. Previously Michael rose in a twenty year career at the company to be an Executive Vice President at Anglo American plc and Executive Director of Anglo American South Africa. In his early career, he worked at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and the South African Institute of International Affairs (Jan Smuts House) where he was Deputy Director. He remains on the Board of Anglo American South Africa in a non-executive capacity and is a Board member of Rothschild South Africa.

Mr Spicer has a wide involvement in business and public life, being Deputy Chairman of the National Business Initiative, a member of the President’s International Marketing Council, and a board member of the Business Trust. He was appointed in 2006 as an inaugural member of the Presidential International Advisory Board of Mozambique and now Chairs that body. He is also immediate past Chairman of the Council at St. John’s College, from where he matriculated before completing his BA and MA degrees in history at Rhodes University with distinction. He joined the Board of Governors of Rhodes in November 2009.

Mr Marthinus Havenga

Marthinus Havenga completed his B.Comm, B.Comm (Hons) and M.Comm (Economics) at the University of the Orange Free State (South Africa). He also holds a Higher Education Diploma from the same institution.

He started his career at the South African Reserve Bank as an Econometrician in the Econometric Division of the Bank. Here he gained valuable experience in modeling the South African economy and preparing modeling scenario’s used to inform monetary policy decisions taken by the Bank.

Marthinus then joined the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) where he was extensively involved in setting Trade and Industrial Policy for the country. His understanding of South African industry was further developed through groundbreaking competitiveness studies conducted by him on various industries, not only in South Africa, but globally. These studies led to the strategic re-directioning of a number of industries towards global competitiveness.

Marthinus joined FNB Corporate, a division of FirstRand Bank Ltd., in 1998 as a team member of the Industry Analysis unit of the bank. Over the last 12 years he held numerous positions at the bank, including Head of Strategy for the International Division, Head of Research and Strategy for the Corporate Bank and Head of Business Intelligence for the Global Transactional Services (GTS) division of the Bank.

Marthinus joined BUSA as Director: Trade Policy during September 2010.

Mr. Kganki Matabane

Kganki Matabane is currently Executive Director - Transformation Policy and Operations at Business Unity South Africa (Busa) responsible for monitoring transformation in South Africa as well as internal operations of the organisation covering amongst others, finance, payroll, human resources, procurement, information technology, marketing, business development, Business Parliamentary Office and stakeholder management as well as women and youth empowerment. He was previously the Financial Director and General Manager: Operations at the Black Management Forum (BMF).

His academic qualifications include National Diploma in Cost and Management Accounting from Wits Technikon (now University of Johannesburg), B-Tech in Cost and Management Accounting from Technikon SA (now UNISA), Certificate in Financial Analysis from Wits Business School, Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs), Leadership Development Programme from University of Stellenbosch Business School and Program on Strengthening Employers’ Organisations from Nippon-Keindanren International Cooperation Center (Japan).

He is also a Practising Member of the South African Institute of Professional Accountants.

Kganki is also a founder and director of Broad Based BEE Haven Investments Limited.

He serves and served on various boards/committees including:

• Limpopo Province Premier's Employment Growth and Development Advisory Council;
• True Class Motor Holdings;
• The King Sub-committee on Sustainability
• Credit Information Ombud’s Council (2008-2009);

Kganki was highly involved with Mathomo-mayo Youth Club, a registered Non-Profit Organisation based in Limpopo which organises Career Guidance sessions and other events targeting impoverished rural youth..

Mr. Penuell Maduna
Penuell Mpapa Maduna was born in 1952 in Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa,. His academic qualifications and degrees include: B.Iuris (University of South Africa, 1982); LLB (University of Zimbabwe, 1985); LLM (University of the Witwatersrand, 1992); Higher Diploma in Tax Law (University of the Witwatersrand, 1994); and an LLD from the University of South Africa, 1997.

Dr. Maduna was admitted and enrolled to practice as an Attorney, Notary and Conveyancer in the RSA, and he is currently Senior Special Adviser, Sasol Limited, Rosebank, Johannesburg as well as a Partner/Director of Bowman Gilfillan, Attorneys.

Dr. Maduna has served the RSA’s government in the following capacities: as Deputy Minister of Home Affairs (1994-1996); as Minister of Minerals and Energy (1996-1999); and as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.(1999-2004). Among Dr. Maduna’s multiple academic writings and contributions are Cachalia et al, Fundamental Rights in the Constitution (Juta & Co.; Cape Town 1994); Davis, Cheadle & Haysom (eds), Fundamental Rights in the Constitution (2nd ed, Juta & Co., Cape Town, 1997); Cheadle, Davis & Haysom (eds), South African Constitutional Law: The Bill of Rights (Butterworths, Durban, 2002). Prior to 1994, Dr Maduna was involved in the struggle for finding change and negotiations to end the system of apartheid and to set South Africa on a new path.

Dr Frans Barker
Dr Frans Barker is Senior Executive of the Chamber of Mines. He obtained his doctorate in economics from the University of South Africa (Unisa). He was Chairperson of the National Manpower Commission (NMC), which preceded NEDLAC. He was a commissioner on the first Commission for Employment Equity.

He was President of the Industrial Relations Association of South Africa (IRasa) and Deputy President of the Economic Society of South Africa, and has authored numerous publications, including The South African Labour Market (Van Schaik, 5th edition, 2007).

Ms. Buhle Mthethwa
Innovative business chamber leader with ten years as an SMME owner and elected leader of the country’s foremost African Business Chamber. Strong team builder who has been at the forefront of unifying the previously black and previously white Chamber Movements. Charismatic lobbyist on behalf of African SMME’s to ensure that both legislatively and in practice there is created an environment that is conducive to SMME growth. Strong strategic thinker with a very clear understanding of the South African business landscape and the scope and direction of economic development in general and SMME development in particular

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

• New Venture Creation
• Organisational Development
• Strategic Management
• Policy development and implementation
• Stakeholder Relations

BOARD PARTICIPATICIPATION

• NAFCOC - President
• Business Unity South Africa – Vice President
• CHAMSA – Deputy President
• CFR – Chairperson
• NAFHOLD – (Nafcoc Investments)
• Business Partners
• Moral Regeneration Movement

OTHER
• Member of the Presidential Black Business Working Group
• Member BEE Task Team
• Executive Council member of the former Black Business Council

Mthunzi Mdwaba
Mr Mthunzi Mdwaba is the Group CEO of Torque IT, South Africa, a company dedicated to Computer Technical Training Solutions.

Born in the rural village of Coville – Herschel in the Eastern Cape, he is happily married for over 16 years, with three kids.

The following are his experiences and prior positions held:

• Worked, inter alia, in the Olive Schreiner law Library as a Student Assistant Librarian at Wits
• Trained as a Rental Sales Agent by Avis while doing LLB
• Employed by Avis on a semi full time basis (depending on my availability, worked at the Downtown office, Johannesburg International (mostly ran the office for the night shift) and ran the Lanseria office on weekends and Holidays.
• Served Articles at Kallmeyer & Strime Attorneys.
• Associate at Kallmeyer & Strime.
• Legal Services Manager at Southern Sun.
• Operations Director at ASAMI (Association of the South Africa Music Industry), now RISA (Recording Industry of South African) inter alia served on the subcommittee to the advisory committee to the DTI on copyright.
• Business Affairs Director of Metropolis (Pty) Ltd and Director of Metropolis Holdings (Primedia Limited and Datatec).
• Primedia Music CEO.
• Consulted extensively for, inter alia, Standard Bank, Teba Bank & Backstage (E-TV drama series) before joining Torque.
• Attended and completed a Leadership and Management Course at GIMT.
• Consulted and co-drafted the entertainment strategy of  the ICC Cricket 2003 World Cup Music Committee

DIRECTORSHIPS/ TRUSTEESHIPS HELD

CURRENT:

• Chairman (and shareholder) of Torque Holdings which owns 100% of Torque IT
• Non Executive of Quickstep
• Non Executive Director of Ninam Properties
• Non executive Director of Tecor Properties
• Non-Executive Chairman and shareholder of Lithatech, Sourcecom 

Tecor and Talknet Africa.

• Non-Executive Director of Memeza QRX, shareholders in Young & Rubicam Advertising (Y&R)
• Non Executive Director of Media Edge and Nota Bene ( Companies in the Y&R Group)
• Chairman of Y&R (SA)
• Non Executive Chairman of Arbez Investment Holdings
• Non Executive Director of Stortech
• Vice President of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA)
• National Chairman of the BITF (Black Information Technology Forum)
• Member of the ICT Charter Steering Committee
• Chairman of the Bryanston Primary School Governing Body (SGB)
• Treasurer of ANC Rivonia branch
• Recently re-appointed by the Minister of Labour to the SPPAC (Social Plan & Productivity Advisory Council) and Productivity SA
• Trustee of the Mdwaba Trust and
• Trustee of the Mthunzi Mdwaba Family Trust.

QUALIFICATIONS

BA LLB, University of the Witwatersrand – 1991 & Leadership and Management Course at GIMT - 2002

ACHIEVEMENTS (Company achievements made possible by the team)

• Leading Torque IT to three nominations in the 2003 African Achievers Awards – Creative Use of ICT in Education (Won), Top Black ICT Company (Ist Runner up) and Top Individual in ICT (Ist Runner up to Sizwe Nxasana, CEO Telkom)
• Leading Torque IT to Microsoft Partner of the year - 2004
• Leading Torque IT to Oracle Network Partner of the Year- 2004
• Chosen as the Icon man by Women Divas Africa -2004.
• IT Personality of the year 2004/5
• Leading Torque IT to Cisco Training Solutions Partner of the Year – 2005, 2006&2007
• Leading Torque IT to winning the Best skills Provider by the Minister of Labour – 2007.

Mr. Jerry Vilakazi
Jerry is the Chief Executive Officer of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) a confederation of employer and business organizations active in macroeconomic, social policy and the formulation of business positions. BUSA is the principal business organization representing SA business at national and international levels. Prior to joining BUSA he was Managing Director of the Black Management Forum. He is the non-executive chairman of Netcare Limited the largest private healthcare group in Africa.

He holds non-executive directorships in:

PPC Limited; BMF Investment Company; Palama Investments; ExecuPrime; Tower Group; SA National Parks Board; ComMark Trust; Mpumalanga Gambling Board - Chairman

Jerry also serves in the following organizations and business structures:

SADC Employer Group – Chairman; EU-Southern African Business Council; NEDLAC Exco and NEPAD Business Foundation; Business Against Crime; OECD Business and Industries Advisory Council (BIAC); King Committee on Corporate Governance, National Anti-Corruption Forum, SADC Business Forum; Presidential Working Groups; National Electricity Stakeholder Council; SA Economic Crisis Response Team

Previous business and professional involvements:

Appointed by the President as Public Service Commissioner in 1999; Director and Chief Director for Strategic Planning (Home Affairs); Deputy Director for Transformation (Dept of Public Service and Administration); Director for Commerce and Industry (SAICA); Board of the Water Research Commission; Council of the University of Venda; Director of Computershare (Pty) Ltd; member of a Commission of Inquiry appointed by the Gauteng Premier to investigate allegations of poor health care practices in the Gauteng public hospitals and adjudicated the 2002 Premier’s Service Excellence Award for Gauteng. Presented conference papers locally and internationally on economy and investments. Published papers including an article on how BBBEE relates to the Freedom Charter in Umrabulo. Co-founded ExecuPrime Training with partner Doreen in 1999; Started career as teacher in then Eastern Transvaal (Mpumalanga); Served in various ANC branch structures; published poet and married to Doreen a business woman with three sons.

Educational Qualifications:

BA (Unisa), STD (Unizul), MA(Thames Valley). MA(London), MBA(California Coast)

Mr. Vic van Vuuren
After completing a law degree, Mr van Vuuren started his career at the Department of Justice as a public prosecutor and magistrate. Following that, he moved to Transnet Ltd where he started as a legal advisor, but eventually occupied the position of General Manager, Human Resources. In January 1997 he moved to Sanlam as the Chief Executive: Human Resources, a position he held until March 2004.

Currently, Mr Van Vuuren is a consultant to Sanlam and the Chief Operations Officer of Business Unity South Africa.

Mr van Vuuren is a representative for business at NEDLAC and serves on the NEDLAC Executive and Management committees. He also acts as a business advisor to the Millennium Labour Council. He was recently elected to serve on the International Labour Organisations Governing Body and its Committee on Freedom of Association. In addition to this, he is a member of the Council of the Pan African Employers Confederation and is South Africa’s lead delegate at the International Labour Organisation.

Prof. Raymond Parsons
Raymond Parsons presently teaches at the Department of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of Pretoria. Professor Parsons is also currently the Overall Business Convenor at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) which is the major social dialogue institution in South Africa. He is a key contributor to public and academic debate on a broad spectrum of issues of critical importance to the political economy of SA. He is a recognised authority on the SA economy and its implications for the business community. He studied economics at the Universities of Cape Town, Oxford and Copenhagen, before playing a leading role in organised business in SA for many years. He is a former Director-General of the SA Chamber of Business (SACOB). From 2000-2003 he was a Visiting Professor at the School of Economic and Business Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand and is also an Honorary Professor in the Department of Economics and Economic History at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU). He also holds an Honorary Doctorate from the NMMU. Professor Parsons is the Immediate Past-President of the Economic Society of South Africa (ESSA). He is also a member of the Management Committee and Executive Council of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA). In 2004 former President Thabo Mbeki appointed Professor Parsons to the Board of Directors of the SA Reserve Bank and was reappointed in 2008. He is the author/editor of three recent books – The Mbeki Inheritance: SA’s Economy 1990-2004, Parsons’ Perspective – Focus on the Economy, and Manuel, Markets and Money – Essays in Appraisal. His next book entitled Zumanomics – which way to shared prosperity in South Africa? is due to be published in February 2009.

Ms. Simi Siwisa
Simi completed her Masters International Economic Management at the University of Birmingham in the UK. Her studies exposed her to topical issues in International Banking and Finance; trade policy issues and international economics. She presented several papers on bank regulation and supervision and developed an interest in Optimal Currency areas submitting a dissertation entitled “Beyond trade Liberalization, monetary integration in Southern Africa”.

Simi has experience in procurement strategy and Corporate Finance gained with firms and organizations both in South Africa and the UK.

Ms. Vikashnee Harbhajan
Ms V Harbhajan holds a Master’s degree in law and is an admitted Attorney and Conveyancer of the High Court of South Africa. She worked at the University of Durban–Westville and Technikon Mangosuthu in the faculty of Law and served her articles with the Legal Aid Board. Ms Harbhajan also practiced as an attorney for her own account. She was employed by the Free State Department of Education as Director: Legal Services and Labour Relations, before taking up employment with Nedlac as the Programme Director. She commenced employment at BUSA with effect from 01 June 2007 as Director: Social Policy.

Her portfolio at BUSA includes labour market policy , education, training, skills, health and anti – corruption issues.

She served on the National Board for Further Education and Training (NBFET). She serves on the Advisory Council for Occupational Health and Safety (ACOHS), Wholesale and Retail SETA Board (WRSETA), Essential Services Committee (ESC), Human Resource Development Council (HRD) Technical Working Group and the South African Business Coalition on HIV and AIDS Board (SABCOHA).

Mr. Lawrence Khoza
Lawrence holds a Masters degree from Wits University. He also holds certificates in “managing turn arounds” from the Wits Business School, “finance for non-financial managers” from the Gordon Institute of Business Science, “Role of Directors and Corporate Governance” from the Institute of Directors, “Privatisation in Africa”, “Private Public Partnership” organised by the Institute for Social Studies (Netherlands) and the National Business Initiative.

Lawrence started his professional career with National Government where he worked in the Parliamentary and Cabinet Units. Upon leaving National Government, Lawrence served as Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers advising on strategy, institutional restructuring provincial and local government, State Owned Enterprises, etc.. In this position, Lawrence was involved in the formulation of restructuring and turn around strategies and implementation plans for national, provincial and local governments. He was also involved in business process re-engineering as well as alignment of strategy with performance targets and systems.

He later worked for the Corporate Planning Unit of the City of Johannesburg where he was involved in business planning, long terms strategy and annual reporting. He has also worked as independent consultant on corporate strategy, LEDs, turn around management, etc

Lawrence is a keen Writer. He has contributed articles for national newspapers and magazines such as Tribute magazine, City Press, Mail and Guardian, et al

Mr. Mazwe Majola
Mazwe Majola holds numerous qualifications including an MBA from Preston University, an Mphil from Pretoria University, an Mcom from University of Natal, EDP from Manchester Business School (Manchester University) and various Leadership Development Programmes from Local and International Institutions. Mazwe is currently busy with his PHD at University of KwaZulu-Natal. His research areas and interests include, systems thinking, complexity theory and strategic alliances.

Before joining BUSA, Mazwe was the Group Manager at Sasol responsible for Stakeholder Relations and Transformation. He is the Gauteng Provincial Chairperson of the Black Management Forum (BMF) and is also the Founder and Chairperson of Society of Free Thinkers (SOFT).

Ms. Catherine Grant
Catherine has a law and economics degree from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and is currently completing Masters degree in Public and Development Management from the University of Witwatersrand. Until 2005 she was a diplomat for the New Zealand Government with postings in New York at the United Nations, in Geneva at the World Trade Organisation and in Pretoria as the Deputy High Commissioner.

Catherine has considerable experience in multilateral negotiations, with a particular focus on trade and development issues. She drew on that experience as a consultant based in Johannesburg from 2005 until April 2007. Catherine was a research associate for the Trade Law Centre of Southern Africa as well as the South African Institute of International Affairs. She has undertaken research on South Africa’s agricultural trade policy, geographical indications and trade and development. Catherine also worked on projects on the EPA negotiations in Southern and Eastern Africa as well as food aid. She is also interested in the aid-for-trade initiative and capacity building for trade negotiators. Catherine joined BUSA in April 2007 as the Director: Trade Policy.

Dr. Laurraine Lotter

Dr. Lotter has about eight degrees including a PhD in (Biochemistry) from Rand Afrikaans University and has been the Executive Director for the Chemical and Allied Industries Association since February 1996 to date.
She has served on various committees and boards including:

Mr Dennis Dykes
Dennis is the Nedbank Group's Chief Economist. He joined the Group in December 1983 and was appointed Chief Economist in May 1994. He serves on a number of organised business committees. He is a director of SACCI (formerly SACOB), the Chairman of Business Unity South Africa’s Standing Committee on Economic Policy and is a business representative on the Nedlac Public Finance and Monetary Policy Chamber. He is the author of many articles for in-house and external publications. Dennis is a previous winner of the Reuters Economist of the Year award.

His qualifications include an honours degree from Bath University and a master's degree in economics from the London School of Economics

Mr. Roger Baxter
Roger Baxter is the Chief Economist of the Chamber of Mines of South Africa – a position he has held since 2000. After completing post-graduate studies in economics at the University of Natal in 1990 Roger joined the Chamber of Mines as an Economist. In 1995 he was appointed as Senior Economist and by 1998 became the Chamber ’s Economics Advisor. In late 1998 Roger left the Chamber of Mines and joined an international stock broking company Credit Lyonnaise Securities Asia as their Economist and Strategist for their Johannesburg office. In late 2000 he rejoined the Chamber and was officially appointed as the Chamber’s Chief Economist.

Roger has served on a wide range of committees and structures both within the Chamber and externally. He has participated in the Chamber team negotiating a new mineral policy with the new democratic government. In this context he has researched position papers on beneficiation, black economic empowerment, the economics of the new Minerals Act, minerals taxation and the proposed new Minerals Royalty Bill. Roger was a Chamber negotiator on the Mining Charter, the Charter’s Scorecard and for the Mineral Royalty Bill discussions. He has dealt with a multiplicity of other mining specific issues including participating on task-teams dealing with the World Bank Group Extractive Industries Review, the Water Research Commission Steering Committee on the development of a Waste Water Discharge Charge System for South Africa, the first and second gold lobby efforts to prevent open market sales by the IMF, the EU Registration and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) proposals, the Rail Industry Transport Collaboration Forum and so on.

Roger is Chairman of Business Unity South Africa’s (BUSA’s) Standing Committee on Economic Policy and is one of the business principal members of the National Economic Development and Labour Council’s (NEDLAC) Trade and Industry Chamber. He was involved as a principal member of the former Business South Africa (BSA) negotiating teams in NEDLAC for the new Skills Development Bill, the Energy Policy White paper, the Water Pricing Policy and led the BSA teams input on the Nuclear Regulatory Bills, the negotiations on Industrial Policy (including writing the BSA position papers), the Integrated Manufacturing Policy and the Minerals Development Bill in NEDLAC. He also was part of the BSA competition policy task team. He led the business input to the Presidential Growth and Development Summit on investment issues.

He has played roles in a number of other BSA projects including previously chairing the BSA Privatisation Task Team and Chairing the BSA Steering Committee on the research project entitled “Breaking through the Economic Growth Barrier”. He is currently leading the BUSA input on administered prices, import parity pricing and on raising the economic growth rate in NEDLAC. He recently developed a briefing note on Social Pacts and the Irish experience, which he presented to the President and other Cabinet members at a BUSA-Presidential Working Group meeting in July 2005. Roger participated in a small BUSA task-team charged with developing a document on addressing how to raise the country’s economic growth rate (to the 6% level). He presented BUSA’s views to the President, Deputy-President and members of Cabinet. Other issues he has been involved in include macroeconomic policy, transport and electricity restructuring, migrant labour policy, labour market policy, microeconomic policy reforms, environmental policy, sustainable development policy and so on. He has published a number of articles in various financial and economic journals. He has presented to a multiplicity of conferences and seminars on issues as diverse as minerals policy right through to South Africa ’s competitiveness versus the key international competition.

Roger was a member of the President’s Adjudication Committee for Export Achievement awards for 4 years. He has played a role in the South African Chapter of the International Chamber of Commerce (on the Executive Committee) and was previously a director on the boards of the Rand Refinery and the National Productivity Institute. He is a member of the Investment Analysts Society of South Africa and is Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Economic Society of South Africa.

Mr. Jimmy Manyi
Jimmy Manyi is the Director of BEE and corporate affairs at IBM. He holds a national higher diploma in economic geology, studied marketing and completed the Harvard Senior Executive Program. Jimmy is a chartered marketer and a director of numerous boards. He has over 20 years' experience in the corporate environment, mainly in blue chip firms and multinationals.

Jimmy’s experience spans key sectors of the economy, including banking, the automotive sector, mining sector and IT. Before joining IBM he worked for seven years at executive level for Barclays plc and the Nedcor Group (Peoples Bank), where he ran the business banking division, business development, black economic empowerment (BEE) and government relations. Prior to this, Jimmy spent four years at Toyota South Africa and also worked for Anglo American, both as a mining and an exploration geologist.

Jimmy serves on several bodies, including NEDLAC, and is the Deputy-President of the Black Management Forum. In 2005 he was appointed as the chairperson of the Commission for Employment Equity by the Minister of Labour.

Mr. Mthunzi Mdwaba
Mr Mthunzi Mdwaba is the Group CEO of Torque-IT, South Africa, a company dedicated to Computer Technical Training Solutions

The following are his experiences and prior positions held:

• Worked, inter alia, in the Olive Schreiner law Library as a Student Assistant Librarian at Wits
• Trained as a Rental Sales Agent by Avis while doing LLB
• Employed by Avis on a semi full time basis (depending on my availability, worked at the Downtown office, Johannesburg International (mostly ran the office for the night shift) and ran the Lanseria office on weekends and Holidays.
• Served Articles at Kallmeyer & Strime Attorneys.
• Associate at Kallmeyer & Strime.
• Legal Services Manager at Southern Sun.
• Operations Director at ASAMI (Association of the South Africa Music Industry), now RISA (Recording Industry of South African) inter alia served on the subcommittee to the advisory committee to the DTI on copyright.
• Business Affairs Director of Metropolis (Pty) Ltd and Director of Metropolis Holdings (Primedia Limited and Datatec).
• Primedia Music CEO.
• Consulted extensively for, inter alia, Standard Bank, Teba Bank & Backstage (E-TV drama series) before joining Torque.
• Attended and completed a Leadership and Management Course at GIMT.
• Consulted and co-drafted the entertainment strategy of the ICC Cricket 2003 World Cup Music Committee