BUSA's People

Mr. Brian Molefe
Profile Coming Soon...

Mr. Bobby Godsell
Robert (Bobby) Michael Godsell is the Chief Executive Officer of AngloGold Ashanti and also a non-executive Director of Anglo American plc. He is the past Chairman of the World Gold Council.

Mr Godsell obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Philosophy from the University of Natal and a Master of Arts in Liberal Ethics from the University of Cape Town. He also spent a year pursuing postgraduate studies in Sociology and Philosophy at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

He joined Anglo American Corporation in 1974 in the office of the Employment Practices Consultant. This office was the forerunner of the Industrial Relations Department, which he headed from 1980 until his appointment as Group Industrial Relations Consultant in 1986. In 1989 he became a Director of Anglo American Corporation.

Prior to his appointment as Chairman of the Gold and Uranium Division in 1996 he was responsible for the Public Affairs Division, which included Corporate Communications and Group Industrial Relations.

Mr Godsell was appointed as the Chairman of Business Unity South Africa in November 2004.

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
Profile Coming Soon...

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 currently the CEO of Business Unity South Africa. Until the end of December 2005 he was the Managing Director of the Black Management Forum, a membership organisation representing about four thousand managers.

Jerry has held various positions in government starting in 1996 with a responsibility for transformation and affirmative action at the Department of Public Service and Administration before being transferred to Home Affairs where he ended up as Chief Director for strategic planning and service.

He has also served as an Executive Director for Services at the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). Before joining SAICA he served as a Public Service Commissioner – a constitutional body charged with monitoring the performance of the public service and advising parliament and provincial legislatures. He was a member of a Commission of Inquiry appointed by the Gauteng Premier in 1999 to investigate allegations of poor health care practices in the Gauteng public hospitals and adjudicated the 2002 Premier’s Service Excellence Award for Gauteng. He has provided a wide range of advice at ministerial level on organisational structures and on human resources policies and procedures.

As one of the founding members of ExecuPrime Training, he has facilitated numerous leadership development programmes in the public and private sector. He has done various courses in business and financial management as well as in leadership and strategy strategy development. He received further training through local and international programmes. Born in a rural village in White River, Jerry graduated with a B.A. degree at UNISA after obtaining a teacher’s diploma from the university of Zululand. He later proceeded to obtain two Masters Degrees from Thames Valley University and the University of London respectively.

Jerry is a published poet and enjoys reading. He served and participated in several professional bodies in the areas of education and business. Jerry has served as a Board member of the Water Research Commission and is currently a Council member of the University of Venda. He also holds directorships in Computershare(Pty)Ltd, ExecuPrime, BMF Investment Company and the Tower Group.

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.

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 and education and training issues. She represents BUSA at Nedlac on labour market and other related issues.

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. 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