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Isangqa Third Edition Contributors
She is experienced in client management, and from 2006 to 2008, worked as Business Coordinator – Client Management at Glenrand MB. Prior to that, she was a Senior Claims Administrator at Santam Insurance in Port Elizabeth. Nombewu has a Social Science degree from Rhodes University with majors in Psychology and Industrial Psychology and an LLB (UNISA). She is a keen public speaker and is involved in cultural and sporting organisations and corporate social initiatives.
Her research covers gender, sexualities, and sexual violence. She has published numerous articles in this area; culminating in a recent publication in Hypatia entitled ‘A Call to Arms: The Centrality of Feminist Consciousness-Raising Speak-Outs to the Recovery of Rape Survivors’. In 2015, she was a joint recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Community Engagement Award for her work in community-based, action research with the Siyahluma project. She is one of the Sunday World Heroic Women: 2022 (Women in Academia Category).
He is formerly an Associate Professor in Managerial Accounting & Finance at the
School of Accounting at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he taught from 1996 to
2006.
Before being appointed Director of Rhodes Business School, he worked for the Geneva-based,
International Trade Centre, the joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United
Nations, its main goal being to help developing countries achieve sustainable human development
through exports. In this former capacity, he advised numerous countries on priorities for raising
overall levels of competitiveness and assisting in the formulation of national and sector export
strategies.
His areas of interest are governance and ethics, strategic management, managerial accounting and
finance and he also has a strong research background in business linkages and small business
development.
He served as the President of the South African Business Schools Association (SABSA) from 2014 to
2016 and is a former Non-Executive Director of the PWC Business School. He currently serves as the
Non-Executive Chairman of GBS Mutual Bank, is a Non-Executive Director of the Good Governance
Academy, and a member of the Institute of Directors South Africa. He is the Chair of the Makhanda
Circle of Unity, a collaborative forum established for the fulfilment of an inclusive and purposeful
approach for the socio-economic development of Makhanda and its surrounds, which aims to bring
together all relevant and interested voices, communities and stakeholders in a spirit of problem-
solving, partnership and civic participation.
His article focusses on ‘Why Business Should Care about Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)‘
She is the Chief Executive Officer at Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) and a Non-Executive Director on the Board of ESKOM; Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) and Resultant Finance (a PIC investee company) and serves on the Human Resources Development Council (HRDC), the Advisory Committee of the Local Government Ethical Leadership Initiative (LGELI), The Alcohol Industry Advisory Council (TAIAC) and the Social Justice Council. Furthermore, Busi is a Visiting Adjunct Professor at the Wits Business School (WBS). Busi is a member of the YPO (Young President’s Organisation), the IoDSA and ACCA.
She was awarded the ‘2020 Influencer of Influencers Award’ by the Africa Brand Summit in October 2020 and was named second runner up for ‘Businessperson of the Year’ by Daily Maverick in 2021.
A South African born in Zimbabwe, Colleen served as the founding CEO of GL and before that of the Commission on Gender Equality. Prior to that Colleen served as Chief Programme Officer of the Commonwealth Observer Mission to South Africa during the transition to democracy; and before that as a development journalist covering the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. A researcher, trainer and well known gender advocate, Colleen is editor of the annual #VoicaandChoice Southern African Gender Barometer and several other publications. She has won awards from South Africa’s Media and CEO magazines, and is a recipient of the Golden Key Award from the University of Johannesburg that recognises academic excellence and community service. Colleen is married to a Ghanaian; has two daughters and two grand-daughters. Her article focuses on, ‘ The Voice and Choice Southern Africa Fund (VCSAF)’
Second Edition
Concept Note
‘can child, forced, under-age marriage be classified as a form of gender-based violence against girls?’
Isangqa Second Edition Contributors
Advocate Mandisi Planga is an experienced public service manager who, since 2017, has been
Director of Community Services for Blue Crane Route Municipality. He has served brief periods as
Acting Municipal Manager for both Blue Crane and Makana Municipality. Planga served the Makana
Municipality from 2007 to 2017, first as Director of Community and Social Services and then as
Director of Public Safety and Community Services. Prior to that, he worked in various organisations
as a Training Coordinator, Programme Implementation Manager, and Community Facilitation Co-
ordinator. From 2004 to 2006 he directed his own Mandisi Planga Consultancy. Planga has a
Bachelor of Social Science, Honours (Rhodes University 1992), a Bachelor of Laws (UNISA 2017), where he is
currently studying for a Master of Laws degree specialising in corporate law; and an MBA (2001)
from Potchefstroom University.
Ms Nomso Kana works as an entrepreneur in the broadband infrastructure sector. She is a lobbyist for sustainable resource use and led the South African Delegation to the World Sustainability Energy Forum. In 2019 she was appointed to serve as a Commissioner for 4IR: an initiative of the South African President. She has studied nuclear science and serves as a governor for the Nuclear Energy Foundation Agency, a commercial African group that advocates for alternative energy sources in 43 African countries. Kana has been actively involved in youth development through the SADC Parliamentary Forum and the African Women leadership network. Kana has received several international accolades for her social entrepreneurship work; the most recent is the Young Entrepreneur award by the African Women Innovation, Entrepreneurship Forum. In addition, she is a programme director for Taungana Africa, a non-profit movement that provides high school girls from rural and extremely underexposed sub-Saharan communities with world-class internet access and exposure to education and career options in science, technology, engineering, entrepreneurship and mathematics. Kana is deputy chairperson of the Nelson Mandela. She is the recipient of the 2022 South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Ubuntu Social Responsibility Award in Africa. She is a part-time advisor to the Premier of the Eastern Cape Province on Digital Economy, Information Communication Technology and Innovative projects.
Ms Kana’s article is on the ENGF’s Theory of Change in ending child marriage, what is called ‘Ukuthwala’ in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.
Professionally self-motivated hard worker with qualifications and experience in both law and tertiary education. Before joining Law Reform Commission (LRC) she worked as a senior lecturer of Corporate Law at the University of South Africa(UNISA) for 12 years.
Ms Modiba boasts of the following academic qualifications and achievements; a variety of certificates and short courses, e.g. Legislative Drafting (Universities of Nelson Mandela and Pretoria); Advanced Certificate in Labour Law (UNISA); A Short Course in Outcomes-Based Assessment in Higher Education and Open Distance Learning with distinction; and LEAD (School for Legal Practice). She holds a Master of Laws (Mercantile Law) from the University of Pretoria and participated in the Master of Law Programme of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands). She acquired her Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of the North with 4 distinctions, that was after completing her Baccalaureus Procurationis at the same university with 11 distinctions.
She is an experienced professional researcher that has contributed to many LRC’s Projects, e.g. Discussion Paper on the Review of the Maintenance Act 99 of 1998; Revised Discussion Paper 138: The Practice of Ukuthwala in provinces; Discussion Paper 132: The Practice of Ukuthwala across SA Provinces.
Dr Shakira Choonara is an award-winning public health practitioner, former African Union Youth Councillor and Operation Smile Ambassador for South Africa. As a public health specialist, Shakira describes herself as not a traditional researcher, she wants to see impact and implementation, everywhere, all the time. Heading a consultancy firm specialising in advocacy, she is able to merge research, implementation and action, to begin to craft programmes which have meaning for women, the youth as well as people living with HIV. Running as successful consultancy firm, fright associated with starting a new business, is thing of the past.
Shakira is a go-getter, a dreamer, a visionary, an activist, eager to to build communities in Africa. Her vision is to create lasting change in Africa.
Advocate Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda is the Founder and Chief Executive of Rozaria Memorial Trust, the organisation she found in memory of her late mother based in Murewa, Zimbabwe.
Dr. Gumbonzvanda is the African Union Goodwill Ambassador on Ending Child Marriages since 2014.
A Zimbabwean national, she is a trained human rights lawyer with extensive experience of work with girls and young women, as well as in conflict resolution and mediation. For almost 30 years, she has worked on issues of women and children’s human rights, especially violence against women, health and HIV and AIDS.
She has extensive work experience at the local, regional and international level. She served as World Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) General Secretary for almost 10 years, responsible for 120 countries and reaching 25 million women & girls.
She has extensively worked with the UN where she was, for a decade with UNICEF and UNIFEM (Now UN Women). She served as a member of the UN Commission on Accountability for Women and Children’s Health; and was a member of the WHO Director General Advisory Group on Ebola. She also served as a member of the UN Civil Society Advisory Group on Women, Peace and Security.
She served on many civil Boards including CIVICUS and Save the Children UK. She is the current Chair of Action Aid International. Nyaradzayi is also a member of the External Advisory Group to the Managing Director of the IMF. Nyaradzayi is member of the Steering Committee for the African Women Leaders Network as well as the Gender is My Agenda Campaign (GIMAC).
In Zimbabwe, she was among the founder members of the Women & Land Lobby Group, and the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association. She is the Chair of the COVID19 Frontline Responders Group for the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe. She is the Patron of The Former Students Association for Magaya Primary School, where she attained her primary education.
Drum Article
By Siya Tsewu
“Foundation sounds alarm on cases of ukuthwala still being practised in rural parts of South Africa”
Shakira Choonara
#Thought Space: A Mandela Day Feature on Nomkhitha Gysman Leading Action against Ukuthwala
1st Edition of
Isangqa Newsletter
“A circle has no beginning and no end – the circle represents continuity and a sense of community.”
Lovely