Dr Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi
In Geraldine Joslyn Fraser-Moleketi, Africa has a strong and passionate leader working towards the continent’s social and economic transformation. As the former Special Envoy on Gender/ Vice-President at
the African Development Bank, she led a strategy to mainstream gender in the Bank’s policies and operations, making the Bank a reference institution on gender equality and inclusion in Africa. She has championed women’s economic empowerment and financial inclusion. She has worked in inter-governmental structures, interacted with political leaders, business leaders and civil society, and have been involved in complex negotiations across different issues and sectors. Her career is characterised by commitment to development that is more inclusive and economic growth that is more sustainable.
Geraldine was previously Director of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Democratic Governance Group (DGP), based at Head Quarters(HQ) in New York, working across six Regional Service Centres (RSCs) with more than one hundred countries.
She served in the South African Government as Minister of Public Service and Administration, for two consecutive terms. She worked on a number of Strategic Policy initiatives which included the development of a Senior Management Service within the South African Public Service; a comprehensive review of the Public Service Remuneration system; revitalized the “Batho Pele” strategy within the Public Service; established GEMS (Government Employment Medical Scheme); set up PALAMA (Public Service Leadership and Management Academy); served as Chair of the Pan African Ministers of Public Service for three consecutive terms; worked on inter-governmental bodies globally and in Africa; whilst Minister for Public Service and Administration served in the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration, established by the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) was within the Public Service Portfolio and reported to the Minister.
As Minister for Welfare and Population Development in South Africa’s first democratic government highlights included developing and tabling the policy on Social Welfare (1997) before parliament; white paper on Population Policy (1998); worked on the development and implementation of the Child Support Grant and chaired the Ministerial Team on Children and Youth at Risk.
She served as Deputy Minister of Welfare and coordinated the country preparation, of South Africa, for the Beijing World Conference (1995); served as Deputy Leader of the South African Delegation to the World Conference; represented South Africa at the WSSD in Copenhagen Denmark.
In addition, she served as member of the South African Parliament for three consecutive parliaments (1994 through September 2008 when she resigned from parliament.) Geraldine served a parliamentarian and a member of the Constituent Assembly; she served on various subcommittees of the Constituent Assembly.
Some of Geraldine’s early achievements include her participation in the multi-party negotiation process. She served, among others, on the Management Committee of CODESA (Convention for a Democratic South Africa); she was Deputy National Coordinator of the ANC’s National Elections Commission in the Liberation Movement’s preparations for South Africa’s first democratic elections.
Geraldine serves on various boards across academia (including, the Institute for the Study of International Development, Mc Gill University – Montreal Canada - and Chairs the Council of Advisors of the Mapungubwe Research Institute- MISTRA), government and development organizations on issues including youth, women empowerment, capacity development & education, governance and poverty eradication. She currently serves on the Africa Advisory Committee on Womens’ World Banking. She has been reappointed to the Committee of Experts of Public Administration (CEPA) by the UNSG for the period 2018 -2021.
She is a Non-Executive Board Member of the Standard Bank Group (SBG) and Standard Bank South Africa (SSA). She serves on the Group Directors Affairs Committee, Social and Ethics Committee (Group and SBSA) and, the Risk and Capital Committee (Group/SBSA).
She is a fellow of the Institute of Politics, Kennedy School of Government, at Harvard University, and has completed a leadership course at Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. Geraldine holds a Master’s Degree in Administration, University of Pretoria, and has received several awards including the OP Dwivedi Public Service Award from the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Public Administration and a Special Award for Outstanding Achievement from University of Pretoria’s School of Public Management and Administration.
She was named the “2016 New African [magazine] Woman of the Year.” Most recently, Geraldine was conferred a Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris Causa) by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth South Africa.
A strong supporter of intergenerational dialogue, Geraldine mentors young women and men across the continent on leadership and resilience.
READ SOME OF OUR CHANCELLOR'S SPEECHES:
Nelson Mandela University Chancellor Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, who was recently re-elected as the Chair of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration, was in New York this week, where she shared insights on public service in a 20-minute interview on SABC News on 9 April 20.
Santie Botha
Santie Botha was born on 5 August 1964 in Pinelands, Cape Town, and matriculated from JG Meiring High School in Goodwood.
Following her business nose, she completed a Bachelor’s degree in Economics at Stellenbosch University in 1985 and then did her honours degree, graduating in 1986.
She started her career at Unilever (a major global fast moving consumer goods business operating across more than 100 countries) in 1987 as a marketing graduate and worked for Unilever in various marketing and sales roles both in Durban, (four years) and London, UK (six years), culminating in the position of Commercial Sales Director of van den Berg Foodservice, UK, before returning to South Africa in 1996.
She then joined the ABSA Group as Marketing Director in April 1996 where she was charged with the overall marketing strategy and structure for the group as well as the implementation of new initiatives to dramatically change the business. During her time in this position she initiated and was instrumental in the successful merging and rationalisation of four retail brands with a brand equity of more than 400 years into one brand, ABSA. This was a first in the global financial services industry and enjoyed savings in excess of R1 billion across the business. Santie was the youngest person to be appointed to both senior management and the Absa Bank Board.
Moving up the corporate ladder, she was appointed as Group Executive Director of the ABSA Group in November 1998 with group strategy, e-Business and information management, marketing, card division and payment systems, corporate affairs and personal financial services all part of her extensive portfolio. She was also a member of the executive committee of ABSA Group, a board member of ABSA Bank and a member of the MasterCard AMEA Board (Africa, Middle East, Asia).
As Group Executive Director, she initiated, collaborated and implemented a new strategy and structure for the ABSA Group aligned with the segmentation approach and single brand strategy, launched its Free Internet Access in the South African market - a major first which catapulted the ABSA brand to the top 10 brands in the country after only three years.
Taking up a challenge in the mobile telephone industry, in July 2003, Santie joined the MTN group as Executive Director: Marketing. This included her serving as a member of the MTN Group Executive Committee as well as board director of MTN South Africa, MTN Cameroon & MTN Yemen.
Santie can be credited for MTN being regarded as the Top Mobile Brand in Africa both from a value as well as positioning perspective. She took charge of rebranding nine Investcom countries to MTN within 12 months of acquisition (from Afghanistan to Ghana). Another feather in her cap is the fact that MTN was the first African based company to become a Tier 2 Global Sponsor of the FIFA 2010 Football World Cup. She was part of the executive team which grew MTN’s business from six countries in 2003 to 21 countries in 2010, with over 140 million customers and R110 billion in revenue.
Santie left MTN at the end of 2010 to pursue her own and other business interests.
Some of her prestigious awards in her career include Young Business Person of the Year in 1998, Fellowship of the Institute of Marketing Management (IMM) in 2001, Marketer of the Year (Marketing Federation of South Africa) in 2002 and most recently, Business Woman of the Year in 2010.
Since 2004 she has served as non-executive director for Tiger Brands, a position which she still holds.
A keen sportswoman, Santie played tennis at SA Schools and SA Universities level as well as provincial tennis for Western Province and Natal.
In her free time, of which there is precious little, she enjoys reading, travelling, skiing and tennis. She is married to Pierre and lives in Johannesburg.
Santie Botha is the youngest chancellor at any South African university.
Justice Pius Langa
The Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, Pius Langa, was appointed as the first Chancellor of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
Chief Justice Pius Nkonzo Langa was born in the Eastern Transvaal on 25 March 1939. He matriculated through private study in 1960. He obtained his B Iuris from the University of South Africa in 1973 and his LLB in 1976.
He worked in a shirt factory from 1957 to 1960 but then found employment as an interpreter and messenger for the Department of Justice. He worked his way up to serving as a prosecutor and then magistrate.
He continued to study until he resigned from the department in April 1977 and was admitted as an advocate of the Supreme Court in Natal in June 1977. He practised at the Durban Bar and became senior counsel in January 1994.
As an advocate, his work involved both civil and criminal matters with a predominance of political trials. He appeared in most of the more significant political trials - mostly in Natal, the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape. His practice reflected the struggle against apartheid and his clientele included the underprivileged, civic bodies, trade unions and people charged under security legislation and the so-called “crimes against the state”.
Justice Langa was a member of the Democratic Lawyers Association and served on its executive. In 1987 he served on the steering committee that preceded the formation of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (Nadel); he became a founder member of Nadel and served as its president from 1988 until his resignation in 1994.
He was appointed Justice of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa in October 1994, became Deputy President of the Court in August 1997 and was appointed Deputy Chief Justice of the Republic in November 2001. On 1 June 2005, he assumed the position of Chief Justice.
He has been awarded honorary Doctor of Law degrees by the University of Zululand, the University of the Western Cape and the University of Cape Town. He was appointed honorary professor in the department of procedural and criminal law at the University of Natal in June 1998 and has served as the distinguished visiting professor at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, in the United States. In October 1998 he was installed as the chancellor of the University of Natal.
The appointment of the chancellor by NMMU Council was a preceded by a process where members of the Council and Institutional Forum were invited to submit nominations for the office of chancellor in accordance with laid down criteria. The Council made this appointment on the advice of the Institutional Forum which is representative of all NMMU’s constituencies.
Judge Ronnie Pillay, Chair of the NMMU Council, said Justice Langa has always been involved in attempts to improve the quality of life of his fellow South Africans. He has helped organise civic organisations and townships residents' associations, and has given guidance to youth and recreational clubs. In so doing, he has become known for his objective approach to life and enhancing the non-discriminatory ethic.
Judge Langa passed away in July 2013.