Achievers and appointments
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Advocate Thuli Madonsela (LLB 1991), the former public protector, is launching the Thuma Foundation “to develop leadership for democracy, development and peace, focusing on a leadership approach that is ethical, purposeful, impactful and committed to service”, according to Lead SA.
Martin Lindenberg (BSc 1975, BSc Hons 1976, MBBCh 1981, MBA 1983) is to lead the McNair Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship at the University of St Thomas (Houston). He was previously the founding chairman of the Houston Technology Center, described by Forbes as “One of the Ten Incubators Changing the World”. At Wits he studied computer science, medicine and business.
Dr Mbulaheni Simon Nemutandani (MDent 2007, MSc Med 2009) is now CEO of the Wits Oral Health Centre and Head of the School of Oral Health Sciences.
Zunaid Bulbulia (BCom 1991) has joined Wits Business School as an adjunct professor. He was previously group chief operations executive of MTN, the multinational telecoms group.
James Ogude (PhD 1996) is the new Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship at the University of Pretoria.
Sello Kekana (MSc 2014) received the 2016 Colin Spence Award for excellence in global mineral exploration from the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia. He and Dr David Broughton were recognised for “work that led to the discovery of the Tier One Flatreef underground deposit at Ivanhoe Mines’ Platreef platinum group metals-nickel-copper-gold project”. Kekana is head of Transformation at Ivanplats. Robert Friedland, Executive Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines, said: “It is a particularly remarkable reward of destiny for Sello, who was born and raised in a small village that adjoins today’s Platreef Project in the fabled Bushveld Complex. He used to graze his family’s cattle on one of the farms that overlaid the Flatreef Discovery. Today, thanks in part to Sello, we’re confident that Flatreef eventually will become one of the world’s great platinum mines.”
Mbalenhle Sekautu (BA 2014) and Keegan Moore (an industrial engineering student at Wits) have left for a six-month internship at Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, in the US. The programme gives interns exposure to the latest technological and business developments in a variety of disciplines.
Musician Johnny Clegg (BA 1976, BA Hons 1977, honorary DMus) received the Arts & Culture Trust Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. In 2015 he received an OBE for his “unique services to the arts, vulnerable people and children and to democracy in South Africa”.
Melanie (Cox) Gregory (BA SP&H Therapy 1992) has been appointed CEO of the Ear Foundation in the UK. The organisation provides services which bridge the gap between clinics (where new hearing technologies are fitted) and everyday life for the deaf.