Alumni in the spotlight in February 2022
- Wits Alumni Relations
Catch up on a wrap of Witsie awards, appointments and newsmakers from the past month.
Awards
Two Wits fine art alumnae Ravelle Pillay (BA FA 2016) and Malebona Maphutse (BA FA 2018) were announced winners in the 2022 Emerging Painting Invitational by auction house Strauss & Co on 16 February 2022. Pillay received first prize and Maphutse third.
Promising botanist Jessica Minnaar (BSc 2018, BSc Hons 2019, MSc 2021) received research funding at the 2021 Awards by the Botanical Education Trust. She has been studying the biology of plants of the genus Galtonia in the High Drakensberg for her PhD. Only 5% of the genetically diverse Drakensberg Mountain Centre is conserved and its plants are increasingly threatened due to overgrazing, afforestation, agriculture and invasion by alien plants.
Appointments
Ntsoaki Ramabulana (BCom 2009, BCom Hons 2018) has been appointed to the Executive Committee of Aon Reinsurance Solutions.
Noko Mantome (BCom 2016) joined Momentum Securities as an equity analyst.
Alvin Rapea (PDM, HRM 1997) was appointed as partner in the corporate education division at the Regenesys Business School.
Exxaro Resources appointed Dr Pumla Mnganga (PhD 2014) to its board. She is the founder and managing director of Lehumo Women's Investment Holdings, a woman owned and managed investment holding company.
Premium Nickel Resources appointed Boris Kamstra (MBA 2001) as its chief operating officer as it transitions the Selebi Mines from care and maintenance to operational mines. Kamstra is a seasoned leader in the mining industry, with over 30 years of experience in senior and executive roles. Most recently he was the CEO of Alphamin Resources, developers of Bisie tin mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
South African record label Open Mic Productions has appointed Advocate Nkateko Maluleke (MM ENVC 2018) as its new managing director.
James Barber (MBA 2002) was appointed co-chief investment officer-head of private investments at Alberta Investment Management Corporation. Barber will be responsible for real estate, infrastructure, private equity and private debt and loans.
Tata Consultancy Services appointed Langa Dube as its country manager. Dube has a certificate in the management advanced programme at Wits Business School and is pursuing his master’s in digital business.
Kevin Staples (BSc 1998) is the new group CEO of international software company BBD. The company aids financial service providers, gaming houses, insurance companies and telecommunication firms with digital solutions.
Ricardo Smith (BSc 2011, BSc Hons 2012) has been appointed as acting chief investment officer at Absa Stockbrokers and Portfolio Management.
Metso Outotec Oyj, a provider of industrial machinery, has appointed Brian Beamish (BSc Eng 1977) as a new board member.
Petra Diamonds has appointed Jon Dudas (BSc 1982, MSc 1984) as an independent nonexecutive director. 
He is currently chairperson of Samruk-Kazyna, Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund, which he joined in 2020. Prior to this, he was an independent nonexecutive director and chairperson of the National Atomic Company Kazatomprom.
Chromaflo Technologies has named Moses (Jabu) Banda (BA 2014) as its commercial director in sub-Saharan Africa. Banda will spearhead sustainable market share growth in the region through market development and conversion of primary sales targets, including the proliferation of existing product lines and introduction of new product lines. Banda brings with him 20 years of experience in executive management and product commercialization obtained with Gilbarco Veeder-Root.
Newsmakers
A previously mothballed, cordoned-off area on a historical site in Braamfontein has been transformed into an art, sculpture and wellness park by a team of experts led by architect Edmund Batley (BArch 1994).
Professor Shabir Madhi (MBBCh 1990, MSc 1999, PhD 2003) released research indicating that at least three in four people living in Gauteng had been infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus at least once since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. He also shared a personal note, with Bruce Whitfield about his relationship with money.
Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong (MBBCh 1975) participated in an interview with fellow Witsie Refilwe Moloto (BCom 2004).
Mothupi Kgopa (BSc 2007) is a mathematician who invented a scientific calculator named Geleza, which uses both solar and battery power. He explains that Geleza means “go to school” in township slang. He believes learners in rural areas spend a lot of money on scientific calculators which are expensive as they cost around R320 each. The Geleza calculator will cost the consumer R150. Kgopa also runs Kgopa Foundation for Mathematics, which seeks to instill a passion for mathematics in rural students. He launched Geleza in January through his company, Geleza Tech.
Andrew Goodhead (BSc Eng 2013) travelled from Cape Town to the Drakensberg on a solar powered e-bike.
The journal Nature published an article about Professor Patrick Arbuthnot (BSc 1982, BSc 1984, MBBCh 1985, PhD 1993), director of the Antiviral Gene Therapy Research Unit at Wits, and his team’s involvement with building capacity for vaccine manufacturing in low- and middle-income countries.
Mining company Gold Fields signed a partnership with Wits and other institutions (universities of Venda, Upssala,
Geologist Thomas Clarke (BSc Hons 2002, MSc 2000), vice president of exploration at Hawkmoon Resources in Canada, recently discovered gold which provides an exciting starting point for up-and-coming drill programmes for the company in 2022.
Kimberley Taylor (BSc Eng 2016), founder and CEO of logistics company Loop, was profiled in the Financial Mail.
Headwig Barry’s (PGCE 2019, MA FA 2020) latest exhibition at Nirox Sculpture Park was profiled in the Mail & Guardian.
Anton Harber (BA 1979, MA 2021), adjunct professor in journalism at Wits, writes news media might have turned the corner in finding a new business model that could help restore the sector to financial health.
South African scientist Dr Raeesa Moolla (BA 2008, PhD 2015) struggled to breathe as a child with asthma and allergies, now she is helping to figure out the health impacts of the things that people breathe in.