Alumni in the spotlight June 2023
- Wits Alumni Relations
Catch up on a wrap of Witsie appointments, awards and newsmakers from the past month.
Appointments
Gold Fields appointed Carel Albert Tecumseh Smit (HDipTax 1991) as a non-executive director to its board.
Huneiza Goolam (BCom 1999, LLB 2001) rejoined Webber Wentzel as partner in the firm’s corporate business unit. Goolam, who has more than 22 years of experience in corporate
law and mergers and acquisitions has worked at various law firms as partner and general counsel, as well as legal adviser for private clients.
Mzila Mthenjane (BSc Eng 1993) was appointed as CEO of the Minerals Council South Africa to succeed Roger Baxter. Mthenjane leaves his role as executive head for stakeholder affairs at Exxaro Resources to join the Minerals Council. He has more than 30 years of experience in the South African mining industry and financial services.
CleanTech Lithium PLC appointed Thomas McKeith (BSc 1986, BSc Hons 1987, GDE 1994, MBA 1998) as a non-executive director to its board. McKeith is a seasoned geologist and he was formerly executive vice president (Growth and International Projects) for Gold Fields Limited, where he was responsible for global greenfields exploration and projects.
Bongani Buthelezi (GDE 2010, MSc Eng 2012) and Lebokane Masekela (BSc Eng 1989) have been appointed to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s Future Production: mining advisory panel.
Professor Mary Scholes (BSc 1978, BSc Hons 1980, PhD 1988) of the Wits School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Science, who is an internationally recognised authority on tree physiology and climate change, has been appointed the new Sappi Chair in Climate Change and Plantation Sustainability at Wits. She will identify critical research needs and develop research outputs related to climate change.
Mid-tier precious metals mining company Endeavour Silver Corp has announced the appointment of Greg Blaylock (BSc Eng 1989) as the new vice president of operations to oversee the company’s underground mining operations in Mexico.
Dr Ari Kellen (MBBCh 1987, MBA 1990) has been appointed to the board of directors BNS Ophthalmics. He is an experienced healthcare executive and has served as an advisor to growth-stage healthcare companies and as a counsellor to CEOs of Fortune 500 companies on growth, innovation, and risk management.
Mr Price has appointed Neill Abrams (BA 1986, LLB 1988) to the board as independent non-executive director. Abrams is an executive director and group general counsel for the Ocado Group. Before his current 23-year tenure at Ocado, Abrams spent nine years at the London offices of Goldman Sachs in the investment banking and legal divisions.
Dr Tegan Bristow (MA 2008) has been appointed to the board of the Durban FilmMart Institute. She is currently the director of education at the Diriyah Art Futures Centre and was principal researcher and director of the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival and senior lecturer in the Wits School of the Arts.
Honours and awards
Hamilton Wende (BA 1985, MA 2015) received a 2023 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Award in the “Columns/ Editorial” category for “The first casualty of the war is truth – and humanity is close behind” and “Adriaan Vlok – the old man and the dark shadow of the past”.
Alisha Badal (MSc 2023), based in the School of Molecular and Cell Biology, won first place for offering a three-step novel method to treat triple-negative breast cancer. Kate da Silva (BSc 2017, MSc Med 2021), a PhD student from the Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform Research Unit, scooped second place for her concept on how to assist the body to regenerate tissue after traumatic incidents.
Around 37 Witsies were featured in the 2023 Mail &Guardian’s list of 200 Young South
Africans. The annual list showcases the country’s accomplished young people in various fields such as civil society, education, entrepreneurship, justice, mining and manufacturing, technology and innovation, health, politics, environment, film and media, sports, arts and entertainment, and rural development projects. See more here
Newsmakers
Marc Lubner (BCom 1978), group CEO of Afrika Tikkun Group, participated in an interview on how the company is improving the lives of South African youth. Lubner is also co-founder and executive chairman of the Smile Foundation, watch his interview with Strata Originals.
Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking infrastructure, energy and telecommunications head Michael Peo (BCom 1986) told Engineering News that the ability to transition through less carbon intensive fuel sources, ultimately to green hydrogen, is incredibly important.
Candidate architect and former “Miss Earth SA” Lungo Katete (BAS 2019, BAS Hons 2022) plans to take on the coveted title of Miss South Africa with every “ounce of her being”. 
Nomathemba Kgorane (MSc Eng 2017) participated in a career focus segment as principal specialist in business development and partnerships at Sasol.
Dr Shakira Choonara (BHS 2010, BA Hons 2011, MA 2012, PhD 2017) wrote an open letter to the President stating that the future envisioned and fought for by the youth of 1976 is gone. “Forty years later, you and your comrades have taken away the future of young South Africans,” she said.
Dr Nomhle Ngwenya (BA 2018, BSc Hons 2019, PhD 2022) shared her career journey with News24 as a young academic, who obtained her doctorate in science at the age of 25.
Dr Enock Sithole (BA Hon 2018, MA 2020) wrote that climate change journalism in South Africa misses the mark by ignoring people’s daily experiences.
Motswedi "Moe" Modiba (BMus 2021) is studying at the Manhattan School of Music in New York after winning her Metro FM Award for Best New Age R&B Artist.