Leading Women of the IEC

LEADING WOMEN

of the Electoral Commission

South Africa commemorates Women’s Month in August as a tribute to the more than 20 000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956 in protest against the extension of Pass Laws to women. While gender parity is a work in progress the world over, women continue to make their mark in elections management at the Electoral Commission, as evidenced by these women who occupy key leadership roles in the organisation.

Vice-Chairperson and Commissioner: Ms Janet Love

Commissioner Janet Love has dedicated her working life to public service.

She joined the Electoral Commission as a part-time Commissioner in April 2016, and then full-time as Vice-Chairperson in November 2018.

Having played a role in fighting for freedom as an anti-apartheid activist in the 1970s, Ms Love returned to South Africa in 1990 and immediately became involved in negotiating South Africa’s new constitution and establishing its first government.

She was a member of the management team at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) and also served as the Deputy Executive Director of the Transitional Executive Committee. This Committee was responsible for, among others, developing and overseeing the work of critical areas of government to enable elections to proceed under direction of the 1994 Independent Electoral Commission.

Ms Love served as a member of Parliament for the African National Congress in the first democratic Parliament from 1994 to 1999, and was a member of the 22-person Constitutional Committee of the Constitutional Assembly, the body responsible for steering the constitution-making process.

Ms Love then served in various government and civil society institutions, including working in the South African Reserve Bank for five years as head of strategic analysis dealing with various security risks relating to cash that affected South Africa’s financial stability.

Ms Love has a strong commitment to human rights and in her capacity as National Director of the Legal Resources Centre since 2006 she has taken up public interest and constitutional cases on behalf of marginalised communities and individuals.

Before joining the Electoral Commission in 2016, Ms Love also served a seven-year term (2009 to 2016) as a part-time member of the South African Human Rights Commision.

Ms Love studied through the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of London and has post-graduate qualifications in public administration, development management and economics.

Commissioner: Dr Nomsa Masuku

Dr Nomsa Masuku is an academic currently appointed as one of five commissioners of the Electoral Commission.

She has served in several positions in the Administration side of the Electoral Commission, culminating in the role of Deputy Chief Electoral Officer responsible for Outreach. She previously headed Standard Bank’s Corporate Social Investment Unit. Before joining Standard Bank, Dr Masuku spent eight years working for the Electoral Commission of South Africa, where her portfolio included the strategic development of programmes that assisted the Commission in contributing to the entrenchment of constitutional democracy – including overseeing the provision and promotion of civic, balloting and voter education. Dr Masuku has a PhD in Applied English Linguistics from the University of Birmingham, UK.

She has contributed to the body of work related to South Africa’s National Curriculum Statement and the protection of human rights, values and inclusivity. She has also worked with a number of women’s groups including Women and the Law in Southern Africa, the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse and a range of civil society groupings focusing on youth.

Dr Masuku has a varied and eclectic range of interests including education, development issues, democracy and governance, policy development and implementation, and the personal development of women professionals.

Commissioner: Judge Dhaya Pillay

Judge Dhayanithie Pillay is a defender of human rights and an expert in labour law.

She was appointed a Commissioner of South Africa’s Electoral Commission in November 2018.

Judge Pillay holds the position of an Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria while serving as a judge of the High Court in Pietermaritzburg and Durban. She also served as an Acting Judge of the Constitutional Court from February to September 2021.

Before this she was a judge of the Labour Court of South Africa for 10 years until 2010.

Admitted as an attorney in 1982, Pillay was drawn to the plight of political detainees, specialising in human rights and administrative law disputes arising from the various emergency and security laws in force at the time. She was recognised as a human rights defender by the Amnesty International SA Durban Group in 2005.

After turning to labour law and industrial relations, Judge Pillay was selected to be involved in the drafting of key pieces of national legislation, including the Public Service Labour Relations Act, the new Labour Relations Act, and clauses of the Constitution relating to the Public Service Commission and Electoral Commission. She was a Senior Commissioner (part-time) of the CCMA since 1996 until her appointment to the bench.

Judge Pillay attained a doctorate in law from the University of Pretoria in 2020.

ADMINISTRATION:

Deputy Chief Electoral Officer: Corporate Services: Ms Akhtari Henning

With her significant financial experience, Ms Akhtari Henning is committed to making a difference in the lives of South Africa’s people and serving her country with a purpose.

Ms Henning joined the Electoral Commission at the start of April 2018 as Deputy Chief Electoral Officer for Corporate Services, where she is responsible for Financial Services, Human Resources and Support Services, Information and Communication Technology, and Legal Services.

Before joining the Electoral Commission she served in a similar role – as Deputy Director-General for Corporate Services – at Statistics South Africa for six years.

Ms Henning has hands-on experience as a Chief Financial Officer and has managed a significant team and budget, with multiple projects across avast logistical landscape. Her strengths lie in complex logistics, integrating resources – financial, human and tools of the trade. She has a proven record as a turnaround strategist and the ability to implement lasting solutions.

Ms Henning has experience of leading and overseeing a Public Private Partnership (PPP) process from the pre-bid phase to completion. She was Chief Negotiator for her department for the legal, labour and procurement contracts in this regard, and the negotiations and building period were fast-tracked with a clean audit record. In fact, this was marked as the fastest PPP in South Africa.

Ms Henning has proven experience in the Public Finance Management Act, Treasury Regulations, and in establishing the King III governance requirements for the Public Sector Guide for National, Provincial and Local Government.

Ms Henning has achieved a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and completed her Articles of Clerkship at Ernst & Young Chartered Accountants. In 2015, she completed the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School in Boston, in the United States.

Chief Financial Officer: Ms Dawn Mbatha CA (SA)

Dawn Mbatha is an experienced and qualified Chartered Accountant, audit partner, consultant and finance executive with extensive management and operations experience in both the private and public sector.

Dawn is the Chief Financial Officer of the Electoral Commission, which has a budget of R2-billion, about a thousand staff, and an operational network of some 270 offices. She is also CFO for the Represented Political Party Fund.

She a former inspector with the Independent Regulating Board of Auditors. Former clients include the Development Bank of South Africa, ARMSCOR, Road Agency Limpopo, Eskom, Technology Innovation Agency, Eskom Treasury, MTN SP, Transnet Group, Airports Company South Africa, Department of Defence, and the International Market Centre (USA).

Dawn served on the interim board of Cricket South Africa (CSA). The interim board enabled the adoption of a Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI) in terms of the Companies Act (s60) after reaching an agreement with CSA’s Members’ Council. By reaching this agreement, cricket in South Africa has adopted a governance model which is best practice both in South Africa and internationally.

KwaZulu-Natal Acting Provincial Electoral Officer: Ms Ntombifuthi Masinga

As Acting PEO of the KwaZuluNatal office of the Electoral Commission for the last two years, Ms Ntombifuthi Masinga is responsible for the execution of all electoral projects across 44 municipalities in the province and ensuring projects synergy across three departments: Electoral Operations, Corporate Services and Outreach; the management of provincial operations budgets, ensuring delivery of provincial targets and risk management.

Key electoral projects that she has oversight over include voters’ roll development and maintenance, the delimitation of voting districts, identification of voting stations and provisioning of infrastructure thereof, procurement of election material, printing of ballot papers, electoral staff training, filling of municipal councilor vacancies and coordination of elections of other state-funded institutions. She is also responsible for liaison with relevant election stakeholders, including political parties, government departments and the media.

Ms Masinga has been in the service of the Electoral Commission for 18 years. She has a BA Honours degree in Human and Education Studies, and a Master of Business Administration in Management Information Systems.

Limpopo Provincial Electoral Officer: Ms Nkaro Mateta

Ms Nkaro Mateta has served as the Electoral Commission’s Provincial Electoral Officer for Limpopo since 2007. Before that she was a director the Department of Local Government and Housing.

“In 2006 the Capricorn District Municipality was going through a transition, and I was assisting with the setting up of new structures and policies. When the PEO position was advertised for the IEC in Limpopo I was very interested. I had previously been involved in community negotiating forums and had some experience of helping to manage local elections. I realised what better way to make a contribution to this country than to further our democracy by helping to manage our election. I applied successfully for the post and in April 2007 I joined the IEC permanently and have never looked back.

Ms Mateta is responsible for the strategic planning and management of democratic processes in the province, including elections. Her office’s activities are project based and so project management serves as a core for all their plans.

“While we are a rural province and have several challenges to deal with, we do so with determination and enthusiasm that we still rise above these challenges and manage to compete with less disadvantaged provinces. The challenges stem from a shortage of resources, which affects everything from poor infrastructure for use as voting stations, a limited road network on which to reach our voters, and limited funding for our municipal offices,” she explains.

Every election is different, but Nkaro maintains that each one is an improvement on the previous one, especially from a management perspective. Her hopes for the 2021 Municipal Elections? “I would like to see more activism from the political parties in our province. We have the lowest voter turnout in the country (about 50% compared with the national average of 63%) and we need to bring up the numbers with the help of our stakeholders, particularly the political parties. I would like to see the youth turnout be higher and help communities who are struggling to see that that service delivery protests should be directed to the correct authorities,” she adds.

Mpumalanga Provincial Electoral Officer: Ms Gugu Langa

Ms Gugu Langa is the most recently appointed Provincial Electoral Officer in the Electoral Commission, having joined the organisation in April this year.

Gugu has worked within the local government space for some 26 years, 19 of which have been serving in a managerial position.

Gugu joined the Electoral Commission from the South African Local Government Association (Salga), where she has worked for the past 16 years as the Provincial Executive Officer (Accounting Officer), now referred to as Provincial Director of Operations for Mpumalanga, responsible for 20 municipalities and working closely amongst others with Local Government, Provincial Government and the Mpumalanga House of Traditional Leaders.

She previously served at the Emakhazeni Local Municipality, Mandeni Local Municipality and the Lowveld Escarpment Regional Services Council (currently known as Ehlanzeni District Council).

Gugu has a BA Honours Degree (Clinical Psychology) from the University of Zululand and a Masters’ Degree in Public Administration from the University of Pretoria, along with various certificates in work-related fields. She is a staunch member of the Anglican Church of South Africa, and the President of the Mothers Union in the Diocese of Mpumalanga.

North West Provincial Electoral Officer: Dr Tumelontle Thiba

Dr Thiba joined the organisation to serve in this role in January 2008. Prior to this she was Executive Dean of Human and Social Sciences at the North West University, Mahikeng Campus. As much as Dr Thiba has always been passionate about teaching, so too has she been about learning, hence her PhD in English, with specialisation in Sociolinguistics.

“I applied for the provincial electoral officer position because I was interested in electoral democracy and contributing to sustaining and strengthening democracy in our country. When I joined the Electoral Commission, it was an exciting time and I wanted to be in that space,” she says.

The North West province consists of roughly 67% traditional communities and 33% urban communities. “Our approach, especially from a communication standpoint, has to be different in these communities. I am most proud of our stakeholder management in that ours is quality communication in a responsive manner and not only to meet the targets. We always exceed our core business and support service targets even in the face of harsh weather conditions, floods and service delivery protests.

“I can only give credit to my members of staff who always seek solutions first. They have discipline, in the true sense of the English word; that of a culture of focus and efficiency at all times.

"They all strive to achieve our common goals. The external issues we may face only serve to strengthen our provincial team as we all take the challenges in our stride and give our all even in the most trying of times,” says Dr Thiba.

Eastern Cape Provincial Electoral Officer: Ms Kayakazi Magudumana

The Electoral Commission in the Eastern Cape has been led by the enthusiastic and energetic Ms Kayakazi Magudumana since 2018. Born and bred in the Eastern Cape Kayakazi grew up in the former Transkei region, she graduated from Zululand University, and then returned to the former homeland to commence her professional career. She has been employed by the Electoral Commission since 1998, starting her career with the organisation in Mthatha.

At the time of her commencement with the organisation there was little formal structure in place, in the young institution, to the point that Kayakazi and her late colleague and mentor, Goodman Socikwa worked out of the boot of a car until office premises could be secured.

Ms Magudumana says that as a predominantly rural province, it is key to work closely with stakeholders, including the Office of the Premier, the Eastern Cape Legislature, Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and the Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders, to name just a few.

The number of voting stations have grown from 3 100 in the 2005 Municipal Elections to 4 809 that will be in operation in the 2021 Municipal Elections – a growth of 55%. The voters’ roll has also grown from 2.5 million registered voters in 2005 to 3.2 million in 2021, an increase of 30%.