Alumni in the spotlight January 2024
- Wits Alumni Relations
Catch up on a wrap of Witsie appointments, awards and newsmakers from the past two months.
Awards
Two Wits students, Thompho Netshivhera (BSc Eng 2023) and Rachel Haupt (BSc 2022, BSc Hons 2023) clinched top honours at the Global Undergraduate Awards hosted in
Dublin, Ireland. Netshivhera received the Thomas Chucklin Gold Medal for his hydro turbine project. Netshivhera designed an electricity system for rural wastewater purification that solves power outage-related water treatment challenges. Haupt was named the Regional Winner for Africa and the Middle East. Her research focused on the application of optically stimulated luminescence dating to derive ages for coastal dune deposits along the West Coast of South Africa.
Prof Judy Bruce (DipNursEd 1981, MSc 1992, PhD 2003), head of the School of Therapeutic Sciences at Wits, was the only African nursing academic inducted as a Fellow of the Class of 2023 by the American Academy of Nursing. It is considered as “one of the highest of honours for nurses”.
Prof Lynn Morris (BSc 1982, BSc Hons 1983) was awarded the DVC of the Year Award by the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education programme for the strides she has made in respect of innovation and promotion of entrepreneurship at Wits.
Appointments
Air Products South Africa announced that Charles Dos Santos (BSc Eng 1991) will the company’s next managing director from 1 February 2024. He joined the company in 1994 and has served in various senior management positions. Since 2016 he has held the position of on-sites general manager.
Ipeleng Mabusela (BSc Eng 2011, MBA 2019) will head the strategy and corporate support division at the Retail Motor Industry.
Richard Manzini (MM 2019, MBA 2018) has been appointed as new CEO of Daybreak Farms, one of SA’s largest poultry producers and owner of established feed milling operations. He was a director on the company’s transitional board.
Ayabonga Cawe (BCom 2012, BCom Hons 2013, MCom 2014) has been appointed chief commissioner at the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa for a term of five years until 2027. Cawe is a development economist with over 10 years’ experience in policy research (industrial and competition policy, local government, labour markets and transformation), advisory, media (broadcast and print media) and entrepreneurship.
Former executive with mobile operator MTN, Anu Sing (MBA 2000), and co-director of the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at Stellenbosch University, Mark Swilling (BA 1982, BA Hons 1983), were appointed to Eskom’s interim board.
Reabetswe Motshegare (MBA 2018) was appointed human resources director sub-Saharan Africa at renewable energy solutions provider Scatec ASA.
Reddam House Waterfall announced the appointment of Shelly Matthews (PDipEd 1991, BEd Hons 2005) as their new Head of College. She previously served as deputy headmistress of academics at St Peter’s College since 2011.
Newsmakers
Darren Isaacs (BCom 2000, BAcc 2001) founder and CEO of Makosi, an auditing and advisory services company, chatted to the Financial Mail. 
Professor Laura Pereira (BSc 2006, BSc Hons 2007) from the Wits Global Change Institute contributed to the 10 New Insights in Climate Science Report presented at the 28th conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. She said: “Now is not the time to succumb to a feeling of hopelessness in the face of powerful drivers leading the world towards the edge of a precipice that will see countless lives lost, homes and ancestral lands destroyed, and species never to be seen again. Rather, this is the time to find the transformative pathways that are needed to get onto a better trajectory for people and planet.”
Dr Makhosazana Xaba (MA 2007) and Jarred Thompson (MA 2022) gave glimpses into their latest fiction: Waiting and Centres of Gravity in the Johannesburg Review of Books.
After 25 years as head of Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital's intensive care unit, Rudo Mathivha (PDipHSEd 2016) has been driven by the "Bara" ethos. Sean Christie reflected on this special medic’s impact.