Five members not associated with the financial industry include;
- Tefo Raditapole
- Thandiwe Zulu
- Haroon Laher
- Manie van Schalkwyk.
- Mervyn Robert Burton
Four members associated with the financial industry include:
- Darren Beyers
- Viviene Pearson
- Rosemary Lightbody
- Magauta Mphahlele
About Our Board Members
Darren Beyers
With over 29 years of banking experience, Darren had opportunities to work in various areas of the bank such as Retail, Business Banking, Compliance, Internal Audit and Risk Management. His career is focused on the fair treatment of clients ensuring the safety and soundness of the financial institution. Darren is currently the Executive Head for Group Conduct Risk where he is accountable to develop a world-class market conduct function, fulfilling a leadership role across the enterprise to ensure effective implementation, maintenance, oversight, assurance of and reporting on market leading best practice in market conduct risk management. Darren holds various management qualifications from Duke University, WITS business school, Gordon Institute of Business Science, he also holds a BCOM in Accounting and Auditing and Post Graduate Diploma in Compliance. His experience and education has equipped him with the necessary tools to navigate the ever-changing banking industry and make informed decisions that benefit the organisation and it’s customers.
Thandiwe Zulu
Thandiwe Zulu is a qualified Social Worker by profession. She is currently a Regional Manager for Black Sash Trust, in Gauteng. Oversees program work, monitoring, Advocacy and Rights education and training in 3 provinces (Gauteng, Limpopo, and Northwest). Previously Paralegal Case Worker at Black Sash Trust, offering paralegal advice to members of the public. She also worked at Workers Education Project as a Project Coordinator for the Socially Excluded, focusing on empowering marginalized groups through community-based programs.
Served as a board/council member for the Credit Ombuds and Ombuds for the Long Term Insurance, with amalgamation and establishment of the super ombuds in the financial sectors, she serves on the newly established National Financial Ombuds.
Ms. Zulu also serves as a member of the advisory panel of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority and a board member at the Consumer Goods and Services Ombuds.
Manie van Schalkwyk
Manie built his career in the credit industry serving as an executive in the two largest credit bureaux in South Africa: TransUnion and Experian over a period of 9 years. Thereafter Manie was instrumental in the establishment of the South African Credit Ombud Office, serving as its first CEO for 11 years. Since February 2016 he expanded his scope to the fraud prevention industry, promptly introducing innovative approaches for addressing the many challenges presented to that industry. Within a year fraud prevention reporting in South Africa improved by more than 55% as one example of improvements after introducing innovative approaches within the Southern Africa Fraud Prevention Services (SAFPS).
Manie has the ability to lead organizations strategically with consideration of the systemic and structural impacts thereof. His business acumen, leadership abilities and relationship building skills have ensured the success of the establishment of the Credit Ombud Office in South Africa as a permanent institution. Since his appointment as the executive director of the SAFPS, he has applied his knowledge and deep experience to move this organization towards utilizing the latest technologies to lead into the new digital era.
Manie has proven to be highly proficient at engaging with the media to build the profiles of the organizations he leads as well as to access the attention of the consumers to ensure their constructive engagement with credit and fraud industry organizations. He has introduced the use of data analytics to enhance insights into the effects of fraud, facilitating the development of appropriate solutions. Through understanding the data and the industry, he has initiated the development of products to reach wider audiences and to address emerging technologies such as voice and face biometrics. He has developed a wide network within the Credit and Fraud industries spanning Southern Africa, Europe, Australia and North America. Manie exhibits his vision for international fraud prevention cooperation through spear heading initiatives such as the International Fraud Prevention Conference in 2017 which led to the establishment of the Global Financial Crime Prevention Network, with the objective to coordinate collaboration of fraud prevention organizations globally. He has facilitated access to data collection through establishment of agents and expansion of data sources across industries.
Tefo Raditapole
Tefo is a director and board chairperson at Cheadle Thompson & Haysom Inc. Attorneys, having started his legal career there in 1990. Prior to the first democratic elections in 1994, he acted extensively for the African National Congress and the Congress of the South African Trade Union. Tefo holds a BA (Law) from the National University of Lesotho and an LLB from Wits University. He is an internationally accredited commercial mediator under the auspices of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). He is Commercial Mediation Training Coach and Assessor (Conflict Dynamics and CEDR). Tefo is a founding member of Tokiso Dispute Settlement. He was employed as a special advisor to the Premiers of Gauteng Province from 1999 to May 2009. He also served on the Gautrain Political Committee in this capacity. He is a professional conflict manager and trainer. He has consulted for various institutions including the International Labour Organisation, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa, the National Democracy Institute and the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa. He sits on a number of boards including the Credit Ombudsman (as Chairperson). He also chairs the board of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation.
Tefo is a former chair of the audit committee of the Ombudsman for Banking Services. He served as a Commissioner on the first Commission for Employment Equity. He is a former part-time Commissioner of the CCMA. He co-facilitated negotiations on the Financial Sector Empowerment Financial Sector Charter. Tefo is also a co-author of a Juta’s commentary on Black Economic Empowerment. He chaired bargaining forums of various merged tertiary institutions and co-facilitated negotiations between the City of Johannesburg and the Taxi Industry on the Bus Rapid Transport system in phase 1A and 1B (“BRT”) as well as 1C briefly. He was also appointed as a co-facilitator in a similar process in Ekurhuleni in April 2014. He was the lead facilitator in the BRT negotiations between the Taxi Industry and the Polokwane Municipality. He is also a member of the team that facilitated BRT negotiations between the Taxi Industry and the Rustenburg Municipality. He was the lead facilitator in the BRT negotiations between the Taxi Industry and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in 2017. He was appointed chairperson of the Public Sector Education and Training Authority Bargaining Forum in 2017. Tefo was appointed in 2020 to mediate between AngloGold Ashanti, Matlosana Municipality and the Khuma Community on legacy project.
Tefo was on the law firm’s management team that oversaw the administration of the Land Rights Management Facility over a period of almost 10 years when the project was outsourced by the then Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. His main focus was the regularisation of Communal Property Associations and liaison with administrators appointed to assist dysfunctional CPAs.
Tefo is based in Johannesburg.
Viviene Pearson
Viviene began her career in the Diplomatic Corps and a journalist specialising in the insurance and medical schemes fields at an insurance industry trade magazine.
Her qualifications in communications, journalism and political science serve her well in an industry body leadership role where relationship building, influencing and lobbying, as well as negotiation and collaboration with important stakeholders are key to the success of industry projects that aim to address the sustainability of the non-life insurance industry and contribute to an inclusive and growing economy. Viviene was involved in numerous industry initiatives, including the establishment of the Insurance Crime Bureau, the SAIA Code of Conduct (previously, the SAIA Code of Good Practice), etc.
In the field of insurance for the low-income markets, Viviene was involved in the drafting of the Mzansi Insurance Standards in the Financial Sector Charter arena, and was involved in aligning access principles, standards, objectives and targets with those of the proposed Microinsurance Regulatory Framework in South Africa. She has largely been responsible for the SAIA consumer financial literacy projects in the low-income market, and linking these to increased access to insurance products, in the low-income market since 2004.
SAIA represents the non-life insurance industry of South Africa at all levels. Currently SAIA has 56 member insurers.
Haroon Laher
Well respected for his considerable experience and in-depth knowledge of corporate restructuring and insolvency, Haroon Laher regularly advises banks and financial institutions, as well as creditors, insolvency practitioners and business rescue and turnaround practitioners, in corporate restructuring, turnaround and insolvency issues. His experience covers a broad range of industry sectors, which include energy, mining and commodities, telecommunications, retail and agriculture.
Haroon represents business rescue practitioners, and secured and unsecured creditors in formal business rescue proceedings in South Africa. Having lectured on insolvency and business rescue at universities, he also regularly publishes articles on these topics.
As the Vice-Chairperson of the South Africa Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association (SARIPA), Haroon is a dedicated and active board member.
He also currently lectures on insolvency and business rescue to Bachelor of Law students at the University of the Witwatersrand and is also a co-lecturer in the SARIPA programme in Insolvency Law and Practice offered in conjunction with the University of Pretoria. In addition to this Haroon wrote a chapter on Insolvency Law in the publication entitled South African Corporate Business Administration.
He served as director of Fountainhead Property Trust (a listed REIT) for several years, and oversaw Redefine’s acquisition of Fountainhead’s property portfolio and the de-listing of Fountainhead from the Johannesburg Securities Exchange.
Haroon is the chairman of the Ombudsman for Short-term Insurance (OSTI), an organisation that provides insurance consumers and policyholders with a free, fast, efficient and fair dispute resolution mechanism. OSTI will soon be merging with the Ombudsman for Long-term Insurance (OLTI), with the creation of a single Insurance Ombudsman office in South Africa.
Rosemary Lightbody
I hold a BA LLB (Wits); ILPA (Life & Pensions) (now the CFP qualification). I practised as an attorney for 9 years, being a partner at a Johannesburg law firm for 5 years before relocating to Cape Town.
I have over 30 years’ broad experience in the financial services industry. I am particularly interested in market conduct and Treating Customers Fairly where it is vital to reach a balance between achieving a fair outcome for financial customers while maintaining a practical, cost-effective outcome for financial institutions – always keeping the customer at the centre of the solution and being aware that different market segments in South Africa often require different approaches.
Having worked as a senior legal advisor at The Southern Life Association Limited for just under 7 years, I spent 13 years at Old Mutual where I ultimately headed up the Old Mutual Product Solutions Legal & Compliance area, comprising retail and employee benefits legal and compliance services. I was a member of the EXCO of that division within Old Mutual.
In June 2011, I joined the Association for Savings & Investments South Africa (ASISA). At ASISA I was senior policy advisor responsible for co-ordinating the industry’s responses to various National Treasury and FSCA policy initiatives on, amongst other things, savings, retirement reform and various aspects of market conduct, as set out in National Treasury’s and the FSCA’s policy papers and regulations and liaising with the relevant authorities to discuss industry’s views. I was also responsible for co-ordinating and submitting ASISA members’ comments on overarching legislation such as the Financial Sector Regulation Act and the various versions of the Conduct of Financial Services Bill. I worked extensively with members of ASISA and National Treasury on the formulation and development of the new retirement fund “Two-Pot System”. I regularly addressed the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance at their public hearings on draft legislation, and engaged with the media in writing, on radio and television.
General
Throughout my career in financial services, I have been involved in representing the organisation for which I worked on various industry body structures. While at Old Mutual and ASISA, I kept abreast of relevant developments in the United Kingdom and Australia to understand international trends particularly in matters relating to intermediary remuneration, the status of tied/independent intermediaries, conflicts of interests and fair treatment of customers.
I attended several conferences run by the Institute for Economic Affairs in the United Kingdom, which related to the FSA Retail Distribution Review.
I have twice been invited to give a lecture at the University of Cape Town, Law Faculty, on Conflicts of Interests in the financial services industry.
Magauta Mphahlele
Magauta holds an Honors Degree in Applied Linguistics and a Postgraduate Diploma in English Education from Wits University. In 2018 she completed the International Executive Development Programme in Developmental Finance offered by Wits University, which included visits to Brazil, Ghana, and Tanzania to study best practices in financial inclusion.
She is an Accredited Court Annexed Mediator and has previously served as an adjudicator and mediator at the Gauteng Consumer Court, Gauteng Rental Tribunal and National Consumer Tribunal. Until recently she held the position of Ombudsman for the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud during which time she successfully settled major jurisdictional challenges and drove compliance with the Consumer Protection Act, a piece of legislation that she was instrumental in helping to birth. She is also the founder of Ithuseng Credit Solutions, which is accredited by the National Credit Regulator to mediate disputes between consumers and credit providers.
She started her career as a Junior Lecturer in the Department of Applied Linguistics at Wits University. She then joined the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition where she was instrumental in driving the development and enactment of the National Credit Act and Consumer Protection Act. As Director of the law reform process, she helped set up the National Credit Regulator and National Consumer Tribunal.
After two terms as the Consumer Goods and Services Ombudsman, she joined SACRRA on 1 April 2023, an industry-organisation that strives for financial inclusion by ensuring that comprehensive, up-to-date credit profiles are available to credit and risk providers, thereby facilitating fair lending practices.
Magauta is a respected commentator and speaker on consumer protection issues and financial inclusion, having addressed conferences in many parts of Africa and internationally. Her passion is to ensure a healthy and fair credit and consumer protection market in South Africa through influencing policy and legislation as well as empowering consumers with information about their rights and obligations.
She has two grown-up children and lives in Johannesburg where she enjoys her passion for cooking and organic gardening.
Mervyn Robert Burton
Mervyn Robert Burton, CA(SA), brings extensive experience and a wide variety of pertinent qualifications to bring to the table at NFO. He currently owns his own consultancy, focusing mainly on Ethical Corporate Governance, Risk Management, Strategic Financial Management, Business Turnaround, Management, Internal Control, Tax management and General Strategic Business advice. After matriculating in 1976 from Alexander Sinton High in Athlone, Cape Town, Mervyn went on to gain his Honours B. Compt at University of South Africa (1990), and then passed his Board exam at SAICA in 1993. Then followed courses at UCT Graduate School of Business, INSEAD Business School in Paris, France (Corporate Finance), Cape Province University of Technology, University of the Free State, and University of Cape (Financing and Valuing Commercial Property). Mervyn currently serves on a number of boards and committees, including Cullinan Holdings, Cape Nature, SA Institute for Drug Free Sport, and WC Gambling & Racing Board.
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