Dr Tebogo Makube is Chief Director: Industrial Procurement at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic). Before joining the dtic, Dr Makube was the Programme Manager: Fiscal Policy at the Financial and Fiscal Commission. Prior to that he was Director: Provincial Infrastructure at the National Treasury. He has also held research and management positions at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) and Nokusa Consulting. He is also a Board Member at Proudly South African. Dr Makube holds a PhD in Energy Studies and other qualifications in Law, Economic Policy and Energy Economics.  

Palesa Moitse is a Senior Specialist International Trade at the South African Revenue Service. She was previously Director Trade Remedies at the Internation Trade Administration Commission (ITAC). She has more than 15 years’ experience in trade policy formulation, legal drafting and the implementation of trade rules. This work has included multilateral WTO negotiations and committee work, regional trade negotiations and bilateral trade agreements. She was the lead negotiator for the Trade Facilitation Negotiation that was adopted in Bali December 2013. Her academic background is BA in Law and LLB from the National University of Lesotho and an LLM in Banking…

Tshediso Matona has been the Secretary of Planning in the National Planning Commission in the Presidency, South African Government, since September 2015. He was the Chief Executive of power utility Eskom from October 2014 to May 2015. He was previously, from January 2011, the Director-General (DG) of Public Enterprises. Prior to that, he was DG of Trade and Industry from 2005 to 2010. An economist by training and an experienced executive in the public sector, he has held several senior positions in government throughout his career, and served as a trade diplomat at the SA Embassy to United Nations and World…

Rudi Dicks has been in the trade union movement for most of his life. He held the position of Executive Director of the National Labour and Economic Development Institute (NALEDI) for four years, up until 2013, and is now with the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency as an Outcome Facilitator for Employment and Inclusive Growth. He was a member of the Management Committee, Executive Council, Labour Market Chamber, Demarcation Committee and S77 Standing Committee at NEDLAC. He currently serves on the Advisory committee of the Jobs Fund and the Employment, Income Distribution and Inclusive Growth Research Initiative. Prior to…

Imraan Patel is a public policy and strategy manager with a focus on innovation, sustainability, social and economic development, and public management and governance. Employed since 2006 at the South African Department of Science and Technology, he holds the position of Deputy Director-General: Socio-Economic Partnerships and represents the department on the social and economic clusters of government and the advisory committee for the Green Fund. He is also a member of the board of the Water Research Commission and the Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management.  Areas of focus include Information and Communications Technologies,…

Thandi Phele is the Acting Deputy Director General of Industrial Competitiveness and Growth Branch at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic). Since her appointment in the acting position, she has been providing thought leadership to South African industrial policy and driving key programmes aimed at industrialisation and localisation. Key among these, she continues to lead the development and implementation of various masterplans led by the dtic: Automotives; Retail-Clothing, Textiles, Footwear and Leather; Poultry; Sugar; Steel and Metal Fabrication; and Furniture. She has been instrumental in the development and deployment of a number of industrial policy tools to…

Saul has a Masters Degree in Industrial Sociology from the University of Witwatersrand, with his thesis on small business development. He was previously a chief director in the Economic Development Department (EDD) with oversight of the Development Finance Institutions reporting to EDD, including the Industrial Development Corporation and the Small Enterprise Finance Agency. As part of his responsibilities he oversaw the merger of the small business finance entities and ran several projects to support small business development.  He also worked as the chief of staff for Lindiwe Hendricks, heading her office while she was Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry…