Meet the Cowrie Team
Adam is the CEO at IQbusiness, the largest independent management and technology consulting firm in South Africa. Adam joined IQbusiness in 2009 and became CEO in 2010. Under his leadership, IQbusiness has grown both organically and through acquisition to a team of over 1,000 living its purpose to grow people, grow business and grow Africa.
As part of the IQbusiness ethos to drive performance with purpose, Adam is an ardent lobbyist for government and business collaboration and most recently, the SAtion and the COBRA (Covid Business Rescue Assistance) social enterprises. Adam is the CEO of both SAtion (NPC) and COBRA (NPC), each with independent Boards.
SAtion is a multifaceted national ecosystem, established by Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), with IQbusiness as the Enabling Partner, that focuses on facilitating the digitaliSAtion workstreams of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan. SAtion (www.SAtion.org.za) works in collaboration with partners to ensure the rapid implementation, outcomes, and impact of the national initiatives towards South Africa’s digital economy.
COBRA was conceptualised and initiated by IQbusiness, Schindlers Attorneys, Sirdar Group and Engaged Business Turnaround and the COBRA Consortium was formed on the same day, 19 March 2020.
COBRA was established with a shared value proposition to South African businesses to co-ordinate bank, government and stakeholder engagement through a structured business support process.
Dr Hollander is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Stellenbosch University. After graduating with a MComm in Economics cum laude from Stellenbosch University (2011), Hylton went on to receive his PhD in Dynamic Macroeconomics (2014). His thesis, entitled “Financial frictions and the business cycle,” led to international publications in the Journal of Banking & Finance, the Journal of Macroeconomics, and Economic Modelling. Before receiving a permanent position at Stellenbosch University, Dr Hollander joined the African Institute of Financial Markets and Risk Management at the University of Cape Town as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Dr Hollander’s research broadly focuses on the interaction between financial markets and the real economy, and their related monetary, fiscal, and macroprudential policy prescriptions. Some of his recent work studies how asset prices and financial intermediation modify the transmission mechanisms of monetary policy and other macroeconomic shocks. His current research focuses on sovereign debt risk and fiscal sustainability, the sources and mitigation of financial instability, and international financial spillovers to emerging market economies. He has lectured courses in Dynamic Economic Theory, Mathematical Economics, Banking & Finance, and International Finance at the postgraduate level.
Dean is a co-founder of BitFund (an online crypto asset investment platform) and the founder of Decipher (a legal, business and blockchain consulting firm). He holds an LLB, an LLM (in corporate law) and an MBA (in new venture creation and entrepreneurship). He is currently in the process of completing his PhD on regulating crypto assets. Dean has experience as a corporate M&A lawyer, and has been involved in various technology-driven deals, corporate and commercial transactions, and corporate litigation matters. In addition, he is involved in various businesses in the FoodTech, InsureTech and FinTech industries, where he primarily focuses on bridging the gaps between business, law, blockchain and technology.
Maurice is an experienced legal practitioner with a sound knowledge of commercial, property, labour, IP, tax, corporate and Fintech law. He is a highly experienced and established corporate litigation attorney with several reported judgments in both the Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court and has been a partner of Schindlers Attorneys since 1998.
Maurice provides guidance to international banks, companies, governments, NGOs and other global pillars of society in respect of the legal and tech gauntlet that is required to become competitive in the fourth industrial revolution.
In 2017, recognising the impact that exponential technology would have on the world, Maurice began to pivot and increased his areas of practice from mainly litigation to also becoming a specialist in Fintech, blockchain technology and blockchain law. In the same year he founded Schindlers’ Blockchain Department, it being the first in South Africa.
Maurice began focusing on the convergence of blockchain technology and law. Maurice is currently deep learning Machine Learning at Stanford University, Unity Development at UC San Diego, Crypto/Blockchain at Princeton and Mixed Reality at the University of London.
During 2019 and 2020, Maurice started Virtual Nation Builders, Dispute-It, Collab Technologies, Schindlers Forensics and Schintech.
These companies, together with NFT Auditors (which was also founded by Maurice) were formed to address the increasing need for legal advice and auditing in respect of NFTs, Cryptocurrencies, ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings), Smart Contracts (including their creation by his tech-team), the minting of NFTs with their Smart Contracts embedded in their metadata, the auditing of real word assets in respect of their legal relationship to crypto assets and smart contract auditing.
Dispute-it is aimed at addressing the worlds’ need for a new judicial system and is currently being trialed.
Maurice formed COBRA (Covid Business Rescue Assistance) in 2020, the largest pro-bono initiative in South Africa’s history. He hosted over one hundred webinars for Cobra in 2020. COBRA spawned SAtion, that has been endorsed by Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), as well as the South African Government, as South Africa’s Official Digital Revitalisation Strategy. SAtion in partnership with Microsoft has secured free Microsoft-365 licenses and 5 terabytes of storage to South African’s younger than the age of 25. COBRA has assisted over 500 companies, large and small.
As a further pro bono initiative, Maurice formed Schindlers Eco Forensics to assist anyone that requires pro-bono assistance in protecting and preserving our environment. This is South Africa’s largest environmental pro bono initiative. ECO Forensics is currently at the forefront of the legal challenge against Recon Africa’s fracking ambitions in the Okavango swamps. Eco Forensics has also undertaken to act for all journalists who require legal protection as a result of them reporting on environmental transgressions. Such protection has been afforded to the lead National Geographic journalist reporting on the Recon Africa story, Jeffrey Barbie. ECO Forensics also assists communities, such as the San and Khoe, in preserving their right to a safe environment.
Candice is an admitted attorney who began her career at Bowmans, one of the Big 5 leading law firms of South Africa, in 2001.
Candice holds a BComm degree from Rhodes University, an LLB degree from RAU (which is now the University of Johannesburg) and is an accredited Mediator Court Aligned and Commercial Mediator from the University of Cape Town.
Candice is the Chief Operating Officer of Virtual Nation Builders and Dispute-It. Virtual Nation Builders is a Web3 company where digital nations, securities, financial instruments, organisations, legal systems, assets and currencies are virtually being built by harnessing the convergence of blockchain technology and law.
Dispute-It is aimed at addressing the worlds’ need for a new judicial system and is currently being trialed. Dispute-It is driven by the opportunity for modern technology (e.g. artificial intelligence, big data and analytics, platform business models) to disrupt and improve legal dispute resolution, and the ability to resolve disputes in a metaverse without the intervention of real world dispute resolution mechanisms, thereby maintaining participant privacy.
Candice also runs her own legal practice, CRD Attorneys.
She is an independent trustee of many trusts and specializes in blockchain law, mediation, commercial law and litigation.
She is currently deep learning to become a Certified Blockchain Expert and studying Blockchain through Consenys Academy.
Candice is a driven and passionate individual who is committed to uplifting people and making a positive impact in the world. With a deep interest in the intersection of law and technology, Candice is dedicated to harnessing the power of this convergence to create innovative solutions that can help people and society as a whole. Her goal is to leverage her skills and knowledge in both areas to drive positive change and make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. With a strong sense of purpose and a deep commitment to social justice, Candice is determined to use her talents and expertise to create a better future for everyone and to narrow the Gini coefficient. She believes that by leveraging the power of technology and law, it is possible to create innovative solutions that can help bridge the wealth gap and promote greater economic equity.
Lisa was admitted as an attorney of the High Court of South Africa in 2000. Lisa heads up a commercial law department at Schindlers. Lisa has numerous foreign, multi-national and South African clients and advises them on a wide range of general corporate areas including the negotiation and drafting of commercial transactions, providing opinions, local compliance. Her experience includes but is not limited to mergers and acquisitions, trade finance, cross border transactions, finance, corporate governance, capitalisation transactions, cross border finance, lending and syndicated lending, specialised finance, aviation, service agreements, joint ventures and licensing agreements.
Lisa has been employed at Schindlers Attorneys for five years and has developed a sound knowledge of South African commercial law. She has played a pivotal role in conducting numerous inquiries, and is particularly well versed in commercial litigation, specializing in contractual disputes, liquidations, business rescue, breach of director’s duties and corporate fraud. As a result, Lisa has been actively involved in a number of cases resulting in reported judgments. In addition to the above, Lisa manages the Road Accident Fund department and has a successful personal injury practice, with a particular focus on medical negligence.
Who practice areas include – municipal law, commercial law , dispute resolution , intellectual property, tax law, labour law , property law, insolvency law, family law, sports and entertainment and conveyancing.
Daniella completed her articles with Schindlers and was admitted as an attorney in the High Court of South Africa in December 2013. Daniella started her articles in the conveyancing department and thereafter served the remainder of her articles in the family law department where she gained experience in various family matters, including divorce, maintenance and ancillary matters thereto.
Since her admission Daniella has worked in the commercial department of Schindlers and specialises in drafting and negotiating of commercial transactions and her experience in this regard includes trade finance transactions, cross border transactions, lending, and other commercial matters related thereto.
Danmari is an admitted Attorney of the High Court and serves as the Company Secretary for Virtual Nation Builders.
She has previously worked as a Commercial Litigation Attorney representing businesses and individuals in a wide variety of legal disputes and transactions. She has strong planning, project management and public speaking skills, which have contributed to various business projects over the last few years. She is ambitious, future-focused and passionate about making a positive change in society.
She holds a BA and LLB degree, both obtained at the University of Pretoria.
Michela plays an integral role in bringing together technology initiatives. Whilst she possesses a strong knowledge of brand development, strategy, consistency and standards, she is proficient in design, multimedia, frontend and backend UI and UX design, frontend development/engineering and the formulation of strategies to synthesize the physical and cyber.
She is passionate about modern culture and how technology transforms internal and external business systems to enhance efficiency and growth. She also consults top international luxury brands thereby ensuring local market appeal and top quality identities in their operating markets.
Michela co-founded her first cryptocurrency in 2018 and is devoted to transform the African technology space to be one that gives all the opportunity to be included within a global digital economy.
A passionate leader, Neil is always ready to ensure that innovation meets high quality standards.
His grit, combined with innovative brilliance has led the teams he has worked with to produce numerous cutting-edge projects.
With 20 years of experience in the technical and e-commerce milieu, he has an intense understanding of business operations, payment structures, systems development and dealing with bottlenecks – his mission being to transform these systems for the better.
Neil co-founded his first cryptocurrency in 2018 with its own wallet and crypto ecommerce payment gateway.
Tony is well equipped to implement organizational strategies, holding valuable knowledge and hands-on experience in building operational mechanisms for growing teams.
Tony co-founded his first cryptocurrency in 2018.
Tony’s strength is that he ensures that every customer within our networks are taken care of and receives unsurpassed customer support by driving effective internal support methods.
Trevor has worked with some of the most advanced technologies out there today, using everything from Gartner leading RPA solutions to customised automation suites through and developing tailor-made solutions from the ground up using micro service architecture and edge computing techniques to deliver realtime cognitive services.
Trevor has been responsible for enterprise wide RPA cloud solutions; nation wide financial sector automation and document validation and extraction solutions. Recently, Trevor has been developing solutions to disintermediate legal systems focusing on dynamic consent and adding decentralised architecture to create a fully transparent, fair and just society in the conscious network we are a part of.
Trevor is currently working on certifications focusing on Smart Contract and Solidity Development. He holds a BComm degree in Economics, Management and Information Systems and a post graduate degree in Information Systems from Rhodes University.
Pascal is a Thought Leader, Strategist, Entrepreneur, qualified Social Worker, and an author of five published books (namely: Reaching New Horizon, Leadership, Wisdom from the Jungle: Strategies for Life and Survival from Wild Animals, Nuggets to a victorious life; and Leadership and Life Lessons from ancient Generals and Emperors). He has been a columnist for the Business Herald with 90 000 weekly reaches. He wrote for the SME and Entrepreneurship magazine with a 415 000 monthly print run, circulating in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. He wrote for ‘The Accountant’, a magazine published by the Institute of Chartered Accountants and was a weekly guest in the SME Times in India with a 3,5 million online weekly reach.
Pascal has addressed organisations such as the International Trade Centre at WEDF2017, Impact Hub and ACCA among many other leading organisations, governments and NGOs. He has been recognised twice by Junior Chamber International (JCI) as an emerging leader. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work.
Brenda Kali is one of the leading voices in advocating conscious, ethical leadership. She has over the years set into motion a stream of consciousness that is organically changing the landscape of how business is done and the ethos of leadership.
Her twenty-five-year tenure as an executive saw the reputational turnaround of major companies and set her on a journey that would have an impact, not only in her life, but on countless other organisations in her quest to build conscious leadership capacity.
Fascinated by the observations she had gleaned after time in the corporate space, she resolved to deepen the understanding of power, purpose, productivity, profit and responsibility in the workplace, infused with a different quality of thinking and being in the world. This inspired her to write “Beyond Corporate Sludge”, insights to create balance and harmony in the workplace.
Ismail is a commercial lawyer specialising in corporate, mergers and acquisitions based in Johannesburg. Ismail advises local and foreign clients on the BEE in South Africa and is an accredited Certified Empowerment Technician.
He has assisted with various commercial transactions including corporate structures and restructuring, drafting agreements, licensing and corporate administration.
Ismail has given advise on the local ownership requirements to be issued and hold licences under the Renewable Energy Independent Procurement Power Producer Procurement Programme, the Petroleum Products Act and relating to exploration rights and productions rights under the Mineral Petroleum Resources Development Act.
He served the Ndebele Nation through numerous Parliamentary contributions including, amongst others, opposing and speaking in the Kwandebele Legislature against proposed independence of the then Kwandebele Homeland. The later contribution and others are recorded in the Hansard detailing the debates in Legislature. His Majesty King Makhosoke II succeeded the Regent King Alfred Mbhedlengani Mabhena who was a younger brother to His Father, the late King William Mbongo II in 1986.
His Majesty King Makhosoke II is the Chairman of the ARM’s MP Trust of the Hon Mr Patrice Motsepe, whom The King has provided portable water units to fifteen schools through the system of boreholes in the former Kwandebele Homeland areas. The beneficiaries (schools) had no portable water prior to the project.
Jeffrey Barbee is an award winning investigative journalist and film maker focusing on groundbreaking environmental and science issues around the world. Numerous newspapers and magazines, including National Geographic, The Guardian and others commission his writing.
His 2015 film The High Cost of Cheap Gas has been translated into seven languages –winning numerous awards including the LA Independent Film Festival, Envirofilm, an International Award of Merit and others. He works on assignment for NOS TV in Holland, as well as on other TV and film projects.
Barbee is the director and founder of Alliance Earth, a non-profit foundation creating science and environmental reporting for the world’s media. He is also a mountaineer, photographer, expedition leader and a fellow of the Explorer’s Club.
Barbee worked for 15 years as a professional photographer for publications including the New York Times, Newsweek, The Chicago Tribune, The LA Times, The Times, GEO and others. His photography work has also been highlighted in shows at museums like The Levine Museum of the New South.
Maurice is an experienced legal practitioner with a sound knowledge of commercial, property, labour, IP, tax, corporate and Fintech law. He is a highly experienced and established corporate litigation attorney with several reported judgments in both the Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court and has been a partner of Schindlers Attorneys since 1998.
Maurice provides guidance to international banks, companies, governments, NGOs and other global pillars of society in respect of the legal and tech gauntlet that is required to become competitive in the fourth industrial revolution.
In 2017, recognising the impact that exponential technology would have on the world, Maurice began to pivot and increased his areas of practice from mainly litigation to also becoming a specialist in Fintech, blockchain technology and blockchain law. In the same year he founded Schindlers’ Blockchain Department, it being the first in South Africa.
Maurice began focusing on the convergence of blockchain technology and law. Maurice is currently deep learning Machine Learning at Stanford University, Unity Development at UC San Diego, Crypto/Blockchain at Princeton and Mixed Reality at the University of London.
During 2019 and 2020, Maurice started Virtual Nation Builders, Dispute-It, Collab Technologies, Schindlers Forensics and Schintech.
These companies, together with NFT Auditors (which was also founded by Maurice) were formed to address the increasing need for legal advice and auditing in respect of NFTs, Cryptocurrencies, ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings), Smart Contracts (including their creation by his tech-team), the minting of NFTs with their Smart Contracts embedded in their metadata, the auditing of real word assets in respect of their legal relationship to crypto assets and smart contract auditing.
Dispute-it is aimed at addressing the worlds’ need for a new judicial system and is currently being trialed.
Maurice formed COBRA (Covid Business Rescue Assistance) in 2020, the largest pro-bono initiative in South Africa’s history. He hosted over one hundred webinars for Cobra in 2020. COBRA spawned SAtion, that has been endorsed by Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), as well as the South African Government, as South Africa’s Official Digital Revitalisation Strategy. SAtion in partnership with Microsoft has secured free Microsoft-365 licenses and 5 terabytes of storage to South African’s younger than the age of 25. COBRA has assisted over 500 companies, large and small.
As a further pro bono initiative, Maurice formed Schindlers Eco Forensics to assist anyone that requires pro-bono assistance in protecting and preserving our environment. This is South Africa’s largest environmental pro bono initiative. ECO Forensics is currently at the forefront of the legal challenge against Recon Africa’s fracking ambitions in the Okavango swamps. Eco Forensics has also undertaken to act for all journalists who require legal protection as a result of them reporting on environmental transgressions. Such protection has been afforded to the lead National Geographic journalist reporting on the Recon Africa story, Jeffrey Barbie. ECO Forensics also assists communities, such as the San and Khoe, in preserving their right to a safe environment.
Zakhele is the founder and chief enabler of Inceku Yenkosi Pty Ltd. Inceku Yenkosi is a Nguni word meaning ‘’Steward of a King’’. Currently the Economic Advisor of King Makhosoke II, the King of Amandebele as a whole.
He is an ardent lobbyist for rural and township economic development through business collaboration to enable economic activation in places and communities that are currently excluded in the mainstream economy of South Africa.
He is a University of JHB graduate in NDIP chemical engineering, with 15 years of experience in water treatment and sales in both the UK and RSA.
Ryan has a graduate diploma in Engineering from Wits and a Master’s degree from the University of Johannesburg.
He initially started out his career in academia as a university lecturer where his passion for innovation had led him to eventually venture into industry to help uplift companies in engineering, construction and even drone technology.
Ryan gets a thrill out of creating solutions for needs in any industry. He is constantly interested in expanding his own knowledge and experience through involvement with various research and development projects.
Ryan maintains a love for teaching and engaging with all sorts of people — a trait that has just remained with him since his academic lecturing days.
During James’ years at the University of Johannesburg studying architecture, he developed a passion for technology and more specifically drone technology.
During his masters years in 2018 and 2019 James employed drone technology and based his architectural thesis on drone scanning and inhabiting the virtual world.
This developed his passion for the drone industry even further to the point where James decided to pursue it as his full-time career and thus the inception of Terra Ops. James is a fully licensed commercial drone operator and has operated on sites across South Africa within the mining, construction and agriculture industries. He has a passion for working with people and looking for opportunities and problems within any industry and finding innovative ways to better and grow those industries as well as himself.
Mmuso Mafisa is a photographer, filmmaker, and cultural producer.
He is an Audio-Visual graduate from the University of Johannesburg. He has spent the last decade behind the lens for outstanding music videos and runaway success television productions.
He has been the resident photographer for Abantu Book Festival from its inception in 2016, and in 2021 The Ultimate Book Show with Sihle-isipho Nontshokweni.
He is the CEO of
Osumm Media Solutions, a multimedia production company specializing in Behind-The-Scenes cinematography, photography, and online video editing. Some of the artists and institutions he has worked with include the NIHSS, MTV, Sjava, Oskido, and Ms Cosmo.
Thabo is an experienced Game Developer with a demonstrated history of working with XR Development specializing in Augmented Reality, he won SAB RAM Awards in 2021.
Thabo is a finalist in Geekulcha Young Geeks 2022
Since 2014, Thabo has been working in the education sector, to improve the state and quality of education by building educational apps that use the latest emerging technology. Thabo has worked with numerous award-winning start-ups around the SADC region assisting with front and back-end development. Thabo also has years of experience freelancing Graphic Design services.
Sipho has worked in the creative fields of graphic design, web design and 3D after studying and qualifying with a Diploma in Media Design and Technology from Damelin.
Thereafter working for various companies as well as freelancing, he has gained in-depth knowledge of logo designs, corporate ID and advertising designs mixed with web designing and development in multiple development software.
After some time in the design field he eventually evolved those skills to include motion graphic design, video editing and animation in the next chapter in his career.
Sizwe is a graphic designer, with a diploma in Graphic Design obtained from Jeppe College. Sizwe has an extensive interest in music and has worked in the industry over the past decade.
Virtual Nation Builders Projects (Pty) Ltd is proud to be working on this revolutionary project.
Virtual Nation Builders Projects (Pty) Ltd is part of the Virtual Nation Builders Group.
Virtual Nation Builders Mixed Reality team were instructed to attend to the creation of Heritage NFTs that began with the scanning of the Liliesleaf Museum artefacts in early August 2021 to sell them to local and international collectors (the NFTs, not the artefacts themselves) to preserve as well as maintain South Africa’s Heritage and history for the South African nation.
Virtual Nation Builders created the world’s first heritage NFT, the Nelson Mandela Warrant of Arrest which was sold for $130 000 and all nett proceeds went to Lilliesleaf Museum (See Bloomberg Article).
Scarcity affidavits, necessary corporate resolutions, chain of custody reports, the NFT assignment terms and the NFTs auditing were all attended to by Schindlers Forensics.
With exponential technological advancements and the creation of legal foundations, Virtual Nation Builders embraced the ambitious project of building a Virtual Nation for the Ndebele Kingdom. Virtual Nation Builders’ legal-tech offerings and collaborations virtually grew overnight, and our specialist mixed reality team took their very first steps in the creation of a Metaversette, by creating the first step in a digital twin of the Ndebele’s Heritage Site. Komjekejeke, with extraordinary photorealism, colour and detail. See Alkebulan.
The COWRIE Legal Resource Centre and VNB EDUHub Online Education Centre were also formed by Virtual Nation Builders’ team of educators.
Virtual Nation Builders’ has also been instructed in the Ndebele Land Revitalisation Project, aimed at utilising blockchain technology to segment millions of hectares of the Ndebele Tribal Trust land into land right NFTs. Unlocking the value in tribal land occupied by South Africa’s previously disadvantaged will address one of the major legacies of apartheid. The terms of the NFTs will be agreed with the major South African Banks, to ensure that they meet the banks’ lending criteria and hopefully in the near future, the land will be more easily tradable than any other land in Africa. Virtual Nation Builders will be expand this offering to other community lands in South Africa.
Running parallel to these digital projects, are the formation of public benefit organisations, companies and trusts for the various Ndebele Upliftment Projects. The latter, all requiring legacy legal work, including corporate, intellectual property, local and international tax, trust, escrow arrangements, law on jurisdictions, collective investments schemes, property law and requirements by the FSCA, render the necessary convergence of legal and tech advice obvious.
Virtual Nation Builders has also advised Black Rock Rhino Conservation in creating the world’s first NFTs of Rhino horns to conserve the Rhino. See the world’s first rhinos-one. Virtual Nation Builders’ attended to the legal terms in the NFTs required in the metadata, the legal audit of the NFT, the legal work required for the assignment of its intellectual property and the consideration of whether to use a NAO to link the crypto asset to a real-world asset.
Virtual Nation Builders has been embedded to work with South Africa’s largest NFT exchange, Momint (http://www.momint.so/), in the creation and listing of their NFTs, and as a platform to deploy Virtual Nation Builders clients’ legal instrument and Property Right NFTs.
Virtual Nation Builders have also built an app for a virtual company module, that legally integrates with real world company MOIs (memorandums of incorporations). It utilises a dynamic share register that is updated in real time. By utilising this new legal tech model, real-world companies can operate in or outside virtual layers of governance. The Collab-Tech app operates by utilising the principles of holacracy, coupled with decision making by the collaborators using the Dispute-It (www.dispute-it.ai), ‘Wisdom of the Crowds’ engine, that requires diversity, independence and reduced influence by alpha decision-makers. Virtual Nation Builders can now list any sized company, as though it were on a stock exchange, without having to go through the red tape and cost ordinarily associated with a listing on an exchange, with the shares transferrable instantly on a smartphone. The management algorithm is empirically wiser than current corporate decision-making modalities.
In short, globally, technology firms and legal firms find themselves on the other sides of the professional spectrum. Virtual Nation Builders offers a convergence of both, virtually building ground-breaking solutions.
From left to right – Zakhele G Mthethwa; Jaqualine Segwaba; Sanele Bonisiwe Msibi; Tshegofatso Geraldine Mogale; Thandi Mahlangu; Nthabiseng Wilma Kgatla; Tumelo Mabotsa; Bagcine sinalo Mtiwejojo
the royals
HIS MAJESTY KING MAKHOSOKE II
His Majesty King Makhosoke II is King of AmaNdebele Nation as a whole, as proclaimed by the Republic of South African Government and Gazetted on 5 November 2010 (Gazette no: 33732).
The Ndebele Nation is one of the eight nationalities confirmed as kingship in South Africa. As a Prince and Heir to the throne, he was called to join the Public Services of Manala MBongo Traditional Authority in 1983. His Majesty was nominated as a representative of the late Regent King Alfred Mbhedlengani Mabhena in the then Kwandebele Legislative Assembly in 1984.
He served the Ndebele Nation through numerous Parliamentary contributions including, amongst others, opposing and speaking in the Kwandebele Legislature against proposed independence of the then Kwandebele Homeland. The later contribution and others are recorded in the Hansard detailing the debates in Legislature. His Majesty King Makhosoke II succeeded the Regent King Alfred Mbhedlengani Mabhena who was a younger brother to His Father, the late King William Mbongo II in 1986.
His Majesty King Makhosoke II is the Chairman of the ARM’s MP Trust of the Hon Mr Patrice Motsepe, whom The King has provided portable water units to fifteen schools through the system of boreholes in the former Kwandebele Homeland areas. The beneficiaries (schools) had no portable water prior to the project.
QUEEN SEKHOTHALI MABHENA
Born Princess Sekhothali Seeiso from the Kingdom of Lesotho, married 2019 in the Ndebele Kingdom and became Queen (Indlovukazi) Sekhothali Mabhena.
She is a member of the UN Women Africa under African Royals, traditional and spiritual leaders in Ending Child Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) [2018- current], Ambassador of Menstrual Hygiene and Sexual Reproductive Health with the Sex Rights Network under the AIDS Foundation of South Africa.
In 2017 she became an Executive member of the Council of Traditional Leaders in Africa (COTLA) [2019-current].
“We strive for economic freedom for our people and sustainable development too.
While we are assisting where we can we venture and tap into sustainability to create a stable Kingdom that one day will be free of poverty.”
Zakhele is the founder and chief enabler of Inceku Yenkosi Pty Ltd. Inceku Yenkosi is a Nguni word meaning ‘’Steward of a King’’. Currently the Economic Advisor of King Makhosoke II, the King of Amandebele as a whole.
He is an ardent lobbyist for rural and township economic development through business collaboration to enable economic activation in places and communities that are currently excluded in the mainstream economy of South Africa.
He is a University of JHB graduate in NDIP chemical engineering, with 15 years of experience in water treatment and sales in both the UK and RSA.
