About Us
Founded in 2017, we are the first and only Centre of our kind in Africa.
The lack of energy access in Africa is not due to a lack of natural resources, but one that I attribute to a dearth in leadership. Africa; with her young and growing population, vast untapped energy and other natural resources, has the potential to become a leading global economic force.
This potential can be realised only if we develop the next generation of leaders in the energy sector; develop the scarce skills needed to grow economies, leaders who can deal with growing uncertainty in an inter-connected, fast-changing technological world, a world in an accelerating transition to producing cleaner energy, and a world engulfed by a global health pandemic and political uncertainty.
It is against this background that Wits Business School (WBS) took the initiative to establish an African Energy Leadership Centre (AELC). For anyone wanting to carve out a career for themselves in this crucially important sector, we encourage you to find out more about our programmes. This continent urgently needs a new generation of visionary, solutions-oriented leaders in the energy field.
We hope to play an important role in developing such leaders and look forward to welcoming you to WBS.
Professor David Phaho
Director of the African Energy Leadership Centre
Prof David Phaho
Director of the African Energy Leadership Centre and Discipline Lead: Energy
David started his undergraduate studies at the University of Cape Town (UCT). This has led toseveral qualifications including a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Chemistry in the United States as a Fulbright Scholar. He joins Wits Business School from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) where he has been employed since 2020. At CPUT David held the portfolio of Deputy-Vice Chancellor responsible for Research, Technology Innovation, Postgraduate Studies, Partnerships, and Internationalization.
Before that, David held several positions at Sasol’s Research and Development Division. He leftSasol to become Chief Executive Officer of Tshumisano Trust, a Department of Science and Technology Entity to improve the competitiveness and innovation capacity of the Small andMedium Enterprises (SME’s) in areas such as automotive components manufacturing, agriculture and chemicals with 18 technology transfer centers at 11 South African universities.
David returned to Sasol in 2011 where he held several positions of increased seniority until theend of 2019 when he left to join CPUT.
David’s research interests are sustainability, energy, innovation, technology transfer, and adoption.
Professionally, David has sat on the Boards of Foskor (Pty) Ltd and Pikitup Johannesburg (Pty) Ltd amongst others as an Independent, Non-Executive Director. He also served as Chair of theVaal University of Technology Council for five years.
Experienced chemical engineering and business development professional with a good understanding of the South African and global energy and petrochemical landscape.
30 years’ prior work experience at Sasol before joining the African Energy Leadership Centre (AELC) at the Wits Business School in April 2022. Prior to Sasol he was a chemical engineering academic at the University of the Witwatersrand for 5 years during which time he published over twenty publications in international peer refereed journals.
While at Sasol, he participated in the commercialisation of several novel processes in the energy and chemicals area as well as the $1.3 billion pioneering Oryx gas to liquids (GTL) plant in Qatar. He has experience in energy and chemicals technology, corporate strategy, business development and mergers and acquisitions. He has played a significant role in the nurturing and development of several pioneering value-adding businesses for Sasol.
His experience in the development and commercialisation of several major projects involving pioneering process technology has given him specific insight into the technology and business risks associated with pioneering projects in the energy and chemicals area.
His research interest is to explore the technical, economic, and business risks associated with the novel and competing pioneering technology options for the renewable energy transition with a view to understanding which technologies will prevail and which will fall by the wayside.
He has a BSc, MSc, and PhD in chemical engineering all from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Dr. Mathetsa holds a BSc Natural and Environmental Sciences (UJ), BSc Honours and MSc-Environmental Management (UNISA), Postgraduate Diploma in Energy Leadership and PhD in Environmental Studies and (Wits University). Dr Mathetsa’s research interest lies within the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus within the discourse of climate change and how the supply of these key resources can be sustained through formulation of integrated policies and systems thinking approaches.
Dr. Steven Matome Mathetsa is a registered Professional Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientists Profession (SACNASP). He has over 18 years’ experience in the fields of sustainable development, environmental management, climate change, water, and energy resources management. He has occupied junior and specialist positions at the Department of Water and Sanitation, Sappi Pulp and Paper, Anglo American – Coal, Eskom (Generation, Technology, and Research, Testing and Development), and Transnet National Ports Authority. Having worked for both private and state-owned entities, Dr. Mathetsa has accumulated wealth of experience in the operational processes, ESG, policy development and implementation, ISO management systems, strategy and business development, technological advancements, project management, and research & development in water and energy resource sectors.
Dr. Mathetsa occupies various strategic and technical advisory roles such as Reference Group Member of the Water Research Commission’s Water-Energy Nexus projects and Governing Board Member at Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency (IUCMA).
Professor Rod Crompton is an Adjunct Professor at the African Energy Leadership Centre at Wits Business School. Previously he ran Crompton Consulting specialising in industrial policy, energy and economic regulation.
He has been a Research Fellow at the Centre for Competition Regulation and Economic Development and a Research Associate at Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies advising the South African Department of Trade and Industry. He serves on the Ministerial Task Team Appointed to Establish an Interim Rail Economic Regulatory Capacity.
He was previously a full-time board member at the National Energy Regulator (NERSA) and a Deputy Director General at the Department of Minerals and Energy. He has also worked at the Department of Trade and Industry and was managing director of the Minerals and Energy Policy Centre. He has served on the boards of several companies. His obtained his PhD at the University of Natal.
Andrew Lawrence has over twenty years of experience teaching and researching in Africa, Europe, and North America. Affiliations prior to joining the faculty of the African Energy Leadership Centre of the Wits Business School include the University of Virginia, City University of New York, and University of Edinburgh. He has also been a visiting professor at the Vienna School of International Studies, Austria, and visiting Erasmus Professor at l’Università degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale as well as visiting research scholar at the European University Institute, in Italy.
He has published extensively in the fields of labour and development, energy and climate politics, comparative and global political economy, and worker and employer collective action, with recent articles in Competition and Change, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Economics of Energy and Environmental Policy, and Review of International Political Economy. His most recent books are South Africa’s Energy Transition (Palgrave, 2020) and Employer and Worker Collective Action (Cambridge University Press, 2014).
Dr Silas K. Mulaudzi has substantial experience in the energy sector (renewable energy, energy efficiency, Just Energy Transition) in South Africa. He has served in management positions at the Department of Energy, City of Tshwane and University of South Africa, and he occupies a Specialist position responsible for Sustainable Energy at the South African Local Government Association. He holds PhD in Renewable Energy (Newcastle University, United Kingdom), MSc Environmental Sciences (Wits University, RSA) and BENVSc Hons (University of Venda, RSA). He is a registered Professional Natural Scientist (Pr. Sci. Nat). Dr Mulaudzi will be occupying a position of Lecturer: Energy at the African Energy Leadership Centre. He specialises in Electricity Supply Industry (ESI), energy policy and regulatory framework, embedded generation policy and regulatory design, renewable energy power procurement, energy transition and decarbonisation.
Dr Lehlohonolo M Tabane
Organisational Behaviour & Development: African Energy Leadership Centre
Dr Lehlohonolo Tabane is a registered Industrial/Organisational Psychologist and holds a PhD in Industrial & Organisational Psychology from the University of Pretoria. She is the Programme Director for the Postgraduate Diploma in the field of Energy Leadership, where she lectures the ‘Leadership Fundamentals’ and ‘Ethics and Corporate Governance’ modules. Dr Tabane has also served as a Programme Director in the WBS Executive Education division for leading corporate clients in the Automotive and Insurance sector. She has trained delegates across management levels within the following sectors: Automotive, Insurance, Mining, FMCG, Telecommunications, Agricultural and Banking. Her training interventions have targeted management consulting firms and a state-owned company specialising in freight logistics. Her approach as a consultant and subject-matter expert is to empower employees (leaders, managers, subordinates) by enabling them to understand what happens to and around them in the organisational context. Her unique work experience includes issues of employability, career development, leadership and learning. Dr Tabane has designed and delivers the Career Management (Leadership Quest) course on the MBA programme. Her research interests include Management & Leadership Development; Organisational Behaviour and Organisational Development; Women in the Workplace; and Vocational Psychology. Dr Tabane’s scope of practice includes Psycho-legal assessment for employability, where she collaborates with medical experts and lawyers, towards the assessment and compensation of clients who have been injured in motor-vehicle accidents or have suffered medical negligence.
Dr Nandi Malumbazo
Senior Lecturer: African Energy Leadership Centre and the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering
Dr Malumbazo’s remarkable academic achievements have established her as a valuable and respected mind in the mining and energy academic spheres. After she graduated her PhD in 2011, she was immediately employed by CSIR as a Researcher at the Material Science and Manufacturing under Energy and Processes Unit. With in-depth scientific research background, Dr Malumbazo has also spent nine (9) years as a Chief Scientist at the Council for Geoscience where she has established a Coal Laboratory for both commercial and research purposes. During her tenure at the Council for Geoscience, she led various MTEF projects as a Project Manager for a Small Scale Mining Programme on the Economic evaluation of abandoned Coal Mines as well as the Shale Gas Karoo Drilling project.
Dr Nandi Malumbazo is a Coal Scientists with more than a decade of experience in the coal research to energy sector. She is currently holding a position as a Senior Lecturer and Researcher on Clean Coal Technology at the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, University of Witwatersrand. Her research interests are centered on different energy topics and has a keen interest on the “Use of Coal resources beyond Power Generation”, “Just Energy Transition”, “Storage of Carbon Dioxide in Sandstones”, “Shale gas resource exploration in the Karoo” and “Coal-bed Methane potential in South Africa”. She is also a board member at Energy and Water SETA. In addition, Dr Malumbazo holds various technical advisory membership positions such as the SABS/TC Carbon Capture and Storage Standard Formulation Committee and the Council for Geoscience Carbon Capture and Storage Pilot Scale Injection Project.
She also plays an active role in influencing the energy policy sector through ongoing engagements and involvement in several government and industry platforms. Her ambition is to be an anchor and evidence-based advisor for the public sector as well as the energy industry to make well informed decisions about energy resources of the country.
Elizabeth Moshwane
Administrative Offer:
African Energy Leadership Centre
Thabang Tsotetsi
Programme Manager:
African Energy Leadership Centre
Qawe Damane
Admissions Officer:
African Energy Leadership Centre
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