Nhlanhla Nene
Chairman, Advisory Board, Africa 5.0
Student Actvist in the late 70’s while at Georgetown High School doing matric and later had to leave school and completed privately at Gcothoyi Adult Center. Served as Chairperson of the Ntunjambili Development CommiNee and Chairperson of the Kranskop Community Policing Forum in the early 90’s. Served as a shop steward at Metropolitan Life Insurance Company during the first Industrial Action in the financial sector under the banner of SACCAWU. Chairperson of the ANC Branch in Ntunjambili and then Regional Secretary of the ANC Ukhahlamba Region and elected Local Government Councillor in the first democratic Local Government Elections in 1996. Elected to the National Assembly as a Member of Parliament in 1999. Served in other Community structures including as Chairperson of the UNunjambili Hospital Board for two terms ending in 2018.
Work Experience
-1980 – 1984 -Worked as a Statistics Clerk at a bus company in Kranskop, responsible for processing all statistics relating to the operations of the company
-1985 – 1999 – worked as Sales Representative responsible for marketing Insurance products on behalf of the Company for 10 years and then as Branch Administration Manager responsible for the entire administration of the Branch reporting to the Regional Manager
-1999 – Elected to Parliament as a Member serving in the Portfolio Committee on Finance responsible for oversight of the Department of Finance and the Financial Sector Institutions and processing legislation in the National Assembly
– 2002 – Elected as Joint Chairperson of the Budget committee responsible for oversight of the entire Appropriations Process in the National Assembly working Jointly with the National Council of Provinces
-2005 – Elected as Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Finance responsible for oversight of the Department of National Treasury and relevant entities reporting to it including financial regulations
-2008 (November) – Appointed as Deputy Minister of Finance responsible for supporting the Minister of Finance in Managing the Macroeconomic Policy and Regulating the Financial Sector and related entities
-2014 (May) – Appointed as Minister of Finance to be the Executive Authority of the National Treasury as required by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and relevant statutes. This also entailed representing the country in various Multilateral Institutions eg. IMF; World Bank; OECD; BRICS; Commonwealth; AU; SADC and SACU.
-2016 (April) Joined Thebe Investment Corporation as Resident Advisor responsible for advising the board and the Executive on Investment Strategy and Governance matters -2016 (April) Also joined Allan Gray as non-executive director exercising fiduciary responsibilities in the best interest of the company and its shareholders
2017 July – Joined Arise BV as Non–Executive Chairman- presiding over the board in overseeing the implementation of the investment strategy in Africa by a Dutch-based investment company.
– 2017 July to December served as interim Director and Head of Wits Business School
– 2018 March returned to Government as Minister of Finance
– 2019 March – rejoined Arise BV in the same capacity as Chairperson of the Supervisory Board – 2019 May – Appointed as Non-Executive Director and Chairperson of Empact Group, a catering, cleaning and hygiene company
– 2019 December – Appointed as Non-Executive Director of Grobank and GroCapital Boards of Directors – Currently serve as Non-Executive Director of COHSASA (Council of Health Services Accreditation of Southern Africa), NPO responsible for accreditation of Health Facilities in Southern Africa – Non -Executive Director: Thebe Investment Corporation (since November 2020)
Professional Qualifications
B Comm (Hons) 2009 University of Western Cape
Diploma in Advanced Economic Policy – 2004 University of Western Cape
Certificate in Microeconomic Theory and Macroeconomic Principles – 2004 University of London (Occasional Student)
Certificate in Economics and Public Finance – 2003 University of South Africa
Attended several short courses with Williams College (Center for Development Economics) 2001; 2002; 2003 and 2004 – focusing on Macroeconomic Strategies and Development Economics
Received an Honorary Fellowship Award from Mangosuthu University of Technology (Faculty of Management Sciences) April 2016
Honorary Adjunct Professor – Wits Business School since 2017
Serves as resource person in the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program, held annually at Harvard School of Public Health
