Meet the RULIV Team

Makhalelwa Mazibuko – RULIV CEO
Prof Mazibuko has many years experience in the rural development sector and has headed up RULIV for the past 11 years. Previously he worked as the chief director in the Policy and Programme Support Unit in the Office of the Premier and started his career in the national Department of Public Works. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Nik Hugow – SURUDEC Programme Manager
Having been involved in the rural development sector since 1997, Nik's area of work has been wide and varied from process facilitation, training, mentoring, lobbying & advocacy, project and programme management to governance support of community groups, broader civil society structures and local and district municipalities. He was one of the initiators of RULIV in relationship to the Office of the Premier and his primary development interests are the democratisation of communities towards their own holistic development.
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Janine Ristow – Finance and Administration Manager
Janine joined RULIV in 2010 with extensive experience in financial management. As our Chancellor of the Exchequer, Janine keeps the organisation on a sound financial footing. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Cecil Mlungisi Nduna – Local Government Specialist/Community Development Facilitator (SURUDEC)
Cecil holds a honours degree in Industrial Sociology from Fort Hare University and received a scholarship to research migrant labour in Germany between 1975-1978. He has extensive experience in community development services and has worked for Amanz'abantu Services and the Makana Municipality. Cecil joined RULIV in 2008. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Mtheza Ndwangu – Community Development Facilitator (SURUDEC)
Mtheza grew up in the Province and majored in Economics and Psychology at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. He moved from Absa Bank to Kagiso Trust and Kula Development. He was a community liaison officer with Buffalo City Municipality before joining RULIV in 2008. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Fuzile Zetu – Organisation and Community Development Facilitator (SURUDEC)
Fuzile joined SURUDEC in January 2010, having been an independent consultant for six years. His assignments focused on development of organisational and sector-specific strategy documents and plans. He has also facilitated a number of policy, strategic and operational planning evaluation sessions and he has assisted in building and strengthening civil society structures. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Patrick Mdau – Community Development Facilitator (SURUDEC)
Patrick joined SURUDEC in May 2008 as a Community Development Facilitator. Prior to this he worked in community for an NGO in the North West Province. He has extensive experience in the facilitation of capacity building, training and fundraising. Patrick has also worked in project management in Gauteng as a project co-ordinator and he takes a keen interest in civic affairs, having served on the board for a community development enterprise between 2002 and 2007. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Sarhili Bashe – Agricultural Development Facilitator
Sarhili, who hails from Ngcobo, is an experienced agronomist attached to RULIV and as such, complements RULIV's pool of agricultural expertise. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Khaya George – Community Develoment Facilitator (CDF)
Khaya works on RULIV projects and he has extensive facilitation and community liaison experience. He most recently project managed the Foundation for Human Rights-funded project managing community input for the forthcoming National Sector Plan. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Linda Sokabo – Reception
Linda manages RULIV's front of house and reception while also keeping track of RULIV's extensive resource library. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Nombulelo Nano (Buli) – Administrator
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Zoleka Makade – Administrator
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Toto Msaseni – Business & Partnership Development
Toto functions to leverage business partnerships within RULIV as a whole and co-ordinates proposals and tenders on behalf of RULIV. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Aron Mdyodyo – Agricultural Community Development Facilitator
Aron provides important agricultural extension services and backup. He works hand-in-hand with the community development facilitators. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Nicholas Chooma – Monitoring and Evaluation Manager
Nicholas has a Bachelor of Arts with an education major and is currently pursuing post graduate studies in sustainable development planning. He has been involved with monitoring and evaluation processes with GTZ, UNDP, FAO and government departments in both South Africa and Zambia. Nicholas joined RULIV in 2008.
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Barbara Manning – Visibility and Communications co-ordinator (SURUDEC)
A journalist by profession, Barbara has been an independent media consultant for the past four years. She has worked on newspapers, in the NGO sector and undertakes media work for the SURUDEC programme on a part-time basis for the duration of the SURUDEC programme. She is also focusing on building editorial capacity within RULIV. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Mandla Khumsha – Head Finance and Administration (SURUDEC)
Mandla grew up in Xhongorha location in Mthatha. After matriculation he worked for a number of companies in Cape Town before joining the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) in 1999 as a financial assistant and the German Technical Corporation before joining the SURUDEC programme in May 2009.
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Unathi Pamela Danster – General Assistant
Unathi comes from King William's Town and is RULIV's most treasured asset. She keeps our working environment spotless, always smiles no matter how onerous the task and is an essential part of our team.
043-704 8800

 

Zikhona Dlabati – Administration Support
Zikhona matriculated in 2003 and has completed a computer training course at Stanford Business College. In 2008 she joined RULIV as a volunteer and in 2009 became a permanent member of the team in administration support. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 083 537 8298

 

Stephen van Heerden – IT Intern
Stephen matriculated in 2002 and comes with much-needed Information Technology skills. He is responsible for maintianing the SURUDEC programme databases and assists with the monitoring and evaluation system. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0786203113

 

Odumo Unathi Ndudane – Research Intern
Odumo holds a social sciences degree and assists with the research component of the SURUDEC programme. She is currently conducting baseline surveys of grantee communities. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 0734838397

 

The long-term technical assistance team fielded by GRM International

Dr Stephen Atkins – GRM Technical Assistance Team Leader and SURUDEC Programme Co-ordinator
Stephen is a senior development expert in agricultural economics, rural development and natural resource economics. He has more than 33 years of international development experience developing strategic plans, project conceptualisation and design and implementation. He holds a PhD and has gained a professionally certified diploma in accounting and finance (ACCA, UK). This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Jan van Haaften – GRM Finance and Procurement Specialist
Jan has 13 years of professional experience in planning and implementing of projects and programmes, five years in emergency programmes and eight years in development and capacity building initiatives. He has extensive experience in procurement procedures, financial administration and the regulations of the European Development Fund (EDF) schemes. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Geoff Orpen – GRM Monitoring and Evaluation specialist

Having being brought up on a farm near Barkly East, Geoff knows the Eastern Cape very well and along with English, his mother tongue, he is also fluent in isiXhosa and Afrikaans. With his intimate knowledge of the Eastern Cape’s rural areas and farming, a BSc in Engineering and an MBA, Geoff brings to the programme a wide set of skills including those recently gained working with the Thina Sinako, another EU funded programme. Geoff worked as Regional Fund Advisor and Implementation Support Advisor in the Programme Coordination Unit (PCU) or the Thina Sinako Provincial LED Support Programme. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it