MEET OUR SPEAKERS
The WCPDF would like to acknowledge and thank the following speakers for the valuable contribution to the 2023 conference:
Africa Melane is a renowned broadcaster who speaks to audiences across South Africa every morning hosting the Early Breakfast show on 702 and CapeTalk, and discussing the most topical issues of the day. In turn a well-known Master of Ceremonies, he is an accountant by training and regularly facilitates workshops for businesses on planning and budgeting, for the health sector on HIV/Aids, and in diversity training and professional development. He is also Vice Chairperson on the Board of Cape Town Opera, and chairs the panel of judges for the prestigious Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards.
Geordin Hill-Lewis attended Edgemead High School, obtained an Honours degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (University of Cape Town – UCT), and a Masters in Finance specialising in Economic Policy (London University). Hill-Lewis became politically active during his high school years. During his studies at UCT, he founded the Democratic Alliance Students’ Organization (DASO). He worked as Chief of Staff in the office of former Western Cape Premier Helen Zille. In 2011, Hill-Lewis was elected as a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly, becoming the youngest MP at 24 years of age. During his time in the National Assembly, he has served on various portfolios, such as Trade and Industry and Finance, and most recently served as the Shadow Minister of Finance. On 18 November 2021 at the age of 34, he was inaugurated at the youngest Mayor of the City of Cape Town.
Deon van Zyl holds a degree in architecture from the University of the Free State, a diploma in project management and a master’s degree in urban design from the University of Cape Town. He cut his teeth in the redevelopment of brownfield land, with exposure to land remediation, and his passion lies in development facilitation through a multi-disciplinary approach. Deon is the MD of the newly formed VORTO, a specialist development management consultancy which is part of the AL&A group of companies focused on the built environment. He has been the Chairperson of the WCPDF since 2011 and is a regular industry commentator, informed by various development industry sub-sectors aligned with the WCPDF.
Mark Schonrock is the Property Development Executive for Concor Developments. With over 18 years’ experience within the construction and development industry, he is passionate about unlocking large land parcels in key strategic locations that involve affordable, mixed use, integrated urban environments where one can look to build cohesive communities, in line with international best practice. He thrives on building the right “team” of professional, banking, legal and relevant stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation, execution and integration of new communities. Making a difference and improving the lives of the communities in which it operates is one of Concor’s key values and a fundamental foundation of Mark’s ethos and approach to property development.
Robert McGaffin is a town planner and land economist, and joined the City of Cape Town in his current capacity in September 2022. Prior to this, he was a founding member of the Urban Real Estate Research Unit (URERU) at the University of Cape Town (UCT), and a lecturer on the Property Studies Programme in UCT’s Department of Construction Economics and Management. He has consulted to the World Bank and worked in commercial property finance and with a number of financial institutions. He has a keen interest in the relationship between land economics and planning.
Kobus Munro started his career as a Town Planning Consultant and for the better part of this time managed a firm, Setplan Settlement Planning Services, in what is now known as Gqeberha and later opened a new branch in George. During this time, he also owned and operated a small construction business which completed a number of projects. In 2011, he joined the Department as a Chief Town and Regional Planner and was promoted in 2012 to Director Development Management responsible for the Garden Route and Central Karoo Regions. In 2014, he was transferred to Cape Town where he now manages the West Coast, Cape Winelands and Overberg districts including the City of Cape Town.
Lauren Waring holds a Masters Degree in Town and Regional Planning (University of Stellenbosch) among various other tertiary qualifications. She served as the Municipal Manager, as well as Director: Community Services and Director: Planning and Development at Knysna Municipality between 2006 and 2014, and as Executive Director: Planning and Development at Drakenstein Municipality from 2016 to 2021. She has vast leadership experience in local government, honed over many years at municipal level. Her passion for land and development was ignited during her first appointment at the Regional Land Claims Commission: Western Cape. With extensive management and strategic leadership experience, Lauren has consulted to government, private sector, and non-profits on a broad range of projects and held positions on various boards.
David Delaney commenced his career in town planning in 1982 first at the then Cape Provincial Administration, and thereafter at national government level for the Department of Local Government. He then joined the Boland District Council (Cape Winelands District Municipality) and, after the 2000 amalgamation of local authorities, he joined Drakenstein Municipality. He has experience at numerous levels dealing with land use planning as well as building plan applications, spatial planning frameworks, environmental management, heritage, human settlements, rural development, economic development, tourism and, most recently, the management of the spatial planning and environmental division that includes a new investment facilitation and development support unit.
Alwyn Zaayman has a National Higher Diploma in Town and Regional Planning (Cape Technikon) and a Diploma in Property Valuations (Unisa). He started his working career at Cape Provincial Administration before moving to Paarl Municipality. In 1997, he joined the Malmesbury Transitional Council, today known as Swartland Municipality. Zaayman leads development planning and is also responsible for building control and property valuations. The ease of doing business in these three disciplines is a priority.
John Matthews has a B.Com degree (1985) and an MBA specializing in Strategic Management (1997), both from the University of Cape Town. His accounting career began at the Pinelands Development Company (PDC), the sister company to Garden Cities, and he joined Garden Cities itself in 1990, progressing through the ranks to become CEO in 2002. He is now Group CEO of the Garden Cities group of companies. His interests include the provision of housing and other social services to uplift South Africans sustainably. He is also currently the Chairman of CASA; Past President of Master Builders South Africa; Past President of the Master Builders Association – Western Cape; CEO of the Archway Foundation (CSI arm of Garden Cities); and Council Member of the Building Industry Bargaining Council (Cape of Good Hope).
Gerhard Gerber has been the Head of Department of the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning since April 2022, and has more than 25 years of experience in environmental management and development planning. Gerhard has for many years been involved with efforts to reduce red tape and to promote the ease of doing business. Initially he did so in his role as the Director Development Facilitation, and then in his role as Chief Director Development Planning which included having been involved with the Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) work on the Construction Industry in the City of Cape Town. He continues with these efforts in his role as Head of Department.
Charles Rudman is a town planner, with a Masters in Town and Regional Planning (University of Cape Town), and he has worked as a public planner by choice. Rudman has worked in various capacities within various local government structures across the City of Cape Town, and is is currently working in the Office of the Deputy Mayor of Cape Town. He believes that planners should ask the question: “Why do people have to be on a waiting list for thirty years before getting a house?” To paraphrase Spanish sociologist, Manuel Castells, Rudman believes that planning … could be a truly innovative field in our epoch of crisis. The current process of social change forces planning itself to change if we want our discipline to be a guide for action instead of becoming an outdated bureaucratic routine.
Vusi Nondo has over 23 years’ experience in the design, construction and development of property and property investments garnered mainly in the South African real estate market. He qualified as a professional architect before leaving the profession to join Old Mutual Properties. Prior to joining the V&A Waterfront as the Development Executive, he was the General Manager of Development and Investment at Communicare. Vusi holds several qualifications including a B.Comm (Hons) in Financial Analysis and Portfolio Management and a MA in Business Administration. He is also a fellow of the Centre for Leadership and Public Policy Values (UCT/Duke University), and a Bertha Scholar of the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Graduate School of Business, Cape Town).
Jean-Pierre Nortier has a BSc (CM) Honours, focused on construction management, from the University of Cape Town. Nortier has an extensive and proven track record as a property development executive, both in South Africa and China. There has been, over the course of his career, a particular focus on large mixed-use developments with a considered response to a property’s specific location, characteristics, market dynamics and investment opportunities. He is currently exploring the integration of the natural and built environments with an ambitious, highly urban development in the heart of the Cape Winelands as well as other non-traditional property-based experiences focused on delivering change.
Nonelela Mtwana has in-depth experience in investment promotion and facilitation across multiple sectors including Agribusiness, Real Estate and Infrastructure specialising in both greenfield and brownfield projects. Focused on attracting foreign and domestic direct investment into the Western Cape, she currently oversees the Real Estate & Infrastructure portfolio within Wesgro’s Investment Promotion Unit. Mtwana’s expertise lies in stakeholder, relationship, project and portfolio management, resolving complex issues in highly competitive sectors, facilitation of mergers and business acquisitions, linkages to private and public finance, red-tape removal, access to strategic networks, matchmaking, government incentives and advocacy.
Prof François Viruly is a property economist with over 25 years’ experience in the analysis of the South African property market, and lectures in Urban Economics, Property Development and Portfolio Management at the UCT. He held the positions of Chief Economist, Chamber of Mines; Head of Research at JHI Professional Services (valuations, research and legal services); and Acting Head of the School of Construction Economics and Management at Wits University. He is the Director of Viruly Consulting and a fellow of RICS . He is the immediate past President and Executive Director of the African Real Estate Society and immediate past President of the International Real Estate Society. He also heads up the UCT Urban Real Estate Research Unit, and his current focus is sustainability in the real estate sector with a special emphasis on the “S” of ESG.
Chuma Giyose holds a National Diploma in Town & Regional Planning (Cape Peninsula University of Technology) and, through the University of Cape Town, he has also completed short courses in Property Management and Housing Finance. In his role with DAG, he focuses on the organisation’s Contractor & Developer Academy (CDA) – a social enterprise development programme that capacitates and provides technical support to emerging contractors and developers in testing innovative housing delivery mechanisms. Chuma previously worked at ZKC Construction as a project manager and, as an undergraduate, interned at the Community Organisation Resource Centre. His experience has made him more sensitive to both construction and urban development challenges, and he uses his knowledge and skills to enact positive change in the delivery of affordable housing, as well as to add value to communities at large.
Deon Cloete is an experienced Airport Executive with a 38 years’ track record of creating value and success in the aviation and transport sector. His experience includes air access, operations management, customer service and stakeholder management, and both commercial and freight operation. Cloete is well-versed in managing and driving volume growth through a defined asset base to ensure optimum asset utilisation and systems efficiency, strongly anchored by safety, security and compliance requirements. He is skilled in finding the right combination in volume growth, innovation, commercial opportunities, quality and excellence, key requirements for long term profitability and sustainability. He is also skilled in Integrated Regional and Town Planning requirements, successfully securing environmental and zoning approvals for further expansion, development and investment, mindful and strongly based on social and community upliftment imperatives. Cloete has previously served on the Boards of Wesgro and the NSRI, and is currently the Chairperson of the CTICC Board.
Greg Skeen‘s experience spans 25 years in the built environment, including infrastructure development and project finance, civil engineering, project management, design and construction management in Southern Africa and multiple countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and South-East Asia. He has also been involved in developing PPP civil infrastructure and real estate in residential, transport, light industrial, student accommodation and commercial sectors. In his current role, he manages teams executing green- and brownfield construction projects on UCT campuses and planning and developing new buildings.
JP van der Merwe holds a Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies (University of Sydney, Australia) as well as an Honours in International Relations and a BComm in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (both from the University of Cape Town). His work at Wesgro involves the promotion of the Western Cape as an investment destination for both local and foreign businesses, as well as the facilitation of investment into the province. He has previously worked in economic development consulting, including for the Canadian and New Zealand governments in South Africa, and brings together an in-depth understanding of the interconnection between the private and public sectors. He has worked extensively on analysing and providing insight to clients on the economic and political operating environments in Southern Africa and how these impact on businesses in the region.
Alderman Eddie Andrews holds a BBA majoring in Politics (University of Western Cape) and is currently completing his Honours. Having played rugby at both Western Province, the Stormers and Springbok level, he entered politics as a City of Cape Town Councillor in 2011 and has since served as a Sub Council Chairperson, Spatial Planning & Environment Portfolio Committee Chairperson, and Spatial Planning & Environment Mayoral Committee Member. He is currently the City of Cape Town’s Executive Deputy Mayor and the Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment. He remains resolute in his desire to ensure that the City of Cape Town fulfils its enabling obligation and contributes sustainably towards Cape Town’s shared future.
Nick Binedell has a PhD (University of Washington, Seattle) and is a professor, speaker and consultant in Strategy and Leadership. He was the Founding Dean of the Gordon Institute of Business Science (2000-2015), establishing a world-class business school. He focuses on the development and execution of strategy in fast and changing environments, towards the formulation of good strategic plans to execute and ensuring delivery occurs. A visiting lecturer at the Rotterdam School of Management for the last 21 years, he is also engaged in civil society towards improving the overall performance of SA institutions. In 2015, the Academy of International Business elected him as Global Educator of the Year. He serves on the board of the Helen Suzman Foundation, is a non-executive Director of a major listed company and continues to lecture at GIBS.
Adi Kumar trained as an architect, and is a global housing and land activist specialising in housing policies, political and community organising, and development facilitation. He has worked extensively across the globe on post-disaster, post-conflict reconstruction in India and Lebanon as well as on informal settlement upgrading across the continent. Living in South Africa, Adi has been a vocal advocate for land justice through various civil society organisations. Previously he was the Executive Director of Development Action Group (DAG) and Deputy Director at the Community Organisation Resource Centre.
Newton Baloyi is the president of the South Africa Association of Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS) and board member of the Association of African Quantity Surveyors (AAQS). Baloyi is the founder of NBi, a 19-year-old quantity surveying and multidisciplinary engineering firm which specialises in the minerals and processing sectors. As a professional, an entrepreneur and a community builder, his passion is leveraging infrastructure investments for sustainable local economic development impacts, and he has pioneered models for enabling the objective impact evaluation and enhancement of large infrastructure projects.
Simon Beamish has worked as a town planner and development facilitator for a number of development companies throughout Sub-Saharan Africa (including Nigeria, DRC, Ghana, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa). Over the past 23 years, he has developed niche expertise in coordinating multi-disciplinary teams on a variety of large-scale development projects and is an advocate for the private sector playing a more constructive role in establishing meaningful stakeholder engagements with government and local communities.
Werner Jerling holds a Civil Engineering degree (Stellenbosch University), a BCom (UNISA) and a MSc in International Construction Management (Bath University, UK). A professional engineer and a professional construction project manager, he is a Fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering (SAICE) and the Water Institute, and a professional member of IMESA. Werner started his career as a bursar with LTA Construction and, after a short stint with GFJ Consulting Engineering, returned to LTA which eventually became Grinaker-LTA. Werner Joined Stefanutti Stocks in 2007, and ultimately joined the ASLA team in 2018. Throughout his career, he has had a special interest in design and construction as well as in collaborative contracting project delivery models.
Bafikile Bonke Simelane has a deep understanding of and passion for infrastructure procurement and delivery management, with over 25 years in programme and project management across all tiers of government. He has honed his skills on projects such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, ‘DOMTEX’ at OR Tambo International Airport, as well as National Treasury’s Infrastructure Delivery Improvement Programme (IDIP); the NDPWI’s Programme for Accelerated Capital Expenditure (PACE); the Neighbourhood Development Partnership Grant (NDPG), City of Tshwane; and the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI), Gauteng Department of Education. He is Past-President of Master Builders South Africa (2016-18), he is a former Vice-President of the South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions (SACPCMP), and a past Board Member of the Council for the Built Environment (CBE). He sits on the WCPDF Management Committee and the cidb’s National Stakeholder Forum. He is Deputy Chairperson of the Development Action Group (DAG). He is a Council Member of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry, sitting on the Vetting as well as the Social and Ethics Committees.
Bongani Dladla has a BSc Engineering: Civil Engineering (Cum Laud – University of KwaZulu-Natal) and a MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development (University of Cambridge, UK). As a civil engineer, he has dedicated himself to the construction industry, learning about the business of construction from the ground up. He is a recognized leader with broad experience in managing complex programmes, public sector procurement and digital innovation. Dedicated to creating an environment of accountability, transparency, and consensus-building, one of his most treasured pastimes is meeting people with good ideas and exploring how to put them into practice.
Deon van Zyl holds a degree in architecture from the University of the Free State, a diploma in project management and a master’s degree in urban design from the University of Cape Town. He cut his teeth in the redevelopment of brownfield land, with exposure to land remediation, and his passion lies in development facilitation through a multi-disciplinary approach. Deon is the MD of the newly formed VORTO, a specialist development management consultancy which is part of the AL&A group of companies focused on the built environment. He has been the Chairperson of the WCPDF since 2011 and is a regular industry commentator, informed by various development industry sub-sectors aligned with the WCPDF.
Gareth Morgan has a MSc Environmental Change and a MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (University of Oxford, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar). He is also an Archbishop Tutu Fellow and an Aspen Fellow. He has been in his current position since July 2022, and leads a range of teams including Organisational Effectiveness and Innovation, Policy and Strategy, Communications, Performance Management, Resilience and Corporate Project, Programme and Portfolio Management. Morgan was previously the Director of Resilience where he performed strategic roles in both the Day Zero drought response and more recently in the pandemic response. Prior to joining the City, Morgan was a Member of Parliament for nine years. His legislative interests included climate change and water.
Dr Michele Gratz graduated as a medical doctor at the University of Witwatersrand. She has a Diploma in Anaesthetics as well as a BCom and BCom Honours majoring in Business Management. Gratz has extensive local government experience spanning 22 years, having served as both Director Health as well as Municipal Manager at George Municipality. She also served as Municipal Manager at Mossel Bay Municipality for seven years. Gratz’s vision is to make George the leading city in the country based on the principles of excellent service delivery, first-class infrastructure and innovation.
Joggie Scholtz is one of the longest servincg Municipal Managers in South Africa, currently in his fouth consecutive term with Swartland Municipality. Under his leadership since 2006, the municipality has achieved significant successes in clean audits, service delivery, infrastructure upgrades, maintenance and new developments, with the expansion and maintenance of bulk infrastructure prioritised. In addition to its average 92.6% capital expenditure over the last eight years, it has over the past 14 years achieved 100% expenditure on the implementation of MIG. The municipality has gained reputation among investors for its accessibility and persistent effort to attract and facilitate local investment and job opportunities. Conducive to this has been the “cutting of red tape” best practice established to fast track building plan approvals, presently averaging around 14 days/plan, and by establishing the required digital platforms required to achieve this.
Ben Peters has B.Eng and B.Eng Hons degrees in Industrial Engineering (University of Pretoria), an MBA (Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland) and is enrolled for a PhD (University of Stellenbosch). Exposed to multiple project, programme and portfolio management frameworks and lifecycles, his 17-year career spans across mining, oil and gas, telecoms, food, health care and government sectors, as well as construction, IT and business improvement industries. Among his accolades are those with the City of Cape Town, namely Employee of the year within the Corporate Services Directorate (2018) and both the Executive Mayor Champion Award and City Manager Special Recognition Award (2022). He was programme manager on Cape Town’s Water Resilience Programme which received Bronze for Innovate Project of the Year and, under his Directorship, the Corporate Project Management Office won Gold as South African PMO of the year (2020), and African PMO of the year (2021). Ben is a member of the South African Institute of Industrial Engineering and Project Management Institution, President for the International Project Management Association South Africa and Head of the International Project Management Smarter Cities Special Interest Group.
Harry Singleton has a B.Eng Tech degree, and worked for the Port Elizabeth Municipality until 1997, when he joined the Aveng Group as Area Manager of Grinaker Housing Eastern Cape. In 2005, he moved to Engineering & Projects Company, leading the group into the water sector via an acquisition of Keyplan – a world leader in the treatment of acid mine drainage, building southern Africa’s largest sea water desalination plant in Namibia. In 2012, he joined Murray & Roberts, as an executive, to establish Murray & Roberts Water focusing on water and wastewater treatment. After initially executing mine water treatment projects in Africa, Harry led the acquisition of Aquamarine Water Treatment and later secured the exclusive license for Organica waste water treatment. After successfully demonstrating Organica’s technology in eThekwini Municipality, it was put into commercial operation in the V&A Waterfront’s shopping centre to enable treated effluent to be used for toilet. In 2022, Harry was also became the executive responsible for Murray & Roberts Solar PV (Commercial & Industrial) business.
Braam Snyman is the head of Business Development at IMPOWER. With a number of years in the Renewable Energy industry, Braam plays an advisory role to clients in the commercial and industrial sectors who would like to invest in solar and battery systems. This includes a wide range of clients such as manufacturers, retailers, data centers, and shopping centers with high heating or cooling requirements that drive energy consumption. Braam’s expertise sees clients through the full development life cycle of a project, from the consulting phase to commissioning. Career highlights include a cutting-edge grid-tied solution for Capitec Bank with a 500kWh battery solution as well as advising on multiple award-winning solar projects.
Michael Killick has a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, a Master’s in business administration (Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town), and a honours degree in business economics. With 33 years of experience in planning, design, construction supervision, project management and financial analysis of bulk water supply and water resource infrastructure, he has been involved with integrated water resource management (IWRM) and related project coordination and management of a wide range of water resource and bulk water infrastructure related studies. Killick has also been responsible for the development of bulk infrastructure masterplans and water resource and catchment management strategies. He previously worked for Aurecon Consulting Engineers (now Zutari) as a Technical Director and Global Client Director for Water. In this current role, Killick is responsible for Bulk Water Supply to the City, Wastewater Treatment and Catchment Stormwater and River Management.
Shane Prins holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cape Town, and a Master in Business Leadership from the UNISA School of Business Leadership. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the energy industry, spanning across the electricity as well as the oil and gas sectors. His early career was spent at Eskom, where he held various roles in the power system planning and operations arena, as well as project development. His transition to oil and gas was completed with a move to Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil producer, followed by a two-year stint at energy giant Sasol. Prins then joined the City of Cape Town where he is currently tasked with the development of new power generation assets for the City, the implementation of the energy efficiency programme as well as the rollout of the Independent Power Producers Procurement programme.