Our people

The people who work for MIET AFRICA are its greatest asset. They drive the vision and mission with passion, dedication and professionalism.

We have a team of over 450 skilled and committed staff members, of whom approximately 86% are female. We also utilize the services of highly experienced and competent contract staff and expert consultants as the need arises.

MIET AFRICA’s work is underpinned by a core set of values that are constantly re-visited to ensure that every staff member strictly adheres to its professional Code of Conduct. This includes adherence to SEAH policies and Child Safeguarding policies to ensure safety of those we work with.

Strong governance

MIET AFRICA’s Board of Trustees, under the leadership of the chairperson, Ms Thandi Chaane, governs the organization, drafts policy and determines our strategic direction. In addition, the Board oversees the maintenance of adequate accounting records and the preparation and integrity of the annual financial statements. It also ensures that the organization has sound internal financial controls, and that the audited annual financial statements are prepared in accordance with the accounting policies of the Trust.

An internal audit and risk committee oversees MIET AFRICA’s finances and addresses issues of governance and risk. Currently, our external auditors (which are rotated periodically) are Baker Tilley. We have always received unqualified audit reports, and our annual financial statements continue to meet the reporting requirements of all funding partners.

Thandi Chaane Appointed as MIET AFRICA’s Board Chair

It is with great pleasure that MIET AFRICA’ announces the appointment of Thandi Chaane as its Board Chair. Thandi’s involvement with MIET AFRICA spans almost three decades, serving as deputy Chairperson of the Board of Trustees and interim CEO. Thandi takes over from  Prof John Volmink who served as Board Chair since the organization’s inception and has now retired although remains as a Board Member. He congratulated Thandi on this important leadership role. “We are sure that all funders, partners and staff will join us in congratulating Thandi as she takes on this important leadership role and will extend her our full support.”

Thandi Chaane comes from a family of teachers, and for over 10 years was a teacher herself at various high schools in Soweto. She has been involved in numerous development projects and organizations, including as co-founder of READ Educational Trust, a South African NGO, and was later the Director Deputy General of Education in the Gauteng Government. She is currently Chairperson of advertising agency, M&C Saatchi Abel. She is also Chairperson of St Mary’s School for Girls.

She serves on numerous Boards, including as member of Council on the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa. Thandi has extensive experience in training, facilitation, mediation, project management, change management and business management. She is currently involved in leadership and development programmes throughout the African continent and is an independent expert for the National School for Government and was awarded the Woman of Purpose Award by Tribute Magazine in 2000.

Meet our Board

j-volmink-crop Prof John Volmink

Chairperson of MIET AFRICA

He was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, before commencing his academic career at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. He completed a PhD in Mathematics at Cornell University in the USA, and after almost a decade in the USA, returned to Southern Africa in 1990.

He held various academic and other positions, including Campus Vice-Principal at the then University of Natal, Durban and later Pro-Vice Chancellor. He has also been centrally involved in curriculum reform in post-Apartheid South Africa and has been asked by all four Ministers of Education to play a leading role in the transformation of education in the new South Africa. He served as the Chairperson of Umalusi Council for four years, the statutory body that monitors and improves the quality of general and further education and training in South Africa, and more recently the CEO of the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit (NEEDU). He has also been involved in a Leadership Development Programme for Members of Parliament.

Aside from his involvement in MIET AFRICA as chairperson, he sits on the Boards of several other South African NGOs involved in education, health and community upliftment.

b-otlhogile-crop Prof Bojosi Otlhogile

Bojosi Otlhogile is a lawyer and retired academic, born in Serowe, Botswana, and educated in Botswana, Swaziland (now Eswatini), Scotland, and England. He obtained his PhD in law from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1990. He worked for the University of Botswana for 37 years holding various positions including Head of Law, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and, for eight years, that of Vice Chancellor.

He has served on boards of several state-owned enterprises, listed private companies, universities governing councils, and non-state actors.

He has received awards and recognition from various countries including the Presidential Order for Meritorious Service (PMS) from Botswana, Officier de L’Ordre National du Merit (ONM) from France, and LLD (hc) from Dalhousie University, Canada.

He currently serves as Chairperson at the Botswana University of Business Sciences Pty Ltd t/a; as Chairperson for the Botswana Accountancy College; Chairperson for  Mosokelatsebeng Cellular Services Pty Ltd; and director for Oxygas Pty Ltd, and Bryte Insurance Company Botswana Ltd.

r-jaravaza-crop Rindai Jaravaza

Rindai Jaravaza is currently a member of the Institute of Directors: Zimbabwe Chapter. His past directorships include education, publishing, manufacturing, agro-processing, financial services, stock trading, asset management and trusts.

Palesa Tyobeka

Palesa Tyobeka trained at the University of Fort Hare as a high school teacher. She holds a BEd from UNISA, a Diploma in TESOL from University of London and an MA TEFL from Reading University in the UK. She began her teaching career at Ohlange High School in Durban.

She worked for the Education Information Center of the Institute of Race Relations from 1980 and in 1983 joined the Department of Education as a curriculum advisor. She later became the head of the English Curriculum Advisory Services for the then Lebowa Department of Education.

In 1995, she joined the management team of the Department of Education as a director under the new democratic regime and was part of the first team of education managers appointed to develop the founding policies of a new Department of Education.

Her various portfolios in the national Department of Education have included branch head of General Education and Training, head of the Planning, Development and Oversight Unit and branch head of District Development and Support.

She retired from the DBE in October 2019 after serving as a deputy director general for nineteen years. She currently serves as:

  • Chairperson of the Education Sector Committee of the National Commission for UNESCO in South Africa
  • Board Member of MIET AFRICA
  • Board Member of Umlambo Foundation
Relebohile Moletsane 

Relebohile (Lebo) Moletsane is a full professor and the JL Dube Chair in Rural Education in the School of Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She holds a PhD in Education from Indiana University, Bloomington. As part of her role as Chair in rural education, she has worked in South African rural schools and communities, focusing on teacher development around such issues as poverty alleviation, HIV & AIDS, gender inequality and gender-based violence as barriers to education and development.

Much of her work focuses on addressing sexual violence with girls and young women in rural communities. As part of this, she has been involved in a number of research initiatives and is co-editor of the 2018 book, “Disrupting Shameful Legacies: Girls and Young Women Speak Back Through the Arts to Address Sexual Violence”. 

Lebo was the 2012 winner of the Distinguished Women in Science (Humanities) Award presented by the National Department of Science and Technology and in 2014, an Echidna Global Scholar at Brookings Institutions’ Centre for Universal Education, where she completed a research report on sexual and reproductive health education.

l-chachine-crop Lucas Fazine Chachine

Lucas Fazine Chachine was born and raised in Mozambique.

He is a Director of Vodacom Mozambique, and is represented on a number of boards, including as chairperson of Cegraf – Sociedade Gráfica and MCS Moçambique.