Chairman | Sidwell | Mtetwa | |
Honorary Secretary | Khayakazi | Dioka | |
Honorary Treasurer | Antony | Falconer | |
Full Member | Jana | Breedt | |
Full Member | John | van Coller | |
Full Member | Kevin | Leask | |
Full Member | Kurt | Dedekind | |
Full Member | Mokwape | Lekganyane | |
Full Member | Philip | Konig | |
Technical Chair | Sharon | Mushabe | |
Co-opted Member | Pat | Naidoo | |
Co-opted Member | Nishal | Mahatho | |
Co-opted Member | Naresh | Hari | |
Co-opted Member – Web | Mashilo | Moabelo | |
Past Chairman | Prince | Moyo | |
Past Chairman | Rob | Stephen | |
WIE Representative | Neo | Mapapanyane | |
NGN Representative | Nadia | Mahomed |
Sidwell Mtetwa
Chairman
I have vast experience within CIGRE and have played various roles and made contributions in technical and non-technical documents. I understand the environment both in the international and national spaces. I have served as a technical coordinator and led the team that organized the first ever online Regional Conference in 2021. I contributed also to the World Bank – CIGRE Africa WG. I am confident my knowledge, energy, and commitment will advance the organization to reach more engineers and make significant impact in the engineering space within the Southern Region and internationally.
Khayakazi Dioka
Hon Secretary
BSc Elec Eng (University of Cape Town), MSc Eng (UCT), Khayakazi Dioka is a Corporate Specialist for Transformers and Reactors within Power Delivery Engineering at Eskom, the state power utility of Eskom in South Africa, where she has been since 2003. Her main responsibilities revolve around Transformer failure investigations, technical quality inspections, design reviews, specifications, HV testing, maintenance, repairs, and tenders technical evaluations.
Antony Falconer
Hon Treasurer
36 years in the electricity supply industry, including 23 years in senior positions within the power cable sector. I have significant experience, both national and international, within the power cable sector of the electricity supply industry, focussing on the design, manufacture and use of power cables, and have served on and occasionally lead many committees within CIGRE, the IEC and SABS. Within the CIGRE national committee as I have filled the role of Treasurer for two terms, one for 4 years and one for 2 years.
Jana Breedt
Full Member
Jana Breedt is a passionate and committed Industrial Engineer specializing in demand forecasting within the power industry. She began her career at Eskom, progressing through various roles in quality management, project management, and business analysis before focusing on forecasting in Eskom Transmission Grid Planning. Jana holds degrees in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pretoria and a Master's from the University of Stellenbosch. She is a registered Professional Engineer with ECSA and an active member of several professional organizations, including SAIIE, IIF, and CIGRE. Jana's research focuses on the integration of renewable technology and its impact on power system forecasting. She has contributed to numerous CIGRE workgroups and will convene a forecasting workgroup for the Paris 2024 session.
John van Coller
Full Member
Professor John Van Coller is an Associate Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, holding a BSc(Eng), MSc(Eng), and PhD. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, a Member of IET, and a Distinguished Member of Cigre. With extensive experience in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, project supervision, and involvement in numerous Eskom and industrial projects, he has significantly contributed to the field of High Voltage Engineering. Professor Van Coller has served as the National Representative for Cigre Study Committees C4 and D1 and is actively involved in current Cigre Working Groups C4.44 and C4.68, providing valuable technical support.
Kevin Leask
Full Member
30 years in the electricity Transmission and Distribution industry Technical advisor to development projects in the energy sector in the Southern African region Extensive experience in planning of transmission power networks, particularly in Southern Africa Technical advisor in the REIPPP programme for SA from 2010 to 2016 Attended Paris Sessions in 2008, 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2018
Kurt Dedekind
Full Member
Kurt Dedekind graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Durban, South Africa in 1984. He joined the national electricity utility, ESKOM in 1985 and has since worked there in various technical and operational roles. He currently heads up the Network Planning Centre of Excellence for the Distribution Division where he has been very active in the energy transition related aspects in the country. He has been an active member of CIGRE, where he has participated in several working groups, including convening the working group on Rural Electrification. He was elected as the Secretary for the joint CIGRE-World Bank Africa Working Group in 2018 and assumed the role of the CIGRE C6 Study Committee Chair in 2022.
Mokwape Lekganyane
Full Member
Mokwape Lekganyane has 15 years of experience in the power industry and is the Senior Manager for eThekwini Electricity’s HV Projects Branch. She previously worked at Eskom Transmission as an Assistant Engineer. Mokwape holds BSc and MSc degrees in Engineering from UKZN, a Certificate in Technology Leadership, a Certificate in Advanced Project Management, and an MBA from UCT. She is a registered Professional Engineer with ECSA, a Senior Member of SAIEE, and a member of Cigre and the Golden Key International Honor Society. Mokwape serves on the Cigre SA Executive Board, SAIEE KZN Committee, and as an ECSA Reviewer/Moderator/Assessor. She has authored several research publications for local and international conferences.
Philip König
Full Member
Philip König is a registered Professional Engineer with ECSA in South Africa, and a Chartered Engineer with Engineers Ireland. He has more than 30 years’ experience in the Electricity Power Transmission and Distribution industry. During this period, he was employed by utilities, consultants, construction contractors as well as Suppliers/Manufacturers.
Sharon Mushabe
Technical Chair
Sharon Mushabe has a BSc (Elec Eng) and a MSc (Elec Eng) from the University of Cape Town. She is a registered Professional Engineer with ECSA and is also member of the SAIEE Central Gauteng Centre. She has been employed by Eskom since 2003 and has transmission line design and construction experience in Distribution and Transmission. In her current capacity as a Chief engineer in Line Engineering Services Department, her main roles include design support to field operators during maintenance and emergency incidents, overhead line performance and general overhead line design. She is also responsible for management of the overhead line health index processes in Transmission. She is the Customer Advisory Group (CAG) representative for Africa in the CIGRE B2 Study Committee.
Pat Naidoo
Co-opted Member
Dr. Naidoo is Professor of Research in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg. He is a Fellow of the South African Academy of Engineers, a Fellow of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers, a senior member of IEEE and a member of IET and Cigre. He is a registered professional engineer and a specialist consultant in electrical energy and power systems. His current research interests are in Sustainable Development as driven by the Green Economy and Industrial Revolution 4.0. Dr. Naidoo’s four decade industrial career was with the Electricity Supply Commission of South Africa; from Engineer in Training to Non-Executive Director.
Nishal Mahatho
Co-opted Member
Nishal Mahato holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where is also a Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Electrical Engineering. He is in the employment of Eskom, Research, Testing & Development since 1996 and currently holds the position of Senior Specialist, specializing in insulator research. He is a member on a number of CIGRE working group (B2.57, B2,80, D1,58, D1.59, D1,72), and is convenor of WG D1.61 and WG B2.74, He is the South African representative for SC D1.
Naresh Hari
Co-opted Member
Naresh Hari have about 15yrs experience in Distribution Power System technologies (from 1kv to 132kv), in both primary and secondary plant design and operations. Further, Naresh Hari have 15yrs experience in implementation of Transmission technology (132kv to 765kV and 550kV DC) in Project Management role in the Group Capital environment. Naresh Hari now looking after the Design teams for Transmission Power Line, Substation Engineering, as well as Secondary Plant technologies of Protection, Telecommunication, Metering and Control Systems.
Mashilo Moabelo
Co-opted Member
Mashilo Moabelo is a professionally registered electrical engineer with over a decade of experience at Eskom Holdings, specializing in transformers and reactors. Mashilo holds a BSc(Eng) in Electrical Engineering and is a Professional Engineer registered with ECSA. He is an active member of CIGRE, serving as the CIGRE SA NGN Chairman, CIGRE SC A2 NGN Liaison, and CIGRE SA Executive Board Member (NGN Representative). He is also involved in various working groups, including Working Group A2.68 and the NGN Task Force on speeding up the energy transition. Additionally, Mashilo has been providing technical admin support to CIGRE SA since 2019 and is the webmaster for the CIGRE website.
Prince Moyo
Past Chairman
Prince Moyo is the General Manager for Power Delivery Engineering at Eskom, where he has worked since 1997. He oversees commodity specifications and standards for transmission and distribution, infrastructure designs, construction execution, and operational support. His teams cover substations, overhead lines, protection and control, high voltage plant, planning GIS, design base, and project integration. Prince's experience includes standardization, project design, project management, and operations. He is a member of the C1 Study Committee, stream leader in the C1.34 working group, and chairman of Cigre SANC. Prince also serves on the South African committee of the IEC and is a Council Member of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers. He is a registered professional engineer with ECSA.
Rob Stephen
Past Chairman
Dr. Rob Stephen was born in Johannesburg South Africa in 1957. He graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1979 with a BSc Electrical Engineering degree. He joined Eskom the electrical utility in 1980. He holds both MSc, MBA degrees as well as a PhD in Objective determination of optimal transmission line designs. He is currently the Master Specialist in the Technology Group in Eskom and is responsible for distribution and transmission technologies of all voltages covering both AC and DC.. He is past chairman of Cigre SC B2 on overhead lines, and has held positions in Cigre of Special reporter and working group chairman and has authored over 100 technical papers. He was recently elected President of Cigre in 2016.
Neo Mapapanyane
WiE Representative
Neo Mapapanyane is a registered professional engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). She holds a Master of Engineering (M.Eng) degree in Electrical from the North-West University. She is a Chief Engineer at Eskom, System Operator Business unit. Neo is well versed in the power system protection of the transmission and sub-transmission network in Eskom. She is a member of the CIGRE B5 Study committee, CIGRE Women in Energy and CIGRE Next Generation Network (NGN). In addition, Neo is the SAIEE Central Gauteng Centre committee member. She is the 2021 Eskom’s Millenial Leader, a young woman who makes an impact through her personal involvement in business, community projects and volunteering.
Nadia Mahomed
NGN Representative
I am a successful electrical engineering graduate with more than 5 years postgraduate experience within the power industry. I have successfully completed a 2 year Engineer in Training programme at a power utility within the Transmission and Distribution power network with exposure to Power Transformers, HVDC and FACTS and Cable systems as the Engineer In Training of the year awardee. Completed a 1 year internship and a 2 year Technical Training Programme at one of the leading Original Equipment Manufacturers, training and supporting in roles such as; Engineering Offers, Technical support to Procurement and Project Management.