HERBERT MKHIZE TAKES ON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR POSITION

Taking up the post of Executive Director of Nedlac two weeks before Nedlac's Annual Summit, Herbert Mkhize is hitting the ground running. Nedlac's Annual Summit takes place on 27 September in Johannesburg.

The Summit will provide an opportunity to introduce the new Executive Director to Nedlac's constituencies, although, with his background in the trade unions, and more recently in business, he is already known to many.

Labour delegates will remember Herbert Mkhize as Assistant General Secretary of the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers' Union (Saccawu) between 1994 and 1999. Before that, he served in the National Peace Secretariat between 1993 and 1994.

Nedlac constituencies will also have come across the new Executive Director at Nedlac itself: he was involved in several Nedlac structures, including the Management Committee and Executive Council, as well as serving as the labour convenor in the Trade and Industry Chamber. He served as one of the members of the Labour Commission task team in 1996, was part of the Government delegation to the first WTO Ministerial meeting in Singapore, and was also part of the Nedlac delegation to investigate the skills development framework in Germany Since moving into the corporate world in 1999, he has worked as a Manager, Consultant, Project manager and a change agent at a corporate level in Old Mutual. He joined Old Mutual soon after the Old Mutual Board endorsed the need to develop and implement an integrated corporate citizenship and transformation programme for the group.

The new Executive Director is an experienced negotiator, and has undergone extensive training in mediation and arbitration skills, conflict resolution as well as organisational development and administration training, an Advanced Course in Leadership run jointly by the UCT's Graduate school of Business and the London Business School. At Old Mutual, he was responsible for managing a budget of some R11.5 million per annum.

Nedlac faces a busy period going forward, with the implementation of the Growth and Development Summit agreements, as well as two Section 77 notices regarding job losses in the Clothing and Textile sector, and the plastic bags issue currently on the table, over and above all the ongoing Chamber work programme issues. Announcing his appointment, the Minister of Labour, Membathisi Mdladlana said "I believe we have chosen the strongest candidate for the position and Herbert Mkhize will make a considerable contribution to the future success of this institution. His experience in Saccawu and at Old Mutual will prove to be invaluable in developing and advancing social dialogue in South Africa". He added that Mr Mkhize would build on the excellent work performed by the previous two incumbents, Phillip Dexter and Jayendra Naidoo.