Dr Brigalia Bam (Chairperson)

Educated in South Africa and abroad in teaching, social work, communications and management, Brigalia Bam has led an active public life. Her first formal employment was as a teacher and she has held a variety of posts throughout the world, which have included Africa Regional Secretary and Co-ordinator of the Women Workers’ Programme for the International Food and Allied Workers’ Association; National Executive Secretary of the World Affiliated YWCA of South Africa; Executive Programme Secretary for the Women’s Department of the World Council of Churches.

At the time of her appointment as a commissioner in 1997, Dr Bam was General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches. She serves on several public bodies, inter alia as Vice-Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission. In addition she is Founder and President of the Women’s Development Foundation and has numerous other memberships and interests. She has extensive experience in lecturing and in radio and television broadcasting and has published widely. Back to Top     Photo Gallery

Ms Thoko Mpumlwana (Deputy Chairperson)

With education degrees from the University of South Africa and the University of Natal at Pietermaritzburg already to her credit, Thoko Mpumlwana was awarded an MA in the fields of Curriculum Development and Teacher Education by Michigan State University in the United States. Her professional career has focused largely on teaching and related areas. Church and NGO involvement in the 1980s succeeded her student activities of the 1970s where her chief interests had lain with issues affecting the black community and women. Such involvement continued when she moved into formal school-teaching for the period 1983 to 1994.

Among other activities, Thoko Mpumlwana has chaired the South African Council of Churches Women's Working Group and has been active in publishing, as both author and editor. Immediately prior to her appointment to the Commission, her involvement at the Centre for Scientific Development at the Human Sciences Research Council centred on gender equity and research into women's involvement in higher education. Back to Top     Photo Gallery

Mr Fanie van der Merwe

With training and a background in Law, Fanie van der Merwe rose through the ranks of the Department of Justice, with his public service career culminating in a decade-and-a-half spent as Director-General of the Departments of Internal Affairs (now Home Affairs) and Justice and then as Head of the Constitutional Development Service and Constitutional Adviser in the Department of Constitutional Development. His role involved him in various activities that supported the transitional process to democratic government in South Africa logistically and otherwise. He was intimately involved in the negotiations leading to the signing of the Peace Accord, the establishment of the Peace Secretariat and the establishment and structuring of CODESA.

He served as a government delegate at CODESA and as a member of the two-person CODESA secretariat. He was also a delegate at the Multi-Party Negotiations that followed on CODESA. He went on to serve as a member of the two-person secretariat responsible for the administration of the Transitional Executive Council (TEC) in the period leading up to the 1994 elections. His activities at CODESA, the Multi-Party Negotiations and the TEC involved him in the geneses of both the original Independent Electoral Commission and the Electoral Act that governed the 1994 elections and his association with the Department of Constitutional Development drew him into the Local Government Elections of 1995/6. Back to Top     Photo Gallery

Mr Terry Tselane

	Although he spent the first years of his professional career in education, Terry Tselane soon went on to work with the Consultative Business Movement created by business to assist South African businesses with their own transformation. He was subsequently recruited by the mining sector as a communication consultant where he developed programmes for workers advising them on career development and negotiated with trade unions. His leadership skills were recognised during the struggle years as a student activist. He served in various committees such as
president of the Black Students Society at the University of the Witwatersrand, Vice-President of the Exceutive Committee of the Convocation and later as a member of the Council of the University of the Witwatersrand. With the establishment of the Electoral Commission (IEC) in 1997 he was appointed Provincial Electoral Officer for Gauteng. As head of the IEC Office in Gauteng he was instrumental in the registration of 4.8 million voters. He is presently chief executive for the Gauteng Tourism Authority. Back to Top     Photo Gallery