Ishmael Mkhabela (Chairperson)
Community Organizer
A former school teacher and now chairperson of the JICP, Ish is the deputy president of the SA Institute of Race Relations, and chairperson of the Steve Biko Foundation. He brings his experience and knowledge of company and government law and best practices to the JICP. He serves on many boards of trusts and companies, and is a founder and former president of Azapo and the Witwatersrand Network for the Homeless. He is the recipient of several awards, in particular from the Johannesburg Development Agency for his contribution and commitment to the Joburg inner city. A Joburger by birth, he says simply: “I love Johannesburg! It remains a city of opportunities and big dreams.” He is passionate about working with communities to create sustainable solutions that change people’s lives, as well as promoting the city’s social and economic fortunes. “I would like to continuously promote, to the best of my ability, a functional and dynamic city that embraces and values the social, historical, intellectual, technical and economic capital and diversity of its people.”
Nicholas Barnes
Jozi Housing
Nic has a cross section of skills over 25 years which include working in small businesses, his own ventures, and in large corporates. Since 2012 he has been CEO at Jozi Housing, which owns and manages over 3 000 inner city residential units and 20 000m² of retail and commercial space. Here he has found his passion: inner city rejuvenation and affordable housing, and to see “bad buildings refurbished and brought back to life – the homes it provides, the people it employs, the taxes it pays, the communities that develop”. And what is even more fulfilling for him is to see precincts and neighbourhoods being created. “It’s good to be part of addressing a national need, to be genuinely striving to provide a good service and constantly improving the environment, to build the communities – this is a worthy thing to be doing.”
Katherine Cox (Alternate)
TUHF21
Katherine is a passionate urbanist with 20 years’ experience in urban management (Johannesburg, eThekwini and Cape Town), development planning and affordable housing. She has a particular interest in affordable housing impact and local economic development in an urban regeneration context. She has worked
for NPCs, as a partner in a successful development consulting company, project managed and implemented development for private sector developers, and sits on advisory boards for various projects and initiatives. Katherine currently works for TUHF21 in R&D and development impact. She has a BSc (Hon) in Urban Planning from Wits University as well as certificates in property and development related sectors.
Xolani Dlwati
Penny Foley
Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator
Penny is the Chief Community Partnerships Officer at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, having worked in the South African development sector since 1989. Her areas of focus are youth development, employment creation, human rights and working with civil society organisations to increase their impact.
Connect with Penny on LinkedIn
Dale Jeevanantham (Alternate)
Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator
“My hopes for the inner city are very much in line with the JICP vision for the inner-city. I want an inner-city that is Safe, Welcoming and Clean. As a built environment professional, I’m a Quantity Surveyor by training, all things construction, development and architectural have always held an interest for me. Over the last few years I’ve started to be drawn to purpose built communities, which is a concept I first heard about from an organisation of the same name. I sincerely believe that lasting change in communities can only be achieved by providing an holistic approach to programme design. In the case of purpose built communities it’s: mixed income housing, community wellness and an education pipeline. If you look at the JICP vision you’ll see similarities and it’s for this reason that I believe the JICP has a pivotal role to play in the revitalisation of the Inner City.”
Connect with Dale on LinkedIn
Christopher Lund
Chris has a background in human resources, finance, administration and strategic planning, but his overriding passion is for the homeless, where he has served in various capacities for their betterment for the past 25 years. He admits to having had a passion for Joburg for the same number of years. His other passion is housing – he is the director and company secretary of the Madulammoho Housing Association, which has grown its housing units from 67 to 2 100 over the past 13 years. His desire is to see the city’s poorer citizens decently housed, and to that end he is in the process of establishing the Johannesburg Homeless Network. The network strives to connect citizen volunteers, non-governmental and faith-based organisations, researchers, and government departments, in an effort to raise awareness and support to the homeless. Besides raising funding, it aims to help develop new facilities and initiate new projects on a neighbourhood basis, getting communities to help solve the homeless problem. “At heart I am a social justice guy.”
Connect with Chris on LinkedIn
Lusanda Netshitenshe
TUHF21
Lusanda is a commercial property and affordable housing professional with over 18 years of industry experience. Her direct experience includes corporate governance, property finance, property development, property management, fundraising & asset management. She has been actively involved in affordable housing policy formulation & implementation, managing housing stock, credit control; as well as tenant and community development. Lusanda holds a Master of Business Leadership from UNISA and a Master of Science in Development Planning from the University of the Witwatersrand.
With regards to Lusanda’s hopes about the inner-city:
“I have worked in both the inner-city of Johannesburg and eThekwini and have been bothered by the rapid deterioration of these areas. I hope to see inner-cities transformed into safe and clean neighborhoods where families can thrive, raise children without fear and be able to simply walk to work, schools and grocery stores within their communities without fear. I long to see an inner-city with clean parks and open green areas for kids to play and grow into well adjusted citizens of this beautiful country.”
Connect with Lusanda on LinkedIn
Rudolph Petersen (Alternate)
University of Johannesburg
With a BA in psychology, a master’s diploma in human resource management, and an MBA, Rudy is at present Senior Manager: Government and Stakeholder Relations at the University of Johannesburg. This role includes development, fundraising and community engagement. He has 24 years’ experience in student affairs, recruitment and development at UJ, as well as lecturing experience at Unisa. His particular passion is universities and development – his PhD thesis is entitled The role of universities in regional economic development. This is especially important as he is based in Johannesburg, the economic hub of South Africa. As to what drives him in particular, Rudy says: “The success of regions globally.”
