Sisters In Conversation

Tshepiso is a co-founder and director at Tumbo Scott and an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa. She is a consumer protection law specialist and has experience in corporate and commercial law, competition law, labour law, constitutional law, public interest litigation, telecommunications law and dispute resolution. Tshepiso completed her articles of clerkship at leading South Afric...

Khanya Mase is a fierce defender for human rights and is a development practitioner who has 4 years post-undergraduate experience working in various fields including non-governmental organisations, inter-governmental organisations, national human rights commissions, academia, and semi corporate within the mining and extractives environment. By profession she works as a Company Secretary at the Sou...

Sinenhlanhla Mthembu holds a bachelor's degree in Law and is an Admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa. Whilst employed by a law firm, she realized how unhappy she was in that environment, which was not doing any good for her mental health. She tried looking for other legal related jobs and didn't succeed. Resigning and going back home was not an option nor was staying at her previous...

Thabile Gcabashe was born in Pietermaritzburg, Kwa-Zulu Natal. She studied at Wits University and obtained her LLB cum laude. Thereafter, Thabile completed her articles at a boutique law firm in Sandton and after working there for 2,5years she was approached by another law firm in Sandton where she now works as an associate with her main areas of practise being commercial litigation with a specifi...

Lethabo Sithole is an independent legal consultant and researcher in the international trade law and investment law areas of practice. She has a combination of private sector and policy experience. In recent years, she has worked closely with trade finance institutions and development organisations on strategies to enhance intra-African trade and investment flows and during the COVID-19 pandemic,...

Manaileng is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa. She has had an illustrious career having represented Heads of State, politicians, world renowned businessmen and women, multi-national corporations, government, state owned entities and entertainers (musicians, actors, producers, influencers and content creators). She has worked in both private practice and corporate, including A...

Mahashane is an Admitted Attorney and a legal tech entrepreneur. She holds an LLB from Wits, an LLM and Competition Law Certificate from University of Pretoria, an MBA (Dean's Merit List) from Wits Business School, and a Certificate in Business Strategy (Awarded Top Student) from the University of La Verne (USA). She has more than 10 years working experience in the legal field, mostly covering the...

Bohlale heads up the Graduate Recruitment and Development for Bowmans law firm. She studied for her BCom undergraduate and Honours degree at Wits University and majored in Human Resource Management and Industrial Pschology. Her career started at a small recruitment agency and further progressed through to Investec Bank, Standard Bank CIB (Corporate & Investment Banking). She is currently at Bowman...

Letlhogonolo Nthodi holds a BA Law and English Literature degree from Wits University where she is currently pursuing her postgraduate LLB. She holds membership in the Golden Key Honors Society and served as a committee member for the period 2018-2019. During her tenure as the Professional Development director, she organised a number of events including a thinkers symposium aimed at discussing you...

Kundi Ramashia is the only black female and youngest Family Advocate in the Office of The Family Advocate, Johannesburg. Having begun her career at one of the top rated international Law Firms in the country (Hogan Lovells), Kundi has not only practiced as an attorney in private practice; but also spread her wings as a Supervising Attorney at a National legal NGO (ProBono. Org) as well as working...

Gundo Nevhutanda is a corporate and commercial attorney notary and conveyancer. She obtained her Bcom Law, LLB and LLM degrees from the University of Pretoria and is currently pursuing a PhD from the same university. In 2017, she was named by the Law Society of the Northern Provinces as the youngest black female conveyancer to be admitted at the time, and in 2019 she was named by the Mail and Guar...

Peal is an employment and labour lawyer and recently took up an in-house role as an Employee Relations Manager where she provides strategic and legal advice on dealing with various employee related matters within various business units at one of Africa’s largest banks. Prior to taking up this exciting role, Peal joined Norton Rose Fulbright, South Africa as a candidate attorney in January 2016 at...

Tanveer Jeewa is a Mauritian LLM candidate in Public Law at the University of Cape Town and a Graduate Diploma of Law student at the University of Law, UK. She is currently a reporter for the International Law in Domestic Courts at Oxford University Press and a managing editor and researcher at the African Legal Information Institute (AfricanLII). She was previously a law clerk at the Constitution...

Athi Jara is a Director and Head of the Mining and Environmental Law Department at Gwina Attorneys, a corporate law firm based in Johannesburg, South Africa.   She holds an LLB Degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and an LLM Degree (with merit) from the University of Sussex, United Kingdom. She has over 10 years’ experience in Mining and Environmental Law.   She has comple...

Thando Gumede is an advocate pupil, serving her practical vocational training as part of the first cohort of pupils at the Pius Langa School of Advocacy of the Pan African Bar Association of South Africa. This is the first Pro-Black and Equitable Bar Association and school on the continent. She obtained her LLB degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2016. During her tenure as an undergra...

Lerato Thahane is a Partner at leading African law firm, Bowman Gilfillan Inc. She practices in the Corporate Department of her firm, specialising in Mergers and Acquisitions. She has advised private and public companies on a number of domestic and cross border acquisitions and disposals, empowerment transactions, general corporate matters, commercial matters, group restructurings and unbundling o...

Safura Abdool Karim is a public health lawyer and senior researcher at the SAMRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science (PRICELESS SA), Wits School of Public Health. Safura completed her LLB at the University of Cape Town and thereafter did her LLM in Global Health Law at Georgetown University. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal on constitutional...

PS: please be patient with the sound - technology let us down and re-recording would have tampered with the organic nature of the interview. **** Seadimo Tlale is a 26 year old justice innovator who hails from Thabang township in the Free State. She has merged her background in law and media to advocate for social justice with a focus on intersectionality. Her story starts with chess. At the age o...

Ayanda Vana is the Chief Operating Officer at KHULA App a tech startup which is a fast-growing B2B e-commerce marketplace for farmers in Africa. Ayanda obtained her Bachelor of Social Science and LLB from Rhodes University, thereafter she completed her articles at a law firm. She is currently reading for her Masters in Law at the University of the Witwatersrand. In Grade 11, Ayanda co-founded an i...

Thembi Mpungose-Niklas is a legal practitioner currently employed as Head of Synchronisation Licensing (Africa) and Legal Manager (Nigeria) at Universal Music Group (Africa), where she manages a division that licenses music and related works to various brands/companies all across Africa, with the main focus territories being South Africa and Nigeria. She also works as a legal and business affairs...

Nako Bo Tebele Esq. is a practicing Attorney, Conveyancer and Notary Public of the Courts of Botswana. She graduated from the University of Botswana in October 2016 and joined Ramalepa Attorneys to date. Nako is a born leader, her duties as both the Practice Manager and a Senior Attorney with the Firm are fulfilled effortlessly. She is a strong debt collection attorney and leads the division in th...

Wela Mlokoti was born and grew up in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. Her family moved to Bloemfontein when she was in Grade 10 and she completed the remainder of her high school education at Eunice Girls School, the top maths and science school in the Free State at the time. Wela has an LLB from the University of Cape Town which she received on a full bursary from the Free State provincial government...

The “BECOMING” series is inspired by Michelle Obama’s memoir. In the memoir, Michelle gives us an honest and authentic account of her life unplugged. While I am of the view that we can all relate to Michelle’s story, I thought it would be important to have a Becoming series where South African women share their stories. The aim is to give girls and women hope by sharing our unique stories and by o...

Zama Shoba is an Associate Designate at a boutique law firm in Sandton. Before commencing her articles in Johannesburg, Zama obtained her LLB degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. During her articles Zama’s main focus was commercial law which led her to pursuing a certificate in Advanced Company Law 1&2 from the Witwatersrand Nelson Mandela Institute. Zama has also been an amazing contributor...

Khanyi Zungu is an Executive Group Head of Legal at a coal mining company. She specializes in corporate and commercial law with a specific focus on mergers and acquisitions, deal structuring, project finance and governance. Khanyi is one of the youngest mining executives in South Africa, working and having worked on a number of groundbreaking transactions with a particular interest in energy, mini...