Advisory Group - Health Justice Initiative (HJI)

Reference Advisory Group

Our multi-disciplinary advisors group are highly regarded in and outside of South Africa and are long-standing experts in their respective fields. Drawing on their expertise in law, public health, economics, scientific advancement, policy development, activism and community engagement, the inaugural advisors will guide the HJI on its governance, strategic focus areas and partnership models.

Our Reference Advisory Group

Dr Francois Venter (Ezintsha, WITS), Phumi Mtetwa (JASS Southern Africa), Dr Francois Bonnici (Schwab Foundation), Phumeza Mlungwana (IBP-SA), Dr Els Torreele, Leslie London’(UCT), Noncedo Madubedube (Equal Education), Dr Shuaib Manjra (UCT School of Public Health), and Associate Professor Tracey Naledi (UCT Faculty of Health Sciences).

Doctor Shuaib Manjra

Medical Doctor, Senior Honorary Lecturer: UCT School of Public Health

About Shuaib

Shuaib is a sport- and occupational-medicine physician, and works with a range of non- governmental organisations, state- and private-sector institutions. He is also a senior honorary lecturer at UCT’s School of Public Health and Chairperson of the Medical Committee of the International Netball Federation. He was awarded the Helen Suzman Fellowship (Chevening) by the British Council, and the John Darwell Prize for academic achievement. He is an associate fellow and examiner of the College of Public Health Medicine (Occupational Health) (CMSA). He graduated in medicine from the University of Natal and did his post- graduate studies in sports medicine and occupational health at UCT and the University of Birmingham.

Noncedo Madubedube

General Secretary, Equal Education

About Noncedo

Noncedo Madubedube is a black, queer, feminist-Marxist and pedagogist, and social justice activist. She is currently the General Secretary of Equal Education (EE), a youth-led social movement focusing on the right to education in South Africa, she is the first woman to hold this position since the formation of EE. She first began working at EE as a tutor in 2012, then as a facilitator, and organiser. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Education with a focus on Mathematics and Language, from the University of the Western Cape (UWC). She currently also serves as a trustee of the Bookery Project. As a long-standing student activist and feminist organiser, she also co-founded the Siyakhula Project in Cape Town, focusing on learners and social cohesion.

Professor Leslie London

Chair of Public Health Medicine in the UCT School of Public Health

About Leslie

Leslie London is Chair of Public Health Medicine in the School of Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town. He served as Head of School from 2007 to 2012. He heads the Division of Public Health Medicine and is an active in the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health Research, in which he leads research in the areas of pesticide hazards and chemical neurotoxicity, farm worker occupational health, and occupational and environmental epidemiology. He also leads the School’s Health and Human Rights Programme which has a broad research and training mandate addressing health as a socio-economic right, and examining human rights and ethical issues in relation to the practice of occupational health professionals, including dual loyalty at the workplace. He has served on many committees dealing with ethics and human rights in research and professional contexts, has provided advice to the AIDS Law Project in test cases related to workplace discrimination involving HIV and is active in the People’s Health Movement South Africa.

Professor Francois Venter

Head: EZINTHSA

About Francois

Francois holds qualifications in MBCCH, MMED, FCP (SA) DTM&H and a Diploma in HIV Management. He has expertise in HIV programme implementation, including antiretroviral therapy, opportunistic infection prophylaxis, human resource allocation, data systems and service integration, having led large PEPFAR-funded HIV programmes. He has extensive training experience, supervises local and international master’s and PhD students, and is moderator for the regional Diplomas in HIV Medicine, and Sexual Health and HIV for the Southern African Colleges of Medicine. Francois leads multiple antiretroviral treatment optimisation studies, has an active interest in public sector access to HIV services, medical ethics, and human rights. He is an advisor to the South African government, Southern African HIV Clinicians Society (SAHCS) and WHO and is an active participant on numerous guidelines, policy committees and working groups which include the HIV expert review subcommittee of ARV Procurement Committee, National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs Steering Committee 2017- 2022 and the WHO Technical working group on HIV resistance.

Phumi Mtetwa

Regional Co-Director: JASS Southern Africa

About Phumi

Phumi is an activist working on issues of economic, gender and LGBTI equality and justice. She has a wealth of experience having worked in international and regional contexts particularly, Southern Africa and Ecuador. Phumi began her political life in 1985, her work included organising rent boycotts to combat Apartheid and mobilising against the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. She was part of a group of activists that worked to enshrine the rights to equality, dignity, and freedom for all in the South African Constitution. As a former Co-Secretary General of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) she contributed in bringing issues of concern in the global South to the organisation, including creating the LGBT South-South Dialogue, that strongly contributed LGBTI perspectives in the processes of the World Social Forum (WSF). She has been part of the leadership of many organisations, including the AIDS Law Project, TAC, FEDAEPS, the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project; is a co-founding member of the Masithandane End-Hate Collective. She is also Social Change Initiative Fellow (SCI).

Phumeza Mlungwana

Senior Programme Officer: IBP-SA

About Phumeza

Phumeza is a social justice activist and currently works as a Senior Programme Officer with the International Budget Partnership (IBP) South Africa. She is also completing an MPhil degree in Criminology, Law and Society at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She completed her undergraduate studies and received her honours at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). She is the former General Secretary of the Social Justice Coalition (SJC) – a leading social movement in South Africa advocating for equality, safety, and justice in working class communities. Phumeza is also a recipient of the Open Society Foundations 25th Commemorative Scholarships (awarded to 25 young scholars in SA) and is a Fellow with the Social Change Initiative (SCI). She is a co-author of ‘Fragments of Activism’. She is a trustee of both Ndifuna Ukwazi and the Khayelitsha Youth Community Centre Trust.

Associate Professor Tracey Naledi

Deputy Dean: UCT Faculty of
Health Sciences

About Tracey

Tracey Naledi is a Public Health Medicine Specialist and Associate Professor of Public Health Medicine at the University of Cape Town, Faculty of Health Sciences (UCT, FHS). Tracey has held technical and management positions in government and NGO sectors in South Africa and Botswana over the last 20 years. Her work has focussed on the translation of research into policy and practice, addressing health inequity and strengthening systems for health. She is the Deputy Dean: Social Accountability and Health Systems at the UCT FHS and was most recently the Chief Director for Health Programmes at the Western Cape Government: Health and Wellness. Tracey is the Founding Chairperson of Tekano, Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity in South Africa. She is currently completing her PhD at UCT and is a Discovery Foundation Fellow and the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation Fellow.

Doctor Els Torreele

Medical Innovation and Access Activist

About Els

Els is currently on sabbatical as a researcher and advocate for global health and social justice, in particular medical innovation that prioritises health needs and includes equitable access. She graduated as bioengineer with a PhD in biomedical sciences from the Free University Brussels, and subsequently worked on innovation policy issues related to R&D agenda-setting, patenting of research, and the commercialisation of biotechnology research. In 2000, she joined the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Access to Essential Medicines Campaign in its pioneering years as chair of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Working Group, a think tank to advance needs-driven R&D for diseases that primarily affect developing countries. A key outcome was the creation in 2003 of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a nonprofit drug development organisation which she joined as a founding team member. In 2009, she joined the Open Society Foundations in New York to lead their Access to Medicines and Innovation work. She returned to MSF in March 2017 for three years as their Access Campaign Executive Director, advocating to ensure that appropriate medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics are developed, available, affordable, and adapted to people’s needs.

Doctor François Bonnici

Director: Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

About François

François is a physician, professor, and the former Founding Director of the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship at the University of Cape Town (UCT), the first academic centre dedicated to social innovation in Africa. His experience spans over two decades of working across multiple systems, sectors, and scales, deeply rooted in context and frontline work, while also working extensively with public sector, multilaterals, civil society, and business in progressive and catalytic partnerships. Recognised as a Rhodes Scholar, an Archbishop Tutu African Leadership Fellow and serves as board member of the Tshishimani Centre for Activist Education.