Phosa, Croukamp speaks at Chamber

The Chamber scored a major coup when they secured Matthews Phosa as the guest speaker for the evening.

Other celebrities in attendance will be well-known political analyst and commentator Dr Piet Croukamp and the CEO of Sacci South Africa, Alan Mukoki.

The focus will also be on several prestigious awards to be presented on the evening.

It includes Phalaborwa’s Business Person of the Year, The secretary/receptionist of the year, newsmaker of the year and service excellence awards.

For more information and to book for this prestigious event, Marianna Seyffert can be contacted on 083 341 2279.

Here follows a brief profile on Matthews Phosa:

Dr Mathews Phosa, an attorney by profession, is a leading figure in South Africa’s business and political world.

Dr Phosa opened the first black law practice in Nelspruit in 1981 and worked as a partner until 1985 when he was forced into exile.

While in exile, he underwent political and military training, after which he became the Regional Commander for Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) the then military wing of the African National Congress (ANC) in Mozambique.

He was one of four ANC members to be sent back to South Africa in 1990 to start the negotiation process with the former government where after he played a prominent role in the processes to establish a peaceful transition to a fully democratic South Africa.

Dr Phosa was appointed as the first Premier of Mpumalanga Province in 1994 by the late President,

Mr Nelson Mandela. Following the elections in 1999, he resigned his seat in parliament in favour of focusing his attention for a career in business.

Dr Phosa re-entered the political arena in 2007 when he was elected Treasurer-General of the ANC until December 2012.

Dr Phosa is Chairperson of Special Olympics South Africa and Innibos Arts Festival .

Commercially Dr Phosa sits on a number of listed company boards (Value Group, Waterberg Coal Company, Jubilee Platinum, Renaissance Capital and Bauba Resources) as well as a number of unlisted entities (Mathews Phosa & Associates, SMEC South Africa, Hans Merensky Holdings and Du Toit Smuts & Mathews Phosa Attorneys – to name a few).

He also sits as a trustee to the Afrikaans Handels Instituut (AHI).

Dr Phosa was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to transformation and empowerment at the 12th Oliver Empowerment Awards ceremony on 26 April 2013.

Dr Phosa attended the 25th anniversary celebrations of the signing of the Brazzaville Accord on Peace in Southern Africa in Brazaville in February 2014 where he was awarded the Congolese Order of Merit[i].

Dr Phosa attended the Congress of Vienna 2015 which saw a host of attendees from various countries around the world reflect on global diversity – October 2015.

While in exile Dr Phosa taught Afrikaans at one of the schools in Mozambique.

He has two anthologies in Afrikaans poetry to his name under the title “Deur die oog van ‘n naald” – some of which have been prescribed in the school curriculum for our national matric syllabus. Dr Phosa launched an English anthology called “Chants of Freedom” on 2 June 2015.