National Committee

You can find details for the YWP-ZA National Committee members below.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like to get more involved!

​Calling on all Young Water Professionals: Self-Nominations for National Committee

The South African Young Water Professionals’ (YWP-ZA) Chair calls on all YWP members in Provincial Committees for self-nominations for four positions on the National Committee from June 2018 – mid 2020. The three positions are Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and Imvelisi Project Lead. As part of the National Committee, you will be exposed to the country-wide operations of the Committee. This entails overseeing various flagship projects, strategic planning, maintaining YWP-ZA’s business model to ensure financial sustainability, guiding the provincial chapters, among others.
 
To apply, please fill in the self-nomination form here: https://goo.gl/forms/JEoWKOhwCFg4ourU2 before 16 May 2018.
 
Please see attached document for more information or contact the National Chair, Nora Hanke-Louw (norahankelouw@gmail.com; 072 843 6133) or the incoming Chair, Suvritha Ramphal (suvram@dk.um; 072 930 5715).
Outgoing Lead: Nora Hanke

Nora first became fascinated with the water sector as a Master’s student in International Studies at Stellenbosch University (with brief stunts at the University of Dar-es-Salaam and the Peace Research Institute Oslo) where she looked at the hydropolitics of East Africa. For a few years she worked at the Stellenbosch University Water Institute (SUWI) as Project Manager for the AU/NEPAD Southern African Network for Water Centres of Excellence (SANWATCE) Secretariat, as well as various other programmes, such as the Development and of Rule of Law Programme (DROP). Here she gathered extensive international experience working with intergovernmental agencies and travelled most of the African continent.
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After three years, Nora zoomed into the local context of socio-economic development as Western Cape Regional Coordinator for the Energy and Water Sector Education and Training Authority (EWSETA). At the beginning of 2016, she and her husband moved to Johannesburg and she took on her new position as EWSETA Water Sector Manager (acting) in the Stakeholder Engagement and Collaboration Department. As such she is responsible for roadshows, sector engagements and coordination, events, etc.

Ever since Nora’s first encounter of the IWA YWP network in 2012, she has been a committed and active member. Having attended the International YWP Conference in Budapest, Hungary (July 2012) she returned to South Africa, started attending meetings, and was eventually elected Chair of the Third Southern African YWP Conference Organising Committee (2012-2013), and moved on to chair the provincial chapter in the Western Cape (2013-2014). From May 2014 – May 2016 she was Vice Chairperson of the National Committee where she ran the international portfolio and sat on the IWA YWP Steering Committee (Oct 2014 – Oct 2016). She was the YWP-ZA National Chairperson from 2016-2018 and has been representing YWPs on the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA)'s Board of Directors since 2016 with her term coming to an end early 2019.   

Send Nora an email
National Lead: Ms Suvritha Ramphal

Suvritha Ramphal is a Senior Research Analyst at JG Afrika and the WASH Component Coordinator for the USAID Resilient Waters Project in the SADC. She's been involved in project work that extends to water governance and planning, interpretation of regulations and implementation as tools, water licensing in South Africa, determining livelihoods projects for communities living near the Okavango Delta, international diplomacy, bilateral cooperation in water, strategic oversight, project management, opportunities analysis and business development. She is also currently completing a Masters Degree in Environmental Management at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. 

Lets share our experiences and grow together as we work towards a water resilient future. Looking forward to connecting with you at the next water conference.

​Send Suvi an email

Natonal Vice Lead: ​Ashton Busani Mpofu 

Ashton developed a deep passion for environmental sanitation at high school where he served as the president of the environmental club. This sparked his interest in pursuing a chemical engineering career. Ashton started his chemical engineering career in 2013 at Magnetech where he was actively involved in research and development projects focusing on the benefication of tailings for environmental protection and economic benefits jointly with Gravmax. He then zoomed into the water and sanitation sector in 2016 where he was part of the research team that worked on Water Research Commission (WRC) project (K5/2490) investigating the water and wastewater management in the tanning and leather finishing industry. Furthermore, he holds a MEng (chemical) degree and his  research work was on the anaerobic treatment of tannery and slaughterhouse industrial effluents for the reduction of pollutants and production of biogas. He is currently a PhD candidate at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and is researching on a WRC project (K5/2841) focusing on the development of an integrated biological system for concurrent wastewater treatment, solids reduction and resource recovery from tannery wastewater.  
Ashton attributes much of his professional development in areas of leadership, research and development, entrepreneurship, intellectual property law, project management, conferencing and networking. He hopes to work closely with YWPs and facilitate their empowerment to solve our water and sanitation woes. Young professionals remain our only hope for a greener future. 

send Aston an email

Coordination Lead: Chanelle Mulopo

Chanelle is a PhD candidate in the school of Public Health Medicine. She focuses on behavioural change interventions in communities within developing countries. Her area of interest is Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in rural settings, diffusion of innovations as well as nudging to bring about behavioural change. Currently her study focuses on WASH practices as risk factors for schistosomiasis in Ingwavuma situated in rural Kwazulu-Natal. Ms Mulopo is well vested in participatory research methodologies.
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Ms. Mulopo has an honors degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Health Promotion. She has experience in teaching the introduction to Psychology module as well as supervising post-graduate students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. 

send Chanelle an email 
 
Finance Lead: Dr Lloyd Fisher-Jeffes
 
​Lloyd developed a passion for the environment from a young age after a number of trips to game reserves with his parents. Through their support he trained and worked for a year as a field guide on a number of private reserves in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. He returned to Cape Town to study engineering with a view to protecting the environment through sustainable design. After starting his studies at the University of Cape Town in 2006 he hasn't left - having completed his bachelors, masters and PhD at the university. Through his undergraduate degree he developed a passion for water - specifically the management of water in urban areas and the impact of poor water quality on the environment.

​He has been fortunate to work on a number of research projects within the interdisciplinary Urban Water Management research unit and contributed to the development of South Africa’s first guidelines for Sustainable Drainage Systems and Water Sensitive Urban Design. These, and other projects, have helped him to develop a wide range of research related skills appropriate for interdisciplinary work. Lloyd is currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Lloyd hopes to contribute to the ongoing growth and success of YWP in the Western Cape, especially in growing the involvement with students across the province's universities.

Send Lloyd an email
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Conference Lead: Lindelani Sibiya
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Lindelani currently works for Umgeni Water. He has been involved in several applied research projects in advance water treatment, which are conducted jointly with other research institutions from South Africa and abroad. Recently he completed a research in Nanotechnology disinfection for small water treatment systems in collaboration with European research partners. He has a B. Tech degree in chemical engineering from Mangosuthu University of Technology and holds a certificate in Emerging Managers Program from University of KwaZulu Natal.
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Lindelani wishes to grow the YWP ZA network to reach and make a difference to more young professionals in the country. He believes that the future of the water sector lies also in the hands of young water professionals, as such young leader’s capacity building is vital.

Send Lindelani an email
Imvelisi Lead: Lee-Ann Modley

​Lee-Ann Modley is an Environmental Management Lecturer based at the University of Johannesburg. She completed her both Masters degree and PhD in Environmental management with a focus on aquatic ecology. She has a passion for water quality monitoring and resource management. 

Send Lee-Ann an email
Gauteng Lead: Vanessa Weber

Vanessa holds a Btech and Master’s degree from the Tshwane University of Technology in the department of Environmental, Water and Earth Sciences, Pretoria, South Africa. 
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Vanessa started her career working in the environment space focusing on energy efficiency promotion in Africa as well as some water projects. She recently started a new journey in her career, where she will be focusing on industrial water treatment, and municipal water and waste water treatment.

Send Vanessa an email
KwaZulu-Natal Lead: Londiwe Satimburwa
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Londiwe has 9 years’ work experience in the water sector under the employment of Water & Sanitation Unit of EThekwini Municipality.  She holds an undergraduate degree in Applied Chemistry from UKZN, BSc (Hons) degrees in Environmental Management & Water Utilisation and Project Management.
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She has experience in environmental management with particular focus on surface water protection. She has served in the YWP since 2014 in various portfolios and is currently the KZN Lead.

Send Londiwe an email
North West Lead: Roelof Coertze

Roelof has always been fascinated by the workings of the world, the natural order of things. Since a young age he has aspired toward becoming a biologist, thus following in his father’s footsteps. Never would he have realised that by pursuing his goals, the universe would only allow one to glimpse at the mysteries that conform to manifest in our reality. This humbling realisation became the ultimate thrill; to study something that cannot be fully understood, make discoveries which have already been discovered by nature and ask questions to which the answers lead to more puzzling questions. One can only hope that the contributions made toward understanding the natural world will make the world a better place, and if we are lucky, someone might remember your name.
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Roelof is currently a doctoral candidate at the North-West University in the fields of Molecular Microbiology and Bioinformatics. His research is focussed on the prevalence and diversity of AmpC beta-lactamase antibiotic resistance genes in environmental aquatic systems. Thus far, his greatest accomplishments in this field was to construct a global model in which all historical accounts of environmental AmpC detection were mapped. This was the basis for the argument that there is a massive gap in research in the detection and monitoring of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment, something that will greatly impact human health in the near future. His research has been published and internationally presented at conferences.

Besides his research, Roelof is also an entrepreneur. He has two unofficial businesses in photography and the design and writing of laboratory-information-management-systems (LIMS). Roelof has been a photographer for 10 years and enjoys working with people and capturing the essence of nature. Although he did not study IT, Roelof taught himself multiple computer languages.  With his knowledge of the workings of a biology laboratory, statistics and the ability to design computer programs, he utilises these aspects in making laboratory management automated, user friendly and paperless.

Roelof is very excited about the roll he aspires to fill in the coming years as chair of the North West YWP. With some great ideas and a fantastic team, it will surely be an experience to remember.

Send Roelof an email
Limpopo Lead: Vuledzani Maiyana

Vule is currently doing her masters in Environmental Science. She studied her junior degree at the University of Venda. She has 6 over years of work experience in the water sector. It started at the Rand Water Academy where she was groomed as a water quality generalist. She gained vast experience in the field of water & wastewater quality monitoring, water & wastewater treatment as well as laboratory management.
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She worked at Emalahleni Local Municipality as a water quality adviser; she also has background in environmental auditing & monitoring, environmental education and management gained while consulting for Silver Crate Trading cc. She currently works for the National department of Public works Polokwane region specialising in water quality monitoring, treatment and waste management. Vule is passionate about research and development amongst youth. In her spare time she does Kyokushin karate and she is a qualified kids yoga instructor. 

Send Vuledzani an email
Eastern Cape Lead: Sipho Mashiyi 

Sipho has a background in Civil Engineering – Urban Engineering. He started his career as a designer for public and private clients at Aurecon in 2010 (Port Elizabeth). During his working experience Sipho has gained an interest in Water Engineering during his involvement in varies urban Water and Waster Water project.

Sipho is currently completing his Btech in Water Engineering and in Urban Engineering, with plans to pursue a BSc Honours in Water Resources and a Masters in International Water Resource Management.

Apart from his career and personal commitments he volunteers as the Chair for the Young Water Professionals, Eastern Cape (YWP-EC) chapter and also volunteers as Secretary for the Consulting Engineers of South Africa Young Professionals Forum (CESA-YPF), Port Elizabeth Branch. Sipho also helps to maintain and monitor a Rain Water Harvesting system that irrigates a community garden in Missionvale Port Elizabeth.

Sipho is invested in practicing and promoting the preservation and sustainable use of water resources for the next generations through sustainable design (environmental sustainable design) of the built environment and services. He believes this can be achieved through the development of design principals that comply with social, economic, and ecological developments

​Send Sipho an email