Chairperson, RSR

Mr Boy Johannes Nobunga

Acting Chief Executive Officer, Rail Safety Regulator

Mr Mmuso Selaledi

CEO, African Rail Industry Association

Ms Mesela Nhlapo

Mesela Nhlapo is Chief Executive Officer of the African Rail Industry Association, having headed its predecessor the RailRoad Association of South Africa. Holding a BCom in Marketing and a LLB degree, she has more than 20 years’ experience in manufacturing and technical business development, having started her career as a quality control manager at Pro-Tech Galvanizers.

Director, Global Safety Resources

Dr Natalie Skeepers

Dr Natalie Skeepers (Ph.D.), is a Governance, Risk and Compliance specialist.

Natalie Skeepers is a seasoned Governance, Risk and Compliance an independent consultant and has a wide range of industry experience that stretches across the public and private sector, over the last 20 years. She holds a PhD in Engineering Management, from the University of Johannesburg, MSc in Health and Safety, MPhil in HIV/AIDS Management degree. Natalie has held various senior and executive positions over the last decade. She also serves on several boards as a Non-Executive Director.

As a Consultant, she leads and collaborates with a variety of experts to deliver sustainable business and personal results. Natalie runs many training courses in the South Africa, and is a seasoned motivational speaker. Natalie’s specialist subjects include leadership and management, coaching, change, emotional intelligence and strategic planning and a range of soft skills courses.

She has delivered several peer reviewed papers nationally and internationally. She has acted as a technical author, consultant editor and peer reviewer of a wide range of safety publications for safety journals and conference papers.

Natalie’s career has included roles such as Non -Executive director and services on several boards. Natalie is able to combine her extensive real-life experience with high level training and qualifications to offer a first class service to clients.

Amongst all her activities and achievements, she is very passionate about health and safety and loves to share her knowledge and experience to help improve workplace safety. Natalie is a self-published author. She authored the Guideline for Health and Safety representatives.

CEO, TRA Consulting

Prof Andrea Giuricin

Dr. Andrea Giuricin is CEO of TRA consulting, a strategic consultancy company based in Barcelona and Milan.

Dr. Andrea Giuricin makes consultancy in the travel, transport, and logistic industries. He has international customers from railway sector from Europe, Middle East, Asia, working with the top management (CEO and President) in the strategic, operational and regulation decisions.

He is Adj. Prof. at Transport Economics at University Milano Bicocca in Italy. In the same University he is responsible for the development of transport studies at CESISP – Unimib and former visiting professor at CARS – China Academy Railway Sciences.

He is senior rail consultant for the World Bank, reforming transport sector in Asia and Africa and consultant at United Nations for transport sector.

Dr. Andrea Giuricin cooperates and works with several Transport Authorities (CNMC in Spain, ART in Italy, CMA in UK, ARAF in France, SPAD in Malaysia, RSR in South Africa), with the European Commission and other international institutions.

He published several books and analysis on transport field quoted on TV and newspaper (FT, Bloomberg, Reuters, Xinhua, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, BBC, The Economist, Le Monde, O Globo).

CEO, Zambia Railways

Mr Christopher Musonda’s

Mr. Christopher Chiboboka Musonda is the Managing Director (MD) of Zambia Railways Limited, the country’s leading transport and Logistics Company whose vision is to be ‘the preferred rail transport and logistics provider’
under the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) who are the main shareholders on
behalf of the Zambian Government. Mr. Musonda holds an MBA in Transport
Management from Leeds University in the United Kingdom (UK) and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from the University of Zambia. His experience in the transport Sector is vast, spanning a period of over 30 years. Having
started his career in 1981 as transport

Economist for Zambia Railways, Mr. Musonda quickly rose through the ranks to become Director Corporate Planning, Director Traffic and Director Human Resources. His immense expertise in the rail transport sector earned him regional recognition as he represented Zambia at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Maputo, Mozambique where he served as Transport Economist. At SADC, Mr. Musonda’s scope of work was expanded to include other modes of transport such as Road, Air and Pipeline.

As a business negotiator, Mr. Musonda successfully worked on big projects involving the World Bank, African Development Bank, and the European Union. Mr. Musonda also boasts of having a deep and unique understanding of the mining industry, having worked at one of Zambia’s largest mining conglomerates–the Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) where he served for ten (10) years as Manager Logistics. Mr. Musonda is a former President of the Southern African Railways Association (SARA) and sits on the Board of Pan African Mineral Development Corporation (PAMDC) in South Africa. In addition, he’s currently the Co-Chairman of Emerged Railways Properties (ERP). He has also saved as the President of the Kabwe Chamber of Commerce.

As MD of Zambia Railways, Mr. Musonda has superintended various reforms (such as the introduction of SI. No.7 of 2018 on bulk and heavy cargo) aimed at ensuring that Zambia Railways delivers shareholder value while contributing to the growth of Zambia’s economy in line with the company’s Tag Line ‘The wheels of the Nation’. In 2020, ZRL moved one million tons of cargo under Mr. Musonda’s leadership, a milestone that has not

been attained by ZRL in over ten (10) years. Further, in his six (6) years as Managing Director of ZRL, Mr. Musonda has shifted the Company’s financial direction from making huge losses to a direction headed for profits.
Mr. Christopher Musonda is an ardent golfer and currently serves as ‘Trustee’ at Chingola Golf Club. He is a former President of the Rotary Club with several charities to his name. On the family side he is a proud father of three grown up children, two boys and one girl. He is a keen supporter of Arsenal Football Club (in the English premier League) and of course the Magnificent Kabwe Warriors, a top Zambian football club sponsored by Zambia Railways.

CEO, TransNamib

Mr Johny M. Smith

Johny M. Smith is at the helm of TransNamib as the CEO of the railway operator since 2018. His previously served as the CEO of the Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG) and various roles within Namport and Telecom Namibia. 

He has more than 29 years’ experience in the fields of telecommunications, logistics and transportation focusing on strategy, organisational and business development, marketing and project management. 

His academic qualifications include a B Comm degree, MBA and various other courses.  He is currently serving as a Commissioner of the National Planning Commission, Vice President for the Southern African Rail Association (SARA), and Vice Chairperson of the WBCG.

Railway Division Chief Designer, Lucchini RS Group

Mr Alberto Ronchi

Graduated in Mechanical Engineering at Università degli Studi di Brescia in 2004, started working in
Lucchini RS as railway components designer and is the Railway Division Chief Designer the since 2012.
Together with the Railway Division Design team of Lucchini RS, he takes care of the design of wheelsets,
wheels and axles according to the relevant international and national standards (EN, UIC, GOST, AAR,
JIS/JRIS) for various European and non-European customers, of the preparation of maintenance manuals
and operating procedure and of the performance of RAMS/LCC analyses on the products designed by
Lucchini RS. During his experience in Lucchini RS he has been involved, among the other activities, in the
design of several wheelsets for the Chinese High Speed fleet (CRH vehicles) and in the development of
many of the thermostable wheel solutions defined and technically homologated by Lucchini RS. On behalf
of UNIFE, since June 2017 he is a member of the Joint Network Secretariat Task Force “Broken wheels”,
which is in charge of evaluating the various cases of in-service failure on tread braked wheels happened in
the last years in continental Europe. Since his employment in Lucchini RS he has participated to several
congresses and conferences with various papers about design and development of new solutions for
wheelsets, wheels and axles.

Senior Advisor: Safety and Interoperability, UIC

Ms Isabelle Fonverne

Biography overview:

• 9/1988- 11/1990 EUROSIT: Sales Officer, Export Department of a French exporting company in the field of office furniture and seats.
• 12/1990-01/1992 BERCY EXPO, Sales Officer, international real estate project to renovate Bercy area in the 12^th arrondissement of Paris. 
• From 01/1992 until today: UIC, the worldwide professional association representing the railway sector and promoting rail transport.

I have been working at UIC from 1992 in different domains of activities (high speed,

economics, environment, technology and research, interoperability and safety).  

From end 2009-today: Senior Advisor, Safety and Interoperability particularly in charge of level crossing safety, trespass and suicide prevention issues at the UIC Safety Unit

• Coordinator of the UIC Safety Platform https://uic.org/safety/article/uic-safety-platform and its following working groups: 

• Global Level Crossing Network (GLCN) https://uic.org/safety/safety-at-level-crossings/ 
• Trespass and Suicide Prevention Network (TreSP-Network) https://uic.org/safety/trespass-and-suicide-prevention/
• “SSMG” (Systems Safety Management Group) dealing with the European Railway Agency safety related working programme https://uic.org/safety/system-safety/ 
• “IRSN” (International Railway Safety Network) https://uic.org/safety/international-rail-safety-network/
• Project manager and Coordinator of the International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD) the unique road/rail safety awareness campaign on a global level (40 countries on board): visit www.ilcad.org  

• Member of the UNECE WP1 on Road Traffic Safety and I have been cooperating actively with the UNECE in Geneva to create a Group of Experts on level crossing safety. This group met for the first time in January 2014 and finalized a report in January 2017. https://unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/doc/2017/wp1/ECE-TRANS-WP1-2017-4e.pdf 
• Member of the Steering Committee of the Global Level Crossing Symposium (GLXS)  
• Member of the consortium and coordination team at UIC for the EU Project
  Safer-LC http://safer-lc.eu/ 
• Member of the consortium and coordination team at UIC for the EU Project
  Restrail http://restrail.eu 

Chief Operating Officer, Gautrain Management Agency

Tshepo Kgobe

Tshepo Kgobe is Seasoned Senior Executive who is also a Certified Project Management Professional and Multidisciplinary Engineer with more than 21 years of extensive experience in managing complex projects and operations with diverse technical requirements in Infrastructure, Energy and Mining. Tshepo has also held diverse positions that are not related to engineering including BBBEE, Transformation and Corporate Social Investment. 

Tshepo is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the Gautrain Management Agency (GMA), responsible for the everyday running of the agency. In this role, Tshepo is responsible for Technical Services, ICT and Knowledge Management, Marketing and Communication, Risk Management, Legal and Compliance Services, Corporate Services, including Human Capital and Facilities. In this role Tshepo is responsible for the implementation of the strategy of the GMA. Tshepo previously held the role of Senior Executive responsible for all Technical and Project services in GMA. GMA is the Agency that manages the Concession Agreement for the operation of the Gautrain on behalf of the Gauteng Provincial Government and is also responsible for the expansions and the extensions of the system. 

Tshepo has diverse experience earlier in his career before joining the GMA. He was an Executive Director on the board of a large international consulting company and currently uses that experience on the board of two companies that are dedicated to supplier and enterprise development. Tshepo brings a wealth of experience in Program and Project Management, as he has been in the Rail and Mega Project space for over 21 years. Tshepo as a young man in 2005, was one of the first few engineers to join the Gautrain at its infancy stage, to see the design of the system until Financial Close and the signing of the Concession Agreement.

Tshepo is a seasoned visionary Senior Executive with a strong history of driving business expansion through projects; managing and sustaining client relationships, and efficiently managing cross-functional business operations.

Senior Manager: Environmental, Health and Safety, Gautrain Management Agency

Ms Chelina Bodhie

Chelina Bodhie is currently the Senior Manager: Safety, Health, Environment, and Quality at the Gautrain Management Agency (GMA). Chelina has over 12 years’ experience in the safety health and environmental management discipline. Prior to this role at the GMA, she gained vast experience in the robust construction sector with various large-scale projects.

Currently, she is a Candidate Ph.D. and completed her Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) in 2018 after having initially qualified in Environmental Sciences, Safety Management and Postgraduates Qualifications in Environmental Management and Business Management.

Chelina’s other Areas of Experience include Occupational Health and Safety Management; Railway Safety Management; Safety Management Systems; ISO Integrated Management Systems and Risk Management

CEO, GEAR Rail

Mr Roelf Alberts

Graduated with an Honours degree in B.Econ (UOFS) which was followed by an MBA (DMU-UK) and an Exec MBA in Investing (UNO-US). Mr Alberts has more than 20 years experience in rail, logistics, infrastructure, aviation, finance and investment, which is proven by his background in various global projects and companies. After a brief tenure with Deloitte Consulting, he was appointed as a board member on various multinationals, which he served on as an executive member. With 20 years experience in building multinational companies to pursue the enormous opportunities that the African continent hosts – unlocking Africa’s rail infrastructure. These companies are today serving the global rail industry – utilising world-class products and services to move cargo safely and efficiently. Roelf has also been part of YPO since 2016.

Roelf serves on the Boards of:
Gear Rail South Africa – CEO (South Africa)
Africa Rail and Logistics Technology – CEO (South Africa)
Gear Rail Africa

Managing Director, Uganda Railways Corporation

Mr Charles Abooki Kateeba

Charles Abooki Kateeba, Former Managing Director, Uganda Railways Corporation

Born on 28^th June 1956 and married with 4 children, Charles Kateeba graduated from the Zaporozhye Machine Building Institute (now Zaporozhye State University of Technology), Ukraine in 1982 with a Masters degree in Manufacturing Engineering.

He joined Uganda Railways Corporation as Trainee Engineer in 1984 and in 1986 was the first person to be posted to the Nalukolongo Central Locomotive Workshops to spearhead the installation and commissioning of workshop machinery and plant. In 2006 he was promoted to Chief Mechanical Engineer. In 2013 he was appointed Acting Managing Director and confirmed to the same post in 2016. He retired as Managing Director in October 2020 and now lives in Fort Portal where he is engaged in consultancy and small-scale farming.  

Mr. Kateeba is a member of the Uganda Institute of Professional Engineers and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (USA). He is a member of the Board of Governors of Nakawa Vocational Training institute. 

Managing Director, Infra Africa Investment Holdings

Prof Khulumane John Maluleke

Professor Khulumane John Maluleke holds a Doctor of Commerce qualification in Transport Economics from University of South Africa. He has delivered lectures in an array of disciplines such as Transport Planning and Development, Transport Finance, Air Transport Management and International Logistics Management and Clearing. 

His Experience

Professor Maluleke has worked and gained a wealth of practical rail operations experience from 1971 when he worked for the erstwhile South African Railways and Harbours. He has comprehensively and extensively researched on 

• Public-Private Partnership exploratory studies with specific focus on the development of transport infrastructure.
• Capacity building training needs analysis and has crafted ‘Logistics Management Fundamentals’ for University of Pretoria and was meant to capacitate Transnet Management human capital. 
• Supply Chain Management and currently chairs the Editorial Board of Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management. (University of Johannesburg). The Journal publishes scholarly peer reviewed articles covering the broad supply chain management landscape. 
• Integrated Transport Planning and has crafted and capacitated Provincial and Municipal Officials on National Transport Planning Guidelines.
• Limpopo Provincial Land Transport Framework and has crafted numerous Provincial Land Transport Frameworks and capacitated the Provincial and Municipal Transport Planning Authorities on the implementation thereof. 
• Crafted an Integrated Transport Plan for the Capricorn District Municipality which enabled its Local Municipalities to be capacitated on the empowerment aspect of transport planning and execution. 
• Professor John Maluleke has just completed a project in Limpopo which had to do with ‘Road Safety Assessment Strategy.’ 

Specialist: Regulatory Planning, RSR

Ms Matselenyane Makwela

Matselanyane Makwela is currently serving within the Railway Safety Regulator of South Africa as a Specialist: Regulatory Planning, where she is mainly responsible for the development of Railway Safety Management Standards and other regulatory tools.

She has been with the Railway Industry for a period of more than 20 years, where she held various positions at middle and senior management, mainly specializing in Occupational Health and Safety Management, Railway Operational Risk Management, Railway Safety Management Standards and Regulations development and the implementation thereof.  

Matselanyane is further serving on the Southern African Railway Association (SARA) and SADC Structures, facilitating the harmonization and implementation of railway safety management standards for the SADC region.

She has conducted research studies related to railway safety risks and sustainability, and presented papers at various conferences, nationally and internationally. Matselanyane s passion is to see the Railway Industry throughout the SADC Region growing and developing through effective implementation and compliance to Railway Safety Management standards and regulations 

Matselanyane holds the following qualifications:

National Diploma in Public Health (Technikon Northern Transvaal), B Tech Environmental Health (B Tech Environmental Health), Diploma in Safety Management (University of South Africa) and Master of Business Leadership (University of South Africa)

Manager, SNCF

Ms Virginie Taillandier

Executive Director, Human Factors Solutions

Mr Moses Shaba

Safety Inspector, Rail Safety Regulator

Ms Kebaabetswe Tlhoaele

Kebaabetswe Christina Tlhoaele, is an Inspector with the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR), whose work is focused on the implementation of the RSR’s mandate through conducting of audits, inspections for operators in South Africa and the SADC region as well as attending to incidents that may occur following a railway incident. 

With Ms Tlhoaele’s initial hopes of becoming a medical doctor, and with the realisation that the medical route would not have been her ideal environment Ms Tlhoaele diversified studies led her to a rare field of study in South African and the African continent at large known as Human Kinetics and Ergonomics.  Ms Tlhoaele thus holds a master’s degree in Ergonomics, a Bachelor of Honors in Human Kinetics and Ergonomics and a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Human Kinetics and Ergonomics and Organisational Psychology all obtained at Rhodes University, Eastern Cape, Grahamstown. Ms Tlhoaele’s educational background is the driving force to her interest in research and analysis, particularly understanding the individual’s health in their working environment and performance thereof. Her Masters paper sought to understand personality traits and music interest and effect this would have on motor driving performance, and her Honors paper looked at “Understanding the Multitask process of eating while driving and its potential effects driving performance.”

Ms Tlhoaele hopes to make a more meaningful impact in the rail industry through the process of research and analysis where health of employees is concerned with the combination of ergonomics principles and practices amalgamated. With the paper presented today at the Annual Rail Safety Conference 2021 as the comforting steppingstones towards that direction.

Technical Specialist, Rail Safety Regulator

Ms Sethunya Matsie

Sethunya Matsie is an Ergonomist, Researcher and Writer currently working as a Human Factors Specialist in the Technical Services department. She is part of team that conducts permit assessments, research, and technical reviews. She previously worked as an Ergonomics consultant where she taught organisations how to manage ergonomic risks, conduct ergonomic assessments, and develop specialised occupational health and safety and ergonomics programs, among other things.

She holds a Master of Science degree in Human Kinetics and Ergonomics from Rhodes University, 2 Bachelor of Science Honours degrees – one in Human Kinetics and Ergonomics from Rhodes University and another in Psychology from the University of South Africa – as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree also from Rhodes University.

She also has a certificate in Railway Safety Audits, Investigation & Reporting from the University of Pretoria, and a certificate in Safety Culture certificate from MTO Safety. She completed the Railway Safety Investigation course through the University of Pretoria in 2015. She has conducted ergonomics training and assessments across South Africa, training individuals in Mpumalanga, Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal and Eastern Cape. She has 5 publications in peer reviewed journals and has presented research papers at 9 conferences in South Africa and Internationally.

Chief Executive Officer, Transnet Freight Rail

Ms Sizakele Mzimela

Group Chief Executive Officer, Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa

Mr Zolani Matthews

Director-General, National Department of Transport

Mr Alec Moemi

Manager, Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa

Mr Mboneni Stanley Mulaudzi

This serves to introduce Mboneni Stanely Mulaudzi who is completing Masters in Education (Med) with University of Johannesburg. His dissertation addresses how blended education in the South African railway sector could improve employee productivity.  Mboneni sampled the following professions in his career life: He was a train assistant and train driver at Transnet Freight Rail (TFR), train driver, Section Manager, Senior Technical Training Officer (STTO), Curriculum Manager at Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA). He still works at PRASA as a Manager.

Mboneni is an Executive Director of a training and consulting company owned by his daughter (Mulambo Training & Consulting). Radio is one of his extramural activities when he takes a break from railway work. He presents an education and training program; Hip Hop show and a Reggae show at VMC planet radio. He is an editor at of a newsletter at VMC planet radio. Mboneni is also a sound engineer and a music producer.  His favourite quote is: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until is faced.”

Railway Signalling and Communications Engineer, Ministry of Transport and Public Works

Mr Justice Victor Mtande

Justice Victor Mtande is a Railway Signalling and Communications Engineer in the Ministry of Transport and Public Works in Malawi. Justice Mtande has a Master of Technology (MTECH) in Electronics and Communication Engineering obtained from Lovely Professional University-LPU in India, in August,2020. He obtained a BSc in Electrical Engineering from University of Malawi-The Polytechnic, in March,2008. Justice Mtande research interest is in the field of

wireless communication and is currently conducting research in Wireless Power Transfer in Relay Aided Communications for 5G mobile communication scenarios.

Associate Lecturer, Malawi University of Science and Technology,

Mr Chisomo Daka

Chisomo Daka is a Lecturer in Physics at the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST). He is also the Managing Director at Airwave Technologies (Malawi) which is a computing and technology Startup Company. Chisomo graduated from the University of Malawi at Chancellor College in 2015 with credit in Bachelors of Education Science (BEDS), majoring in Physics and minoring in Mathematics. He later-on joined LPU in India where he graduated with a Master of Science in Physics in August, 2020. 

His research interests span from Wireless Power Transfer Systems, Radio Frequency & Electromagnetism, Condensed Matter Physics, High Energy Physics, Quantum Information, Computer & Radio Networks and Energy Systems. His research endeavors started in college when he joined a research group called e-Communications Research Group (eCRG) at Chancellor College based in the Physics Department. The young Daka is an active advocate of scientific and technological innovations among the youth in Malawi. In addition to his official role as a lecturer at MUST, Chisomo coordinates the MUST Community Innovation Fellowship Program where young innovative minds from rural and remote areas with zero or minimal formal education background are identified, recruited and given the necessary support (resources and mentorship) to commercialize local technological innovations. Recently Chisomo developed an independent Covid-19 Tracker Dashboard for Malawi and as of today he is the Software Development Team Leader for the Covid-19 Dashboard at the Malawi Ministry of Education (MoE) which will ultimately help the ministry to keep track of future Covid-19 cases as they emerge in schools and higher learning institutions.