CTIN Reference Group
Danga Mughogho
Danga Mughogho is the Programmes Manager. Well Governed Cities at the South African Cities Network, focusing on the management and sustainability of municipal finances, an urban governance. Danga has over twenty years of work experience in both the private and the public sector, including as an independent consultant in democratic governance.
Halfdan Lynge-Mangueira
Halfdan Lynge is a Senior Lecturer at the Wits School of Governance. His research explores the effects of politics on public policy; i.e. how the cost-benefit calculations of politicians affect the lives of ordinary citizens. In addition, he has in interest in data science and its application to public policy. Halfdan holds a doctoral degree from the University of Oxford, UK and a master’s and bachelor’s degree from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
He is the founder and board chair of Sauti, a Mozambican market and public opinion research company, and previously worked five years with the UN in Africa and Asia. His last position was as Head of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where he supervised a team of advisors to the UN Country Team. Halfdan started his career as a governance specialist and continues to work as a governance consultant.
Koketso Moeti
Koketso Moeti has a long background in civic activism and has over the years worked at the intersection of governance, communication and citizen action. She currently serves as the founding executive director of amandla.mobi, a community of over 617 507 people working to turn every cellphone into a democracy-building tool to ensure that those most affected by injustice- low- income Black women in particular- can take collective action on issues affecting our lives.
In 2018 she was announced as an inaugural Obama Foundation fellow and the Waislitz Global Citizen award winner. This comes after being a 2017 Aspen Institute New Voices fellow. She is also the Deputy Chairperson of the SOS Coalition, a coalition of South African organisations committed to and campaigning for public broadcasting in the public interest. When not working, Moeti can be found writing and has been published by a wide range of South African and international media.
Lailah Ryklief
Lailah is the Operations Manager at OpenUp, a civic technology organisation promoting the use of data and technology to drive social change. She also manages OpenUp’s Data Literacy Programme (previously Code for South Africa), acting as the lead curriculum developer, trainer, and mentor for various aspects of the project. She has a background in interactive media, design, and film, and has worked in academia for the University of Cape Town and GetSmarter in the areas of digital skills and online education.
Later she joined OpenUp’s Data Journalism Academy and was fast-tracked to Newsroom Developer within one month. As a side venture, Lailah currently runs an apothecary specialising in a natural range of therapeutic adaptogens that are derived from pure botanicals and raw honey. This family initiative promotes sustainable and ethical beekeeping practices as part of a bigger initiative to foster character development and social etiquette.
Lesley Williams
Lesley is the CEO of Wit’s University’s Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct, an international public speaker and dialogue moderator. She is also the founder of Impact Hub Johannesburg. Her focus is on social entrepreneurship and taking African digital innovation to global markets.
She breaks barriers by creating common ground between corporates, government, international developments agencies and entrepreneurs to work together. A career highlight was moderating a dialogue on Nelson Mandela’s legacy and the Future of Africa between President Barack Obama and Graca Machel at the African American Museum in Washington DC.
Nishendra Moodley
Nishendra Moodley is a Team Lead at Future Cities South Africa, the delivery partner for the South African component of Global Future Cities Programme of the UK Government’s Prosperity Fund, managed by the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The programme intends to enhance inclusive economic growth and reduce poverty and social inequality through targeted projects on transportation and mobility, urban planning, resilience and the innovative use of data.
Nishendra is a governance specialist who has previously worked for the South African National Treasury‘s City Support Programme (CSP), where he was responsible for the City Governance component. He had worked in local government for the City of Cape Town (1998–2000), before playing an advisory role across all spheres of government, during the consolidation of SA’s democratic local government system (2000–2015). The focus of his work has been on the design of intergovernmental institutional arrangements, evidence-based policy development and strengthening of accountability and learning through results-based monitoring and evaluation systems and practices. He has a Masters in Public Administration and qualifications in the sciences.
Richard Gevers
Richard Gevers is the founder of Open Cities Lab (previously Open Data Durban) which is a non-profit open organisation that combines the use of action research, co-design, data science, and technology with civic engagement to enable the development of inclusive cities and urban spaces. Prior to founding Open Cities Lab, Richard worked as an economist, based in Durban, South Africa, for eight years where he interacted with both private clients and all tiers of South African government on a range of projects in various sectors.
He is an entrepreneur with a dedication to the advancement of African communities through dynamic solutions and tools, hoping to empower socio-economic development and to affect social change. He has a deep interest in openness and transparency in society. When he finds spare time he grows his beard, brews beer, appreciates good coffee and likes to tell people he listens to vinyl.
Gabriella Razzano
I am a Research Fellow with Research ICT Africa, an Atlantic Senior Fellow in Social and Economic Equity and a Founding Director of OpenUp (https://openup.org.za/). I also act as legal consultant and researcher, focused on issues of transparency, open data, technology and law.
I hold a BA LLB from the University of Cape Town, and graduated with distinction in sociology. I clerked with Justice Yacoob of the Constitutional Court, and have also worked with the University of Witwatersrand, as well as with domestic and international non-governmental partners. I contributed to the drafting of several regional instruments, such as the African Model Law on Access to Information and the African Declaration on Internet Rights and Freedoms. I was an Internet Governance Fellow and an alumni of the International Visitor Leadership Program (Global Digital Leader). I was also the chairperson of the African Platform on Access to Information Working Group for three years
Nishendra Moodley
Tshepo Tshabalala is a web editor for www.journalism.co.za, the Journalism and Media Lab (JamLab). He also edited the Civic Tech Innovation Network online publications. He is also a sub-editor for Wits Vuvuzela’s print and online publications at Wits Journalism.
Tshepo’s work has appeared in radio, print, wire services and online in South Africa and various other countries in Africa. He has worked as a reporter at Thomson Reuters Johannesburg bureau, Forbes Africa publications, a freelance contributor to SmartPlanet and web producer for Business Day, Financial Mail and BusinessLIVE. He is a Chevening Scholar and an EVA Junior Business Fellow. He has a Master in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and is currently completing a Master in Journalism degree. Tshepo is now part of the CTIN Reference Group.
Zukiswa Kota
Zukiswa Kota is the Head of Monitoring and Advocacy Programme (MAP). Zukiswa joined the Public Service Accountability Monitor as a researcher and has since amassed vast experience within the social accountability sector. An Environmental Science graduate, she is currently the Lead Coordinator of Imali Yethu, a civil society coalition working with the National Treasury to develop South Africa’s first online portal for provincial and national budget data, vulekamali.
Zukiswa serves on the Board of Trustees of the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) and on the Reference Group of the Civic Tech Innovation Network (CTIN). Zukiswa is passionate about promoting social and environmental justice and contributing to transformative open governance in Africa.