About Kwazulu Natal Branch

IAIAsa KZN members consist of professional practitioners, academics, NGOs, specialists, students and government authorities. We’re a flamboyant, fun-loving bunch who take kindly to knowledge sharing while maintaining the highest degree of professionalism. In addition to the main IAIAsa KZN branch, the Student branch of IAIAsa KZN is highly active and provides insight from the up and coming generation of Environmental Practitioners, whilst they gain experience in relevant and current issues faced within the industry through regular IAIAsa KZN events held throughout KZN. The Vision of the IAIAsa KZN branch, which is passed down to the IAIAsa KZN Student branch, is “A representative organisation achieving best practice in Integrated Environmental Management (IEM) and contributing to Sustainable Development” ; whilst the Goal of the IAIAsa KZN Branch is “Achieving high levels of professionalism of IEM in KwaZulu-Natal”.

Committee

KZN Branch Chair: Humayrah Bassa

Humayrah is an Environmental Scientist with over 12 years experience in environmental consulting and research. She holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Environmental Science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, she is a registered Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) with EAPASA and she is a Professional Natural Scientist (Pr.Sci.Nat.) in the field of practice of Environmental Science with SACNASP. Humayrah is presently an Associate Environmental Consultant at SLR Consulting where she practises as an EAP on a number of local and international EIAs. She has gained extensive experience in environmental consulting with a particular focus on environmental permitting.

KZN Branch Deputy Chair: Batha Msomi

Bathabile is a Senior Environmental Technician for the eThekwini Municipality (eThekwini) under the Biodiversity Impact Assessment Unit. Bathabile holds an Honours in Geography and Environmental Management from the University of KwaZulu Natal. Prior to joining eThekwini Bathabile worked in the field of environmental consulting (8 years) and was involved in environmental processes and environmental licensing projects. Responsibilities included Environmental Impact Assessments, Water Use Licence Application, Compilation of Environmental Management Programmes,
Public Participation, Environmental Training and Environmental Control Officer duties. Bathabile currently serves as the Deputy Branch Chairperson for the IAIAsa KZN Branch Committee and is registered as EAP with EAPASA.

KZN Branch CPD & Student Support: Zinhle Dlamini

Before joining eThekwini where she is focused on Biodiversity Impact Assessment and Municipal Compliance, Zinhle worked for the Provincial Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs (2008-2011), after which she joined the National Department of Environmental Affairs (2011 – 2015) under the Waste Licensing Directorate. With the focus of her tenure with provincial and national government having been primarily on processing and managing the EIA process for waste management licence applications and integrated permitting system applications in terms of NEMA and NEM:WA where she was assisting many municipalities all over South Africa with navigating the NEM: WA permitting space.
Mrs Dlamini holds a BSc (Hons) Degree in Environmental Management and is trained as an Environmental Management Inspector (Green Scorpion), an Accredited Facilitator, Assessor and Moderator. She is currently responsible for CPD and Student Support within the IAIAsa KZN Branch Committee and she is an Accredited Assessor of Recognition of Prior Learning at EAPASA. Zinhle is also registered with professional bodies, SACNASP as a (Pr.Sci.Nat) and with EAPASA as a (Reg EAP).

KZN Branch Secretary: Katherine Wiles

Mrs Katherine Wiles is currently an Associate Environmental Consultant with SLR Consulting South Africa (Pty) Ltd in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. She has 14 years of experience in the environmental field having graduated from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science Honours in Geography and Environmental Management. In 2009 and 2010, she assisted her Senior Lecturers in lecturing environmental courses (Biophysical Environments, Environmental Impact Assessment and Soil Erosion & Land Degradation) at UKZN. Over the last thirteen years, Katherine has been a Consultant gaining diverse project experience through her
involvement in environmental processes and environmental licensing for various clients across KZN, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Swaziland. Katherine is also a Certificated Natural Scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) and has been a member with the International Association for Impact Assessment South Africa (IAIAsa) since 2012.

KZN Branch Treasurer: Jacolette Adam

Jacolette has been the Managing member of Exigent since 2003. She registered as a Pr. Sci. Nat in 2002 and has a MSc degree in Ecology (2000). She is currently pursuing a LLM in Environmental Law at the UKZN. She has 17 years of experience in the environmental management field. Her passion is water and wetlands. She is responsible for managing EIAs, WULAs, EMPRs, mine closure plans, ecological and wetland specialist studies, as well as strategic assessments end ECO work.

KZN Branch Partnerships: Nazeer Jamal

Mr. Nazeer Jamal is Managing Director and Lead Environmental Specialist at Khweza Environmental Consulting. He has a B.Sc. (H) in Environmental Science majored in Economics, Geography & Environmental Management and over 10 years’ experience in all 3 spheres of government including the National DWS, the National DEA, the KZN EDTEA and the eThekwini Municipality. He was an active Environmental Management Inspector for the Green Scorpions for 9 years. He has been awarded as One of 200 Top Young South Africans by Mail & Guardian in 2011,
as Climate Reality Leader by Climate Reality, and serves as Council Member of the KZN Climate Change and Sustainable Development Council. He is Chairman of Penny Appeal South Africa, an international humanitarian aid organization and is an avid landscape and travel photographer.

KZN Branch Marketing & Communication: Sizakele Zungu

Sizakele is a Project Officer: Environmental Policy for Dube Tradeport Corporation, specialising in project managing applications for environmental authorisations and water use licenses. Prior to working for DTPC, she worked as an Environmental Officer for the KZN Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) under the Environmental Impact Management section, reviewing Environmental Impact Assessment applications. She is trained in the review of EIAs and is registered with
EAPASA as an Environmental Assessment Practitioner. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology, an Honours BSc in Environmental Management and a Masters in Business Administration.