About Mpumalanga Branch Committee

Mpumalanga Branch Chair: Lutendo Ndou

Lutendo Ndou is a qualified and registered Environmental Assesment Practitioner of over 5 years’ experience in the mining and consulting space. He holds a Bachelor of Earth Sciences (Honours) in Mining and Environmental Geology from the University of Venda as well as an N6 in Civil Engineering from National Skills and Technical College. Lutendo is on final year of master’s in environmental Geology with the University of Free State where his study is focused on Carbon Banking on wetlands.
Lutendo currently works as Chief of Operations for Matavha Environmental in the Southern Africa. He is professionally registered with EAPASA as Reg.EAP and SACNASP as Professional Natural Scientist.

Branch Secretary: Ms: Phangisile Mthimunye

Ms. Phangisile Mthimunye is a member of the International Association for Impact Assessment South Africa (IAIAsa). She obtained her degree of Bachelor of Earth Sciences in Mining and Environmental Geology from University of Venda. Ms. Phangisile Mthimunye has also completed short courses on Project Management and Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001:2015). She currently works for Geovicon Environmental (Pty) Ltd as a Senior Environmental consultant. Her responsibilities include but limited to: compilation of mining permits and prospecting right applications,
environmental reports (EMPr, Scoping Reports, BARs, EIRs, and Public Participation Reports), Water Use Licence applications with Integrated Water and Waste Management Plans, environmental assessment audits, Integrated Water Use Licence audits, environmental inspections and Water Quality Reports

Treasurer: Ninette Barnard

Ninette is a Safety, Health and Environmental professional, with more than 20 years’ extensive experience in the mining environment. She holds a B.Sc. Hons degree in Plant Ecology obtained from the University of Pretoria as well as a B Tech in Safety Management from UNISA and is currently busy with her final year of her Masters in Environmental Management at the North West University. She is currently the Environmental Manager for Africoal SA in Emalahleni. Ninette is registered with SACNASP. Ninette is passionate about sharing information and
knowledge and hopes that being part of the IAIASA branch committee can assist to ensure members are always aware of the latest and greatest available information.
She admits to being a coffee snob and is sure that she loves her family more than wine……sometimes!

Student Liaison: Tshepo Shakwane

Tshepo Shakwane obtained his BSc degree (Microbiology and Biochemistry) from the University of Durban Westville in 1994, and completed his honours degree in Microbiology in 1995. He worked with the three state departments tasked with mining and environmental management i.e. Department of Water and Sanitation (Gauteng and Mpumalanga Region), Department of Mineral Resources (Mpumalanga Region) and Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment (Gauteng Region). Tshepo Shakwane has been in the consulting field since 2004 and has over 22 years’ experience in the environmental management.
He has been involved in multiple projects where he managed and undertook environmental permitting processes. He has been involved in the development of environmental management programmes, water and waste management plans, rehabilitation plans and closure plans for a number of coal mining projects.
He is also involved in the environmental management for operation mines which include environmental auditing, environmental monitoring and general environmental management. He is the managing director of Geovicon Environmental (Pty) Limited, an independent environmental consultancy company working mainly in the coal mining industry.
He is registered with the Environmental Assessment Practitioners Association of South Africa (EAPASA) and South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) as an independent Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) and a Professional Natural Scientist in terms of section 24H of the National Environmental Management Act, (Act 107 of 1998) and section 20(3) of the Natural Scientific Professions Act, 2003 (Act 27 of 2003), respectively. He is also a member of the International Association for Impact Assessment, South Africa (IAIAsa).
acquiring critical skills in advanced crop production and the application of GIS systems while farming in a sustainable manner. Interests and passion include organic food production, pharmaceuticals and viable seed production and its impacts on the environment for generations to come.