Dr Stephen Sipho Mncube was born on 17 October 1940 in Edenvale, Gauteng and matriculated at Rochester, New York. Dr Mncube is a former Manager in the Development Information Business Unit at the Development Bank of Southern Africa responsible for mobilizing and providing finance and expertise for infrastructural development in Southern Africa.

Resumé:

Sibanda obtained the degrees of B.Com and B.Com (Hons) in Economics from the University of South Africa as well as an MSc (Econ.) from the University of Hull (UK). He also holds a Certificate in Competition Law from the University of the Witwatersrand.

Before joining Icasa he held the position of Chief Director: Regulatory Policy and Legislative Development at the Department of Trade and Industry where he was responsible for, among other things, the review of competition policy, consumer protection legislation and company law. Sibanda was previously the Head of Department: Policy and Projects at the Competition Commission where he obtained considerable experience in regulatory policy.

It was during this time that he got involved with the electronic communications sector, by participating in the evaluation of mergers and acquisitions and undertaking investigations of anticompetitive behaviour in the sector, commenting on various Icasa and Department of Communication discussion documents, as well as making presentations to parliament on the economic impact of regulation.

Sibanda has also lectured at the University of South Africa and has presented various research and conference papers on telecommunications.

Robert Nkuna was appointed councillor in October 2006.

Nkuna was previously a Senior Manager Media Relations at the Ministry of Communications, responsible for media relations during the development of the Electronic Communications and Transaction Act, the amendment to the Broadcasting, Telecommunications and the Postal Services Acts.

He has also served as General Manager Corporate Communications at the SA Post Office Limited, acting as the official spokesperson for the State Owned Enterprise; and as Deputy Director Policy at the Government Communications and Information System (GCIS). Nkuna was also involved in various student and community media leadership positions.

In 2005, Nkuna completed a Master of Management in Public and Development Management, obtaining a distinction in his research on the application of ICT in local economic development, at the University of the Witwatersrand. In 2006, he was accepted to pursue his doctoral studies on ICT policy and regulation at same university.

His term ends in October 2010

Brenda Ntombela was appointed Councillor of ICASA in 1 November 2006. In January 2002 to November 2004 Brenda was appointed as General Manager of the Postal Business Unit at the Department of Communications. After her tenure at that position she was appointed Chief Director in the office of the Director-General at the Department of Communication just before becoming a councillor at ICASA. She has been nominated by NetTel Africa as a member of the team, which is currently working on ICT Policy making (including regulations) in Africa. Ntombela tasks include studying how ICT policies and regulations are developed both in Namibia and South Africa. The results of this research will form part of a book to be published on ICT Policy and Regulation making in the African Continent. She is currently the chairperson of the Southern Postal Regulations Association (SAPRA).

Brenda holds a Master’s degree in nursing and has also written papers and received awards for her role in the field of health. She has done various management and leadership courses including the Management Advancement Course also conducting mediation processes for the then Independent Mediation Service of South Africa (IMSSA) and South African Airways (SAA) amongst others.

Prof JCW (Kobus) van Rooyen SC has attained the degrees BA law (cum laude) LlB (cum laude) and LlD at the University of Pretoria. He commenced teaching at the law faculty of the University of Pretoria in 1966, became a professor and head of the Department of Criminal Law in 1971, Deputy Dean of the Law Faculty (1984 – 1996) and a professor of excellence in 1992.

In 1990 he took Silk and joined the Pretoria Society of Advocates in 1998. Since 2003 he has served as an Acting Judge for 36 months. He is a holder of a Tuks Alumni Laureate award for national and international achievement.

During his lecturing term he was appointed as the part time chair of the Publications Appeal Board (1980-90). In 1991 he was elected by the Press Council to become its Chair (1991-1997). He also became the Chair of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission in 1993. From 1994-96 he chaired the Ministerial Task Group to draft a new Films and Publications Act.

Prof van Rooyen has published three books, 80 articles and notes and more than ninety of his judgments as Acting Judge of the High Court ( 2003-2006) and more than sixty judgments as Chair of the BCCSA have been published.

He is a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, Germany and has undertaken research at Institutes in Germany on several occasions, as from 1974

Dr M Socikwa completed her undergraduate studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, and postgraduate studies at City University and the University of Stirling in the United Kingdom.

She has served as Acting Executive Director: Corporate Affairs, Deputy Chair of the Department of Communication Science, and as a Senior lecturer and Section Head of the Telecommunications Program at the University of South Africa. She was involved in projects commissioned by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the USAID.

She served in national policy review committees and in the ICT Empowerment Charter working group. She has contributed towards projects dedicated to increasing regulatory capacity in the region through a regional body known as Nettel@Africa. She has also presented several papers on a variety of regulatory issues, ranging from interconnection to trade in e-commerce.

Makhakhe was appointed Councillor at ICASA in July 2008

He served the Lesotho government in various senior capacities, including Permanent Secretary for Transport and Communications and non-executive Deputy Chairman of the Lesotho Telecommunications Corporation where his interest in the ICT sector took root.

In 1996 he joined the Mpumalanga Gaming Authority and moved on, in 1998, to head the Economic and Financial Analysis Unit of the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority which was later merged with the Independent Broadcasting Authority to form the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). It was during this time that he also project directed the third cellular licensing process and acted as General Manager: Telecommunications.

On leaving ICASA he proceeded to serve MTN and Telkom SA in the capacities of Regulatory Economist and Executive in the respective regulatory departments of the companies.

Before joining ICASA as Councillor Makhakhe was an independent consultant. He carried out work for the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority and MTN SA.

Councillor Makhakhe holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, a certificate in Telecommunications Regulation and Policy Development, Graduate School of Business, Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and a gambling regulation certificate. He has also attended several ICT related courses in South Africa and the UK.

His term of office as Councillor ends in June 2012

As of 04 August 2008 Nomvuyiso Batyi was appointed as a Councillor at ICASA.

Before her appointment she worked at ICASA as Manager: Competition. The experience that she gained from this position has made her leapfrog to the position of Councillor. Whilst working as a Manager at ICASA she has been involved in a number of projects such as mobile number portability, and interconnection and facilities leasing.

She holds B.Proc and LLB degrees from the University of Fort Hare, Alice, Eastern Cape.

Her career started in 1999 at the University of Fort Hare’s Oliver Tambo Chair for Human Rights. Thereafter she worked for the Competition Commission as an investigator this is where she learnt about regulation. She was primarily involved in the investigations.

AfrlSPA 2001 - 2010
Founding member and Chairman of the African Association of ISPAs. He has trained ISPs and others in a number of countries around Africa.

Achievements:
AfrISPA, under William's direction, helped to increase the number of operating IXPs in Africa from 5 to 22, in 20 countries, with a similar increase in the number of ISPAs. QuickStep I ZAnet: 1996 - 2009
Operated a small but innovative ISP in SA

Achievements:
ZAnet, a previous ISP run by William, achieved a dozen "firsts" in the Internet field in SA. De Beers I Anglo Group 1984 - 1996
William played various roles, from commissioning a Gold Plant (Project Engineer) to automating two underground Diamond Mines (Project Leader). Was 2 ilc of De Beers' biggest research project to date, that developed a completely automated diamond sorting house ("FISH"), using a number of in-house developed new technologies.

Achievements:
Designed, built, commissioned and operated the first fibre optic Ethernet network in an underground mine in RSA. He completed several multi-million Rand projects on time, on budget, with better ROI than promised. He acted as the internal multi-discipline consultant to the FISH programme, responsible for reviewing and approving all designs. Deputy Head of Control & Instrumentation Department
National Telephone Systems (UK) 1983 (and worked as a technician during degree studies) Responsible for hardware design, documentation and BABT / SAPO approval for digital PABXs

Achievements:
He successfully obtained BABT approval for a range of non-blocking digital PABXs. He improved the design to increase sWitching efficiency by a factor of 12 in a 4 E1 x 4 E1 digital space-time switch.
Education B. Sc. (Hons) Engineering from Thames, London. Completed 1983 Government Certificate of Competency as an Electrical Engineer (Mines) 1985 MOP (UNISA) completed 1988

Achievements:
Designed, built and tested a bit-slice microprocessor emulator using AMO 2900 family components. With a 128 bit wide microcode word, code for the 8-bit Z80 was tested.

General: Technical
He has programmed in over 20 languages on a dozen operating systems, starting with machine code in 1972. He has configured a wide variety of routers and PLCs. William has consulted to Eskom, Oeloitte & Touche, OataPro, World Bank, IORC, OFiO and others.

General: Regulatory
Has represented both ISPA and ISOC-ZA (past Chairman) at the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications on a couple of Bills. William has also presented at hearings before ICASA (Regulator). Has a good understanding of telecommunications legislation and regulation.

General: Presentations and Papers
He has presented papers on a range of Internet, VoIP, and telecommunications liberalisation subjects, at conferences in RSA, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, and elsewhere

General: Training
Has conducted courses on BGP, IXP configuration and economics (including in French), wireless networks, bandwidth management, network design, web site design and SEa, ISPA formation and project management He has also recently trained a group of HOI entrepreneurs on how to become ISPs. William has conducted training courses in South Africa, Benin, Botswana, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia.