Our Authors
Dr Judy Dlamini Founder & Executive Chairman of Mbekani Group
Judy holds a MBChB (Natal), DOH (UFS), MBA (Wits), DBL (UNISA), Stanford Innovation & Entrepreneurship Certificate (Stanford University) Judy started out as a medical doctor before changing into business. She is entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist. She has worked in different sectors of the economy using her diverse skills sets and degrees in different subject areas.
After practising as a medical family practitioner for many years, she specialised in Occupational Health and consulted for different companies. Her MBA qualification from Wits University enabled her to change careers. She worked for HSBC Investment Bank, at the Johannesburg office in the Corporate Finance division. She is the Founder and Executive Chairman for Mbekani Group that celebrated 20 years in business in 2016. Mbekani group has operations and investments in different sectors of the economy. She is a non-executive director of SA SME Fund, an initiative between government and the private sector to create jobs and grow an inclusive economy.
Former Chairman of Aspen Pharmacare Limited (Aspen) a JSE-listed South African pharmaceutical manufacturer and distributor, she is a published author of ‘’Equal but Different”, which was a bestseller for several weeks. She was selected as the 2017 Exclusive Books Homebru author in the business sector. Her second title was released in February 2019.
Judy is the Chancellor for Wits University.She is the recipient of the African Economy Builder Lifetime Achiever Award for 2016 amongst several other awards, the most recent being the UNISA Leadership In Practice Award 2018. She received honorary Doctorates in Business from the Nelson Mandela University in 2018 and University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in Economics in 2019. She’s the co-founder and trustee of Mkhiwa Trust, a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) that the family uses for social investment.
Born in Cofimvaba in the Eastern Cape, Monde lived as a nomad most of his life having lived in three provinces and finally settling back in the Eastern Cape in 2006 where he now lives with his wife and two sons. He is the Chief Director for the Eastern Cape Government Office of the Premier and this is his eighth novel to be published, having self-published the previous ones.
Yamkela Tywakadi is a published author of 15 books. Her writing includes adult and children’s fiction. She writes in English, IsiXhosa and IsiZulu. Her first book to be published is an IsiXhosa novel, Andingombala Ndingumntu, that was approved by the South African DoE to be used by Grade 9 students in South African schools nationwide.
Her books include a folklore anthology in IsiXhosa for FET phase, six children’s readers, two children’s story anthologies in isiXhosa and isiZulu and four non-fiction children’s books in isiZulu. Her latest offering is an isiXhosa novel and an English one, Lies in Her Boots, both published by Weza Home Publishing. Lies in Her Boots is in the process of being adapted to a film by Final Chapta Productions.
Yamkela is not only an author but a highly acclaimed publisher. She has worked for a number of publishing houses as a publisher and media companies such as Quizzical Pictures, Jacana Media, Drum Magazine, Oxford University Press, Pan Macmillan and many more. She has vast experience in both the editorial and the marketing/ publicity side of publishing. She has helped publish and market a number of books in different languages. Some of these books were approved by the South African Department of Education to be used as classroom materials nationwide. Some have competed and won awards such as Department of Art & Culture Literature Awards and MNet Literature Awards.
She is also a contributor for Essays of Africa Magazine as well as Cognisence magazine, an online opinion magazine. She has worked as a language advisor for television series such as The Lab (SABC3), So You Think You’re Funny (SABC 1), Umtshato (SABC 1) and many more.
Yamkela is also an editor, copy-writer, song writer, poet – in short, she is a wordsmith and art lover. She is also a storyteller of note and finds life in performing all forms of oral literature. She writes her own folktales that she performs. Some have been published on an IsiXhosa folklore anthology, Ubusi Bezizukulwana, published by Oxford University Press. She writes and performs in IsiZulu, IsiXhosa and English. She is the founder of Blank Page Edu, a company that develops mobile app games and board games.
She holds a B.A. (Media Studies & African Languages), B.A. Hons (African Languages, with distinction) and B.A. Hons (Publishing Studies).
The late Eddie Funde is a struggle icon, former Chief Representative of the African National Congress (ANC) in the Australasian and Pacific region, former South African ambassador to Germany. He is the former SABC board chairperson. He also served on the boards of Eskom and the Independent Development Trust, and had been involved in the ICT industry, helping to establish the South African Communications Forum and Kemilinks International. Eddie passed on in 2018 of a heart attack. He is survived by his wife and four children.
Angie Makwetla is one of the 8 Human Rights Commissioners appointed by the President of the Republic of SA in January 2017. Her focal area is Child Rights and Migration. She was born in Madubulaville, Randfontein, a township that was forcibly removed and divided into Mohlakeng and Toekomsrus. She had eight siblings, five of whom are still alive. Angie holds a BA Social Work degree from the University of the North, a Management Certificate from Arthur D Little Management School in Cambridge, Massachusetts and an SMME Management Certificate from Galilee College in Israel. In June 2012 Angie qualified as an Empowerment Workshop Facilitator with the Empowerment Institute in Rhinebeck, USA.
She has worked as a social worker and a social entrepreneur. In 1988 Angie started the first black-owned computer training academy in South Africa
Unathi is a multi-talented creative popularly known for her roles as a singer, composer, performer, judge on Idols, radio presenter and television producer. She is a Rhodes University Journalism and Drama graduate, and a University of Utrecht International Media Studies graduate. Over the years, Unathi has collected a string of accolades that have stamped her as one of the most influential women in entertainment in South Africa. One of her proudest achievements is having her song Sgubhu Sam featured on the Oscar winning movie Tsotsi soundtrack. Unathi co-owns Mamela TV previously known as Lucky Bean Media which has produced several International Emmy nominated television programmes. Her live music DVD was nominated for Best DVD at the South African Music Awards. She was the first African to do a voice over a character on Walt Disney Juniors’ Doc Mc Stuffins. She has been frequently voted for in The Star Newspaper’s top ten people in media and named the most promising woman in media at the MTN Media Awards hosted by Media Magazine.