Meet new DRDAR HOD
Siphokazi Ndudane, the new head of department assumed her duties with effect from January 3. From the day she reported for duty, she has been meeting the heads of programmes, and senior managers of the department as part of the handover process while the implementation of the department’s programmes for the current financial year continues.
Ndudane, who describes herself as a responsible, hard-working and visionary leader who approaches all tasks with dedication using her extensive experience in government and academia, holds a BSc (zoology), BSc honours (marine ecology) from the University of Fort Hare.
She also has a master’s in fisheries management from the University of Bergen, Norway. “I am a strategic global thinker with a proven track record in delivering new business opportunities, investments, and have ability to manage diverse stakeholders,” she said.
“Highly pragmatic and action orientated with extensive experience in sustainable management of natural resources, trade negotiations, investment promotion and public policy development. “I enjoy taking the initiative, and am a self-starter who is adaptable within multicultural and diverse teams.”
Before joining the department of rural development & agrarian reform, she was the deputy director-general of fisheries at the department of agriculture, forestry & fisheries responsible for the sustainable development and management of SA’s fisheries and aquaculture. Her functions included advising the minister and parliament on fisheries policies and in 2016 she was one of the advocates of a policy where — for the first in SA’s history — the small-scale fisheries policy was developed and approved by parliament.
This policy led to the recognition and restoration of fishing rights to coastal communities who had been excluded for years from making a living from this marine resource, earning SA the Food and Agriculture Organisati on’s praise for this policy. While working as the director of science liaison at the National Research Foundation, Ndudane was responsible for driving strategic research partnerships in Africa, including mobilising financial and human resources, and contributing to the establishment of the science desk in the Southern African Development Community’s secretariat.
She worked with 12 countries in Africa, several donor organisations, established African scholarship and capacity-building programmes, wherein eligible masters, PhD and post-doctoral students from the continent could come to study at any university in SA.
Ndudane is the founding director of the Security Institute for Governance & Leadership in Africa focusing on maritime security. She has worked closely with the AU Governance Architecture and the Africa Forum (forum of the former heads of states of Africa) in enhancing dialogue among stakeholders to promote good maritime governance.