Prof Hlengani Mathebula
About Professor Hlengani Mathebula
Prof Hlengani Mathebula is an accomplished business leader with over thirty years’ work experience, twenty years of which was spent in the financial services industry. This included serving on a board of a multinational company, chairing a board of one of the largest self-administered retirement funds in South Africa, serving on boards of various asset management companies, served as a Strategy and Communications Advisor to the Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, served as a member of the central bank’s Financial Stability Committee (FSC), an attendee of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) and Member of the Governor’s Executive Committee(GEC). Hlengani did a fellowship at the Institute for Value and Culture.
His prolific stakeholder engagement expertise stems from having led private banks of two of the four major banks in South Africa, and was enhanced by a variety of senior executive and management positions in retail, corporate, merchant, private banking and government institutions. His global exposure in central and private banking, coupled with tax and customs matters has provided both depth and width in his understanding of international benchmarks in regulatory and compliance areas in central banking and the broader financial services sector. Beyond central banking, tax and customs; these exposures provided insight into thought processes and system improvements for large institutions. The various leadership positions he has occupied and continues to occupy have strengthened his ability to develop networks for partnerships and collaboration and to enable the co-creation, collaboration and multi-party execution of strategies.
Through his professional associations and various roles, he championed various interventions to ensure programmes that deepen diversity and his core value of equity. When he began as Chair of the Eskom Pension and Provident Fund (EPPF), the fund had assets under management of only R59.2bn. During his tenure (2010 – 2016), the fund’s assets increased to approximately R129.9bn. This growth was achieved under extreme financial constraints in the assets management industry and tough economic performance in South Africa and globally. The growth of the fund was also occasioned by his seasoned visionary corporate leadership, which made him capable of creating an energised executive management team that worked in concert to achieve a shared vision.
He has served as a member of the Executive Committee of the South African Revenue Services (SARS) responsible for Governance, International Relations, Strategy, Security, and Communications. He also was the Chief Risk Officer. He has on various occasions been delegated by the Minister of Finance to act as the Commissioner. He served at the following entities: Managing Executive of ABSA Private Bank, CEO of FNB Personal Banking Unit, BMWSA Group Board member, Chairman of the Black Business Executive Circle (BBEC), Founding member of the Black Business Council (BBC), Chairman of the African Leadership Group.
Furthermore, he ensured that SARS continues to assist government in regional and continental customs and tax engagements and alignment initiatives. In this regard he led the SARS teams that hosted the SARS 2018 Chairmanship of the Global Forum and BRICS Tax and Customs and Excises engagements. These engagements culminated in the signing of the BRICS Memorandum of Co-operation in respect of Tax Matters and a Strategic Framework of BRICS Customs Co-operation. Both these instruments will deepen co-operation between the BRICS countries.
He is the former Managing Partner and Senior Advisor at Cornerstone Capital Partners, which is Boutique Strategic and Investments advisory Firm. He was appointed to the board of the Health Professional Council of South Africa (HPCSA) by the Minister of Health as the community representative in November 2020.
In 2021 he co-founded the IGNITE AFRICA ADVISORY GROUP. A company that provides Brand Reputation. Crisis Management, Leadership Development, Communications, Stakeholder Management and Mentorship consulting services to middle, Senior, Executive and Board level leaders to some of the top JSE listed companies. He is an Executive Coach with qualifications from the University of Cape Town.
The President of the Republic appointed him in June 2021 as the Chairman of the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDD).
Prof Mathebula is currently a full Professor at The Turfloop Graduate School of Leadership (TGSL), which is the Business School of the University of Limpopo. He is responsible for among other modules: Finance, Investment, Innovation and Strategy. He is a member of the Senate of the University of Limpopo. He is also a member of Tshwane School for Business & Society.
Prof Mathebula is a commentator/ opinion contributor on major current topics in South Africa in the Sunday Times, City Press, Mail & Guardian, and major newspapers in the country.
