She is a corporate affairs specialist with 27 years of experience in the public and corporate sectors. She is the past President of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA), A PRISA fellow and an Executive Committee member of the World Communication Forum Association. She has worked in various capacities in the corporate affairs environment at the University of South Africa, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Commission for Gender Equality and Anglo-American Platinum Limited. “I started working at the University of South Africa (Unisa) and this is what prompted my love for universities. I always felt that at a later part of my life, I would want to come back and work at a university so my content and subsequent work at UJ began to fulfil this aspiration that I had of being connected to an institution.” She then worked for the United Nations (UN). This was fulfilling for her in that she was able to be exposed to an international space and to be able to understand global politics and how they affect issues on and around the continent and further afield, because she worked for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. From there, she moved on to work for the Commission on Gender Equality, which is one of the Chapter 9 institutions. “I got exposed to training women at grassroot level in gender-based violence (GBV), domestic violence and sexual harassment. It was quite an enriching part of my life in that I was able to do things and get involved in things that were changing the world of ordinary women one programme at a time. We still have challenges of gender inequality in our country but to be able to contribute to that agenda was quite critical for me and I loved that space.” In 2001 she joined the mining industry, after returning from Switzerland and has been working in that industry to date. Phumo has worked for Anglo-American Platinum Limited and is currently the Executive Vice President and Head of Stakeholder Relations at Sibanye- Stillwater. “I have grown from communication roles, but I’ve now transitioned out of comms to get a slightly bigger portfolio in sustainability. I do socio-economic development programmes as well.” Phumo has been active in the mining industry for the past two decades and her contribution was recognised in 2022 as one of the Mining Elites in Africa. She has also trained as a coach and has since 2014 been involved in various initiatives to uplift women as part of her role as Convenor of the Inspired Women’s Connect. In that role she has facilitated support for student bursaries and many charitable causes benefiting women. Outside of work, Phumo flexes her muscles as a writer with two pieces of writing work to her name: The Ingredients of Your Life: Your Recipe and a collection of short pieces titled Inspired Collection . Her advice to aspiring practitioners who wish to launch their career in corporate affairs: “Have the competence to open doors for others. I am here because many people opened doors for me,” she said.
Thabisile Phumo
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