Our Board

Lance Claasen

Chairperson

He is a media professional with over 20 years’ experience. His primary passion and expertise is in broadcasting having worked for Cape Talk, 702 and Kaya FM. He has also written for print media (Business Day and Sowetan), digital (Daily Maverick and Media Online) and television broadcasting (ANN7) experience. He headed up Kaya FM’s News and Talk division where he was responsible for special projects like elections coverage, as well as the station’s coverage on the passing of Nelson Mandela. He has been a judge on SAB Environmental Journalist of the year. Lance holds a BA (Hons): Drama from Wits University; an MBA from Henley Business School; and a Diploma in Digital Marketing from UCT.

Kgaogelo Mohlala

Kgaogelo Mohlala is a Chartered Accountant by qualification with experience across multiple industries which include, but are not limited to; Insurance, Banking, Mining and the Creative industry. He also holds a bachelors degree in commercial law. Kgaogelo is also the Managing and Creative Director of a construction and design company formed over six years ago which caters to both residential and commercial property.

Dr Candice Bailey

Dr Candice Bailey is postdoctoral research fellow at the university of the Witwatersrand. She is also the Strategic Initiatives Editor at The Conversation Africa, where she trains academics how to write for the media and works on science communication projects that creates awareness of the product among researchers and academics. Prior to this she was the title's Health and Medicine Editor. In her 22 year career as a journalist and communicator she has worked at several major daily and weekly newspapers in South Africa including The Star newspaper. In her post doctoral research fellowship she looks into issues of citizenship and democracy. She has a masters degree in Politics and Development Studies and has specialised in access to information and democracy for her doctorate.

Zama Buthelezi

Zama Buthelezi is an Executive Producer for SABC News/Current Affairs. She has been a journalist for twenty years and has also been a television show presenter. She has done politics, consumer affairs and health journalism at SABC Current Affairs. She holds an Honours Degree in Media and Journalism from the University of Witwatersrand. Her training includes research, shooting, writing and editing. She is passionate about reporting on women and children in the media and giving them a voice when it comes to telling their own stories. She is passionate about health journalism and believes that there is a great appetite for health information globally and strives to improve cooperation between health journalists, physicians, and other stakeholders to inform, educate and raise awareness about health issues through her work.

Dr Gavin George

Dr George is an Associate Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and specialist in Health and Health System Strengthening, with an extensive research and consultancy portfolio, including work on behalf of UN agencies and private enterprises. This work has included behavioural economic evaluation work throughout the East and Southern African region, with an emphasis on brokering the translation of evidence into high-impact polices and evidence-based programming.In 2019 he was voted onto the Board of AIDSPAN, a non-profit organization based in Kenya whose mission is to reinforce the effectiveness of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by serving as an independent watchdog of the Fund and its grant implementers. In 2020 he was appointed to the World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Behavioural Insights and Health Sciences for Health. In 2022, he was made an associate at Lund University in Sweden, Division of Social Medicine and Global Health.