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New leadership for Basa board

Issued by Business and Arts South Africa

18 Oct 2021

Zingisa Motloba has been appointed as the new board chairperson of Business and Arts South Africa (Basa) and Hilton Lawler as the new deputy chair. Motloba succeeds Charmaine Soobramoney, who stepped down at the September 2021 Basa annual general meeting after serving as chair for the past four years. Lawler takes up the deputy chair mantle from Mandie van Der Spuy who has retired from the Basa board having contributed 12 years of sound leadership.

Hilton Lawler, Zingisa Motloba, Ashraf Johaardien

"Basa has been, and continues to be, led by an outstanding team of deeply committed, passionate and compassionate individuals who pour their heart and soul into everything they do. I am blessed to be associated with them and the work they do," said Motloba who describes herself as an Afro-optimist and an interconnector of ideas, people, and processes. An admitted attorney and MBA graduate, founder and managing director of ESG consulting firm Alchemy Africa, she has served as a senior legal executive and company secretary in a number of public and private sector organisations. As such, Zingisa brings her sound experience in governance, passion for sustainability and inclusion, and a genuine love of the arts to this role.

  Lawler's passion for the arts stems back to 2008, when he helped arts agencies such as Shwe Poppies, the Arts and Culture Trust (ACT), Moving into Dance (MID), Assemblage, and the Origins Museum amongst others, to become more business orientated and strategic in their thinking. He is a business strategy consultant, specialising in marketing strategy and mentorship, having won the Basa Mentorship Award in 2009 and 2012 respectively. As an MBA graduate, he has diverse experience in several geographies like Europe, UK, Central and Eastern Africa and South America, and a range of skills including facilitation, moderation and skills development across various industries such as the arts, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs), incubators, and property technology.  

Basa CEO, Ashraf Johaardien, paid tribute to Soobramoney and Van Der Spuy, saying: "Charmaine has been a shining light, leading the board with tenacity, wisdom, resilience and peerless grace. Mandie is a South African arts icon, and her impact on both the creative sector and Basa will remain indelible well beyond her tenure. It has truly been a privilege working alongside them both. Mindful and intentional director rotation is however essential for developing and maintaining strong corporate governance practices and I look forward to working closely with Zingisa and Hilton in this next chapter to ensure that Basa continues to make a positive impact on all our stakeholders. I warmly welcome and congratulate them both."

The Basa Board comprises 12 non-executive directors and one executive director, all of whom contribute to the overall success, governance, and compliance of the organisation. For more information please visit https://basa.co.za/about/

Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) is an internationally recognised South African development agency which integrates the Arts into, and contributes to, Corporate's commercial success. With a suite of integrated programmes BASA encourages mutually beneficial partnerships between business and the arts.