Panel of Accredited Mediators - January 2010

Peter Arthur has been practising corporate law since 1974. Initially he was a corporate law partner at Webber Wentzel in Johannesburg and in 1995 was appointed as General Counsel of Anglo American. He retired from Anglo American in 2008 and has returned to Webber Wentzel as a consultant. He has extensive experience of business, commercial relationships and working with directors of listed and unlisted companies. He firmly believes that mediation is a necessary part of dispute resolution and that it therefore has a significant role to play in the future more especially as a large number of statutes (including the Income Tax Act and the Companies Act 2008) provide for disputes to be resolved by mediation. King III also strongly encourages mediation. He has been accredited by CEDR (the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) as a mediator.

Mbulelo Bikwani is a law graduate from the University of the Western Cape and worked as an Researcher at the Community Law Centre at UWC. He is a founder member of the Health Workers Union, and was among the first Commissioners appointed by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration [CCMA] in 1996. He is also the founder and was Legal Advisor of the Performing Arts' Workers Equity [PAWE] in the Western Cape. He is a panelist of the Public Service Bargaining Councils and the Chemical Bargaining Council, and an experienced conciliator and arbitrator. Mbulelo is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement of the University of Stellenbosch.

Advocate Murray Bridgman has been a member of the Cape Bar for 21 years. He has a general commercial practice at the Bar, with extensive experience in delict (including personal injury law), environmental and administrative law. He has been appointed as an arbitrator in many Road Accident Fund and Sectional Title matters. He is an experienced arbitrator in RAF matters. Murray is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement(ACDS) of the University of Stellenbosch.

Robert de Rooy studied law at Stellenbosch University and Leiden University (Netherlands). He has been a practising attorney for his own account for 12 years, specializing in a variety of commercial and litigation matters. He has been accredited as a independent mediator by Mediation Institute of Southern Africa in 2006, by CEDR in 2007 and by Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement (ACDS) in 2008. He has also completed FAMAC mediation training in 2008.

Mervin Dowries started his career as a public prosecutor and worked for the Department of Justice for three years. He worked as a legal assistant for five years, specializing in labor and personal injury law. He has experience of Road Accident Fund claims. He held the position of CEO of the Bargaining Council for eight year and have for the past five years worked as a consultant, specializing in Labour and Company law. He also serves as a insolvency practitioner at the Cape Town High Court. Mervin is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement(ACDS) of the University of Stellenbosch.

Andre du Preez practised as an attorney, notary and conveyancer in Worcester and in Johannesburg for more than thirty years. Specialising in civil litigation, he has extensive experience in labour law, matrimonial matters and the law of delict and contract. He also has experience in conveyancing, criminal litigation and commercial matters. Andre is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Resolution of the University of Stellenbosch.

Teresa has practised as an attorney since her admission in 1992 and currently specializes in Employment Law, Pension Fund Law and Commercial Law. She is currently completing a Masters Degree in Corporate Law. She served as a part-time commissioner at the CCMA as well as various Bargaining Councils and was the author of Labour Law articles in DIE BURGER newspaper in the past. She underwent FAMAC training in Divorce and Family Mediation and is in the process of obtaining accreditation. She is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independant mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement (ACDS) of the University of Stellenbosch.

Esti Forbes practiced as an attorney for four years specialising in civil litigation, after which she was appointed as a magistrate and presided over mainly civil trials and motion court proceedings. She has also served as the director of the School of Legal Practice in Cape Town where she was responsible for the running of training courses for candidate attorneys. She is a qualified arbitrator and an experienced arbitrator in Road Accident Fund matters. Esti is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement (ACDS) of the University of Stellenbosch.

Costa Georghiades graduated from the University of Stellenbosch (USB) Business School with honours in Business Management and Administration. He founded Thavma Business Consulting to provide practical assistance in the form of both process and sound business advice with practical and structural implementation for the independent sector. He is an accredited service provider with various government parastatals and also consults to the private sector. He is a Member of the Institute of Business Advisors and also serves on the USB.s Executive Advisory Board as a representative for the USB for the Mpumalanga Province. Costa is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement of the University of Stellenbosch.

Based happily in Cape Town, Grant is married with two high school age daughters. He started the attorney firm Grant Gunston Inc in 1995, which currently has 20 staff including 7 law graduates, covering a broad spectrum of legal services. He is admitted as conveyancer and also to appear in the High Court and his experience includes commercial matters, conveyancing, civil and criminal litigation, RAF matters and estates. Grant has completed the mediation training of Stellenbosch University's ACDS, is accredited with ADR Group in the UK as well as Equillore in SA, and has a passion to see a mediation culture grow in South Africa.

Advocate Charl Hugo has been practising at the Cape Bar since December 2005. He has a general commercial practice in which he has dealt with a wide variety of matters relating to the law of contract and delict, and administrative law (especially municipal tenders and development law). In the course of his four years at the bar, he has been involved in Road Accident Fund matters. Prior to joining the bar he served articles of clerkship and qualified as attorney (1983-1985) and then joined the academic staff of the University of Stellenbosch where he went through the ranks (1985-2004), became professor of mercantile law in 1997, and chaired the Department of Mercantile Law from 2001-2004. Charl is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement(ACDS) of the University of Stellenbosch.

Yolanda Jacobs is an advocate and mediator practising in Cape Town. She was previously an admitted attorney at one of Cape Town's prestigious law firms. She worked as the convenor of the Arbitration Forum where she gained valuable experience in the early settlement of Road Accident Fund claims. During the recent national elections Yolanda mediated election related disputes in the Western Cape. She also works in the wine industry in the field of BEE. Yolanda is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement(ACDS)of the University of Stellenbosch. she is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement of the University of Stellenbosch.

Advocate Jacques Joubert, previously a magistrate, practiced as a member of the Cape Bar for 12 year. He had a general practice with the focus on personal injury law, but also practiced in the field of commercial and family law. He has practiced law in Canada. Jacques now specializes in ADR and is an experienced arbitrator in Road Accident Fund matters. He has experience in arbitrating Sectional Title disputes. He recently served as the Mediation Coordinator for the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and mediated several disputes between the ANC and Cope in the Western Cape. Jacques is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement(ACDS)of the University of Stellenbosch.

Hendrik Kotze is the Deputy Head of the Africa centre for Dispute Settlement at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. He has been with the Centre since its inception. He is also a founding director of the Equillore Group (previously known as The arbitration Forum). Hendrik Kotze was a practising advocate, and a member of the Cape Bar for more than 7 years. He is also a qualified arbitrator. During his career as an advocate he appeared in a wide variety of cases, particularly in the field of delict, contract and public law. Hendrik is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement(ACDS) of the University of Stellenbosch.

Advocate Alan Maher has practiced as a member of the Cape Bar for the past 16 years. He has experience in constitutional, administrative, commercial, family and personal injury law, as well as general aviation. He is an experienced arbitrator in Road Accident Fund matters. Alan sits as a commissioner in the Small Claims Court and has acted as an ad-hoc acting judge in the High Court. He has an Honours degree in psychology and a Masters degree in Shipping and Maritime Law. He lectures commercial subjects at the UCT School for Legal Practice. Alan is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement (ACDS) of the University of Stellenbosch.

Hannchen is an admitted non-practising attorney. After managing a commercial contracts division at Sasol, where she focused on large engineering contracts for a number of years, she joined a property developer as legal adviser and later managing director, gaining extensive experience in residential and commercial property development and construction matters, including those related to housing estates, shopping centres and sectional title schemes. She currently acts as a consultant to a large property development/civil construction concern and property asset managers. Hannchen is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement (ACDS) of the University of Stellenbosch.

Nox Ntuli has many years of practical experience advising clients of all sizes in the private and non-governmental sectors. Nox completed a Bachelor of Law degree and a Master of Laws degree in the UK, and has worked in the legal field in the UK, Zambia and South Africa. Nox is a qualified mediator and her experience in public speaking combined with her understanding of sensitive issues, makes her a popular and skilled trainer /mediator. She specialises in diversity enablement interventions. Nox is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement of the University of Stellenbosch.

John obtained the degrees BA (Hons) and MA at UCT, and B.Proc and LLB through UNISA and has been in practice as an attorney with walkers in Cape Town since 1993. He specialises in dispute resolution through litigation or mediation. He has a special interest in mediation, particularly in commercial, family and labour disputes. He is accredited as a mediator by CEDR (UK), and is a panelist for TOKISO and the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement. He is also a member of the Family Mediators. Association of the Cape (FAMAC) and serves on the provincial and national Law Society standing committees on ADR. He frequently conducts training for mediators from a variety of professional backgrounds.

Philip Pozzo di Borgo Oliver is a performance improvement specialist and independent commercial mediator, accredited by the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement (University of Stellenbosch). With an 18-year track record in Southern Africa and the United Kingdom, Philip deploys his skills in executive coaching, mediation and problem-solving to help clients find breakthrough solutions to problems, opportunities and disputes in business. He holds a BSc. honours degree in Geomatics (University of Cape Town) and has studied Systems Thinking at masters level. Philip is a qualified trainer in several of Edward de Bono.s thinking tools, as well as in the Apollo method of problem analysis. He enjoys a reputation of being an exceptional listener and clear communicator, articulating issues succinctly and insightfully.

Wahida Parker is an admitted attorney with 15 years experience in the corporate world as a director and at senior management level. She is the CEO of Equillore, an industry leader in enabling dispute settlement. She was not only instrumental in the launch of Equillore's forerunner, the Arbitration Forum, but have facilitated the settlement of many Road Accident Fund claims at First Meetings. Wahida is an accredited arbitrator and a member of the Western Cape Sports Arbitration Forum. She is an experienced commercial mediator. Wahida is passionate about black economic empowerment and affirmative action. She is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement(ACDS)of the University of Stellenbosch.

Michelle is an advocate who practiced as such at the KZN bar from 1997 to 2009, when she left to focus on dispute settlement. She has trained as an arbitrator both through AFSA (Arbitration Foundation of SA) and AMSSA (now TOKISO) and as mediator through MISA (Mediation Institute of Southern Africa) and ADR Group (UK) through whom she is internationally accredited as a commercial mediator. She has extensive experience in arbitration, mediation, facilitation & the chairing of disciplinary enquiries both as a TOKISO panelist and on brief as an advocate. She has specialized in labour law and the use of the mechanisms of alternative dispute resolution since 1998 and currently serves on both the labour and commercial mediation panels of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement based at the University of Stellenbosch Graduate School of Business.

Emil is a retired mining engineer (BSc Wits), who spent most of his working life on mining production in gold, diamond, copper and coal mining. He had extensive experience with the emerging black trade unions in the South African mines and in dealing with strikes and labour disputes, where he gained invaluable hands on experience of disputes. As head of the Billiton Energy Group, guarding and promoting Billiton.s interests in the electricity industry, he worked with Eskom, the regulator, government and parliament, and travelled extensively, working on electricity liberalization, power trading and the like. He is now a director of a city improvement district and chair of a Community Police forum, working closely with communities and SAPS. He is accredited with the ADR group.

Daniel Theunissen has been practising as an advocate for more than 20 years and is a qualified arbitrator. Until recently he was a member of the Cape Bar. During his career as an advocate he appeared in a wide variety of cases, particularly in the field of delict, contract and family law. He has experience in personal injury law and Road Accident Fund matters. He is also experienced in the training of candidate attorneys, attorneys and advocates in practice related topics. Daniel has worked as legal adviser for a firm specialising in international trade and is experienced in the drafting of legal contracts. He is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement(ACDS) of the University of Stellenbosch.

Andre van Greunen has practiced as an attorney for the past 8 years. He specializes in litigation in both the Lower and High courts and has experience in most areas of law, including personal injury law. Andre has experience of Road Accident Fund claims as a plaintiff's attorney. He is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement of the University of Stellenbosch.

Joe van der Westhuizen was a member of the Cape Bar for 32 years. During his career as an advocate he appeared in a wide variety of cases, particularly in the field of delict, contract and administrative law. He has served as an acting judge in the High Court and have given four reported judgments. In recent years he has acted as an arbitrator, mainly in Road Accident Fund matters and is one of the most experienced arbitrators in Cape Town. Joe is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement(ACDS) of the University of Stellenbosch.

Louis van Wyk started his career as a prosecutor and a magistrate. He was admitted as an advocate of the High Court of South Africa in 1995. He has experience in most areas of law, including personal injury law. Louis has also been involved as legal advisor in a number of property development projects, and was instrumental in the development of innovative insurance products for the property market. He is currently involved in ADR business development, and is qualified as an internationally accredited mediator. He serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement (ACDS) of the University of Stellenbosch.

Alwyn Wilkinson has practiced as an attorney for more than 30 years. He has experience in most areas of law, including personal injury law, and has much experience in Road Accident Fund matters. He has been involved in the training of candidate attorneys and post graduate students of the University of Cape Town. Alwyn has worked as legal and finance manager and have experience in the drafting of legal contracts, preparation of tenders and new business development. He is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement (ACDS) of the University of Stellenbosch.

Martin Yodaiken graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand with a M.A. (Clin. Psychology) and has been in private practice as a clinical psychologist for 33 years. Much of his work, besides psychotherapy, has been in assessing personalities and presenting expert evidence to the Courts in a variety of matters. He has been extensively involved in family mediation and in both practicing and developing the concept of the facilitation in family law. Martin undertook the FAMAC training in 2007. In addition martin received a P.G. Dip in Law (Arbit. & Concil) from UCT which has equipped him to assist with labour disputes. Martin is an internationally accredited mediator and serves as an independent mediator on the panel of the Africa Centre for Dispute Settlement(ACDS) of the University of Stellenbosch.