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The smartest digital transformation starts with a people plan. According to Ghouwah Allie, HR executive at iOCO, organisations risk limiting the value of transformation when technology moves faster than workforce readiness. She explains why CHROs need to prepare their people alongside their systems.

Entry-level roles may carry lower salaries than experienced roles, but employers should not mistake lower pay for low investment.

Ninette Oliver has stepped into the role of chief people officer at PepsiCo, following more than six years with the food and beverage company.

During a session called Radical Inclusion: How KFC Africa moved from regulatory compliance to real belonging at the 2026 HR Indaba, Andra Nel, people, culture and purpose director at KFC Africa explained how the organisation is embedding inclusion in the workplace culture, strengthening psychological safety, and bringing franchise partners along the journey.

As AI changes how people work, organisations must decide how to embrace innovation without losing employee trust. Drawing insights from Sage’s latest HR and Payroll Leaders’ Report, a panel discussion at the 2026 HR Indaba explored how leaders can adopt AI responsibly, support employees through transformation, and create more connected experiences across HR and payroll.

HR leaders from Standard Bank, Tsebo Holdings and Deloitte discussed the disconnect between organisational values and employees’ experiences at the 2026 HR Indaba, emphasising the need to balance business performance with workplace behaviour.

With the new year approaching, frontline industry people leaders Bernalene Adams, group head of HR at Clover South Africa; Andrew Millson, group executive of people & sustainability at Food Lover’s Market; Maanea Mabirimisa, group human capital systems & data analyst at Italtile Group; and Lorelle Viljoen, group head of culture & leadership at Capricorn Group Namibia, share the practical priorities shaping their 2027 roadmaps.

Caroline van der Merwe, Jem co-founder and chief product officer, says the company uses WhatsApp-based technology, workforce management tools and financial wellness solutions to help employers operate more efficiently, while improving deskless workers’ lives.

Panellists from healthcare provider and financial services company Kaelo unpacked how organisations can adapt employee benefits to address employees’ changing physical, mental and financial wellbeing needs at the 2026 HR Indaba.

Missing a target does not automatically mean non-compliance, but employers must show how shortfalls were assessed and addressed. This was emphasised by BEE123 representatives at the 2026 HR Indaba during a session titled EE reporting readiness: Five critical actions every employer should take, now!

2026 HR Indaba attendees heard how Coca-Cola’s culture helped spark a Powerade Springbok campaign, more than doubling volume sales targets – yet coming from the most unlikely of places.

Vodacom Group CHRO Matimba Mbungela took the delegates through his career journey and shared valuable insights on the evolving role of HR practitioners, the importance of gaining enterprise-wide knowledge, the value of humility and how HR practitioners should leverage smart applications such as AI to enhance their productivity and stay ahead of the curve.

Middle managers carry significant accountability, often without the authority to match. This was a talking point at the 2026 HR Indaba.

Thakazelwa Ngidi has taken on the role of HR director for sub-Saharan Africa at Intertek.

Attendees at the 2026 HR Indaba got to hear how AI is rewriting jobs. But are HR leaders ready to lead the change?

Shedding the workforce is one of the most emotionally taxing experiences for employees and the exco alike. Leading HR executives at the 2026 HR Indaba unpacked how to navigate retrenchments with transparency and empathy while sharing practical strategies for communication, leadership alignment and preserving culture.

At the 2026 HR Indaba, attendees explored how to access specialised expertise without the full-time overheads, but this needs a mindset shift

In a packed room at the 2026 HR Indaba, three top HR execs led a conversation about navigating toxic work cultures without losing yourself.

For years, organisations have been told that the answer to growth is finding better talent. But in 2026, that challenge has changed to accessing capability and building skills at scale.

The future of deskless work in the age of automation was at the heart of an insightful discussion at the 2026 HR Indaba, where Portia Mogale, executive head of HR at Santam Corporate; Karen Hammond, group CHRO at Meridian Group; and Nomvula Nxumalo, executive head of people and transformation at MiWay Insurance, explored how organisations can ensure deskless workers also benefit from automation.

Empathetic change management was a key focus for three HR leaders who discussed how to navigate organisational and cultural transformation with a people-centred approach at the 2026 HR Indaba.

As organisations race to adopt AI, HR leaders must ensure that the pursuit of efficiency does not come at the expense of employee wellbeing, trust and workplace culture. This was explored in-depth by Kutlwano Rawana, group HR executive at the Mustek Group, and Themba Chakela, head of people, culture and change at e-Motion Consulting.

Top HR leaders at the 2026 HR Indaba unpacked why a CPO presence in the boardroom is now a non-negotiable requirement, due to new and binding changes to the Companies Amendment Act.

As HR leaders face growing workloads, expanding responsibilities and pressure to adopt AI, Abel Makgato, field sales manager for payroll and HR at Sage, urged organisations to prioritise trust, accuracy and simplicity when choosing technology at the 2026 HR Indaba.

With thousands of attendees at the 2026 HR Indaba, top HR execs tackled the critical conversation about strategies for correcting undesirable manager traits early in organisations.

The 2026 HR Indaba has filled the Sandton Convention Centre with the smiles and the unmissable energy of thousands of HR professionals, all coming together to connect, share ideas and talk to all things people.

The 2026 HR Indaba kicks off today with thousands of HR professionals streaming through the doors of the Sandton Convention Centre, as the people tasked with solving workplace challenges come together for an insight-filled day to compare notes, challenge assumptions and debate on the future of work.

For most of its existence, HR technology answered a fairly narrow set of questions. Who works here? What are they paid? How much leave do they have left? Did they clock in this morning? Has payroll run on time? Those questions have not gone away, but they are no longer the questions that keep a CHRO up at night.

With the current scourge of corruption and other forms of unlawful conduct, it has become more important than ever to ensure the protection of whistleblowers. From a workplace perspective, the Protected Disclosures Act, 2000 (“PDA”) protects whistleblowers and provides that: ‘No employee may be subjected to any occupational detriment by his or her employer on account, or partly on account, of having made a protected disclosure’.

Mookho Kabi, founder and CEO of AppConverge, shares how HR leaders can use technology and AI to reduce administrative workloads, streamline processes and free up time for more strategic priorities.

Altron Document Solutions has joined as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, taking place on 20 October.

Josua Joubert, CEO and principal officer at CompCare Medical Scheme, challenges HR leaders to look beyond the price tag of healthcare benefits and consider the value they deliver to employees and the business.

Clinix Health Group has appointed Zayd Shaikh as chief people officer.

CatalyzU has been named a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Brendmo has joined as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Coursera has joined as a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Payroll Professional has been named a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

AppConverge joins as a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Henley Business School has joined as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Wyzetalk joins as a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Discovery joins as a Platinum partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

RB Advisory Partners has been named a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Jem has joined as a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH) joins a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Simplify HR has been named a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

The LLC Academy has joined as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Kaelo has joined as a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator has joined as a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Peopleware has joined as a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Marsh has joined as a Platinum partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

ENS has joined as a Platinum partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Sakeena Adams, regional people director for Africa and the Middle East at Sage, believes the future of HR is about giving people more time to do what they do best. By using technology to take care of repetitive tasks, she sees an opportunity for HR to focus on people, nurture talent and help businesses grow.

Employment equity reporting is changing. For many employers, 2025 was about transitioning into the amended employment equity framework, developing a new five-year employment equity plan, establishing annual numerical targets and creating a baseline for measuring progress.

Employees don't experience their physical health, mental health and financial well-being separately. So why do organisations so often support them that way?

Matthew Randall, recently promoted to head of HR for South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa at Haleon, has a soft spot for creating peace and seeing people grow into their potential. It is a passion he carries from the workplace to the football field, where he volunteers as a youth coach in Durban.

For years, Thuso Khoeli was known primarily as a creative. His work centred on ideas, storytelling, campaigns and brands. But after years of working with organisations, leadership teams and employees, he began to recognise a different challenge, one that was happening far beyond the traditional boundaries of marketing and external communication. The problem was often inside the organisation.

Workplace harassment is often discussed through familiar scenarios, but the legal principles protecting employees do not change with gender or hierarchy.

Rendani Baumgartner, managing director at RB Advisory Partners, says the biggest mistake companies can make with AI is adopting it simply because everyone else is. Before deciding what work to automate, she believes leaders need to first understand the problem they are trying to solve.

Recruitment teams can spend so much time getting to a shortlist that too little remains for the conversations that matter. Reviewing applications, repeating screening questions and chasing availability are necessary tasks. Yet the hours they consume can leave recruiters rushing the assessment of people who could make a real difference to the business.

Payroll is one of the promises employees expect their employers to get right. Sandra Crous, managing director at Deel Local Payroll, powered by PaySpace, unpacks what happens when that promise goes wrong and why the real cost extends far beyond fixing an incorrect payslip.

AI may be changing the way HR works, but Celeste Taljaard, country director at HR Path, says the human side of HCM is not going anywhere

Alpha Pharm Group has appointed Yongie Ntene as chief people officer.

AI can take repetitive work off HR’s plate, freeing the people function to focus more of its time and expertise where it matters most. According to Paolo Urzi, partner development manager for the SADC region at Factorial, that is the most useful AI conversation for HR leaders.

Jannes van Aswegen, HR executive at Innovation Group South Africa, believes that not every lightbulb moment happens under fluorescent boardroom lights because he has learnt that the quieter moments can be the most productive ones.

The mining industry knows all about digging deep. CHROs from across the mining sector kicked off the month of October by doing just that, gathering around the dinner table at Seven Villa Hotel in Sandton to dig deeper into the financial pressures shaping employees’ lives long after payday.

Nathan Digital has joined as a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Sikhumbuzo Mkhwanazi has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for his role as group HR manager at Autoboys Services.

Sourceworx has joined as a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Zutari has appointed Sigrid Barry as group chief people officer

Sandi Richardson’s 13 years at RCS have taught her that organisational heritage should have a handover plan. For the chief people officer, that means sharing hard-earned knowledge, creating opportunities to grow and knowing what is worth carrying forward.

Nomfundo Vilakazi has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for her role as people & culture director at Dis-Chem Pharmacies.

The missing ingredient in many employee experience strategies is often the simplest one of all: Care.

ArcFinder has joined as a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Mondelēz International has appointed Russell Coleman as senior director, people lead for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Jonathan Muthige, chief human capital and transformation officer and CEO for the Growth Markets division at Alexander Forbes, had spent much of his career looking after people. Then a stage-three prostate cancer diagnosis forced him to confront what happens when the person who has spent most of his career responsible for caring for others suddenly finds himself needing care too.

A successful HR transformation used to mean getting the technology right, embedding new processes and reaching go-live. Today, that is only part of the story. The real challenge is building an organisation that can continue to adapt long after the project is complete.

Meko Magida has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for his role as executive director of HR at the University of the Western Cape.

Employee financial wellbeing is becoming increasingly difficult to separate from mental wellbeing, productivity and the wider employee experience. That was one of the key messages from Discovery Corporate employee benefits expert Jay Babshet during a recent CHRO webinar, where he unpacked Discovery’s Debt Reset Benefit and how it aims to help employees manage short-term debt without sacrificing their long-term retirement savings.

College SA has joined as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Dr Angie Ontong has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for her role as director of HR development, human resource planning, strategy and information management at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic).

SimplePay has joined as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

SA Business School has joined as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Architecture was Bianca Anthon’s first attempt at building better communities. More than two decades into HR, the HR director at Illovo Sugar South Africa is still driven by that same idea, only now she’s building organisations rather than buildings.

HR leaders know where they want to go. The challenge, according to Sage vice-president for medium business, Africa and Middle East Gerhard Hartman, is finding the time and capacity to get there.

Holly Lufele has joined Santam as executive head of human capital.

PickUpSkills has joined as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Helen Bredenkamp has always known a thing or two about performance because, long before becoming group head of people and culture at The Unlimited, she was immersed in performing arts.

The 2026 Executive Day did not waste time getting executives comfortable. On 3 September, CHROs, CFOs and CIOs were thrown straight into conversations with people they may never otherwise have met, networking in true Executive Community style before diving into the bigger questions shaping leadership, technology and the future of work.

During an attention-grabbing panel discussion at the 2026 Executive Day, Paul Norman, group CHRO at MTN, and Celiwe Ross, group chief human capital and corporate affairs officer at Old Mutual, put the CEO role under the executive microscope, unpacking the green flags, red flags and everything in between that can make or break the C-suite dynamic.

SynergERP has joined as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Women’s empowerment in the workplace is often discussed in the language of representation, targets and transformation. Those measures matter. But they are not the destination; they are evidence of whether we are changing the conditions in which women enter, grow, lead and succeed. The question is no longer whether organisations can afford to invest in women. It is whether they can afford not to.

Nceba Ndzwayiba has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for his role as group HR and transformation director at Netcare.

Jasmin Pillay has joined Seriti Green as chief people officer.

GameON Mobile has joined as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

CompCare Medical Scheme has joined as a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

You don't have to love basketball to understand what excites Nyameka Semenya, senior HR director at NBA Africa. For her it’s all about what happens when thousands of strangers rally behind one team, young people discovering a new sport, and communities finding connection by a shared love of the game.

Neptune Masombuka has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for her role as chief human capital officer at the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).

Humbulani Tshivhase has started a new role as chief director for HR management and development at the Gauteng Office of the Premier.

A recent webinar, hosted in partnership with Factorial, brought together Neridha Moodley, people and culture lead at SNG Grant Thornton; Zameer Ahmed, head of HR digital transformation at Netcare; and Paolo Urzi, partnership development manager at Factorial, to unpack what responsible AI adoption looks like in practice, and how HR leaders can harness technology without losing sight of the people at the heart of the function.

Across the world, governance systems are under pressure. Institutions - public, private, and civic - are grappling with rising complexity, shifting stakeholder expectations, and the urgent need for more accountable, inclusive, and ethical leadership.

A room full of women would once have been unthinkable. Nonkululeko Gobodo, pioneering business leader, entrepreneur, author, CEO of Awakened Global and Chancellor of Walter Sisulu University, reflected on just how much that picture has changed during her keynote at the 2026 Executive Communities Women’s Dinner.

There was no shortage of sisterhood, influence or inspiration at the 2026 Executive Communities Women’s Dinner. Women from the CHRO, CFO, and CIO communities gathered under one roof for an evening where conversations flowed, laughter came easily and a healthy dose of girl power filled the NH hotel in Sandton.

Ask A Man was back by popular demand at the 2026 ExCo Women’s Dinner, giving women the chance to put much-needed leadership conversations on the table, and once again, the men had to do the answering.

For decades, store-level recruitment in South Africa has largely relied on one familiar process: a pile of CVs, a busy store manager and a decision made under pressure. But according to Heine Bellingan, co-founder of JOBJACK, that approach no longer serves either employers or job seekers.

The recruiter has AI. So does the candidate. One is using it to find the right person faster. The other is using it to become the right person on paper. That was the ongoing workplace tension explored at a recent Lumini webinar themed The AI Recruitment Reality.

What does the workplace women deserve look like? This Women’s Day, we put that question to HR leaders Elanie Kruger, CHRO at Tsebo Solutions Group; Shehnaaz Kajee, head of HR at HBZ Bank; and Sinqobile Khuluse, CPO at Sandock Austral Shipyards, who have a front-row seat to shaping the employee experience.

Jabu Mahange, group HR executive at Famous Brands, sees policies as only valuable when they help a business perform, not when they are treated as immovable rules, filed neatly in ring binders and dusted off when something goes wrong.

Melissa Gangen has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for her role as HR director at Digital Planet and HP Store.

Alicia Dean has been appointed as head of people at PKF Cape Town.

Humanly, in partnership with Insight Consulting, has joined as a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Nerisha Charlton has been appointed people and organisation director for the international division at Royal Canin, expanding her leadership remit to support the pet nutrition company's operations across 115 markets in Latin America, Eurasia, the Middle East and Africa.

HR Path has joined as a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Karen Hammond, group head of people at Meridian Group, learned one of life's most important lessons at an early age by realising that difficult circumstances do not have to define your future. After losing loved ones while she was still young, she could easily have allowed hardship to shape the direction of her life. Instead, those experiences gave her a deep sense of purpose and a desire to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others.

The term neurodiversity is becoming ubiquitous in a world where the diversity in peoples’ cognitive abilities is being highlighted in the mainstream. Current estimates show that as many as 15 percent to 20 percent of the global population is neurodivergent, meaning that one in five employees falls into this category.

Mmabatho Tlale has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for her role as chief human capital officer at Zeda.

For one evening only, trusted HR partners were given four minutes to stand in front of almost 100 of South Africa's top HR leaders and share an idea they believed could help solve a workplace challenge. Speak for longer than four minutes, and risk hearing the dreaded buzzer.