A table full of the Mother City’s top HR leaders, a beautifully laid dinner spread and plenty of stories to share made for an evening of lively conversation on 10 November at the Mount Nelson’s Oasis venue in Cape Town.

Tsholofelo Kgengwe has taken on a new role as HR director at EssilorLuxottica, marking the next step in her career with the global eyewear company.

Dr Anelisa Hlongwane has taken on a new role as vice president of HR, Tech Africa at Canal+ Group.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Patience Mushungwa has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for her role as divisional executive for human capital at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).

SMSA Africa Logistics Group has promoted Mandy Kendall to chief people officer.

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

Like any good runner, Penny Adams knows recovery is part of the race. After a two-year out-of-office break spent clocking up 10km runs, she has returned refreshed and refocused as human capital executive at Primedia Out of Home.

Zongezile Baloyi has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for his role as executive for corporate services at the Council for Medical Schemes.

Linda Mthenjane has been appointed as African Bank’s new group chief people and culture officer.

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

CHROs have moved past the era where saying this is the way we’ve always done things is the only rule of thumb. Today, the workplace has become a place where someone who remembers the first fax machine collaborates in real-time with an intern who uses AI to automate their morning emails.

Vicky Koekemoer, CHRO at Ignition Group, doesn't describe herself as a risk taker anymore. These days, she says motherhood has made her far more cautious and measured.

Nthabiseng Thaba has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for her role as HR director at Leroy Merlin South Africa.

After more than three years leading the people function at Pragma Global, Elke Mackridge has been appointed head of HR South Africa at Lotus Bakeries.

iOCO Digital has come on board as a Diamond partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Kedibone Letsika has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for her role as people and culture director and company secretary at JTI.

Yolande Chirwa has been appointed CHRO at TransUnion following a one-year career break from corporate life.

The air at Signature Restaurant in Umhlanga was filled with more than the aroma of an exquisitely prepared three-course intimate dinner. Around the table sat some of eThekwini’s leading HR minds, each carrying a different story, yet all united by the same challenge: how to support employees under mounting financial pressure.

Factorial has come on board as a Gold partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Sifiso Gasa once prepared himself to be a teacher, then a lawyer, before ultimately finding his calling in the space between both: working with people. Today, as CHRO at Röhlig-Grindrod Logistics South Africa, he leads the people agenda for a business of around 600 employees, but his journey to the executive table started in the unglamorous trenches of HR.

Dr Busisiwe Tshabalala has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for her role as group executive: HR at African Rainbow Minerals.

Nozuko Hlefana has joined the Small Enterprise Development and Finance Agency (SEDFA) as group executive for human capital and facilities.

Wealthbit has come on board as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

The hardest part of growing a global company is not opening new markets. It is making sure people in those markets still feel they belong to the same organisation. That is the challenge Vera Solomatina is helping to solve as SVP of people and culture at inDrive.

Joseph Rock has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for his role as chief people and performance officer at Exxaro Resources.

Italtile has appointed Marlene Badul as group HR executive, to lead the HR function.

LexisNexis has come on board as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, taking place on 20 October.

Given the chance to sit down with their younger selves this Youth Day, what are the three things South Africa's HR leaders would say?

For many in the C-suite, ambition is oxygen. It fuels late nights, important decisions and the quiet promise to never fall short. For Ditsheoana Modise, now chief people and business enablement officer at Sun International, that drive once led to a wall that nearly cost her health.

Brenda Talazo has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for her role as vice president, head of HR and business enablement at Saab.

Wits Plus has come on board as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Tsebo Solutions Group has appointed Phumzile Hlatshwayo as HR director to lead the HR function.

Dr Zain Reddiar, global CHRO and corporate services officer at iSON Xperiences, says HR's fingerprints are on almost every aspect of organisational success, yet a lot goes unnoticed.

Absa’s group chief human capital officer Jeanett Modise began her career by holding lives in her hands at the bedside of patients while working as a professional nurse and midwife, where she honed a people-centred, high-accountability approach and carried the responsibility of patient wellbeing. Today she holds organisations together, and applies those same strengths to executive leadership, guiding organisations with insight and grace.

Matimba Mbungela has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for his role as CHRO at Vodacom Group.

Terence Moolman has been appointed CHRO at Lesaka Technologies.

Momentum Corporate has come on board as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

As someone who values nature and time outdoors, Dr Leigh Adams sees people much like evolving landscapes, purposefully unique, each shaped over time and able to thrive in the right conditions.

Chanel Smailes has been appointed human capital executive at Feltex Automotive.

Dorah Tlala-Tanor has been nominated for the 2026 CHRO Awards for her role as group chief HR and corporate affairs officer at Proconics.

Envoy Global has come on board as a Silver partner for the 2026 HR Indaba, set to take place on 20 October.

Palesa Moloi has joined Philip Morris South Africa as director of people & culture.