Source: The New Age
The woman everyone is talking about today is Mangwashi Victoria "Riah" Phiyega who was yesterday announced as the country's newest police commissioner and the first female to take the job, closing the door on the Bheki Cele saga.
Wife, mother and grandmother, Phiyega believes in integrity, service to others before self and excellence.
The ANC Women's League has extended congratulations to Phiyega on her appointment as the country's first female national police commissioner.
"We believe having a strong woman at the helm of the police service will bring a renewed focus to overcoming the scourge of gender based violence, such as rape, which has become a growing concern across the country," it said.
"The ANCWL wishes the commissioner well in her new role and trusts she will bring stability, unity and strong leadership to the SAPS and ensure the protection of the people of South Africa as her top priority."
Born in Polokwane, she attended both primary and high school in Limpopo, finishing at Leolo High School.
Phiyega went on to study at various tertiary institutions across the globe earning herself a BA (social work) degree from the University of the North, a BA Hons (social science) from Unisa, an MA (social science) degree from the University of Johannesburg and a post graduate diploma in business administration from Wales University in Cardiff. She also attended executive development programmes at the National University of Singapore and Wharton University, Pennsylvania, US.
An organised woman with a remarkable professional career, her resumé speaks volumes for her experience. A past group executive of Absa Bank, she chaired the AllPay boards of Gauteng and Eastern Cape and was also a board member of Absa Actuaries, chairperson of Gotswelela Trust and trustee of the Absa Foundation.
As group executive at Transnet, she was a member of the executive committee and an attending member of the Transnet board. She served on numerous Transnet subsidiary boards and chaired the Production House, Transmed and Petronet Vusisiwe Trust. She was also a board member of Connex Travel as well as a trustee of the Transnet Foundation.
She formed part of a team of senior executives involved with the restructuring of the old Portnet into two major separate entities, Port Operations and Port Authority.
She became part of the executive of the National Ports Authority of South Africa during which time she championed the establishment of the International Relations in the Maritime Sector body. She became a member of the board and committees of the International Association for Ports and Harbours as well as the Port Management Association for During this period, she chaired the committee that organised the first International Conference for Ports and Harbours, hosted on the African continent, which saw more than 2000 executives of the maritime industry coming to Durban.
Her professional success aside, Phiyega is well integrated into community development, engagement and empowerment. In the community development area, she served as director for development at the National Council for Child Welfare. She started her career in Pretoria Child Welfare.
She spent a few years at the Chamber of Mines as an employee wellbeing consultant. She is a member of the International Women's Forum of South Africa, a coach and mentor linked to mentoring programmes of various organisations including, among others, Association for Black Securities and Investment Professionals, International Women's Forum: SA, African Women Chartered Accountants and the Graca Machel Scholarship.
In recent times, she was appointed as chairperson of the presidential state owned enterprise review committee.
The committee was tasked with the responsibility of reviewing state owned entities and to make recommendations for their future repositioning. She is the vice-chairperson for the Independent Commission for Remuneration of Public Office Bearers.
She chaired the Road Traffic Management Corporation investigation task team which looked into maladministration, corruption and poor corporate governance.
The task team made major intervention and restructuring recommendations to the Minister of Transport, helping to put the agency on a fresh footing.
She has served in other significant national structures, among which are serving as a board member of the 2010 bid committee that delivered hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup by South Africa, commissioner for the Commission of the Road Accident Fund, led by Judge Satchwell, that made recommendations into reasonable, equitable and accessible systems of payments by the Road Accident Fund.
She was chairperson of the National Welfare Forum that actively participated in the Social Welfare Restructuring Committee responsible for the development of the post apartheid Welfare White Paper.
She sat on the council for Medical Aid Schemes.
She was a member of two University councils namely, Medunsa and University of Limpopo. She also served on council committees of Technikon Witwatersrand and the Tshwane University of Technology.
She is offering her services to several NGO boards, notable among which are the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Southern Africa Trust.
She has received recognition awards for her leadership in business, community development and women initiatives.