SACPLAN Council Members

PPA Section
Private Practise (Section 4(1)(f))

Employed at
Freelancer

Province
Limpopo

Mr Tshisamphiri Johannes Madima is a seasoned urban and regional planning professional with over four decades of experience spanning the public sector, academia, and private consulting. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and a University Education Diploma from the University of the North, a Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Natal, with a thesis focused on citizen participation in planning and a Master of Science in Engineering Business Management from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom.

Mr Madima’s career includes senior leadership roles in the Venda Government and the Limpopo Department of Local Government and Housing, where he served at Director level across planning, housing, and corporate services portfolios. Since 2006, he has been the Managing Member of Tshiongolwe Development Planning Consultants and Khirisha Professional Services Consultants and has served as a Board Member of African Development Planning Consultants since 2015.

He has held numerous positions of leadership in the planning profession, including as Chairperson of the Development Planning Association of South Africa, Past Chairman of the South African Planning Institute (Northern Province), and former Deputy Chairperson of SACPLAN. He currently chairs several Municipal Planning Tribunals across Limpopo and has served as Chairperson of the Advisory Board of the University of Venda’s Urban and Regional Planning programme.

PPA Section
Interests of Communities (Section 4(1)(e))

Employed at
South African Cities Network

Province
Gauteng

Nosipho Hlatshwayo is an urban planner that specializes in futures planning and city strategy. She has spent more than 20 years in the private and public sectors across rural and urban municipalities.

She has successfully led strategy development and implementation initiatives in various organisations and metros, championed several business process improvement and futures thinking on behalf of cities and other public and not-for-profit organisations, embedded innovation as a practice in the organisations she has served.

She currently serves as the CEO of the South African Cities Network where she leads a passionate team of professionals that is focused on bridging the gap between municipal practitioners, business, academia and civil society towards the implementation of the urban agenda.

PPA Section
Provincial Government (Section 4(1)(b))

Employed at
Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning

Province
Western Cape

Fezeka Mabusela is the Chief Director: Development Planning at the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs & Development Planning (DEA&DP), where she provides strategic leadership across Environmental Authorisations, Provincial Spatial Planning, Development Management, Planning Intelligence and Research, and Development Facilitation. With more than 22 years of experience in the public sector, including over 11 years in senior management, she has built an extensive career at the intersection of planning, governance, environmental sustainability, and development.

Her professional experience spans provincial and local government institutions, including the Western Cape Department of Local Government, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), and the municipalities of King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality, Elundini Local Municipality, and Kouga Local Municipality. These roles have provided her with a deep understanding of spatial planning, local governance, intergovernmental relations, and sustainable development.

A professional planner registered with South African Council for Planners (SACPLAN). She is also a Senior Manager within the DEAA& DP Gender & Human Rights Inclusivity Forum and a member of the Western Cape Provincial Cultural Forum.

She holds a master’s degree in urban and Regional Planning from the University of the Free State. Her professional interests centre on spatial transformation, spatial justice, and the application of a gender lens in policy and planning. She is a strong advocate for inclusive, evidence-based and citizen-centred approaches that advance equitable development and improve the quality of life of communities.

Beyond her professional responsibilities, Fezeka is a devoted wife and proud mother of two adult children. She is committed to fostering collaborative leadership and driving meaningful change that leaves a lasting impact on people, places, and future generations.

PPA Section
Department (Section 4(1)(a))

Employed at
Department of Land Reform and Rural Development

Province
Gauteng

Ms Makhado is a Professional Town and Regional Planner (A/136/2009). She studied Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Venda (2005) and obtained a Master of Town and Regional Planning from the University of Pretoria (2014).

Ms Makhado began her career at Hannes Lerm and Associates Town and Regional Planners as a Field Worker and Data Capturer for the Thulamela Land Use Scheme (2005). She was subsequently appointed as a Town and Regional Planning Practitioner by the Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Limpopo) from 2005 to 2007, progressing to Senior Town and Regional Planner from 2007 to 2009.

From 2009 to 2018, she served as Director: Development Planning at Makhado Local Municipality, where she was responsible for IDP, Human Settlements, GIS, Spatial Planning and Land Use Management, Environmental Management, Building Control, Sale and Lease of Municipal Properties, Local Economic Development, and Organisational Performance Management Systems (OPMS). She was responsible for the establishment of the first Municipal Planning Tribunal and was the first Authorised Officer (AO) designated by council in terms of section 35(2) of SPLUMA. She also served as a Member of the Municipal Planning Tribunal.

From January 2019 to 2022, she served as Director: Strategic Planning and Economic Development at Modimolle-Mookgophong Local Municipality, responsible for IDP, Human Settlements, Spatial Planning and Land Use Management, Building Control, Local Economic Development, and OPMS. Ms Makhado served as the first Authorised Officer (AO) designated by the municipal council in terms of section 35(2) of SPLUMA and as a Member of the second generation Waterberg District Municipal Planning Tribunal. She was appointed Acting Municipal Manager at Modimolle-Mookgophong Local Municipality from December 2021 to April 2022.

From 2022 to present, she serves as Director: Land Use Compliance at the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development. Since 2023, she has served as Deputy Chairperson of the Urban and Regional Planning Department Industrial Advisory Board at the University of Venda (UNIVEN). From 2024, she has served as an Annual Guest Lecturer in the Department of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Pretoria.

PPA Section
Department (Section 4(1)(a))

Employed at
Department of Land Reform and Rural Development

Province
Northen Cape

Mr. Gerhard de Bruin is a registered Professional Planner with a distinguished 30-year career serving all three spheres of government in the Northern Cape. He holds a Baccalaureus Artium in Urban Geography (1993), a Magister in Town and Regional Planning (1995), and a Magister in Business Administration (2006), all from the University of the Free State.

His extensive professional journey, within the Northern Cape, began in 1995 as a Town Planner with the Department of Housing and Local Government. He subsequently transitioned to the Sol Plaatje Municipality in 1998, where he advanced to the position of Principal Town Planner. Since joining the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (2010 – to date) as a Chief Town and Regional Planner, he has been instrumental in shaping the Northern Cape’s development. His work is essential for helping the province adopt and implement effective planning and land use management systems as required by the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA).

Mr. de Bruin is passionate about the planning profession and hopes to inspire the next generation to recognize its potential as a “game-changer” in achieving sustainable development.

PPA Section
Private Practise (Section 4(1)(f))

Employed at
Freelancer

Province
Western Cape

Peter Ahmad is an experienced freelance urban planner currently residing in Cape Town South Africa. He celebrates thirty years working in his profession in 2026. Born in London, raised in Sunderland, and educated in Manchester, United Kingdom, these three cities significantly influenced his early life. After earning his degree in town planning and struggling to find work he relocated from the UK to post-apartheid South Africa, the country of his mother’s birth, to pursue formal career opportunities in urban planning.

Since 1996, his professional journey has been shaped by two of South Africa’s most dynamic cities: Johannesburg and Cape Town. Both metros have tested—and continue to refine—new approaches to managing rapid urbanisation, demographic shifts, and enduring socio-spatial inequalities rooted in apartheid-era planning and economic practices. Over 26 years, he helped shape and implement regional and metropolitan strategies and policies in these contexts.

In 2022, he graduated with distinction from the London School of Economics’ Executive Masters in Cities, strengthening his practical and theoretical expertise alongside an international cohort.

Today, he consults widely across the public, private and development sectors, with recent clients including the World Bank, South Africa’s National Treasury, and Oman’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning.

Peter is also the founder of the Talking Transformation Podcast (https://tinyurl.com/3jtcua7b), a SACPLAN accredited platform for professional learning, and serves as an Area Director within Toastmasters Southern Africa, reflecting his commitment to leadership, communication and professional growth.

PPA Section
Local Government (Section 4(1)(c))

Employed at
City of Ethekwini

Province
KwaZulu-Natal

Dr Moonsammy has served at eThekwini Municipality for over 33 years, as a planner and former Head of Planning for 12 years. She currently holds the roles of Programme Manager: Urban Renewal and Acting Director: Programmes Coordination.

Her professional interests lie in capacity development, policy and institutional support for local government and planning. Dr Moonsammy is a co-founder of the Area Based Management Programme and the Municipal Institute of Learning (MILE). Her current work in the Urban Renewal space is partnership-driven, inclusive, and extends to working with homeless communities and youth.

She served as co-chair of the Urban Strategic Planning Committee of UCLG and participated in the drafting of the International Urban Territorial Guidelines. In 2017, she graduated with a PhD in Town and Regional Planning from the University of Pretoria. Her research focuses on changing practice from inside municipalities, through professional councils and teaching, s an approach she considers consistently underestimated in practice, governance, and academia.

PPA Section
Education and Training (Section 4(1)(d))

Employed at
University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)

Province
Gauteng

Prof. Mfaniseni Fana Sihlongonyane earned his B.A Hons and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (with Distinction) from the University of Swaziland, a master’s in development planning from Wits University and a doctorate from Oxford University. He joined Wits University in 1996. He has been the undergraduate convenor, the director of the Planning Programme twice (3-year terms) and a Postgraduate coordinator for the School of Architecture and Planning. He has serviced the university in numerous decision-making committees including university senate, Human Resource Committee, Campus Planning and Development Committee and is a Board member of the Gauteng City Region Observatory (GCRO). Prof Sihlongonyane also served as a member as well as the Alternative Chairperson of the South African Council of Planners (SACPLAN) (professional body) in 2008 to 2012 and 2013 to 2017 respectively. He was chairperson of the Scientific Committee for the 52nd Congress of ISOCARP which was held in Durban in 2016. He was the chairperson of the Committee of Heads of Planning Schools (CHoPS) in the country from 2021-2024. He is invited as guest speaker in various national and international conferences.

Prof. Sihlongonyane publishes in high impact factor journals broadly in the discipline of development and urban studies. His current research is situated on the nexus between development planning, urban studies and cultural studies. His research interests spread over a wide range of theoretical, applied and policy arenas in the global as well as African realms of development. This involves exploring issues of Urbanism cultural globalization, Discourse structures, Cross-cultural communication, memory, identity and blackness. The pivot of his research lies in the exploration of the intersections between disciplines (e.g. geography and economics, histories of materiality (e.g. branding of Johannesburg), encounters between discursive approaches (globalisation and Africanisation). The metaphor of intersection here emphasises that, within a body/city, the relationships of component parts are not stable and fixed; rather, they can be displaced and replaced within and among other bodies. This exploration is useful for analysing social complexity by emphasizing fluidity, exchangeability, and multiple functionalities through entities and their connectivity.

Over the years, he has published in areas of land reform, planning, spatial development, urban politics, local economic development, community development, and African city. He has been Editor of the Commentary and Policy section of the South African Planning Journal (SAPJ) for five years and an Editorial board member to date. He was the Principal Investigator for the WITS-TUB Collaboration project between the university and the Technical University of Berlin, Germany and the University of Lagos, Nigeria which offered PhD and masters scholarships, and lecturer exchanges, that brought 450 000 Euros per year to the school over five years and was renewed for another 5 years (including the University of Lagos) up to 2024.

PPA Section
Community Interest (Section 4(1)(e))

Employed at
Beck-Paxton Attorneys

Province
Gauteng

Penelope Anne Beck is an admitted attorney with a background and experience in consumer protection, adjudication, public administration and corporate governance. She holds a BA (Law) LLB from the University of the Western Cape.

Earlier in her legal career she dedicated herself to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) focusing on social interest law, advocating for systemic change and human rights for vulnerable communities in roles at the Legal Resources Centre, the Housing Consumer Protection Trust, and the Black Sash. She has over the past 25 years served on several Boards and Tribunals such as the National Consumer Tribunal, the Gauteng Rental Housing Tribunal, the Appeals Committee of the Council for the Built Environment, on the Iziko Museums Council and on the Board of the Ombudsman for Banking Services.

Presently she operates a private law practice under the name Beck-Paxton Attorneys where she adjudicates disputes serving on the Appeals Committee of the South African Institute for Drug free Sport; on the Military Veterans Appeal Board; on the Gauteng Gambling Board and on the Council for Medical Schemes. She is a Director and Shareholder of One Climate Fund South Africa where she is committed to renewal energy projects targeting broad-based economic development to generate employment opportunities for communities.

PPA Section
Private Practise (Section 4(1)(f))

Employed at
MPL pac

Province
Gauteng

Dr Martin Lewis is a Professional Urban and Regional Planner, Academic and Administrator with over 35 years of experience. He holds a Bachelor and a Master’s degree in Town and Regional Planning from the University of Pretoria, and a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of the Free State. He completed the ISO 9001 Lead Auditor (Quality Management Systems) qualification which carries CQI IRCA, UK approval.

Dr Lewis is currently the sole proprietor t/a MPL pac (planning, advisory and consulting), a Professor of Practice at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of Johannesburg, acts as Auditor, Technical Expert, and Consultant for ISO 9001 Quality Management System Certification for two Certification Bodies, and as a consultant in the Built Environment.

Dr Lewis was appointed as the first CEO of the South African Council for Planners (SACPLAN) and held this position for over 13 years. He was Head of Department: Town and Regional Planning at the University of Johannesburg. Prior to this he worked at the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality and the Springs City Council for more than 15 years. As CEO of SACPLAN, Dr Lewis managed the competencies and standards project. He developed and implemented an array of policies and policy guideline documents and was integrately involved as a panel member and managed programme accreditation visits to all 11 planning schools in South Africa. Dr Lewis was the chairperson of the Local Organising Committee of the successful 2016 ISOCARP Congress held in Durban, South Africa. Dr Lewis is registered as a Professional Planner with SACPLAN, and a Chartered Planner with the RTPI.

PPA Section
Private Practice (Section 4(1)(f))

Employed at
Phemo Town Planning and Property Development Consultancy

Province
Gauteng

Angela Mahopo is the founder and managing director of PHEMO Town Planning and Property Development Consultancy. She a registered Professional Planner with the South African Council for Planners, a Council Member of the South African Council for Planners and the Council for the Built Environment, a Member of the Ekurhuleni Municipal Planning

Tribunal and Madibeng Municipal Planning Tribunal, and a Corporate Member of the Institute of Directors in South Africa. She has over 17 years of experience in Town and Regional planning with areas of expertise in Spatial Planning and Land Use Management, Development Planning, Local Economic Development, Property Development, Planning Law, Human Settlements and Urban Design from both public and private sector.

Angela graduated with a post-graduate (Honours) degree in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2008. In 2015 she completed a master’s degree in Town and Regional Planning from the University of Pretoria, where she achieved a distinction for her thesis and also became a member of the Golden Key International Honour Society. Angela also holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of South Africa and is working toward being an admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa. It is her professional ambition to make worthy contributions to the spatial, socio-economic and environmental transformation of cities, towns and rural area in South Africa and beyond.

PPA Section
Local Government (Section 4(1)(c))

Employed at
Vhembe District Municipality

Province
Limpopo

Ms. Mapholi holds a Bachelor of URP from the University of Venda and a master’s degree in TRP from the University of Pretoria. Her academic and research interests have consistently centered on rural planning challenges, including water security, settlement planning, environmental sustainability and spatial justice in under-resourced communities.

She is currently employed as Manager: Spatial Planning and Land Use Management at Vhembe District Municipality, a position she has held since 2017. In this role, she provides strategic leadership in the development, implementation, and monitoring of the District SDF, ensures compliance with the SPLUMA & guides spatial integration across local municipalities within the district. Her work includes advising on land development applications, coordinating sector plans, managing spatial budgets and providing technical support to traditional leadership structures on land use management and environmental governance.

Her career in local government spans progressive role as Senior Land Use, Integrated Development Planning and Performance Management Officer at Aganang Local Municipality & Land Use Officer at Fetakgomo Local Municipality. She began her professional journey in private practice as a Junior Town and Regional Planner gaining hands-on experience in township establishment, rezoning, subdivision, and land development feasibility studies. This breadth of experience has equipped her with a deep understanding of both statutory and developmental planning processes across urban–rural contexts.

She has experience working in rural and traditional authority areas where she has championed orderly spatial development, strengthened municipal planning systems, and supported inclusive public participation. She played a role in integrating environmental consideration into spatial planning & sustainable land use decision-making.

PPA Section
Education and Training (Section 4(1)(d))

Employed at
University of Pretoria

Province
Gauteng

Vho Sebola-Samanyanga is both an academic and a practitioner with expertise in urban and rural planning. He draws on experience from the private sector, public institutions, and academia. His research lies at the intersection of (S)place, Land Reform, Rural Planning and Development, Decolonial Thought, and Local Governance and Management. Vho Sebola-Samanyanga’s scholarly work critically examines the lasting legacies of colonial planning. He also explores the roles of formal and traditional governance structures in promoting transformative urban and rural development. Through his work, he reimagines land and (S)place not only as physical landscapes but also as lived, spiritual, and political entities.