Ms Phindile Baleni (née Nzimande) holds a B. Proc and an LLB from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She is also an admitted Attorney and Conveyancer. She was a Strategic Management Team Legal Advisor to the then Gauteng MEC for Housing and Local Government from 1994 to 1996.
In 1996, Phindile joined the Metropolitan Council of Johannesburg where she held a number of key positions and was ultimately appointed as the Executive Director of Contract Management for the City of Joburg in 2001, which entailed managing and regulating the relationship between the City and its municipal-owned entities.
In June 2003, Phindile accepted a new career as CEO of EDI Holdings, the state-owned company tasked with project managing the restructuring of the electricity distribution industry in the country, which essentially entails merging the distribution division of Eskom and electricity departments of municipalities, thereafter carving the entire industry into six financially viable Regional Electricity Distributors (REDs) throughout the country.
She has served on a number of boards such as Nurcha, a presidential lead project established to facilitate investment in the financing of low cost housing, Sanparks and Momentum.
Phindile has been the Chief Executive Officer of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) since 01 April 2011. She currently serves on the boards of MERSETA, Common Purpose and the Wits University Council.
She is also the Chairperson of the Regional Electricity Regulators Association (RERA) in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and an Executive Committee Member of the African Forum for Utility Regulators (AFUR). These bodies’ mandate is to harmonise and integrate utility regulatory frameworks towards the attainment of NEPAD’s objectives of creating an environment conducive to investment in infrastructure in the African continent generally and in the SADC specifically.Labels: Phindile Baleni
