Media
Development & Diversity Agency
“Access to diversified media for all”
Hlengani Mathebula - Chairperson
is an accomplished business leader with some 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry. Mr Mathebula’s involvement in this sector includes being a Managing Executive of ABSA Private Bank, and chairing the board of the Eskom Pension and Provident Fund, one of the largest self-administered retirement funds in South Africa. He has also served on the central bank’s Financial Stability Committee and the Governor’s Executive Committee. He served on the board of BMW SA Group.
Mr Mathebula holds a Master of Management from the University of the Witwatersrand and Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), BTH (Hons) from the University of the North and has, amongst others, completed the Senior Executive Programme at Harvard Business School.
Brenda Leonard
is a dedicated and experienced media practitioner and is currently Managing Director of Bush Radio, South Africa’s oldest community radio station. Committed to using media as a tool for social change, she is a founder and member of the Mitchell’s Plain Memory Project, which records stories of people’s experiences of the South African struggle for democracy.
Ms Leonard has been deeply involved in the National Community Radio Forum, currently holding the position of Secretary for the Western Cape branch. She holds a BA Communication Science from UNISA.
Martina Della Togna
is a filmmaker, communications specialist and media researcher with over 25 years of experience in the South African film and media sectors. Martina's commitment to social justice and artist-led story telling reflects in her portfolio of film work which includes award-winning documentary films such as 'Biko's Children', 'Deafening Echoes - the story of Anton Fransch’, ‘Mr Devious: My Life’ and ‘James Mange - The Man who shook Pretoria’. Martina has also advised on public information and education campaigns for South African Provincial and national government departments. Her five-year service to the South African Parliament, as the legislature's first Multimedia Manager, led to the establishment of broadcast and online platforms in support of public (citizen) participation in legislation and oversight, as prescribed by the country's constitution. Martina completed her Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) from the South African School of Motion Picture Medium, AFDA in 2011. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies. She was appointed to serve on the Board of the Media Development and Diversity Agency (MDDA) by the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa in 2017 for a three-year term. She is honoured to be reappointed by Parliament and the President to serve her second term on the board of the MDDA where her passion for media diversity and development finds expression. Martina also serves on the Fort Calata Foundation board. Martina convenes and is and lead writer for the Communications chapter of the South African Country Report on South Africa’s response to Covid-19.
Marina Clarke
retired as a National Director for Epilepsy South Africa in April 2021, having previously worked for the South African National Council for the Blind as Head of Entrepreneurial Development. For more than three decades she worked to advance the rights of persons with disabilities, including serving as Chairperson of the South African Disability Alliance (SADA) and Vice-Chairperson of the African Chapter of the International Bureau on Epilepsy.
She holds a BA (Drama) from the University of Pretoria and is accredited with the International Labour Organisation as a Master Trainer. She currently consults on a range of projects focused on disability rights and entrepreneurial development.
MR HOOSAIN KARJIEKER
Hoosain Karjieker is the Chief Executive and part-owner of M&G Media Limited, owner and publisher of the Mail & Guardian Newspaper, and its digital platforms. He is considered an industry veteran having spent close to 30 years of his life in various roles at media organizations across the country.Karjieker originally from Cape Town, spent a few years in the Finance division at Multichoice, before his appointment as Financial Director at M&G Media in 1999. He was subsequently appointed Chief Executive in 2009.
He served 2 terms as President of the Print and Media Digital Association of South Africa (PDMSA) and was a founder trustee of Amabhungane - the Centre for Investigative Journalism, as well as Bhekisisa - the Centre for Health Journalism. Prior to this, he served as the Deputy Chairperson of the Board of the Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO). He continues to serve as a trustee of the Bhekisisa and the Adamela journalism trusts, as a Councillor on the St Johns school council, and is the Acting Chairperson of the Publisher Support Services industry association.
Nadia Bulbulia
is currently the Executive Director of the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) an industry body for the broadcasting sector. She has contributed to the development of the communications industry over the last twenty-five years and spent a decade in broadcasting and telecoms regulation - she was a Councillor at the IBA and ICASA. She has also worked in the creative industry, education and telecoms.
She served as a non-executive board member at the SABC, NFVF, NEMISA and MDDA. She is a Wits graduate with an Honours in Dramatic Art and her Master’s degree focused on Children’s Television Policy. In her youth she attended the Federated Union of Black Arts (FUBA) where she obtained her Associate and Licentiate Teacher’s Diploma in Dramatic Art through Trinity College (London), she also trained in international relations and diplomatic practice in the Hague (Netherlands). Nadia is a founding member of the Children’s Broadcasting Foundation for Africa and she chaired the Soul City Institute for Social Justice. She is passionate about capacity building and the sustainability of a diverse and vibrant media sector.
