Our team
Bukelwa Makasi, Office Administrator
Bukelwa grew up in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape and has a Diploma in Commercial Administration from PE Technikon (DipComAdmin). As the PSAM office administrator, she interfaces daily with the public, answering or redirecting queries and ensuring the smooth running of the organization. Bukelwa deals with day-to-day financial and administrative tasks
Zukiswa Kota, Head: Monitoring and Advocacy Program
Zukiswa joined the Public Service Accountability Monitor as a researcher and has since amassed vast experience within the social accountability sector. An Environmental Science graduate, she is currently the Lead Coordinator of Imali Yethu, a civil society coalition working with the National Treasury to develop South Africa’s first online portal for provincial and national budget data, vulekamali. Zukiswa serves on the Board of Trustees of the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) and on the Reference Group of the Civic Tech Innovation Network (CTIN). Zukiswa is passionate about promoting social and environmental justice and contributing to transformative open governance in Africa.
Jay Kruuse, Director
Jay Kruuse is from the Eastern Cape and studied law at Rhodes University before being admitted as an attorney. He worked in both private and public sector legal offices before joining PSAM as a project manager to engage with and evaluate a joint anti-corruption initiative and a commission of inquiry into public sector maladministration. He headed up PSAM’s research and monitoring program for 5 years, then managed ODAC’s PAIA Litigation cases before being appointed director of PSAM in 2013. He is particularly interested in socio-economic rights, public interest litigation, and accountability issues. Jay was responsible for the research for the 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 Open Budget Surveys of South Africa. Jay is a member of the Technical Working Group on Public Finance Management (PFM) which the SADC Parliamentary Forum established to support the development of a Model PFM Law that was adopted in 2022.
Mary Fike, outgoing Finance Manager
Mary moved to Grahamstown with her parents in the 1960s and loves living in the Eastern Cape, which she feels is South Africa’s best kept secret. She has personally witnessed the many changes in the Grahamstown political landscape during the past fifty-plus years. Mary holds a Bachelor of Accounting Science (B.Compt) degree from UNISA. She was delighted to have joined the PSAM in April 2015 as their accounting officer, in a part-time capacity. Mary has vast experience in the managing grant funding, having spent the last nine years before joining the PSAM as an accountant in the Rhodes University finance division. She headed up the research finance section, which is tasked with the financial management of the university’s grant and project funding. During her time there, she passionately promoted a culture of transparency and accountability in the governance of donor funding.
Luyanda Shilangu, Training Coordinator
Luyanda grew up in Driekoppies, Mpumalanga. He holds a Bachelor of Administration in Local Government and Bachelor of Administration Honours in Public Administration from the University of Limpopo. He joined PSAM in June 2019 with experience in coordinating and administering capacity-building programs. Luyanda is passionate about good governance and the achievement of social and economic development.
Ms. Lisa Higginson, Budget & Advocacy Coordinator
Lisa grew up in Pietermaritzburg and holds a Masters in Economics, focused on applications in development from the University of Cape Town. She has worked on various research and advocacy-related projects for government and private sector in Southern Africa. She is inspired by collaborative, interdisciplinary projects that seek out innovative and practical solutions to societal problems based on sound, ethical and participatory research processes, that make sense.
Rachel Gondo, Head – Regional Learning Program
Rachel holds a Bachelor of Social Science (Hons) in Political Science and an MA in Social Science. Rachel has work experience in community mobilization, community monitoring of health service delivery and evidence-based policy advocacy. Her research interests include gender, governance, and accountability. Rachel held the position of Senior Programme Officer at PSAM from 2013 to 2019 before being appointed as Head of PSAM’s Regional Learning Program.
A
ndile Nayika, Community Facilitator
Andile was born, raised, studied, and started working in Makhanda. After working for several local and mainstream media outlets, he joined PSAM as a Community Facilitator for the Action for Accountability (A4A) project. He has worked in the Makhanda community both as a journalist and an artist encouraging the right to expression and information, social cohesion, and inclusive participation. In the A4A project, he facilitates engagement with communities to influence civic action in Makhanda.
Mando Chiundaponde, Senior Program Officer
Mando is an Economic and Social Accountability Activist, born and raised in Zambia. Since joining the Civil Society movement in 2019, she has keenly pursued research on Economic Justice and Natural Resource Governance, Policy Analysis and Influencing, Social Accountability Monitoring and Advocacy. She is also passionate about Women’s Rights and Accountability in the fiscal justice and extractive spaces. At PSAM, Mando seeks to contribute to advancing good governance, and the management of national and natural resources in a way that centers people, is done accountably, and is sustainable. Mando holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from the Guru Nanak Dev University (India) and is a candidate for a Master of Science Degree in Public Finance and Taxation from the University of Lusaka (UNILUS).
Sam Beynon, Research and Advocacy Analyst
Sam Beynon was born in Gqeberha but raised in a small, rural farming community outside Makhanda, in the Eastern Cape. She holds a Bachelor of Administration Degree, majoring in Public Administration and Political Science, and a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in Political Science from Nelson Mandela University (NMU) where she served as a Secretary-General and Deputy President on the Students’ Representative Council (SRC). Sam has also served as an elected public representative in Local Government and as an appointed public official in Local and Provincial Governments and Legislatures across the country. Sam has represented South Africa at several ad hoc international engagements (BRICS youth) where she has sought to use diplomacy, international cooperation, collaboration, and partnership to advance the cause of Africa and her people, in particular, historically disenfranchised and marginalized communities. Sam has a keen interest in deepening democracy and social justice work that explores how to frame and implement approaches, methods, strategies, and techniques to law-making, oversight, governance, and public participation in spaces and ways that are easily accessible and resonate with diverse communities and contexts.
Vongai Maroyi,
Mrs Vongai Maroyi was appointed as a Manager: Finance and Administration at PSAM on the 1st of May 2024. Prior to this appointment, she worked as a Finance Administrator at the Centre of Social Development (Rhodes University). She has held several positions such as Compliance Officer at TB/HIV Care, Assistant Finance Manager at Africare South Africa, Accounting Officer at the Eastern Cape Socio-Economic Council to name a few. Mrs Maroyi has over 22 years of experience in Financial Management. She holds a BSc Honours Degree in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University, a Post Graduate Diploma in Taxation from Rhodes University, Full ACCA and a Diploma in Accounting.