Continental Tyre South Africa (CTSA) announced the appointment of Sivuyile Boqwana on the Company’s executive committee.
The attorney joined CTSA a year ago as legal compliance manager and sits on the CTSA board as company secretary. Dieter Horni, CTSA Managing Director says the continuous changes to legislation made it imperative that the executive committee includes a member that has capacity to ensure compliance in all aspects of the organisation. “We are faced with a number of legislative issues that need consideration and decision-making at an executive level,” Horni adds.
It is the first time in the company’s 28 year history in South Africa that a woman is appointed at executive level. Boqwana takes on her new role with a wealth of experience in the automotive and tyre and rubber industries. In 2007 she was appointed legal advisor at General Motors South Africa and four years later relocated to Pretoria where she worked as consumer protection act specialist at Nissan South Africa. Last year she was elected to serve on the board of the South Africa Tyre Manufacturers Conference as well as the board of South Africa Tyre Recycling Process.
Eastern Cape born Boqwana graduated from Rhodes University with a BSC Law Degree and completed her LLB at the University of Port Elizabeth (now called the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University). She served her articles and then practiced as an attorney at a law firm in Port Elizabeth before moving to Sanlam Life as its compliance officer. While working at Sanlam she read and completed a Management Development Programme at the Gordon Institute of Business Science.
Boqwana, a mother of two young children, says she looks forward to the new challenge. “I am honoured for having been afforded the opportunity to be part of such a large organisation’s executive team. It is usually not easy for a woman to make inroads in a traditionally male dominated industry,” says Boqwana.
Horni says: “this appointment introduces diversity into the Executive Committee, brings different perspectives to issues pertaining to the business.”
CTSA, formally known as General Tyre SA, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Continental AG and was established in South Africa in 1986 after the German company acquired US owned General Tyre internationally.
