By Nneka Nwogwugwu
A member of the Advisory Board of NatureNews, Dr. Namane Magau, has passed away.
A Septuagenarian, Dr. Magau died Saturday morning in Johannesburg after a brief illness.
In a condolence message, the Board Chairman and Emir of Dutse, Alhaji (Dr.) Nuhu Muahmmad Sanusi, described Mrs. Magau as a deeply passionate advocate for human development.
He said the Board will sorely miss her insightful contributions on critical environmental challenges facing the African continent, especially the topical issue of climate change.
The Board Chairman extended the condolences of the Advisory Board members to Dr. Magau’s immediate family and to the government and people of South Africa.
In a related development, the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of NatureNews, Aliu Akoshile, has expressed shock at the news of the demise of Dr. Magau.
He said he learnt of the unfortunate incident from a member of the Advisory Board, Prof. Abdoulaye Bathily, who was instrumental to Dr. Magau’s acceptance to join the Board.
Mr. Akoshile described Dr. Magau as a rigorous intellectual, a seasoned media administrator and an accomplished banker.
He said Mrs. Magau, as a consummate environmental activist, helped to shape and sharpen the thematic focus of NatureNews newspaper as she was consistent in offering wise counsel to the Management.
An educationist par excellence, the late Dr. Namane Magau bagged a Doctorate in Education from Harvard, and was a member of the editorial board of Harvard Business Review (HBR).
She was President of Business Women’s Association (BWA), as well as President of International Women’s Forum South Africa (IWFSA).
Dr. Magau also served on several Boards and was Board Chairperson of NTP and Bertha Gxowa Foundation, as well as the Advisory Board of the UCT Graduate School of Business.
Earlier in her career, she served at the Directorate level of the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) from where she joined the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) as Executive Vice President for Human Capital.
After five years at the CSIR she became part of the executive team at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
The experiences she had in designing policy for National Programs like the HR strategy for the RDP and guiding development of management systems and programs for the science and innovation systems at the CSIR extended her understanding of promoting performance of organizations through engaging people at all levels and using efficient information management systems.
Until her demise on Saturday, Dr. Namane Magau was the Principal partner at her Consulting Company, B&D Solutions.