Staff and Board
Dr Winnie Martins: Founding Director
The director meets with existing and potential funders, attends meetings involving all of the role-players in the advice office sector and builds new partnerships. She plans CCJD’s strategy and also carries out research on the work of the advice offices.
Winnie studied Law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, before joining CCJD as a researcher in 1994. She researched the Family Violence Act, and her conclusion that women did not know about the Act influenced her founding of the advice office programme.
Appointed director in 1997, Winnie quickly gave CCJD a new vision, focusing its work and research on the advice office programme and raising funds to implement this plan. She has overseen the founding and expansion of the advice offices, the selection and training of paralegals, the rewriting of statutes in accessible language, the dissemination of information, the establishment of a case database and research into the advice office programme and regular three-year evaluations of it. She has also raised funds to support these activities.
Winnie has served on the Advisory Committee of the Open Society Foundation for South Africa and the Executive Committee of the UKZN Convocation, and has been involved in proposal assessment for the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa and CAGE. She is a fellow of Ashoka, the global foundation for social entrepreneurs. She has written training manuals for coordinators on legal and human rights issues and contributed a chapter for a book by Lawyers for Human Rights entitled ‘Children and the Law’.
In 2016 Winnie completed a PhD thesis on the role of community-based paralegals in applying restorative justice in rural communities of KwaZulu-Natal.
Jabhisile Sangweni: Managing Director
Jabu supervises and supports the work of the advice offices and the research and training programmes, and is responsible for the day-to-day management of the head office. She oversees CCJD’s expenditure and financial management, and ensures that CCJD and the advice offices meet their governance and compliance requirements.
Jabu studied a law degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal while working as an intern for CCJD, which she joined full-time in 2006. She has a masters in Law (LLM).
Jackie Nxumalo: Finance Officer
Jackie provides financial and accounting expertise. She is responsible for the organisation’s financial controls, checking and recording all expenditure. She carries out bookkeeping, prepares the records for audit using Pastel accounting, and ensures that CCJD meets all of its obligations to SARS and funders. She also prepares budgets and financial reports for donors.
Before joining CCJD in 2018, Jackie worked as an accountant and finance manager in the corporate sector for an engineering and construction company.
Sindiswa Khambule: Human Resources Manager and Monitor
Sindi is responsible for human resources and for supporting the advice offices and monitoring their performance and reporting. She also co-ordinates the paralegal training programme and supports researchers.
Sindi has a law degree and a Diploma in Public Management. Before joining CCJD in 2019, she worked for fourteen years in the public sector, including in human resources.
Lucky Mkhize: Advice Office Coordinator
Lucky checks and collates the advice offices’ reports and statistics, and provides information on the offices for the purposes of fundraising and research. She provides training to the offices, and offers legal support in difficult cases.
Lucky worked for CCJD as a paralegal from 2002 to 2014 and has a paralegal diploma from the University of Natal, as well as a Certificate in Paralegal Studies.
Rupert Denham: Development Officer
Rupert focuses on fundraising, writing proposals and reports to foundations, governments and companies. He also updates the website and assists with research and IT. With a degree from Oxford University and a background in teaching and website management, he joined CCJD in 2010.
Board
The board includes people from a wide range of cultures and work experiences: academia, law, community work and business. It has strengths in the area of accounting, research, fundraising and running an NGO.
| Name | Role | Job |
| Professor Michael Cowling | Chairman | Professor of Law, University of KZN |
| Gugu Khumalo | Ordinary member | Accountant |
| Professor Philippe Denis | Ordinary member | Social Sciences Researcher, University of KZN |
| Dr Khulekani Khumalo | Ordinary member | Lecturer, University of KZN |
| Dr Gugu Mazibuko | Ordinary member | Lecturer, University of KZN |
| Sipho Sokhela | Ordinary member | Director of YMCA |
Professor Michael Cowling
Professor Michael Cowling taught law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal from 1981 onwards, and was Dean of the Law Faculty for nine years until 2008. From 2009 onwards he worked for AFRA (The Association for Rural Advancement) as consultant, Manager of the Land Rights Legal Unit, and as Director from 2013 to 2015. He currently works as a legal consultant, and has been chairman of the CCJD board since 2015.
Michael holds a Bachelor of Law degree (LLB) from the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. He also studied a Law Masters (LLM) and Diploma in International Law at Cambridge University.
Writing about his involvement with CCJD, Michael said: “CCJD provides a much-needed service to communities in rural areas in KwaZulu-Natal. My experience has shown me that these areas are largely forgotten, despite the advent of democracy in South Africa. This means that they are mostly beyond the reaches of the Constitution and the rule of law. Offering legal advice, support and assistance through the advice offices that operate in rural KZN, CCJD is empowering individuals to realize their rights. This impacts positively on the communities in which they live. It is deeply gratifying to be a part of this process.”
Professor Philippe Denis
Philippe Denis is Professor of History of Christianity at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. As a youth activist, he played an instrumental role in the development of two NGOs in Pietermaritzburg: Thandanani Children’s Foundation, and Sinomlando Centre for Oral History and Memory Work in Africa. He is a board member of both charities, and has served on CCJD’s board since 2014.
Writing about his involvement with CCJD, Philippe said, “I am willing to contribute my time to CCJD because I have been professionally working and volunteering in the field of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) care and support. I hope to contribute to networking in this area of CCJD’s work. At the university I teach and conduct research in the field of oral history and memory work. This may intersect with the work of CCJD. A significant part of my time is devoted to academic research in history and social science. I could contribute to the strengthening of capacity in this area at CCJD.”
Sipho Sokhela
Reverend Sipho Sokhela is the National General Secretary of the South Africa YMCA, a role he has held since 2006. A clergyman with extensive NGO experience, Sipho has worked in youth development since 1989, and has worked for the YMCA since 1991. He was CEO of the KwaZulu-Natal Council of Christian Churches from 1998-2006. He has been a CCJD board member since 2014.
Describing what CCJD means to him, Sipho wrote: “I believe in strengthening civil society and CCJD is the best place to do that. The commitment to advancing access to legal tools, to empowering communities’ legal capacity and promoting a culture of human rights and justice, is well realized through CCJD.”
Gugu Khumalo
An accountant by profession, Gugu is the owner of a transport logistics company in Durban. He has twelve years’ experience as a businessman, and has worked with several farming and community empowerment programmes. He is currently involved with the National Development Agency and Department of Economic Development in setting up sustainable community socio–economic projects. Gugu is the Chairperson of Pinetown Business Ministry and is a board member of Philisisizwe Development Trust.
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Business Finance and Business Administration from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and a degree from the UNISA School of Business Leadership. He has been a CCJD board member since 2014.
Many clients haven´t eaten in days, and advice office staff provide them with food, clothes and toys when they can.
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