Dr. Maureen Tong
Dr Maureen Tong is a professional coach, an international lawyer, a gender and human rights researcher. She holds a PhD in international law from the Université de Strasbourg in France. Her local university studies were at the University of KwaZulu – Natal where she was recently appointed as a Member of Council for a 4-year term with effect from 1 August 2020. She previously lectured and Street Law Coordinator at the Centre for Socio Legal Studies at UKZN. More recently she was land rights researcher at the John Langalibalele Dube Institute where she delivered the John Dube Memorial Lecture in September 2017.
She delivered the keynote address at the Women’s Day event at UKZN in august 2018. She previously served as Deputy Director at the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria where among her initiatives were the Woman in Law Award to recognize women’s contribution and excellence in the legal field.
Dr Tong established the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute (TMALI) and served as Project Manager at the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library (TMPL) at the University of South Africa (Unisa). She currently lectures Leadership; Emotional, Social and Cultural Intelligence; Talent Management; Diversity & Inclusion; as well as Change Management at Wits Business School.
She is the CEO of Coach Companion South Africa. Dr Tong is an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and is a member of the ICF. She is the former Deputy Company Secretary of Coaches and Mentors of South Africa (COMENSA) and current member of COMENSA. She is President of the Pretoria Chapter of the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa (PSASA).
Dr Tong has published books and articles on executive coaching, land reform, rights in land and women’s access to land and agriculture. She authored two authoritative volumes on land restitution in South Africa under the title of Lest We Forget. In 2018 she served as Guest co-editor of the Special Edition of the peer reviewed Agenda Journal on Feminist Media titled Land, Violence and Womxn’s Bodies, A luta continua, vitória é certa?
She is a passionate believer in gender equality and gender parity. She is a member of the South African Women in Dialogue (SAWID) through which she hosted the Women and Mental Health summit in February 2020. She collaborates with When Women Heal, a movement between South African and African American women that focusses on the power that women attain when they heal from personal and professional scars (pain). She is a regular keynote speaker on women and gender issues. For example, she will deliver the keynote address at the Virtual Global Leadership Activism Summit (GLAS) 1 October 2020. She spoke at GLAS in May 2018 when it was hosted at the Women’s Prison at Constitution Hill and in Sandton in 2019.
She previously served as Research Manager Women’s Development Bank (WDB) Trust where she currently serves as a company secretary on a part-time basis. She served as the first Board Chairperson of Young Women Business Network (YWBN) Financial Cooperative and Chairperson of the Board of the Health Systems Trust (HST).