Meet Our Dedicated Team

Attorney Mike Wagener

CEO

Mike Wagener is an attorney in private practice in Cape Town. During his legal career, which began with articles of clerkship in Johannesburg, he has been a member of both the Johannesburg and Cape Bars and a civil magistrate in Cape Town.

Cynthia Stimpel

Operations Officer

In 2019 she has started a Support Group for Whistle Blowers in South Africa, and is campaigning for the Rights and Plights for Whistle Blowers. She is also a Motivational Public Speaker, speaking on her story as a Whistle Blower, and “making a difference where you are”. She is also a Yoga Instructor for Adults and Children. She is a Board Member on three Boards. She volunteers at Accountability Now, Radio Veritas, and does community work. She had a long career in Banking, and the last 10 years was at SAA, in the capacity as Financial Risk Manager, and the last 2 years as the Group Treasurer.

Trustees

Ghalib Galant

Trustee

Ghalib Galant, the Chief Catalyst and founder member of SynergyWORKS, holds BA and LLB degrees from the University of Cape Town. His work at the intersection of human rights and conflict transformation has seen him intervene at both grassroots and institutional levels in a wide range of contexts from Masiphumelele in the Western Cape to Dili in East Timor. He has worked extensively with national human rights institutions on the continent and internationally on strengthening their institutional capacity to deliver on their mandate. Read More.

Judge Lee Bozalek

Trustee

Judge Lee Bozalek is a retired member of the Western Cape High Court. He practiced as an attorney and advocate in Cape Town before being elevated to the Bench there. He is best known for the decision in the case concerning the invalidity of nuclear power procurement from the Russians.

Jonathan Mort

Trustee

Jonathan is one of the pre-eminent pension fund attorneys in South Africa. He is also an experienced retirement fund trustee, acts as a non-executive director of nominee, unit trust and life companies, and has been appointed as an inspector of financial institutions. He is a past president of the PLA and serves on the executive of the International Pension and Employee Benefits Lawyers Association (IPEBLA).

Judge Ian Farlam

Trustee

Judge Ian Farlam is a retired Judge of Appeal who is best known for his work on the Marikana Commission of Inquiry. He started his legal career as a prosecutor, practised as a member of the Cape Bar until he was elevated to the Cape Bench before promotion to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Richard Goldstone

Trustee

Richard Joseph Goldstone is a South African former judge. After working for 17 years as a commercial lawyer, he was appointed by the South African government to serve on the Transvaal Supreme Court from 1980 to 1989 and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa from 1990 to 1994. (source Wikipedia)

He was on the original Constitutional Court Bench in the new SA after 1994 and was involved in setting up the ICC in The Hague.

Directors

Paul Hoffman

SC Director & Head of Projects

Advocate Paul Hoffman was born in Johannesburg and completed his secondary education at nearby St. Martins School, in 1967. He completed his BA. LL.B at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1974. In 1975 he was admitted as an attorney practising in Johannesburg. He practised as a litigation attorney between 1975 and 1980. He was admitted as an advocate in 1980 and practised as a junior at the Cape Bar until 1995. As a jurist, Advocate Hoffman was the Founding editor of Current Law Cassettes, and a part-time lecturer in law of contract and public international law at the University of the Western Cape. He took silk in 1995 and continued to practice at the Cape Bar where he headed its advocacy skills training program. Three successive Judges President of the Cape High Court invited him to grace their Bench as an Acting Judge. Read More.

Attorney Colette Ashton

Director

Colette Ashton is a civil society lawyer, a consultant to the Institute for Security Studies and the newest director of Accountability Now. She holds a master’s degree from the UN-founded International Anti-Corruption Academy in Vienna.

Guy Lloyd-Roberts

Director

Guy holds the degrees B.A, LL.B. from the University of Cape Town and LL.M. from the London School of Economics. He is admitted to practise as an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa and is likewise admitted to practise as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Western Australia and the Federal Court of Australia. Following his return to South Africa in 1991, he was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Commercial Law at the University of Cape Town and lectured there until the end of 1993. He runs a consultancy offering assistance to the victims of medical accidents liaising closely with attorneys, advocates, actuaries and psychologists in the presentation and if necessary litigation of their claims. He also runs a specialist insurance claims facilitation consultancy advising particularly on business interruption claims. He is a director of an NPO called “ComaCare” which provides support services especially in the Khayelitsha area to the families of victims of traumatic brain injury resulting in coma.