EISA Directorate

A Board of Directors consisting of influential stakeholders in the electoral process and civil society provides the strategic leadership and the financial accountability structure of the organisation.

Current members of the Board

Mr Leshele Thoahlane (Chairperson) is the former Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission in Lesotho.

Mr Denis Kadima took up the position of Executive Director of EISA in December 2002. Before this, he worked for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) from January 2001 to November 2002 as the Senior Programme Manager in Windhoek, Namibia and Resident Director in Lesotho. Since joining EISA, Mr Kadima has expanded the organisation's geographic and programmatic scope, which now covers the whole of Africa and encompasses not only elections but also selected areas in the field of democracy and governance. Mr Kadima is currently completing a PhD on political party coalitions in Africa at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He founded EISA's accredited Journal of African Elections and has published extensively on elections, democracy and governance. Mr Kadima speaks French, English and basic Portuguese.
Email the Executive Director

Professor Jørgen Elklit is Professor of Political Science at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, where his research interests include political parties, elections and Danish politics. He has also served as advisor to a number of governments and electoral commissions, and worked for international agencies on issues related to democratisation, election administration, electoral systems, and electoral systems design. He has also been an election observer in Africa, Asia, and Europe. In 1994 he was one of five international members of the South African Independent Electoral Commission.

Mr Steve Godfrey is the Commonwealth advisor in South Africa, and election consultant to DFID in southern Africa. He served as a policy advisor to the Canadian Foreign Minister dealing with Africa and developing countries. From 1993-98 he managed the Commonwealth Special Programme for South Africa.

Professor Peter Katjavivi is the Ambassador of Namibia to Germany and previously to the European Union in Brussels. He is a prominent SWAPO member, having served as the organisation's Chief Representative in the UK and Western Europe, and later its Secretary for Information and Publicity. He also served on the SWAPO Central Committee during the 1970s and 1980s. Prof Katjavivi has a D.Phil Degree from the University of Oxford and he was a Visiting Fellow at Yale University in the USA for a period of nearly two years before returning to Namibia in 1989. He was elected as a member of the Constituent Assembly and was on the committee that drafted the country's independence Constitution. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1990 until 1992, when he took up a post as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Namibia.

Justice Lewis Makame holds a position as Justice of Appeal for Tanzania. He is also currently the chairperson of both the Tanzanian National Electoral Commission and the Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC Countries (SADC-ECF). Justice Makame's qualifications include a BA from the University of London and a Barrister-At-Law from England and Wales in 1964.

Justice Anastasia Msosa is a judge in the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal. From 1992-1997 she was a judge of the High Court of Malawi and from 1993-1998 served as the chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission for the 1994 Parliamentary and Presidential elections. In 2004, Justice Msosa was once again appointed chairperson of the Electoral Commission.

Dr Gloria Somolekae is a development management specialist with training in policy analysis. She is Programme Director at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Pretoria, South Africa. She has served as a policy advisor to the W K Kellogg Foundation program in southern Africa and was the national facilitator of the program in Botswana. Prior to that, she taught development management and policy analysis at the University of Botswana for more than a decade. She has a strong passion for rural development issues, particularly poverty reduction. She has served in various councils and commissions in Botswana, including serving as the chairperson of Botswana's Vision 2016 Council from 2003-2006, where she was responsible for the realisation of this vision, which included monitoring efforts to eradicate poverty. Dr Somolekae serves on a number of boards both within and outside Botswana, including the Botswana Diamond Valuing Company (BDVC) and the Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF). She has a strong research and activism background in the areas of democracy, election management, and governance.

Ms Ilona Tip has been with EISA since its inception in July 1996. Ms Tip has a background in education and political science. She is the Senior Advisor, Conflict Management, Democracy and Electoral Education at EISA. She has experience in developing, designing and facilitating programmes that support the democratic electoral process including electoral observation, civic and voter education, and conflict management. Ms Tip has extensive experience working with political parties, civil society organisations and electoral commissions.