Johannesburg – Part of the team that helped establish pillars for South Africa’s new democracy and new Constitution in the early 1990s, Dr Yvonne Muthien has come a long way, using her academic expertise to build institutions in government and guide business decisions.
Intent on pursuing an academic career, Muthien said she was “conscripted” to work in government administration during multi-party negotiations. The team had the challenge of transitioning from an apartheid state while establishing a democracy, she told Fin24 in an interview. Muthien served as public service commissioner in the late president Nelson Mandela’s government.
“Nothing else I’ve done, even with multinational, global companies, compares to what we did in the early stages of democracy,” said Muthien. Since the dawn of democracy 22 years ago, South Africa now has Chapter Nine institutions in place, which still hold firm, she said. “Our democracy is still growing, we have come a long way.”