Justin Arenstein

is a multi-award winning investigative journalist based in South Africa but also working in Malawi, Mozambique and Swaziland, Arenstein heads the region's only investigative pan-African news agency, African Eye News Service AENS social justice investigation team, headed by Arenstein, won the SA Human Rights Journalism Award 2001 for exposing wrongful deaths in rural hospitals, & child labour on commercial farms. In 2000 The US-based International Centre for Journalists granted its Knight International Press Fellowship Award to AENS in 2000 and cited Arenstein for outstanding independent investigative reportage in rural Africa.

Richard Calland

is the part time Executive Director of the Open Democracy Advice Centre (ODAC) and a founding director of the Centre formed in 2000. He is also head of the Economic Governance Programme at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA). Prior to that he practised law at the London Bar for seven years, specialising in human rights law. He holds post-graduate degrees in World Politics and Comparative Constitutional Law (LLM) from the London School of Economics and the University of Cape Town respectively. He has published extensively on the politics of the South African transition and is a political columnist for the South African Mail & Guardian. He is the author of Anatomy of South Africa: Who Holds the Power? He has consulted for the Carter Center, Atlanta, as part of its transparency programme in Latin America.

Marianne Camerer

is the co-founder and international director of Global Integrity, an independent, non-profit organization tracking governance and corruption trends around the world. She is a leading authority on anti-corruption and democratic governance reforms and for more than a decade has worked for non-profit organizations both in South Africa and the United States dedicated to protecting the public interest. Previously, from 1995 to 2002 she headed anti-corruption research at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), and in 2000 was a founding director of ODAC. Marianne has consulted for international organizations such as the World Bank and United Nations and holds master's degrees in public policy and political philosophy from Oxford and the University of Stellenbosch. Her Ph.D. research critically evaluates the effectiveness of anti-corruption reforms in democratic South Africa. As a Fellow of the Center for Applied Ethics she teaches a course in business ethics and in 2005/2006 spent a stimulating year in New Haven, Connecticut as a Yale World Fellow.

Dr. Danwood Chirwa

is a senior lecturer at the University of Cape Town. He teaches administrative law, international protection of human rights, and current issues in constitutional law. He has published widely on human rights especially socio-economic rights. He is also a Director (for the Dean of the Law Faculty, UCT) of ODAC, Secretary-General of the newly relaunched African Network of Constitutional Law, Contributing Editor to the South African Journal of Criminal Justice, and an Editor of the ESR Review. In 2006, he also served on the Editorial Board of the Acta Juridica. Dr Chirwa has collaborated with NGOs on various human rights issues including Rights and Democracy (Canada), Community Law Centre (South Africa), African Child Policy Forum (Ethiopia), ESCR-Net (USA), Southern African Human Rights Trust (Zimbabwe), and Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (Malawi).

Paul Graham

is the Executive Director of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA). Mr Graham is a director in his capacity as representative of IDASA.

Marcella Naidoo

joined the Black Sash as National Director in 2002. Her experience in grassroots organising began more than 25 years ago when she helped establish the Advice Office for the Lotus River & Grassy Park Residents' Association. Marcella went on to set-up and manage the then Advice Office Forum before joining the Social Work department at the University of the Western Cape. In 1996, she joined the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up by former President Nelson Mandela, serving on its executive management team until its work was completed. Marcella holds a BSocSci from UCT.

She sits on the boards of ODAC (Open Democracy Advice Centre), the Legal Aid Board, the Ditikeni and Sakhikamva Trusts and SALAN (Southern African Legal Assistance Network). She is also a member of the new Steering Committee of Community Advice Offices and Paralegals.

Tseliso Thipanyane

is currently CEO of the Human Rights Commission. Tseliso obtained his BSC and LLB at the National University of Lesotho and his LLM at the Universities of the Western Cape and Cape Town. He was admitted as an Advocate to the High Court in Lesotho in 1993 and to the High Court of South Africa in 2003