Tembinkosi Bonakele

Former Commissioner, South African Competition Commission

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I am an admitted attorney and worked as the commissioner of the South African Competition Commission from 2013 to August 2022. I joined the Commission in 2004 and occupied various positions in the Commission’s core divisions. I was appointed deputy commissioner in 2008, and prior to that worked as head of mergers, head of compliance, and senior legal counsel respectively. One of my major career accomplishments was positioning the Commission as a world class regulatory agency and one of South Africa’s best performing public institutions. 

I am also an adjunct visiting professor at Wits Law School and the Nelson Mandela University Business School, an associate of the Competition and Regulation European Summer School at Athens University, a fellow of the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development, and a board member of the University of Stellenbosch’s Centre for Competition Law and Economics.

I hold a B.Juris and an LL.B from the University of Fort Hare, and an MBA from Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria. I am also a Ph.D. candidate and teaching fellow at the University College London. I also serve as the Chairperson of the African Competition Forum, a member of the BRICS Competition Forum and Vice Chair of the International Competition Network.