Department of Accounting People
Departmental Chairperson
Position: Departmental Chair and Senior Lecturer
Tel: +27 (021) 959 3222
Email: zmitchell@uwc.ac.za
Profile
Mrs Zurelda Mongane is a Chartered Accountant and Senior Lecturer in Taxation in the Department of Accounting. Her teaching expertise includes Value-Added Tax (VAT) and Company Taxation. Prior to specialising in Taxation, she lectured Financial Accounting, with a particular focus on the application and interpretation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
Driven by a passion for empowering youth and young adults to realise their aspirations, Mrs Mongane pursued a career in academia to make a meaningful impact on student development and success. Her dedication to teaching excellence was recognised nationally when she received the 2022 Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa (ABASA) Accounting Academic of the Year Award.
Mrs Mongane’s research interests lie in the fields of accounting education and taxation. Her master’s degree research focused on tax avoidance, contributing to the understanding of tax compliance and taxpayer behaviour. She is currently pursuing a PhD, undertaking a phenomenological study of taxation education, with the aim of enhancing teaching and learning practices within the discipline.
Through her teaching, research, and mentorship, Mrs Mongane remains committed to developing future accounting professionals and advancing scholarship in taxation and accounting education.
Driven by a passion for empowering youth and young adults to realise their aspirations, Mrs Mongane pursued a career in academia to make a meaningful impact on student development and success. Her dedication to teaching excellence was recognised nationally when she received the 2022 Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa (ABASA) Accounting Academic of the Year Award.
Mrs Mongane’s research interests lie in the fields of accounting education and taxation. Her master’s degree research focused on tax avoidance, contributing to the understanding of tax compliance and taxpayer behaviour. She is currently pursuing a PhD, undertaking a phenomenological study of taxation education, with the aim of enhancing teaching and learning practices within the discipline.
Through her teaching, research, and mentorship, Mrs Mongane remains committed to developing future accounting professionals and advancing scholarship in taxation and accounting education.
Departmental staff
Prof. Jade Jansen
Position: Associate ProfessorTel: +27 (021) 959 3260
Email: jljansen@uwc.ac.za
Prof. Osman Mollagee
Position: Extraordinary Associate ProfessorTel: +27 (021) 959 3254
Email: osman.mollagee@za.pwc.com
Dr Elton Pullen
Position: Senior LecturerTel: +27 (21) 959 3259
Email: epullen@uwc.ac.za
Dr Liza Jacobs
Position: LecturerEmail: ljacobs@uwc.ac.za
Dr Sonnette Smith
Position: Senior LecturerEmail: sesmith@uwc.ac.za
Mr Andre Hamel
Position: Senior LecturerTel: +27 (021) 959 3257
Email: phamel@uwc.ac.za
Mrs Bonita Raymond
Position: Senior LecturerTel: +27 (021) 959 3257
Email: braymond@uwc.ac.za
Mrs Edna Hamel
Position: Senior LecturerTel: +27 (021) 959 3254
Email: ehamel@uwc.ac.za
Mr Johan Saayman
Position: Senior LecturerTel: +27 (021) 959 3262
Email: ajsaayman@uwc.ac.za
Mrs Sharon Fourie
Position: Senior LecturerTel: +27 (021) 959 4146
Email: sfourie@uwc.ac.za
Profile
Sharon Fourie is an accounting education researcher with a particular interest in ethics, student learning, and academic development in higher education. She completed a Master of Commerce in Accounting at the University of Zululand, where her research examined the effectiveness of ethics education in shaping students’ attitudes toward corporate ethics. Her work resulted in the publication The Impact of Business Ethics Education on Attitudes Toward Corporate Ethics of BCom. Accounting Students at the University of Zululand, co-authored with E. Contogiannis and published in the South African Journal of Accounting Research. The study investigated whether formal business ethics instruction influences accounting students’ ethical attitudes and highlighted the need for ongoing research into best practices in ethics education.Her current research interests focus on student success and accounting education, particularly the role of academic literacy in improving learning outcomes. She is presently conducting a longitudinal study at the University of the Western Cape titled The Impact of a Reading and Comprehension Intervention on Accounting Students’ Academic Performance, which explores the relationship between reading comprehension development and academic achievement among accounting students over time. Through this work, she seeks to contribute to evidence-based interventions that enhance student performance and progression in higher education.
Ms Badrunessa Williams
Position: Senior LecturerTel: +27 (021) 959 3264
Email: bawilliams@uwc.ac.za
Profile
Badrunessa Williams is a Chartered Accountant (SA) and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Accounting at the University of the Western Cape. She regularly publishes studies regarding the realities of higher education in South Africa. Her academic research focuses on accounting education, social justice, success factors of undergraduate accounting students, accounting student preparedness, and cultivating socially responsible, ethical business leaders.Google Scholar
ORCID
ResearchGate
Mr Ronald Arendse
Position: LecturerTel: +27 (021) 959 3259
Email: rarendse@uwc.ac.za
Profile
Ronald Arendse is an Accounting Lecturer and emerging researcher in the Department of Accounting. His teaching and research interests are centred on accounting education, student success, curriculum innovation, and the development of evidence-based interventions that enhance learning outcomes in higher education.His research focuses on identifying and evaluating strategies that support student retention, progression, and academic achievement, particularly within high-priority and quantitatively demanding accounting modules. He is particularly interested in the role of academic support programmes, learning analytics, and institutional interventions in improving student success in the South African higher education context.
In addition to his teaching and research responsibilities, he is actively involved in the design and implementation of externally funded academic support initiatives and student development programmes. His work contributes to strengthening the pipeline of future accounting and finance professionals while advancing inclusive and student-centred approaches to teaching and learning.
Through his scholarship and professional practice, he is committed to fostering academic excellence, widening access to educational opportunities, and contributing to the ongoing transformation and development of higher education in South Africa.
Google Scholar
ORCID
Mrs Aaiesha Noordien
Position: LecturerTel: +27 (021) 959 2563
Email: aajacobs@uwc.ac.za
Mrs Mushfiqah Otto
Position: LecturerTel: +27 (021) 959 9288
Email: mujacobs@uwc.ac.za
Mr Stephen Klein
Position: LecturerTel: +27 (021) 959 3926
Email: sklein@uwc.ac.za
Mr Brendan Smith
Position: LecturerTel: +27 (021) 959 3256
Email: bjsmith@uwc.ac.za
Profile
Brendon Smith is a tax lecturer and researcher whose work focuses on value-added tax (VAT) and the taxation of individuals in South Africa. In addition to teaching final-year undergraduate and postgraduate taxation courses at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), he works closely with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) on the development of the national Initial Assessment of Competence (IAC) examinations. He is also actively involved in advancing taxation education through inter-university collaboration and the development of taxation-related teaching practices.Google Scholar
ORCID
Mr Gakeem Johaardien
Position: Associate LecturerTel: +27 (021) 959 3256
Email: gjohaardien@uwc.ac.za
Mr Abdul Antulay
Position: LecturerTel: +27 (21) 959 3256
Email: aantulay@uwc.ac.za
Mr Nkosikhona Madikizela
Position: LecturerTel: +27 (21) 959 3256
Email: nmadikizela@uwc.ac.za
Mr Edwardo Muriro
Position: LecturerTel: +27(21) 959 3256
Email: emuriro@uwc.ac.za
Mrs Lise Botha
Position: Senior LecturerEmail: lbotha@uwc.ac.za
Profile
Lise Botha completed her PhD at the University of Cape Town and is an emerging researcher in Auditing. Her research interests include audit reporting, audit quality, internal audit and the use of text analysis and data analytics (correspondence analysis, clustering techniques) to better understand audit and corporate reporting. Her work is situated at the intersection of auditing, information theory, and governance, with a particular emphasis on how information communicated through corporate and audit reports influences stakeholder perceptions of audit service quality, accountability, and decision-making.Google Scholar
ORCID
Mrs Stephanie Bugan
Position: LecturerEmail: sbugan@uwc.ac.za
Mrs Charne Wessels
Position: LecturerEmail: chwessels@uwc.ac.za
Mr Lizwi Tshongwana
Position: LecturerEmail: ltshongwana@uwc.ac.za
Ms Sindisiwe Nkabinde
Position: LecturerEmail: snkabinde@uwc.ac.za
Ms Thameenah Abrahams
Position: Senior LecturerEmail: thabrahams@uwc.ac.za
Profile
Thameenah Abrahams CA(SA) is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the Western Cape and a PhD candidate in Accounting at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Her research interests are in the areas of auditing, the decline of registered auditors, audit profession sustainability, audit regulation, professional pipeline development, audit education, talent retention, and the future of the assurance industry. Her work focuses on the structural, regulatory, educational, and workplace factors affecting the attraction and retention of auditors in South Africa and globally. She is also interested in evidence-based responses that can support audit quality, professional capacity, and the public interest.Her most recent publications are:
Abrahams, T., & Phesa, M. (2025). Analysing the Factors Contributing to the Decline of Auditors Globally and Avenue for Future Research: A Scoping Review. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 18(7), 363.
Abrahams, T., & Phesa, M. (2025). Assessing the Factors and Effects of the Decline of Registered Auditors in the South African Audit Firms. International Journal of Applied Research in Business and Management, 6(2).
Abrahams, T., & Phesa, M. (2025). Evaluating the Decline Registered Auditors Will Have on the Future of the Assurance Industry in South Africa. Risks, 13(9), 171.
Google Scholar
ORCID
Mrs Willemien Gertze
Position: LecturerEmail: wgertze@uwc.ac.za
Mr Enrico Felaar
Position: AdministratorTel: +27 (021) 959 3264
Fax: 021 959 8934
Email: efelaar@uwc.ac.za
Ms Gayle Rudolph
Position: Programme OfficerTel: +27 (021) 959 3011
Fax: 021 959 8934
Email: grudolph@uwc.ac.za
Ms Hlonekhaya Gxashe
Position: AdministratorTel: +27 (021) 959 3011
Fax: 021 959 8934
Email: hgxashe@uwc.ac.za
Ms Cindy-Ann Arendse
Position: Administrative AssistantTel: +27 (021) 959 3256
Fax: 021 959 8934
Email: ciarendse@uwc.ac.za
Mr Joshua Esau
Position: Thuthuka Programme OfficerTel: +27 (021) 959 3256
Fax: 021 959 8934
Email: jesau@uwc.ac.za / thuthuka@uwc.ac.za
