Dti appoints acting director-general

TSEDISO MATONA has been appointed acting director-general of the Department of Trade and Industry. This follows the resignation of Alistair Ruiters, who left at the end of last month after almost 11 years with the department. Matona is a senior trade official in the Ministry of Trade and Industry. In his new capacity he takes on the responsibility of a trade policy advisor to the Minister of Trade and Industry and to the Cabinet, as well as trade negotiator for South Africa. He brings to the position diversified international experience which has given him a high-level understanding of international business and current trade policy issues, a dti spokesman said. This includes a stint from 1996-98 when he was based in Geneva, Switzerland, as the head of South Africa’s permanent trade mission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and United Nations economic agencies. A graduate in economics from the universities of Cape Town (South Africa) and East Anglia (UK), he has certificates in trade law and management. He began his career a researcher at UCT for the Department of Politics and the Trade Policy Monitoring Project, and has published a number of papers in his field.