Yvonne Mkefa
Yvonne Mkefa is a Director in our Employment Law practice. She has 20 years post admission experience, six of which were in niche law practicing firms specialising in employment law. In 2010 Yvonne moved in-house to take up employee relations and legal roles in employment relations functions and worked for companies in the energy, aviation and financial services.
About Yvonne
About Yvonne
Yvonne joined Eskom as a graduate intern in 2001. She completed her articles at Kathdrada Norval Rice and Patel Attorneys and retained as an Associate. She moved to Parrott van Niekerk & Woodhouse Incorporated as a Senior Associate where she independently managed her practice, which was largely comprised of litigating in the Labour Court. Amongst the clients that Yvonne represented are both 2 of the biggest FMCG retailers in South Africa (Shoprite and Makro) and mining companies (De Beers and Anglogold Ashanti).
In 2008 Yvonne joined Cliffe Dekker Incorporated as a Senior Associate. Later in 2008 Yvonne took her first non-practice role as an Employee Relations Consultant at Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (Pty) Limited, a subsidiary of Eskom SOC Limited.
In 2010 she moved to South African Airways SOC Limited as an Employee Relations Specialist and HR Legal Advisor. When Yvonne joined SAA she was placed in the acting HoD position in the Employee Relations department while the recruitment process was underway. After 5 years, in 2016, Yvonne moved to Cape Town to join Old Mutual Limited as a Senior Human Resources Manager: Industrial and Stakeholder Relations. In 2018 she was promoted to Group Employee Relations Executive responsible for Employee Relations, Ethics Management and HR Litigation. In 2020 Yvonne acted in the Human Capital Director position.
In 2021 Yvonne's portfolio was expanded to include Employment Equity. She was also formally co-opted onto the Group Legal's Executive Committee as the Legal Executive responsible for Human Capital matters with a dual reporting line to Old Mutual's General Counsel, hence the change in the naming convention of the role to Group Employment Relations Executive.
Credentials
Credentials
Education
- Bachelor of Arts (Law; Linguistics & English Languages) – Rhodes University
- Bachelor of Laws (LLB) – Rhodes University
- Diploma in Human Resources Management & Training – Varsity College
- Postgraduate Diploma in Leadership Development – Stellenbosch University
Memberships
- SASLAW
- The Ethics Institute
Languages
Languages
- English
About Yvonne
Yvonne joined Eskom as a graduate intern in 2001. She completed her articles at Kathdrada Norval Rice and Patel Attorneys and retained as an Associate. She moved to Parrott van Niekerk & Woodhouse Incorporated as a Senior Associate where she independently managed her practice, which was largely comprised of litigating in the Labour Court. Amongst the clients that Yvonne represented are both 2 of the biggest FMCG retailers in South Africa (Shoprite and Makro) and mining companies (De Beers and Anglogold Ashanti).
In 2008 Yvonne joined Cliffe Dekker Incorporated as a Senior Associate. Later in 2008 Yvonne took her first non-practice role as an Employee Relations Consultant at Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (Pty) Limited, a subsidiary of Eskom SOC Limited.
In 2010 she moved to South African Airways SOC Limited as an Employee Relations Specialist and HR Legal Advisor. When Yvonne joined SAA she was placed in the acting HoD position in the Employee Relations department while the recruitment process was underway. After 5 years, in 2016, Yvonne moved to Cape Town to join Old Mutual Limited as a Senior Human Resources Manager: Industrial and Stakeholder Relations. In 2018 she was promoted to Group Employee Relations Executive responsible for Employee Relations, Ethics Management and HR Litigation. In 2020 Yvonne acted in the Human Capital Director position.
In 2021 Yvonne's portfolio was expanded to include Employment Equity. She was also formally co-opted onto the Group Legal's Executive Committee as the Legal Executive responsible for Human Capital matters with a dual reporting line to Old Mutual's General Counsel, hence the change in the naming convention of the role to Group Employment Relations Executive.
Credentials
Education
- Bachelor of Arts (Law; Linguistics & English Languages) – Rhodes University
- Bachelor of Laws (LLB) – Rhodes University
- Diploma in Human Resources Management & Training – Varsity College
- Postgraduate Diploma in Leadership Development – Stellenbosch University
Memberships
- SASLAW
- The Ethics Institute
Languages
- English
Experience
Collective Bargaining
Chairing and/or lead wage, and terms and conditions negotiations.
Investigations
Unfair discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Workplace Violence, Incompatibility.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Mediation between organizations and senior leaders or executives, drafting the relevant agreements either at the initial stages to enable mediation and/or at the end of the process to record the outcome of the process.
Board of Directors onboarding, training and annual attestation on ethics
Participate in the onboarding, training and annual attestation of board of directors for some businesses outside of South Africa.
Wage negotiations
Facilitating and leading of wage and terms and condition negotiations in Southern and Western Africa, as well as the UK.
Agreement negotiations
Leading of recognition agreement negotiations in the aviation and financial services sectors.
Restructuring / retrenchment
Facilitating and leading of large-scale restructuring / retrenchment processes.
Ethics Management
Reviewing the annual ethics attestation process, championing the Ethics Management Maturity Assessment process with the Ethics Institute, introducing the new code of ethics which was dubbed the Maadili Charter – which is ethics in Swahili and outside interest and gifts policy for a listed company.
Mandatory vaccination
Led the mandatory vaccination implementation team, including the litigation process.
News
Keeping up with the deponents: Can an affidavit be commissioned virtually?
The Justices of the Peace and Commissioners of Oaths Act 16 of 1963 (Act), read alongside the Regulations Governing the Administration of Oaths (Regulations) promulgated in terms of...
CDH South Africa welcomes two renowned Directors to the firm
Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH), a leading corporate and commercial law firm, is pleased to announce the appointment of two distinguished legal professionals to key positions within the...
Workplace harassment and the need to create a safer environment for women
Yvonne Mkefa, Director in the Employment Law practice joined Nompumelelo Ngubeni and MoG on Channel Africa to address Workplace harassment and the need to create a safer environment...
Getting the basics right: What employers should know about workplace raids
The Department of Employment and Labour has recently conducted labour inspection raids that have attracted significant attention from the media and employers.
Strategies to combat workplace harassment and promote an equal and safe working
CDH is excited to bring another episode in our CDH Conversations Women's Empowerment series as part of commemorating Women's Month this year.