Johannesburg – When Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni delivered her monthly Cabinet briefing on Tuesday, 29 September 2026, it was just seven days after my birthday.
Having remained sober for the past two years, I had no reason to miss the briefing, particularly in the midst of the scourge of gender-based violence in our country.
Minister Ntshavheni was scathing about the attacks on the East Rand and equally critical of what government regards as false narratives being advanced by some right-wing and fringe Afrikaner organisations.
But it was when she announced Cabinet appointments that my attention shifted.
Among the names she mentioned was Milingoni Fulufhelo Lloyd Nedohe, the incoming Director General and CEO of the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) and government spokesperson.
I wondered whether the minister had missed an opportunity to make heavier weather of that appointment.
I have known Lloyd, as I have always called him, for about 15 years.
He arrived at Rio Tinto as Head of External Affairs: Africa from BHP Billiton — two of the world’s biggest mining companies — in the aftermath of BHP’s failed bid for Rio Tinto.
Within his first month, he was whisked off to Paddington in London, where he spent several weeks.
He never told us exactly why until long after we had both become former colleagues.
To say our operations faced community and media hostility at the time would be putting it mildly.
There was community unrest around Richards Bay and in Matola, Mozambique.
Across Zimbabwe, Namibia and other African jurisdictions in which the mining group operated, communication with host communities, governments and other stakeholders was critical.
Lloyd worked alongside me, vice-presidents and global colleagues on communication strategies and stakeholder engagements around transactions worth billions.
He spent considerable time criss-crossing the SADC region, engaging ministers, legislators, communities and the media.
He reported to offices in Johannesburg; London, UK; Salt Lake City, USA; and Melbourne, Australia.
I don’t want to dwell too much on our years together.
They matter here mainly because they may explain why I think the minister has potentially found something the government desperately needs: a bridge between the state and the diverse communities it serves.
Nedohe’s career has crossed several worlds.
He has worked across radio and television, corporate affairs, banking and mining, and more recently built the Centre for African Minerals Value Chains (CAMVaC).
An avid reader, he holds two master’s degrees, an MA in ICT from Wits University and an MBA from Milpark Business School, and is completing his PhD at the University of Johannesburg.
His postgraduate studies have also included programmes at Georgetown University and specialist advertising institutions.
More recently, he established an integrated mining business while continuing to write, with his first book announced in September 2026.
It is an unusual résumé for a government communicator.
And perhaps that is the point.
GCIS sits at the difficult intersection between government, media and citizens.
Communicating government policy requires more than issuing statements.
It requires understanding how different audiences receive information, how institutions build credibility and how quickly a communication vacuum can be occupied by competing narratives.
Whether Nedohe can translate his experience across broadcasting, corporate affairs, academia and business into that environment will become apparent in the job.
But after watching him operate across some difficult environments over the past 15 years, I suspect Minister Ntshavheni may have made one of the more interesting appointments to GCIS in some time.
A busy fella, certainly.
But potentially a significant appointment as government pursues a more professional public service.
*Gugu Lourie worked with Lloyd at Rio Tinto, where he served as Head of Media Relations for Africa.
