COUNCIL MEMBERS
Nalini Maharaj
Council Member
Nalini Maharaj is an accomplished South African attorney, governance specialist and board leader with over twenty years of experience across legal practice, public-sector governance, regulation and institutional oversight. She is the founder and director of N. Maharaj Attorneys, established in 2001 and now operating as Ishana Maharaj Incorporated in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
An admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa, she has extensive expertise in labour, commercial, criminal and civil law, family law, land reform and restitution matters, mineral and energy law, competition law, and regulatory compliance, with a strong focus on forensic investigations, risk management, and due diligence. Ms Maharaj holds a BProc and an LLB from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and has further specialised in financial accounting for public entities, corporate governance, mediation, and judicial skills training.
She is an accredited mediator with the Department of Justice and an accredited assessor, moderator, and skills development facilitator with SASSETA and the QCTO. Alongside her legal practice, she has contributed significantly to professional development in the legal sector as a lecturer with Legal Education and Development (LEAD), teaching practice management, accounting for lawyers, PFMA and MFMA compliance, litigation, labour law, wills and estates, insolvency and commercial law.
Her career is distinguished by extensive leadership and governance roles across national, provincial and municipal institutions. Ms Maharaj has served as chairperson, deputy chairperson, audit and risk committee chair, and governance committee chair on numerous boards and councils, including the Council for the Built Environment, Road Traffic Management Corporation, The Market Theatre Foundation, City of Johannesburg, Housing Development Agency, Agricultural Research Council, Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors, Information Regulator, Border Management Authority and multiple education and training authorities. Her work consistently centres on strengthening ethics, accountability, financial stewardship and institutional performance.
Notably, as Chairperson of the South Rand Hospital Board, she led governance reforms and a turnaround that earned recognition from the Gauteng Department of Health for board excellence.
Widely respected for her integrity, independence, and depth of governance expertise, Nalini Maharaj brings a principled, strategic and steady approach to leadership. Her career reflects a sustained commitment to ethical governance, public accountability and the effective functioning of South Africa’s legal and regulatory institutions