TRMF Annual Conference 2026
The Risk Was Never Where You Were Looking
Are You Managing Risk, or Managing Its Symptoms?
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
South Africa operates in a risk environment of extraordinary complexity. Yet too often, the risks that cause the greatest damage are not the ones being monitored. They are embedded in governance structures, in institutional culture, in the gap between policy and execution, and in the human behaviours that no compliance framework was designed to detect.
The Risk Management Forum (TRMF) Annual Conference 2026 brings together South Africa’s most compelling voices across governance, security, civil liberties, corporate leadership, human rights, and strategic risk. This is not a conference about theory. It is a conference about the real landscape of risk that organisations, institutions, and individuals navigate every day.
Delegates will leave with a sharper understanding of where risk actually originates, what institutional and human factors allow it to escalate, and what architectural responses are required to build genuine resilience.
GOVERNANCE NEEDS BETTER INTELLIGENCE
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
- Board Members and Non-Executive Directors
- Chief Executive Officers and C-Suite Executives
- Risk and Compliance Professionals
- Governance and Audit Committee Members
- Security and Intelligence Practitioners
- Public Sector Leaders and Policy Officials
- Human Resources and Organisational Development Leaders
- Legal and Regulatory Affairs Professionals
- Civil Society Advocates and Journalists
- Business Owners and Entrepreneurs
FEATURED SPEAKERS
Dr Ernst Roets | Lex Libertas
Civil Liberties, Rule of Law and the Erosion of Rights
Ernst Roets is a prominent civil liberties advocate, author, and the founder of Lex Libertas. He is widely regarded as one of South Africa’s most outspoken voices on constitutional rights, freedom of expression, and the rule of law. His work documents systemic threats to individual freedoms and holds institutions accountable to their constitutional obligations.
Julius Kleynhans | Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA)
Fiscal Accountability, Public Expenditure Mismanagement and Citizen Recourse
Julius Kleynhans is a senior executive at OUTA, South Africa’s leading civic organisation dedicated to fighting government fiscal waste and corruption. OUTA has been at the forefront of landmark legal challenges holding the state accountable to taxpayers. Julius brings a forensic perspective on how public funds are misappropriated and what mechanisms citizens can use to reclaim accountability.
Dr Andre Du Venage DBA, CSMP, CCTP | The Risk Management Forum (TRMF)
Politics, Economics, Risk and Governance: Why the Risk Was Never Where You Were Looking
Dr Andre Du Venage is a Strategic Risk Architect, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Risk Management Forum (TRMF). He is the originator of multiple proprietary frameworks including the Strategic Risk Architecture Integrated (SRA-I) model, the Corporate Strategic Risk Architecture Integrated (C-SRA-I) platform, and the Government Delivery Probability Index (GDPI). His work bridges the gap between policy ambition and measurable governance delivery, offering a rigorous analytical lens on why institutional systems fail from within.
Cynthia Stimpel | Whistleblower: South African Airways (SAA)
Insider Risk, Corporate Capture and the Cost of Silence
Cynthia Stimpel is one of South Africa’s most courageous whistleblowers, having exposed systemic malfeasance inside South African Airways (SAA) at enormous personal risk. Her testimony offers a first-hand account of how insider risk, institutional complicity, and the suppression of internal oversight mechanisms allow corruption to flourish unchallenged. Her story is a powerful reminder that the most significant threats to organisations often come from within.
Abigail Smith | Human Trafficking Survivor
Survival, Recovery and the Hidden Risk Landscape of Human Trafficking
Abigail Smith is a survivor of human trafficking whose personal testimony illuminates the lived reality behind the statistics. Her account offers conference delegates a direct and unflinching view into the mechanisms of exploitation, the failures of protection systems, and the extraordinary resilience required to survive and rebuild. Her presence on this platform ensures that the human dimension of risk is never reduced to abstraction.
Karen Menkveld | A21 Campaign
Anti-Human Trafficking: Systemic Patterns, Operational Response and Prevention Frameworks
Karen Menkveld represents the A21 Campaign, one of the world’s largest anti-human trafficking organisations operating across 14 countries. A21’s work combines survivor support, law enforcement collaboration, prevention education, and legislative advocacy. Karen will address the systemic patterns that enable trafficking networks to operate, the gaps in current response frameworks, and what individuals and organisations can do to disrupt these networks.
A21 Campaign Representative | A21 Campaign
Organ Harvesting Crime: The Hidden Economy of Human Exploitation
The A21 Campaign will address the deeply under-reported crime of organ harvesting, which sits at the intersection of organised crime, medical ethics violations, and human trafficking. This presentation will expose the global networks that exploit the most vulnerable, the failure of regulatory systems to detect and disrupt these operations, and the urgent need for coordinated institutional response.
Busi Mavuso | Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA)
Business Confidence, Investment Risk and the Governance Imperative for South Africa
Busi Mavuso is the Chief Executive Officer of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), the premier organisation representing South Africa’s largest private sector companies. She is one of the country’s most respected business voices on the intersection of governance, policy certainty, and economic competitiveness. Her address will examine how institutional failures translate into measurable business risk, and what the private sector requires from government to restore investment confidence.
Johan Van Graan | Risk Consultant and Former Risk Executive, Vodacom
RICA Registration Loopholes for SIM Cards: Identity Risk, Criminal Exploitation and System Failure
Johan Van Graan is an experienced risk consultant and former Risk Executive at Vodacom, one of South Africa’s largest telecommunications operators. He will address critical vulnerabilities in the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act (RICA) SIM card registration framework, exposing how loopholes in identity verification enable criminal networks to operate with impunity, and what systemic reforms are required to close these gaps.
Sama Sambit | Independent Commentator and YouTuber
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Disinformation and Ideological Capture on University Campuses
Sama Sambit is an independent commentator and content creator who has built a substantial following documenting political disinformation, ideological extremism, and the capture of academic institutions. His presentation will examine how the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and aligned movements deploy disinformation as a deliberate strategy on university campuses, the risk this poses to intellectual freedom, and the broader implications for South Africa’s democratic discourse.
Alida van Zyl | Security Executive
Personal Hijacking at Gunpoint: The Reality of Crime Risk and Police Response Failures
Alida van Zyl is a senior security executive who will share her personal experience of being hijacked at gunpoint, providing a visceral and analytical account of how crime risk manifests in practice and where institutional response systems fail the citizen. Her presentation moves between the personal and the systemic, drawing on her professional expertise to extract lessons about situational awareness, response protocols, and the structural deficiencies of South Africa’s law enforcement capacity.
Sentinel Security Monitoring | Sentinel Security Monitoring
Closed Circuit Television Farm Monitoring and Major Routes Surveillance: Technology as a Risk Mitigation Tool
Sentinel Security Monitoring is a leading provider of advanced Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) surveillance solutions, specialising in farm monitoring and major route security in South Africa. Their presentation will address how intelligent surveillance technology is being deployed to counter farm attacks, cargo crime, and route-based criminal activity, offering a practical demonstration of how technology, when properly integrated into a risk architecture, can deliver measurable protective outcomes.
SECURE YOUR SEAT
Tickets are available at:
tickets.tixsa.co.za/event/the-risk-management-forum-conference-2026
For enquiries and sponsorship opportunities:
Dr Andre Du Venage: +27 83 463 2047
Massimo Carelle: +27 83 461 0734
Organised by The Risk Management Forum (TRMF) | Dr Andre Du Venage DBA, CSMP, CCTP — Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Massimo Carelle CSMP — Co-Founder and Executive Director