Matsobane Nong

Lecturer Wits University

Matsobane Nong is a lecturer in the school of Mining Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her research interests are in blast optimisation and structure response to blast vibration. She graduated with a BSc in Mining Engineering in 2013 and began her career as a graduate Mining Engineer at Impala Platinum Mine in Rustenburg. In 2017 she joined the University of the Witwatersrand on the MQA (Mining Qualifications Authority) programme as an Associate Lecturer. When the contract ended in March 2020, she joined Letsema Management Consulting in 2021 as a management consultant. Her passion for education and training saw her return to academia on the new Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP) as a lecturer in 2022. Matsobane is currently completing a BCom degree in Financial Management with UNISA. She is also completing her PhD proposal on the response of typical South African structures to blast vibrations.

Matsobane’s philanthropic spirit and passion for growth and development has ensured she constantly gives back by serving the communities which she hails from. Hence she has been an executive committee member as secretary and communications officer for the Wits University Mining Engineers Association (WUMEA) for over 5 years. In addition she has spoken on several platforms such as the Successful Application of Technologies Centred Around People (SATCAP) programme and at Mbuyelo Coal’s annual career exhibition in the Limpopo Province. Her favourite quote is from a movie called The Queen of Katwe that says “Sometimes the place you are used to is not the place you belong. You belong where you believe you belong. Where is that for you?” because Matsobane believes that possibilities can be reached beyond impossibilities. Matsobane’s current love is in art, public speaking and gardening. She is a wife, and a mother to one adorable daughter.