HSF Staff
Nicole Fritz
Director
Nicole Fritz previously served as executive officer of Freedom Under Law (FUL) and founded and directed the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) for a decade. She has participated in several global initiatives relating to international human rights law, humanitarian law and public interest litigation. She has also taught courses relating to these subjects in South Africa and the United States and contributes public comment on these topics.
Yvette Ondinga
Office Administrator
Yvette Ondinga has worked in different capacities since joining HSF. She is currently the Office Administrator for the HSF. Prior to joining the HSF, she worked as a Project Coordinator for the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA), in Johannesburg.
Juliet Briggs
Financial and Operations Manager
Prior to joining HSF in September 2022, Juliet consulted as a financial manager, internal auditor and company secretary. Juliet is a Chartered Accountant (SA) and holds a Bachelor of Business Science degree from the University of Cape Town. She completed her articles at KPMG, and then worked as a credit analyst at Rand Merchant Bank before she began her consulting career.
Thuli Mbhele
Office Assistance
Thuli comes from Sebokeng and matriculated in 2006 after which she started working at Great South Autobody quoting on car repairs. Thuli joined the HSF family in 2018.
Naseema Fakir
Director of Legal Programmes
Naseema Fakir was admitted to the Bar in 2019 and holds an LLB from the University of Witwatersrand and BA (Honours) from the University of Johannesburg. She previously practiced as an attorney in 2006 and served as Director of the Legal Resources Centre Johannesburg for 8 years. She also worked as Head of Legal Services at Lawyers for Human Rights in the refugee programme and at the South African Human Rights Commission. Naseema has experience in both public and private law, constitutional and administrative law in a career dedicated to using the law to serve the interests of the most vulnerable and marginalised of society.
Christopher Fisher
Lead Researcher
Christopher completed his master’s degree in philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand, and lectured philosophy at various Gauteng universities. He then completed an LLB at the University of Cape Town, and his articles of clerkship at ENSafrica in their competition law department.
Sophie Smit
Researcher
Sophie Smit is a graduate of Wits University with a BA (Law), LLB and LLM (human rights, advocacy and litigation). Sophie is passionate about justice and reducing inequality through the law in South Africa.
Divashnee Naidoo
Researcher
Divashnee completed a BA (Political Science) cum laude at the University of KwaZulu Natal and is currently pursuing an LLB at the University of Cape Town. She has previously interned as a researcher at the Women's Legal Center and as a Political Risk and Data Analysis Intern at Voxcroft Analytics.
Ezekiel Kekana
Researcher
Ezekiel Kekana, holds BA Honours in Journalism and Media Studies from Wits University, BA Honours in Media Studies, and BA Degree in Communication Science both obtained from the University of South Africa. Ezekiel has 13 years of working experience in the media industry and has worked in print, online, and broadcasting. Prior to joining HSF, he was freelancing for an online news site called GroundUp News, focusing on local government issues in Limpopo and Gauteng provinces.
Luke Oosthuizen
Researcher
Luke Oosthuizen has completed a BA in Philosophy at the University of Southampton, an MA in Human Rights at the University of Sussex, and an MA in Law at the University of Bristol. Luke has strong interests in human rights implementation and international law and hopes to bring an international perspective to his work with HSF.