Mr Tutu Bakwena will become CATA's new Executive Director on the retirement of Mr Zahir Kaleem later this year. He was the unanimous choice of a special selection and interview panel constituted by the Management Committee following a final interview of shortlisted candidates held in London on Monday 26 April 2010. The interview panel consisted of Mr Sudhamo Lal (President, CATA), Mr Jones Zimba (Chairman, Management Committee), Mr Douglas Rankin (Vice Chairman), Mrs Sabina Walcott-Denny (Member) and Mr Zahir Kaleem.
Tutu is a 37 year old citizen of Botswana with vast experience in the area of international taxation, especially in the context of double tax avoidance agreements. A graduate of the University of Botswana (BComm. – Accounting, 1995) and the University of Sydney (MTax, 2002), he has been involved in tax administration since 1995, initially with the Botswana Department of Taxes (now the Botswana Unified Revenue Service), where he was largely involved in policy, research and interpretation of revenue laws including aspects of international taxation. Between 2007 and 2009 he took leave of absence from the Revenue Service to work for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as Programme Officer – Tax Coordination. During his time at SADC, Tutu was involved in facilitating progress in the Community’s tax coordination efforts in various areas such as capacity building, development of a tax database and harmonisation of tax incentives, tax agreements and indirect taxes. Tutu is married to Dr. Malebogo Bakwena with one (soon to be two) children. He spends his spare time reading autobiographies, gardening and is an avid photographer.
