A South African governance and compliance lawyer has taken on a new role at Coca-Cola as its director and legal counsel for compliance and employment in Africa. Tamryn Sass, previously the general counsel for the Nelson Mandela Foundation, will assume this position after nearly seven years with the City of Cape Town, where she oversaw compliance and probity initiatives.
Sass’s professional background centers on litigation, employment law, and governance. She began her career at Smith Tabata Attorneys in the Eastern Cape before advancing to head the firm’s commercial litigation and labor law divisions. Her expertise includes governance frameworks, regulatory guidance, and risk management, which she applied during her tenure at both the foundation and the city government. She also handled intellectual property matters during her time in these roles.
This hiring aligns with a broader industry pattern of multinational corporations seeking African legal specialists. Earlier in 2024, Unilever appointed Ntswaki Kutumela, a lawyer with experience in the drinks and consumer goods sectors, as its general counsel for Africa.
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In a LinkedIn announcement about her transition, Sass emphasized that her new position reflects her expertise in legal counsel, compliance, and governance. Reflecting on her work at the foundation, she noted that ethical leadership is often defined by difficult decisions rather than straightforward ones. “Doing what is right is inconvenient, uncomfortable, or comes at a cost,” she stated in her post.
A report published by the African Corporate & Government Counsel Forum (ACGC) and Afriwise last year warned that regulatory changes and inconsistency were posing considerable challenges to in-house counsel in Africa. However, recent commentary has highlighted how these challenges have led to greater innovation among Africa’s general counsel.