IIA South Africa wins bid to host AFIIA Week 2026

The events of AFIIA Week play a pivotal role in shaping the future of internal audit on the African continent and on a global scale.

AFIIA was created in May 2009 to provide a unified voice of the members of the African continent on common issues, to collaborate in a manner which will best serve the interest of all African IIA members, and to promote and develop an effective internal audit profession supported by strong, recognised institutes.

The mission of AFIIA is to promote the internal audit profession in Africa by building relationships with relevant stakeholders, providing platforms for collaboration, providing support to member institutes and assist in ensuring the growth of the local institutes in each of the African countries. The key objectives of AFIIA are:

• To assist in the development of strong, well-recognised and self-sufficient institutes, under the IIA banner, in each of the countries on the continent.
• To promote internal audit to be recognised as an indispensable profession by key stakeholders on the continent.
• To facilitate collaboration and joint projects among member institutes that would benefit all African IIA institutes.
• To ensure the long-term sustainability of AFIIA.

The events of AFIIA Week play a pivotal role in shaping the future of internal audit on the African continent and on a global scale. Every year, an IIA affiliate in Africa hosts AFIIA week and this year was hosted by IIA Tanzania. Accordingly, the 10 African Federation of Institutes of Internal Auditors (AFIIA) conference was hosted from 15 to 19 April 2024 at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC) in Tanzania. Themed: “Beyond Boundaries, Make the Difference”, the conference was attended by more than 1 000 internal audit leaders and professionals representing 27 countries across Africa and from various other parts of the world.

The main conference was preceded by the two-day AFIIA Governance Forum attended by over 800 internal audit leaders from all parts of the Africa region: concurrently with the AFIIA university/workshop two-day programme. On the day before the Governance Forum, the leaders meeting was also hosted by a large delegation from the IIA Global Affiliate Relations team and IIA Board of Directors with AFIIA leaders, including presidents (chairpersons), board members and CEOs, to discuss key topics of interest and hear feedback on the IIA Global Strategy.

The AFIIA Week events 2024 were inaugurated by the Honourable Saada Mkuya Salum – Minister of Finance in Zanzibar. The 10 AFIIA conference was officiated by His Excellence Vice-President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Dr Phillip Isidor Mpango. The AFIIA Week Events 2024 were graced by several renowned speakers including Sally Anne Pitt, Chairman of the IIA Global; Anthony Pugliese, CEO and President of the IIA Global; Prof PLO Lumumba; Abdulqader Obaid Ali, UAE IAA Board Chairman; Prof Mohamed Janabi, Executive Director, Muhimbili National Hospital in Tanzania, and many others.

The IIA South Africa (IIA SA) delegation included Tshepo Mofokeng, IIA SA Board Chair; James J Gourrah, IIA SA Past Chair and AFIIA Governing Council Member – Large Affiliates, South Africa; Arlene-Lynn Volmink, IIA SA CEO; and Henriette Kido, IIA Namibia Governor.

Following the 2024 conference closing, an AGM of the members was led by the AFIIA Governing Council (GC). The proceedings were chaired by AFIIA Chairperson, Ruth-Doreen Mutebe.

In pursuit of its mission and objectives, AFIIA Week 2024 proved to be successful, with Mutebe commenting that it was a demonstration of the powerful unity that the community possesses as an internal audit fraternity.

As part of the AFIIA AGM, it was announced that the bid to host the AFIIA conference week for 2026 was awarded to IIA South Africa. Volmink stated: “This is a significant achievement and will be the first time that South Africa has been afforded the opportunity to host the AFIIA week in AFIIA’s 10-year history of hosting this series of events. We understand that the planning will take a tremendous effort on an international scale, and we are both delighted and ready. We will lean on the successes and lessons of our long history of hosting large successful conference events, and trust in the support and leverage of key relationships and business partners across South Africa. We humbly request for members’ support and collaboration as we work together to make this momentous occasion a resounding success to catapult the amazing potential and opportunities of Africa and for Africa across the continent into the world.”

For more information on what transpired during the AFIIA Week Events 2024 in Arusha, Tanzania, please see event photos at: https://iiatanzania.or.tz/gallery/afiia-2024-pictures.

The AFIIA Week Events 2025 will be held in May 2025 in Kigali, Rwanda.