Biography of Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Wits

The following was read by Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke at the the Science graduation ceremony on 27 March:

Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great privilege and an honour for me to invite our ‘guest speaker’ to address you this afternoon. I say ‘guest speaker’, but this is not true as this individual is no ’guest’ to Wits. In fact, he has served this institution for 10 years with the utmost commitment, courage and care required to keep Wits at the leading edge in South Africa, and amongst the very best in the world.

Our Vice-Chancellor and Principal has dedicated over 120 months to lead this ‘national key point’, which is often a more contentious space to navigate than any other political area in the country. This is partly because he encourages ‘critical thinking, creative innovation, problem-posing and problem-solving’ and promotes robust debate, freedom of speech, thought and expression, and academic freedom across our campuses, of course within the limits of our Constitution.      

He has afforded 522 weeks of his time at the helm of this University to re-establish Wits’ sound foundation, and to offer stability, leadership and guidance when Wits needed it most. He is a luminary that offered Wits a strategic plan and a vision – to be a world-class university, among the top 100 universities in the world by 2022, the year in which we celebrate our centenary.

During the 3 652 days spent on our campuses, he strengthened Wits’ governance and financial systems, and when he was not physically at work, he was developing beneficial partnerships for the University to raise funds for buildings and infrastructure, and the University’s academic and research activities. Under his guard– all 87 658 hours of it – over 40 new centres, and hundreds of academic, research and student activities were launched.

In the decade that he spent at the helm, he has left a legacy that will outlast his generation and that of several to come. He has overseen a multi-billion rand infrastructure development programme in the last five years. We have to hold him responsible for turning a derelict sports stadium into a world-class science centre, for finding a magnificent home for Wits’ 9 000 works of African art and for opening a new R530 million student residence complex in Parktown. These are just three of about 60 capital projects that were developed in recent years.

Our Vice-Chancellor is a passionate man and he is particularly enthusiastic about the six multi-million rand 21^st Century Research Institutes being developed which focuses on mining; global change; cities; health and wellness; the molecular biosciences and the  evolutionary sciences.

A humanitarian by nature, our Principal is the brainchild of the Targeting Talent Programme – conceived during the 5 259 480 minutes spent at Wits, which aims to increase the academic, social and psychological preparation of academically talented learners from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

I have had to be extremely precise with my numbers this afternoon, as our Vice-Chancellor is a mathematician who holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Fort Hare and a doctorate from the University of Oxford. He has lectured at the University of Fort Hare, the National University of Lesotho, the University of Natal and the University of the Western Cape. He was also a Professor in Mathematics and Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at UWC.

In 1978 he served as South Africa’s first African Rhodes Scholar. He is an established researcher and enjoys international recognition for his high quality research outputs.

During the 315 568 800 seconds of his tenure, our Vice-Chancellor has served as the Chairperson of the Sasol Inzalo Foundation, the Tertiary Education and Research Network of South Africa, and the South African National Department of Science and Technology’s Ministerial Review Committee on the National System of Innovation.

He is also a member of the South African and American Mathematical Society amongst various other committee memberships.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great respect and admiration that I invite you join me at this historic moment in celebrating the culmination of a decade of commitment, courage and care, as I request Prof. Loyiso Nongxa to address this graduation ceremony for the last time in his capacity as our Vice-Chancellor and Principal.