Writers, poets and activists to be honoured by Wits
- Wits University
The University of the Witwatersrand will bestow honorary doctorates on Brigalia Bam, Mandla Langa and Chris van Wyk during the March graduation season.
The first cluster of the 2019 graduation season – an exciting moment for graduands, is upon us. Sounds of cheer will fill the Great Hall as families, friends and academics share in the celebrations of the achievements of their loved ones.
The University of the Witwatersrand will honour three exceptional individuals for their sterling service to society during its March graduation season, which starts tomorrow, 20 March 2019. Over 5200 graduands will be capped during this season, which concludes on 29 March 2019.
Former Independent Electoral Commission chairperson and gender activist, Brigalia Bam and globally celebrated South African wordsmiths, Mandla Langa and the late Chris van Wyk, will be awarded honorary doctorates in recognition of their contribution to South Africa.
During this season, the University will also award a University Gold Medal to Wits alumnus and distinguished architect, Mr Herbert Prins. He is renowned for his work in heritage objects conservation, a relatively new field, for which the modalities of practice are still being established. The medal recognises his noteworthy contribution to heritage, preservation and architecture.
The honorary doctorates for Bam, Langa and Van Wyk will be conferred on 27 March 2019, in the Wits Great Hall as follows:
Chris Van Wyk 09:30 Honorary Doctorate in Literature (posthumously)
Brigalia Bam 13:30 Honorary Doctorate in Literature
Mandla Langa 17:00 Honorary Doctorate in Literature
Prins receives his medal on 28 March 2019 during the 13:30 graduation ceremony.
About the honorary doctorate recipients
Chris van Wyk
Chris van Wyk was a prominent South African children’s book author, poet and political activist. His poetry and political activism alike were spurred by the Black Consciousness Movement. Van Wyk’s commitment to the intellectual liberation of black South Africans led him into a lifelong project - the production of children’s literature and educational materials. He has received several awards for his immense contribution to South Africa’s literature, publishing and education. He is the recipient of the Olive Schreiner Prize for poetry, the Maskew Miller Longman Award for children’s literature, the Sanlam Prize for short stories as well as the recipient of the South African Literary Award for translation.
Brigalia Bam
Brigalia Bam is a renowned leader, social activist and author. She has worked as a teacher, a social worker, a feminist and gender justice advocate, an Ecumenist and a Democrat who played a central role in the re-imagination and transition of South Africa from apartheid reign to post-apartheid democratic era. She is the recipient of several prestigious awards, which recognise her role in women empowerment and her contribution to South Africa including the National Order of the Baobab in silver and the Shoprite Checkers Women of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award. Bam has served as the Chancellor of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University as well as of Walter Sisulu University and has received honorary doctorates from the Universities of South Africa and Fort Hare, as well as the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
Mandla Langa
Mandla Langa is one of South Africa’s internationally acknowledged contemporary writers, cultural organisers and a veteran of the national liberation struggle. His biography reveals a complex intertwining between his life-long dedication to the struggles against inhumanity and for freedom, and his persistent courage to engage in critical self-reflection. His national and global stature is an acknowledgement of his immense literary significance and social contribution to South African society. Langa was bestowed South Africa’s National Order of Ikhamanga (silver) for his cultural, artistic and journalistic achievements in 2007 and the Lifetime Achievement Award from South African Literary Awards in 2010.
You have a voice, tell your story
- Wits Communications
“One of the tragedies of apartheid was to make many of us believe our experiences and stories were worthless.”
Storyteller, children’s book author, poet and political activist Chris van Wyk was this week posthumously honoured when the University’s conferred an honorary doctorate on him.
Van Wyk, who died in 2014, was awarded a Doctor of Literature (DLitt) degree that was accepted by his two sons, Kevin and Dr Karl van Wyk.
In reading the citation, the Dean of Humanities, Professor Garth Stevens, described Van Wyk as ‘a gentle giant in South African literature’ and praised him for being “a mentor to hundreds of young writers, and was particularly generous as a member of the Wits community: encouraging students, giving talks and lectures, and participating in public readings on campus. His connection to the University is one of which we can be proud”. (Read the full citation below.)
In his address to graduands, Kevin van Wyk, when his father published his heart-warming and honest memoir, Shirley, Goodness & Mercy, about growing up in Riverlea, one of the so-called “coloured townships” sandwiched between Johannesburg and Soweto, Van Wyk Snr were taken aback by the overwhelming positive response from the people in this community and the success of his book.
Alongside his own books for young readers, like ‘A Message in the Wind’ (1982) and ‘Peppy ’n Them’ (1991), Chris van Wyk also produced adaptations to make seminal South African texts more accessible, like Bessie Head’s ‘The Collector of Treasures’ (1995). #WitsGradWeekpic.twitter.com/gXNAXLvW6C
People would come up to his father and thank him for also writing “their” story in this memoir. Kevin said while Riverlea was a community beset by poverty, gangs and drugs, “my father realised that one of the tragedies of apartheid was to make many of us believe our experiences and stories were worthless.”
“By telling stories of so-called ordinary people he was giving a voice to the voiceless. People wanted their stories to be heard and were proud of it. They were not mere onlookers or footnotes in the history of this country but were intricately part of the story.”
“Today marks the seminal moment in each of your lives and in the spirit of my father I urge you all to tell your story because those stories will inspire your family, your friends and your children,” Kevin said in addressing the graduands.
Citation: Christopher van Wyk
Christopher Van Wyk was born at Baragwanath Hospital in 1957 and grew up in Riverlea, one of the so-called “coloured townships” sandwiched between Johannesburg and Soweto. He would live there for most of his life. A bookworm from a very young age, Chris decided as a child that he wanted to become a writer. While still a teenager, he had a few of his poems published in The Star newspaper. Van Wyk’s poetry and political activism alike were spurred by the Black Consciousness Movement. His commitment to the intellectual liberation of black South Africans espoused by Steve Biko led him into a lifelong project: the production of children’s literature and educational materials.
It is the fate of many South African writers to be known by thousands of schoolchildren and university students for a single work: a poem, novel, short story or play prescribed on educational syllabi or anthologised to the point that, through familiarity, it loses its singular power and becomes bracketed inside a generic label like “struggle literature”. This might have happened with Van Wyk, whose poem “In Detention” – which exposes the brutal absurdity of apartheid state security – has been so widely studied and so frequently quoted since it was first published in 1979 that it has taken on a life of its own. Yet Van Wyk was a figure whose literary activity extended into many spheres, and whose writing style shifted and morphed to suit many different genres (even though his voice remained distinct); his legacy could not be contained within the lines of a single poem.
In the 1980s, he was a key member of the United Democratic Front-aligned Congress of South African Writers (COSAW), editing the journal Staffrider and working in various capacities for its publisher, Ravan Press. The South African literary landscape would have looked very different – would, indeed, have been substantially denuded – were it not for these crucial platforms. Like many of his fellow-writers who employed “the poem as a petrol bomb” in their fight against racism and injustice, Van Wyk faced constant threats and intimidation by the apartheid government. In an ironic twist, he was once arrested and taken to the notorious John Vorster Square prison – associated with the police practice of torturing and murdering activists followed by bland explanations for their deaths, which is precisely what “In Detention” protests against – and warned that if he continued to write such poetry he, too, would “fall from the ninth floor”.
While such circumstances might naturally lead to what Njabulo Ndebele famously described as the “spectacular” literary treatment of life under apartheid, Van Wyk’s prose work also responded to Ndebele’s call for writers to “rediscover the ordinary”. The people of Riverlea and surrounds – their trials and tribulations, their foibles and quirks – are vividly portrayed in Van Wyk’s biography of rugby player and community leader Bill Jardine, Now Listen Here (2003), and subsequently in two celebrated memoirs, Shirley, Goodness and Mercy (2004) and Eggs to Lay, Chickens to Hatch (2010). Indeed, the popular appeal and critical acclaim of Shirley, Goodness and Mercy in particular – not to mention its prescription as a set text for readers at high school and university – temporarily eclipsed Van Wyk’s many other accomplishments.
Van Wyk collaborated with director Janice Honeyman to adapt Shirley, Goodness and Mercy for the stage. Honeyman ascribes the success of the show – “crowds were storming the box-office, queuing out into the precinct” – to “a sense of recognition and identification with the piece ... it spoke not only to his own community from Riverlea and Newclare, but also to those from Sandton, Soweto, Bryanston and Booysens”.
If there is a thread connecting a poem like “In Detention” to the memoirs published three decades later, it is Van Wyk’s sense of humour. In his protest poetry – “In Detention” first appeared in the collection It Is Time To Go Home, which included the work of Soweto Poets like Oswald Mtshali, Mongane Serote, Sipho Sepamla and Mafika Gwala – the humour is bitter, angry, and satirical. In the memoirs, there is levity alongside lyricism, gentle mockery tempering pathos. In between these early and later works, there are outlandish experiments in fiction like The Year of the Tapeworm (1996), described by Rita Barnard as “uncannily predictive in its deep ambivalence about the political transition it records”.
Alongside his own books for young readers, like A Message in the Wind (1982), Petroleum and the Orphaned Ostrich (1989) and Peppy ’n Them (1991), Van Wyk also produced adaptations to make seminal South African texts more accessible. These include Can Themba’s The Suit (1994) and Bessie Head’s The Collector of Treasures (1995), although his major work in this vein was an abridged and illustrated version of Nelson Mandela’s autobiography Long Walk to Freedom (2009), which was published in all eleven of the country’s official languages. Mandela was also one of the icons of the liberation struggle profiled in the Freedom Fighters series (2003-2010). In these thirty short biographies; Van Wyk depicts not just the historical figures but also their social, geographical and cultural contexts: the series becomes an opportunity for young readers to learn about their country in a detailed and varied way. Van Wyk was, as Jay Heale has dubbed him, “A man intent on sharing Africa with Africa’s children”.
n 2009 Chris van Wyk published his major work: an abridged and illustrated version of Nelson Mandela’s autobiography ‘Long Walk to Freedom’ (2009), which was published in all 11 official languages of South Africa.#WitsGradWeekpic.twitter.com/hmPwbuKaxo
Van Wyk also produced support materials and readers for adult literacy programmes. In addition, having clerked for the South African Committee for Higher Education (SACHED), he remained a staunch advocate for students in the tertiary sector. He was a mentor to hundreds of young writers, and was particularly generous as a member of the Wits community: encouraging students, giving talks and lectures, and participating in public readings on campus. His connection to the University is one of which we can be proud.
Chris van Wyk’s contribution to literature, to publishing, to education – indeed, to our country’s social, cultural and political history – is not easily measured. One might point to the awards and prizes he received: the Olive Schreiner Prize for poetry, the Maskew Miller Longman Award for children’s literature, the Sanlam Prize for short stories, a South African Literary Award for translation. These can, however, give only a vague indication of his significance and of his place in our literary pantheon.
When he passed away in 2014, South African literature lost a gentle giant and it is therefore befitting that the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg bestow an honorary degree on Christopher Van Wyk.
Success in science depends on women development
- Wits University
South Africa’s success in science depends on the intellectual development of women says Dr Brigalia Bam.
Bam, a former chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission and well known advocate for women’s rights, was speaking at Wits after the University conferred on her the honorary Doctor of Literature (DLitt) degree. The degree is in recognition of her contribution to justice, freedom, gender equality and democracy.
In her acceptance speech on Wednesday, 27 March 2019, Bam spoke about the role of women in science and pleaded for their freedom in academia. She also shared her views on events around #FeesMustFall and the role of intellectuals in society.
“The intellectual development of young women is the score by which this country will be judged in terms of its advancement as a scientific society amongst the communities of nations,” she said.
Tackling on patriarchy in academic institutions, Bam made a plea for women to be “set free from becoming victims of rape culture, free from being destined only to play subordinate roles as students as well as academic staff.
CITATION: BRIGALIA NTOMBEMHLOPHE BAM
Brigalia Ntombemhlophe Bam was born on January 2nd, 1933 at Tsolo in the former Transkei, Eastern Cape South Africa. She studied at Shaw Bury Methodist Institute and Lovedale Teachers College in South Africa. She thereafter pursued studies in Social Work at the University of Chigago with a Masters in 1973.
Although Brigalia Bam was trained in social work and education, her career and work trajectory have straddled varied responsibilities. She has worked as a teacher, a social worker, a feminist and gender justice advocate, an Ecumenist and a Democrat who has played a central role in the re-imagination and transition of South Africa from apartheid reign to post-apartheid democratic era.
As a feminist and an advocate for justice, Brigalia worked in the 1980s for the Women’s Workers Programme (Africa Region) which was part of the International Food and Allied Workers Association in Geneva. She later took executive and leadership positions in a variety of International Ecumenical Organisations such as the World Council of Churches (WCC) and The World Young Women’s Association (YWCA). In 1988, she was elected as the Secretary General of the South African Council of Churches, a position she held until 1997, when she became the commissioner with the Independent Electoral Commission.
During her time at the World Council of Churches (WCC), she steered women’s and anti-racism work as part of the program to combat racism in South Africa and the world over. It was at this moment that she also joined the Ghanaian Feminist Theologian and New Testament Scholar to promote the establishment of an intellectual and epistemic community referred to as the Circle of Concerned Women Theologians. This movement was central to the training and mentorship of emerging and established Theologians, especially to help them write and publish scholarly work, from the perspectives of African women feminist experiences in Africa and in the Diaspora. In particular, Mercy Oduyoye and Brigalia Bam promoted the idea or methodological approach referred to as “Doing Theology" which in essence called for an engaged, contextually grounded theology with a strong theoretical articulation. Her books, ‘Angry for Peace’, ‘What is Ordination Coming to? / Report of a Consultation on the Ordination of Women Held in Cartingny Geneva, Switzerland / 21st-26th September 1970’, and ‘Democracy: More Than Just Elections’ demonstrate this lens and approach to theological work. Equally important in her work are the recurring themes of justice, freedom, gender equality and democracy.
Bam has demonstrated a commitment to the broad development of South Africa and the continent through her varied interests in women’s empowerment, demonstrated by her participation as one of the founding members of the Women’s Development Foundation. In 1998, she became the foundation’s president. She was actively involved in the democratisation of South Africa, and used her role in the leadership of the South African Council of Churches to establish it as one of the foremost organisations, which agitated for social justice, reconciliation, social cohesion and improved relations between the churches, state and civil society.
Upon her return to South Africa, she became the first woman appointed to the position of General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches. During her tenure, she promoted critical dialogues on church and state, resulting in the South African Council of Churches members deciding on the notion of critical Solidarity with the state." This resulted in the South African Council of Churches acknowledging that the democratic state is a government of the people, by the people, unlike the authoritarian apartheid regime.
Given this, they agreed to work with the state critically calling for justice and speaking truth to power in instances where they felt the state was unjust. This was Bam’s key contribution to South African Ecumenical thought and views on engagement in a democratic Era.
Bam went on to become the Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa. Dr Bam’s leadership entrenched the principle of regular ‘Free and Fair’ elections with electoral outcomes accepted by all political parties and local and international observer missions. Her continued leadership of the commission entrenched the principles of democracy in South Africa, laying a solid foundation for future elections.
A love letter on death, memory and renewal
- Wits University
Wits SRC members were amongst graduands addressed by renowned author, Mandla Langa, who received an honorary doctorate in literature.
Student Representative Council (SRC) president, Sisanda Aluta Mbolekwa, SRC deputy president, Nkateko Muloiwa, and SRC deputy secretary general, Thaakirah Savahl graduated today from Wits University. The trio graduated with honours degrees in Journalism, Development Studies, and Politics respectively.
A student activist in the South African Students’ Organisation at the University of Fort Hare in the 1980s, Mandla Langa delivered the keynote address at the Wits Faculty of Humanities graduation ceremony today where he received an honorary doctorate in recognition of his literary significance.
Death, memory and renewal
Langa paid tribute to Wits as respected institution with in impressive research output. Wit has been “a creative crucible for social activism”, he said.
“I want you to reflect on how you are the repositories of new ideas. Whether it is in leadership in times of transformation, or on student activism – no one must claim credit or easy victories. All of you, collectively or as individuals, are fated to navigate the labyrinthine path towards coming up with solutions for an existential crisis of being in a post-apartheid dispensation with the architecture of inequality still in place
Langa and his brother, Bheki are the brothers of deceased siblings former Chief Justice Pius Langa, Benjamin Langa, and Thembelihle Langa, children of the late Reverend Simon Langa and Josephine Langa. On March 12, Langa had to exhume the remains of his family members from the KwaMashu cemetery, where the graves had fallen into ruin.
A love letter
“This talk is my love letter to you,” Langa told graduands. “A love letter to remind you of where we come from, through sharing with you a story that is as intensely personal as it is political.” He said that death, memory and renewal form a leitmotif for today’s graduation talk – particularly “the redemptive power of memory”.
Langa’s brother, Ben, was shot dead in May 1984 because of infiltration by the apartheid state. “Ben was a victim of a fatal libel,” said Langa, whom – in exile at the time – could not attend Ben’s funeral. At the exhumation, Langa saw his brother had been buried in a black suit and purple bowtie, “which was so out of character as to be absurd.”
“The absurdity became the starting point of the story about my brother’s death … about the story I had struggled to tell because there had been too many filters … the archives from which I could draw inspiration lay in the bones.”
Menaced by patriarchy
Langa confided that the death of his sister, Thembi, who died in childbirth in 1992, profoundly affected him. He reflected on what the experience of a black woman in the “unremittingly cruel years of apartheid cowardice, misogyny” might have been.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t ask whether the lot of women today has improved from the times of my sister’s death. I don’t think we’ve invested all our intellectual, social and personal capital in addressing ourselves to what faces women. On campuses, on the street, in the workplace, at homes – in sports and academia – women are menaced by patriarchy and misguided notions of what it mean to be a man,” said Langa.
‘To have a home is not a favour’
Quoting the poet, Vangi Gantsho, Langa told graduands, “I expect more of you.” Langa mentioned Cyclone Idai, which decimated parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Harare earlier this month. He mentioned one Joaquin Joao Chidja, a Mozambican teenager who appeared on social media drying his family photos on the roof of a building in the town of Buzi. Langa referenced the boy because to leave him nameless gives in “to the wanton laziness that has also become part of this post-apartheid narrative about the outsider, the foreigner.”
Quoting poet Keorapetse Kgositsile, Langa said, “Perhaps I should just borrow the rememberer’s voice again while I can and say: to have a home is not a favour!”
Unfinished stories
Langa urged graduands to use their intellect to create a more sustainable world than the one they had inherited and to curb its destructive instinct. The way to do this was by first digging in the ground and unearthing that which is useful. He reminded graduands, “No one comes from nowhere. And we are, after all, students of the Humanities, academic studies undergirded by critical thinking.”
“I believe our society is one of unfinished stories. You, the thinker and leaders of tomorrow, have to help us create institutions for the preservation of memory … death is not the end of existence nor is it only a doorway into another life … it is an invitation to reimagine the continuation of a life.
In telling the story that ennobles and enlarges others who are now silent and bereft of the faculty of speech, we will be ennobling and enlarging ourselves.”
About Mandla Langa
Mandla Langa is one of South Africa’s internationally acknowledged contemporary writers, cultural organisers and a veteran of the national liberation struggle. The complexity of his work reflects his enduring dedication to freedom and humanity and courageous critical self-reflection.
As a student at Fore Hare University, Langa was active in the South African Students’ Organisation and his studies were disrupted by political strikes at the time. In 1976, he was arrested on a charge of trying to leave the country without a permit and was imprisoned for 101 days.
Here he “sharpened his pen to expose the evils of the [apartheid] system. He began to take his writing seriously, knowing that it served a very important role”, according to the Presidency which awarded Langa the South African National Order of Ikhamanga in Silver in 2007 for his cultural, artistic and journalistic achievements.
Langa’s works include The Dead Men Who Lost Their Bones (Drum story winner, 1980), poems The Tenderness of Blood (1987) and A Rainbow on a Paper Sky (1989).
In 2010, Langa received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the South African Literary Awards.
Most recently, Langa wrote Dare not Linger: The Presidential Years with the late Nelson Mandela, an excerpt of which was published in Wits’ research magazine, Curios.ty, the MANDELA 100 issue.
From failing student to CEO
- Wits University
Wits alumnus, Tshibvumo Sikhwivhilu shares his story of how his failures led to his success with graduates in the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering.
“Sometimes what may seem like failure, is in fact a route leading to your greatest future.”
This is the opinion of Tshibvumo Sikhwivhilu, an MBA and engineering graduate from Wits addressed graduands on 28 March 2019 where Wits alumnus and distinguished architect, Herbert Prins was awarded a University Gold Medal. Prins, one of South Africa’s most eminent authorities in the field of architecture, design and heritage, was recognised for his contribution to heritage, preservation and architecture, his professional and academic distinction, and his exceptional contribution and service to society.
Sikhwivhilu, who hails from a village outside Thohoyandou in the Limpopo province was one of top performing students at Ernest Oppenheimer House during his early years at university. It was only in his third year, when he became a member of the House Committee with his then classmate, now business partner Elmond Khoza that his marks started to drop.
“We kept so busy with all house affairs to an extent that our marks started to not (just) drop, but drastically plummet,” he says.
Failing nine out of 11 modules in his third year, he was academically excluded and he had to plea with his then Head of School, Professor Ian Jandrell. The school waived his exclusion. It was after facing yet another academic exclusion for failing twice and losing his bursary that he had to redirect all his focus towards his academics. The loss of his bursary meant seeking for alternative ways of funding.
“This situation was a lot more dire the second time around because my bursary dropped me as per their terms and conditions and this is when I had to begin doing part-time work outside to pay for my fees.” Sikhwivhilu found part-time employment in one of the earliest local solar power firms in 2012 and had to use what he says was his last opportunity to successfully complete his studies.
“The harsh realities of life had set on us and we had one last opportunity to get ourselves out of the mess we had created. Indeed, we grabbed the opportunity with all our four hands and came back to campus with a new sense of purpose,” he says. It was then, after his stint at the local firm and his honours project, where they did a feasibility study on solar energy for the Genmin Laboratory rooftop that his company with his business partner was born, Lamo Solar.
Despite all the challenges he endured and his failures, Sikhwivhilu is today the proud co-founder and CEO of Lamo Solar. Aside from his business, Sikhwivhilu devotes some of his time towards the empowerment of youth by maximising their social impact.
About Tshibvumo Sikhwivhilu
Mr Tshibvumo Sikhwivhilu is the Chief Executive Officer of Lamo Solar. A Wits alumnus who graduated with a degree in electrical engineering, Mr Sikhwivhilu is experienced in system design, analysis, problem solving and critical thinking. He read for his MBA at the Wits Business School where he explored the economic viability of the distributed generation of renewable energy, particularly solar PV, in rural parts of South Africa. During his MBA studies, he was awarded an international scholarship to take his electives at the Louvain School of Management in Belgium.
In 2016, Sikhwivhilu won the Best Entrepreneurial Venture Award from the Association of MBA’s in London and later that year, won the Eskom Business Investment Competition in the Engineering and Construction sector. He now serves as an adjudicator on this committee. Last year, Sikhwivhilu graduated cum laude from the Advanced Business Management programme at the Eskom Contractors Academy and is currently the Brand Ambassador of the Eskom Business Investment Competition, the Eskom Small Business Expo and the Eskom Contractors Academy.
Sikhwivhilu was selected by Investec as part of a delegation of entrepreneurs in the renewable energy sector to attend a business excursion at Stanford University in the USA. He is also a guest lecturer at the Wits Business School and has served on several student and alumni bodies at Wits.
Despite his engineering and business background, Sikhwivhilu is passionate about maximising the impact of a youth-led, volunteer- based non-profit organisation that aims to bridge the educational information gap between rural underprivileged learners and their suburban counterparts, known as the Thusanani Foundation, of which he is a Director.
Sikhwivhilu believes that education remains the greatest social, cultural and economic equaliser of our time and spends numerous hours uplifting unemployed youth and women in townships and rural areas. For example, he currently dedicates part of his time towards training 25 unemployed young people from Soshanguve so that they can attain an accredited qualification in the design, installation, operation and maintenance of solar PV systems.
Academics, corporate executives, historians and doctors to speak at July grads
- Wits University
Wits will host phenomenal speakers at the second cluster of the Wits graduations, which start tomorrow, 9 July 2019 and conclude Friday, 12 July 2019.
During this season, over 2000 graduands from across Wits’ five faculties will be capped. A total of 117 graduands will traverse the Great Hall stage in red gowns as they get their PhDs conferred on them over two special PhD graduation ceremonies – the second time the University hosts these ceremonies since 2018. The PhD ceremonies will take place on 12 July 2019 at 09:30 and at 14:30.
Dr Sebabatso Manoeli, a development professional, Africanist and historian will address the Faculty of Humanities graduands and guests at the first graduation ceremony tomorrow, 9 July 2019. Manoeli is a senior executive at the DG Murray Trust, a strategic social investor and one of South Africa’s largest private foundations. In her academic career, she taught at Stanford University’s Montag Center for Overseas Studies in Oxford and was also a Departmental Lecturer in African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford, where she earned a Doctorate in History.
Renowned HIV Clinician, Dr Sindisiwe van Zyl, speaks at Wits on 9 July 2019, during Faculty of Humanities graduation. Dr Van Zyl has gained popularity for her usage of social media to discuss pertinent health and societal issues with the public. The seasoned medical practitioner obtained her medical degree from the University of Pretoria. Affectionately known as Dr Sindi, she is passionate about patients' rights and is an HIV expert with particular focus on HIV care, management and treatment, HIV counselling and testing, antiretroviral treatment and pre exposure prophylaxis amongst others. Dr Van Zyl is also the host of the night-time talk show: Sidebar with Sindi on Kaya FM.
Human genetics researcher and academic, Professor Collet Dandara will pass pearls of wisdom to graduands in the Faculties of Humanities, Engineering and the Built Environment as well as Science on 10 July 2019. Dandara is a leading expert in pharmacogenomics in Africa and internationally. He is currently a Professor in Human Genetics, at the University of Cape Town. Dandara’s research on pharmacogenomics of African populations involves evaluating how one’s genetic make-up affects their responses to therapeutic treatment, particularly, patients on treatment with antiretroviral therapy. He is a prolific and highly cited academic whose supervision has contributed to the success of scores of masters and PhD graduates.
Faculty of Health Sciences graduands will draw inspiration from Dr Kgosi Letlape when he addresses them on 10 July 2019. Dr Letlape is the current President of the Health Professions Council of South Africa and is Chairperson of the Medical and Dental Board. An ophthalmologist by profession, he obtained his MBChB degree in medicine from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 1981 and went on to complete a degree in Ophthalmology at the College of Ophthalmology Medicine South Africa in 1988. He also holds an Ophthalmology qualification form the University of Edinburgh. Dr Letlape made history when he became the first black person to qualify as an ophthalmologist in South Africa during the apartheid years.
Mr Andile Sangqu, Executive Head for Anglo American in South Africa will speak at the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management’s graduation ceremony on 11 July 2019. He was previously group executive of sustainability and risk at Impala Platinum and brings extensive commercial, mining and stakeholder relations experience from his former executive and board roles. He holds numerous commerce and accounting qualifications including a Bachelor of Commerce degree, an honours degree in Accounting Science and a Masters of Business Leadership, amongst other qualifications.
The speakers will give addresses in the Wits Great Hall, Braamfontein Campus East as follows:
Dr Sebabatso Manoeli 09:30 9 July 2019
Dr Sindisiwe van Zyl 14:30 9 July 2019
Prof. Collet Dandara 09:30 10 July 2019
Dr Kgosi Letlape 14:30 10 July 2019
Mr Andile Sangqu 09:30 11 July 2019
Mlambo-Ngcuka, Appelbaum, Pharma and Wits champ to be honoured
- Wits University
Wits will recognise distinguished South Africans by awarding its prized Gold Medal and three honorary doctorates during its final graduations for 2019.
Wits University celebrated the start of the 2019 December graduations by awarding 150 PhD qualifications across all five faculties on Monday, 09 December 2019.
Of these, 39 are from the Faculty of Health Sciences. These graduates were lauded for their extraordinary dedication to understanding health conditions and alleviating suffering. The skills of these graduates, who hail from South Africa and across the continent, contribute to the health and the prosperity of all.
The Faculty of Humanities awarded 41 PhDs; the Faculty of Sciences, 36; the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, 19; and the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment awarded 15 doctorates.
The graduation ceremonies continue until Thursday, 12 December 2019 during which 2 273 Witsies will graduate across a range of disciplines, bringing to 9 798 the total number of students who, by Thursday, will have been capped in 2019.
During the December graduation period, Wits University will recognise distinguished South Africans by awarding its prized Gold Medal and honorary doctorates.
Leaders Mrs Wendy Appelbaum, Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Dr Stavros Nicolaou, and Mr John Lonsdale Teeger will receive Wits honours. The honorary recipients will deliver keynote addresses which will also be streamed live via http://streaming.wits.ac.za/live/index.html.
Mr John Teeger has made an invaluable contribution to the welfare of Wits University and strengthened its capacity to benefit from philanthropy. He is a long-serving President of the Board of the University of the Witwatersrand Fund Incorporated, an independent fundraising entity representing Wits in the United States. Teeger is a Wits champion and freely gives his time, talent and expertise to his alma mater. The University will award Teeger its highly prized Gold Medal.
Dr Stavros Nicolaou, a leader in the pharmaceutical industry, will receive an honorary Doctorate of Science in Medicine. Nicolaou was instrumental in developing and introducing the first generic antiretrovirals (ARVs) in Africa by persuading global pharmaceutical companies to give Aspen a license to produce these agents. He also led the negotiation of technology transfer for two key multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) products at the time when MDR and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) began to manifest in South Africa. These initiatives saved millions of lives in Africa. He is widely recognised in South African business circles for taking on leadership roles, particularly when these promote South Africa and the well-being of her people.
Mrs Wendy Appelbaum will be recognised with an honorary Doctorate of Science in Medicine for leadership in advancing economic and industrial development, uplifting health and welfare services, and for her role in advancing culture and women empowerment. She has served for more than a decade as a board member of the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre. Her astute advice and strong leadership has expanded the training of specialists and sub-specialists in the country. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Fellowship in Gynaecological Oncology, the creation of an outpatient Women’s Health Clinic, and the Fellowship in Geriatric Medicine. In recent years, Appelbaum’s focus has shifted to social impact investing, including supporting two legal processes that have effected significant societal change. The first was a landmark case which she initiated into unsavoury business practices in the property auction environment. The second was around the legality of “garnishee orders”, where she supported a group of workers who challenged this practice in court. This resulted in a significant policy change, which not only benefitted millions of disadvantaged South Africans, but demonstrated that philanthropy and goodwill can influence disciplinary and policy practice.
Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka will receive an honorary Doctorate in Literature in recognition of her commitment to women’s empowerment nationally and globally, social justice, education and service. As the Minister of Minerals and Energy, she was the driving force behind the Mining Charter, a tentative step towards meaningful participation of black business in the mining industry, and a notable step towards building an inclusive economy. Her appointment as the country’s first female Deputy President paved the way for sharper policies to unlock bottlenecks that suppressed economic growth – namely the Accelerated Growth Initiative of South Africa.
In 2008, Mlambo-Ngcuka established the Umlambo Foundation, a non-profit organisation that built a national network of academic, resource, and psychosocial support for principals leading rural and township schools. She is currently an Executive Director of UN Women and is responsible of protecting and promoting the rights of four billion women around the world. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated exemplary commitment to advancing human rights issues, standing up for equality and social justice, and relentlessly championing women’s rights through grassroots activism as well as leadership at an international level.
Honorary graduands’ ceremony details:
Mr John Teeger – Wits University’s Gold Medal, 09:30, Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Dr Stavros Nicolaou – Honorary Doctorate of Science in Medicine, 14:30, Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Mrs Wendy Appelbaum – Honorary Doctor of Science in Medicine, 09:30, 12 December 2019
Dr Phumzile Mlambo- Ngcuka – Honorary Doctorate in Literature, 14:30, 12 December 2019
Wits Gold Medallist shares lessons on ladders of learning
- Wits University
Wits awarded a Gold Medal to John Teeger, President of the Board of Wits Fund Inc., an independent fundraising entity representing Wits in the USA.
Teeger (BComm Wits, 1968) delivered the keynote address at the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment and the Faculty of Science graduation ceremony held in the Great Hall on 11 December.
“Why am I, an old Witsie from a different era, why am I here today speaking to you?” he began. “I want to thank Wits for awarding me a Gold Medal for service to the University through the alumni association in the United States.
"This medal is really not for me alone. It belongs to the many Wits supporters worldwide – some who did not even attend Wits – and those alumni who also recognise the foundation and step up that Wits gave us when we were students."
We were then the privileged few, with access to a quality university education. Now, fortunately, this opportunity is offered to many in South Africa. It is no secret that many alumni believe that this is give back time for us. We want you, and many others in the future, to experience the benefits of a Wits education, as we have.”
Teeger alluded to distinguished Wits alumni including Nobel Prize winners Nelson Mandela, Nadine Gordimer, Sydney Brenner, and Aaron Krug, as well as luminaries Archbishop Thabo Mokgaba and Justice Ismail Mahomed, and anti-apartheid activists Oliver Tambo and Ahmed Kathrada. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” said Teeger, quoting Mandela. “That is why, worldwide, we – alumni and non-alumni alike – support you and Wits.”
Lessons from ladders
Graduation is called commencement, because you’ve reached the top of one ladder and now you commence on another ladder, at the bottom rung, said Teeger.
“At the top of every ladder, guess what? There is a new ladder to climb … Having ladders to climb in life is a privilege that many people in the world do not have. Their limited education frequently limits their opportunity to climb.
What distinguishes you is that you have proven that you can climb ladders, and you have what it takes to seek out and climb those ladders of learning and development.”
Learning is a process over time, and the achievement but a moment of time. “And the reward of the achievement is but another ladder. Be sure to enjoy the climb,” he said.
Teeger warned graduands not to believe everything they hear. It is not, for example, actually ‘darkest before dawn’, as the saying goes. “The level of darkness is dictated by the position of the moon. So, in the beginning of a lunar month, it is the darkest, but after the middle of the lunar month, the moon will be seen in the sky before sunrise, so it gets lighter. The correct answer is: it is always coldest before dawn,” explained Teeger, to laughter and applause.
Similarly, the old adage to 'keep your friends close but your enemies closer’ is "Wrong. You will be happier if you keep your friends close,” said Teeger.
He advised graduands to learn to live not linearly but exponentially, and to expect disruption – in this regard, they would not be disappointed, he said.
Graduands should also get used to failing – “It makes success sweeter” – counselled Teeger, and pointed out that the Springboks - 2019 rugby World Cup champions - were ranked seventh in the world in 2018. They had lost more games than they won in the runup to the World Cup, yet they ultimately prevailed. “The only people who don’t make mistakes are those who don’t do anything. That is their biggest mistake.”
Teeger shared a personal anecdote of his employment experience after graduation: “My best and toughest experience was looking for a job for six months. I had a wife, a child of four years, and another one on the way – and nice that they’re all here. The pressure to start earning was intense. But I failed numerous job interviews until I acknowledged I was a lousy interview candidate and needed to do something about it.”
He did, and finally landed a job – the first rung on that ladder. Invoking Madiba, Teeger said, “Do not judge me by my successes. Judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again”.
Teeger emphasised the importance of family, support, and mentors for success. “There is no ‘I’ in team. It is impossible to succeed alone. We all need help and support from others. I strongly encourage you to find one or more mentors or coaches.”
Another saying, ‘keep your wits about you’, usually means to focus, think and react quickly to unexpected situations.
“Now as graduates of ‘wits’ University, you have many more meanings to add,” quipped Teeger. He encouraged graduands to keep and retain what they had learned at Wits, and to retain the networks and friendships forged during their university years.
Teeger concluded with his golden rule: Treat others and you would like to be treated. And when the time comes to makes decisions, apply W.I.T.S - an acronym for Write It To Solve. “List on paper all your thoughts - positives, negatives - and go with your gut."
He summarised his lessons from ladders:
Enjoy the climb
Don’t believe everything you hear
Think exponentially
Embrace disruption
Success after failure is sweeter
Treat others as you would like to be treated
Keep your many WITS about you and, at decision time, Write It To Solve (WITS).
About John Teeger
John Teeger has made an invaluable contribution to the welfare of Wits University and strengthened its capacity to benefit from philanthropy. He is a long-serving President of the Board of the University of the Witwatersrand Fund Incorporated, an independent fundraising entity representing Wits in the United States. Teeger is a Wits champion and freely gives his time, talent and expertise to his alma mater. Read the full citation.
How a Wits degree helped avert an HIV catastrophe
- Wits University
Wits awarded an honorary degree to Stavros Nicolaou of Aspen for his role in enabling access to antiretrovirals for HIV during the height of the pandemic.
Nicolaou also led the negotiation of technology transfer for two key multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) products at a time when MDR and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) began to manifest in South Africa. These initiatives saved millions of lives in Africa. Read the full citation.
Nicolaou, a leader in the pharmaceutical industry, was instrumental in developing and introducing the first generic antiretrovirals (ARVs) in Africa by persuading global pharmaceutical companies to give Aspen a license to produce these.
This intervention came at a watershed moment, at a time of HIV-Aids denialism by some in government. According to Nicolaou, the appointment of Kgalema Motlanthe as President of South Africa in 2008, and his appointment of Barbara Hogan as Minister of Health paved the way for the rollout of lifesaving ARVs across the country.
Motlanthe attended the Faculty of Health Sciences graduation ceremony on Thursday, 11 December when Nicolaou was capped, along with former First Lady, Mrs Gugu Motlanthe; Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Thembi Siweya; Deputy Minister of Communication, Pinky Kekana; Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and People with Disabilities, Hlengiwe Mkhize; and anti-apartheid activist, Sonja De Bruyn – the last surviving leader of the Women’s March. The High Commissioner of Cyprus, Mr Costas Papademas also attended, as did Nicolaou's wife, Mrs Maxine Nicolaou and their children, Alexeia and Harry.
Addressing the graduands, Nicolaou said that Wits University – his alma mater and an “august institution” – had helped shape his value system and the principles that he espouses. Thirty-two years ago, Nicolaou had sat in the same Great Hall and pondered what the future holds.
“What is success and how do you measure success? And it’s a very important question you need to ask yourselves today. I’m going to try assist you to answer that question,” he told graduands.
Origins and passion
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all”, said Nicolaou, quoting Aristotle, and encouraged graduands to follow their passion.
“My message to you is follow your passion. If you follow your passion, and you execute your professional duties properly, the rest will follow. What is important in life is how you use this privilege of what will be conferred on you today – to have an impact – and there’s no better way of achieving an impact than through passion. Educating the heart is as important as educating the mind".
Nicolaou’s further message to graduands was to not forget where they come from.
“Many of you have come from disadvantaged, resource-constrained communities and settings. And never forget the poor, the less fortunate, and the most vulnerable in our society.”
He shared an anecdote of a time when he asked his personal icon and mentor, Motlanthe, what keeps him awake at night, to which the President had replied, “The level of youth that are unemployed in our country and the restlessness of our youth”. Motlanthe had just returned from Tunisia which, a few weeks later, experienced an Arab Spring [anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions in response to oppressive regimes and a low standard of living].
“Never forget how your sphere of influence can change the future of the many, many underprivileged in our country,” said Nicolaou.
Change agents for social cohesion
Nicolaou asked graduands to be change agents in South Africa.
“There is no doubt we are going through difficult and challenging times but I can tell you, as a business person, reflecting on the mood of the business sector, we have been through worse times."
South Africans are durable and resilient, he said, but one of our failings is our own perceptions we carve out of our country.
“That’s the privilege of being here with you today, because each and every one of you, remembering where you’ve come from, will have that ability to change that perception,” said Nicolaou, who believes South Africa’s greatest assets are its people and its diversity.
Nicolaou identified five areas he believes South Africans need to live to start changing the country:
Reinstate and restore the social cohesion project and rise above the racial tensions that at times hold the country back.
Instill servant-leadership that serves the needs of the people, and drop factionalism.
Create an environment from which our youth can become employed and employable.
Align our education systems with the needs of the future (Nicolaou believes Wits does this very well already).
Reconfigure how our development fund institutions (DFIs) and agencies enable access to capital for the coutnry's youth.
Bold and courageous leadership
These five areas all require leadership, which means taking bold and courageous decisions; an approach taken by Nicolaou and his Board at Aspen in the early 2000s. The HIV catastrophe in South Africa, fueled by HIV and Aids denialism by parts of the government, pitted civil society against government. At the time, 350 000 mainly young South Africans were perishing every year.
“Left unarrested, that would have wiped out a generation of young South Africans – including many of you in this audience,” said Nicolaou.
He explained how he and colleagues from Aspen, with the support of his Board, managed against the odds to secure voluntary licenses to dispense ARVs – groundbreaking at the time, because - amidst the socio-political climate - it would require breaking patents.
“We did what South Africans do best. We sat around a table and we dialogued and we secured these licenses and we brought the prices of antiretrovirals down from $10 000 per patient per year to $185. That accelerated the HIV programme in our country. We changed the face of the HIV pandemic in South Africa, against the odds.”
Changing the face of the HIV pandemic
This would not have happened had there not been bold and courageous leadership in the country at the time - Motlanthe, too, had displayed bold and courageous leadership, said Nicolaou, by appointing Barbara Hogan as Minister of Health.
“It was that change in direction, that courageous leadership – there was a lot of opposition at the time from the ruling party to this – that set us on a path of accelerated antiretroviral rollout in our country.”
Today, South Africa has a rollout programme that is eight times bigger than the next biggest ARV programme in the world and which has five million South Africans on lifesaving ARVS.
“I’m telling you this because you have a degree today, and that degree can set you free in whatever direction you choose. It’s what you do with your degree that counts. This is what it means, and this is what it does, graduating from this august institution.”
In closing, Nicolaou quoted African philosopher, Matshona Dhliwayo: “The ignorant learn from none, the simple learn from some, the intelligent learn from many, but enlightened learn from all.”
Nicolaou said, “Above all, this institution, Wits University, my alma mater, will enlighten you, and probably has already done so. Graduates, go out and change the world.”
Be global citizens with a democratic ethos
- Wits University
Harvard Professor Lawrence Bobo implores graduands to be inspiring leaders that strive for a more just, fair and promising world.
Bobo, Dean of Social Science and the W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of Social Science at Harvard University was addressing graduands from the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management at their graduation ceremony on 10 December 2019.
Bobo said that the current generation of graduands were faced with three defining challenges: climate change; social media saturation; and ensuring that diverse democracies are sustained long into the future.
To address these modern day challenges, “we will need the skills, the appreciation of scientific knowledge and research-based decision-making, as well as the respect for diversity, which you have experienced here at Wits University [and] have embodied,” said Bobo, whose research focuses on the intersection of social psychology, social inequality, politics, and race.
Sharing pearls of wisdom, Bobo encouraged the graduands to use the wealth of knowledge they had acquired to effect positive change in society, and to be exemplary leaders with a strong moral backbone who embrace diversity.
This was Bobo’s advice to the new Wits alumni who will pursue careers in law, commerce and management:
“Take the classroom learning and different social experiences you have gained here at Wits and be an advocate for advancing a commitment to truth and knowledge. Do not settle for the easy comforts of the pursued of narrowed self-interest or kneel to the experience of alternative facts promoted by the wealthy and powerful in the service of their interest. In particular, we are counting on you, the class of 2019, to be a hallmark of reason and reflection as unchecked technological change questions our ethical principles and ties our social fellowship in ways that demand careful monitoring and regulation.
Be a person of wisdom and empathy, aware of the fundamental common binds of humanity that bind us together across lines of national origin, colour, race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. You’ll be counting your gains from your diverse learning environments here at Wits, and know that diversity will make for better problem-solving and better bottom line results in the world of business, finance and law that lie ahead. Know how critical respect for a variety of cultures and identities is to the viability of democratic systems and governance.
Third, and above all, be mindful of the lessons of history. Democracy and social justice are not self-sustaining. Democracy and social justice are, instead, best understood as deliberate human attainments that may require sacrifice and involve nourishment from an engaged, thoughtful, well-educated citizen; a citizenry that must be on guard against those political figures who will exploit the difficult times to serve their own authority or enemies.”
In his concluding remarks, Bobo told the graduands to confront the challenges before them and encouraged them to “go out and make sure this world returns to a path of realising that just, fair and promising future.”
About Lawrence Bobo
Lawrence Bobo is a Harvard College Professor, the Dean of Social Science and the W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of Social Science at Harvard University. He holds tenured appointments in the Department of Sociology and the Department of African and African American Studies at Harvard and has served as Chair of the Department of African and African American Studies. His research focuses on the intersection of social psychology, social inequality, politics, and race.
Professor Bobo is an elected member of the National Academy of Science and of the American Philosophical Society. He is also an elected Fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
A Guggenheim Fellow, an Alphonse M. Fletcher Sr. Fellow, a Fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences, and a Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Scholar, Professor Bobo is also a member of the Board of Directors and Board Vice-Chair of the American Institutes for Research.
Professor Bobo has held tenured appointments in the sociology departments at the University of Wisconsin, the University of California, and Stanford University where he was the Martin Luther King Jr. Centennial Professor, Chair of the Program in African American Studies and Director of the Centre for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity.
In 2012 he received the Cooley-Mead Award from the American Sociological Association for a Career of Distinguished Contributions to Social Psychology. His research has appeared in several prominent academic journals.
Professor Bobo is the co-author of the award winning book Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations, senior editor of Prismatic Metropolis: Inequality in Los Angeles and his most recent book titled Prejudice in Politics: Group Position, Public Opinion, and the Wisconsin Treaty Rights Dispute was a finalist for the C. Wright Mills Award. He is currently working on the “Race, Crime, and Public Opinion” project as well as a book on “The Post-Racial Nation”.
Women trust health professionals more than law enforcement agencies
- Wits University
Wits University has conferred an honorary doctorate in literature on Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women.
The degree was awarded during the Faculty of Health Sciences’ graduation ceremony on 12 December 2019 in recognition of her commitment to women's empowerment, social justice and education.
Mlambo-Ngcuka whose office has the responsibility to protect and promote the rights of more than four billion women around the world, dedicated this recognition to the victims and survivors of gender-based violence as well as those working to end the scourge.
She used her keynote address to highlight the role that health professionals play in the fight against gender-based violence.
“Many of the women see health professionals as people that they can trust. They feel that when they are with them they are in a safe space. This is not true of the law enforcement agencies who are supposed to be the institutions that they go to in time of need. Sadly, this is also not true for them when it comes to their families.”
Shedding light on the operations of the UN Women, the former deputy president of South Africa, said her office relies extensively on the data from the UN Health to analyse the problems confronting women, thus emphasising the role of this sector.
She was pleased that health professionals had become more instrumental in identifying violence even when women try to conceal it.
“What you say, how you make the woman feel could be the game changer for her. She may be able to get the courage to seek help, move out of an abusive relationship and to fight for her rights.”
Ending gender inequality and climate refugees
Gender inequality, the lack of representation of women in seats of power and the challenges brought about by climate change such as climate refugees need to be addressed with more vigour, said Mlambo-Ngcuka.
She further called on higher education to continue with their leadership role in creating a just society.
“We cannot bring about the changes that are required in the world without the participation of institutions of learning.”
, SRC deputy president Nkateko Muloiwa on left and SRC deputy secretary general, Thaakirah Savahl graduated on 27 March 2019 _600x300px-600x300.jpg "SRC president Sisanda Aluta Mbolekwa (middle), SRC deputy president Nkateko Muloiwa on left and SRC deputy secretary general, Thaakirah Savahl graduated on 27 March 2019")
