Inauguration Ceremony

Dr Sizwe MabizelaPrincipal and Vice-Chancellor

1820 Settlers National MonumentFriday 27 February 2015

Commemorative Record

CONTENTS

Order of Proceedings

Presentation of the Principal-Elect to the ChancellorMr V Kahla

The National Tertiary Education UnionMs D Bekker

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers UnionMr Z Vena

President of the Students’ Representative CouncilMr S Makhubo

Greeting from the Academic CommunityDistinguished Professor T Nyokong

Mayor of Makana MunicipalityCouncillor Z Peter

Higher Education South AfricaDr M Price

Vice Chancellor of Rhodes UniversityDr S Mabizela

Messages of Congratulations

The Principal and Vice-Chancellor will be greeted by:

The National Tertiary Education Staff Union, Mrs D Bekker;

The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union, Mr Z Vena.

The Rhodes University Chamber Choir will perform a choral item.

The Principal and Vice-Chancellor will be greeted by:

The President of the Students' Representative Council, Mr S Makhubo;

The Academic Community, Distinguished Professor T Nyokong.

Mr F Sangoni will perform a musical item.

The Principal and Vice-Chancellor will be greeted by:

The Mayor of Makana Municipality, Councillor Z Peter;

Higher Education South Africa, Dr Max Price.

The Mabizela family praise singer, Mr B Mabizela, will recite izithakazelo zakwaMabizela.

The Principal and Vice-Chancellor will deliver his Inaugural Address.

The Choirs and Congregation will sing the National Anthem.

The Chancellor will dissolve the Congregation.

The Congregation is requested to stand while the Chamber Choir sings Gaudeamus Igitur and the Procession leaves the Auditorium.

ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS

The Congregation is requested to stand while the Chamber Choir sings Vis Virtus Veritas and The Purple and White as the Procession enters the Auditorium.

The Chancellor will constitute the Congregation.

The Limited Edition Drum Corps will announce the arrival of the Principal Elect.

The Chairperson of Council will present the Principal-Elect to the Chancellor.

The Chancellor will say to the Principal-Elect:

Sir, I require you to say in solemn affirmation the words of the pledge of allegiance to the high office to which you will be installed:

The Principal-Elect will say:

I, Sizwe Mabizela, pledge myself

To uphold the values and objectives of Rhodes University;To lead the University in its response to the challenges facing our land;

To encourage the pursuit of sound learning, research and community service;To perform duties of Principal and Vice-Chancellor as prescribed by law;

And in all things to promote the welfare of the University.

After which the Chancellor will say,

Sir, in the name of Rhodes University, I now install you into the office of Principal and Vice-Chancellor, and I invest you with the authority, rights and privileges of this office.

The Registrar will invest the Principal and Vice-Chancellor with the robe of his office.

The Chancellor will present the Principal and Vice-Chancellor to the Congregation.

I present to you Dr Sizwe Mabizela as Principal and Vice-Chancellor, confident that he will bring distinction to his office and lustre to the University.

In November 2014, he was appointed as the sixth Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University.

He is well-versed in a variety of higher academic education matters, including governance, management and leadership, teaching and learning, quality assurance, academic development, assessment and evaluation. He has served as an HEQC auditor panelist.

Dr Mabizela serves or has, until recently, served on national and international professional bodies. In 2010, he was appointed by the Minister of Basic Education, the Honourable Minister Angie Motshekga, MP, as the Chairperson of the Council of UMALUSI, (Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training) until June 2014. Prior to that he served as the Chairperson of the Assessment Standards Committee of UMALUSI and Deputy Chairperson of UMALUSI. He serves on the AIMS (African Institute for Mathematical Sciences) Advisory Board. He served on the Ministerial Committees on Mathematics Education and on Learner Retention in the South African Schooling System.

Dr Mabizela has received numerous academic awards and recognition including Honorary membership of the Golden Key International Honour Society, Pennsylvania State University SHARE Fellowship and FRD/NRF C rating.

Dr Mabizela is married to Dr Phethiwe Matutu. The couple has two children, ZamaNdoni and Zinzile.

Mr Chancellor, I present to you Dr Sizwe Mabizela to be installed as sixth Principal and Vice-Chancellor.

PRESENTATION OF THE PRINCIPAL-ELECT TO THE CHANCELLOR, Mr V Kahla

Mr Chancellor, I have the honour to present to you and to the congregation, Dr Sizwe Mabizela. Dr Mabizela was born at Baldaskraal, a village outside Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal. He completed his matric at St Chad's High School, a boarding school in Ladysmith.

Dr Mabizela completed his BSc, BSc Honours and Master's degrees in Mathematics at the University of Fort Hare. In 1986 he had a brief stint at the University of Zululand as a junior lecturer in the Department of Mathematics before accepting an Educational Opportunities Council (EOC) scholarship to pursue doctoral studies in Mathematics at the Pennsylvania State University in the USA. His PhD thesis, titled Parametric Approximation, was completed under the supervision of Professor Frank Deutsch in 1991.

After completing his PhD in 1992 he was offered and accepted a lectureship at the University of Cape Town. He rose through the academic ranks at the University of Cape Town until he became an Associate Professor and deputy Head of the Department of Pure and Applied Mathematics. In 2004, he was offered the Chair and Headship of the Department of Mathematics at Rhodes University.

Dr Mabizela's research field is Abstract Approximation Theory, a subfield of Functional Analysis. He has published extensively in his area of research and has presented his research at national and international conferences. He has collaborators in the USA, Australia, Israel, China and Korea. He has reviewed research manuscripts for several international journals. He has taught Mathematics at all levels of university education - ranging from undergraduate to postgraduate levels. He has served as an external examiner for Master's and Doctoral candidates from other South African universities. He is also a member of the South African Mathematics Olympiad Committee.

In 2008 Dr Mabizela was appointed as Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic and Student Affairs at Rhodes University. In this capacity, he had executive responsibility for, and provided strategic leadership on, all academic matters, student affairs and Community Engagement.

We can only achieve this dream by seeing solidarity movements like unions as part of a sustainable solution rather than as irritants to be undermined, derided and ignored.

We can only achieve this dream by forswearing the crudeness of managerialism for its own sake; by shunning self-serving empire building; by standing up to political interference and by tempering the need to cut budgets with mindfulness of the after-effects.

We believe that managers at Rhodes – in order to be true leaders – must actively nurture our staff, treat us with respect, provide sustainable and worthy career paths, actively promote worker rights, improve the working environment, maintain humane pensions and healthcare options to care for us when we are worked out and broken, invest in staff training and education, be completely intolerant of gender and racial discrimination and bullying behaviour in general.

It means giving staff and students a voice – and then listening to us with humility and patience.

This is our struggle and our vision.

Mr Vice-Chancellor, we know that you share this vision.

And that is why it gives me, as chairperson of NTEU and on behalf of the NTEU National executive, the Branch executive, our members and Rhodes staff, great pleasure to congratulate you.

Welcome to our struggle.

NATIONAL TERTIARY EDUCATION UNION, Mrs D Bekker

Dear colleagues, staff and students, distinguished guests, and especially Vice-Chancellor, Sizwe Mabizela.

It is a privilege to stand here today as the chairperson of NTEU, the National Tertiary Education Union which represents all staff grade six and above at Rhodes University.

It is a privilege to represent the aspirations of Rhodes staff: Our aspirations to contribute productively and creatively; to be valued; to be heard; to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.

Rhodes is bigger than all of us.

And it is bigger than any one of us because, as an educational institution, as a transformative intellectual project, it has a responsibility to educate, to explore, to create, to heal our society and to build new knowledge, the import of which we perhaps cannot even begin to imagine.

And transformation is at the centre of this vision.

To transform, not only our demographics, but just as importantly to transform into a home for all who have invested so much into Rhodes.

To go beyond parochial concerns and to transform our students, our larger community and our vision of ourselves in order to sustain the dream of the just and equitable society that we all long for.

But in the pursuit of these aspirations, it is important to realise that at their heart, must lie a deep responsibility to the people who sustain them.

We need to remember that it takes real people to wrestle these dreams into reality.

It takes lecturers, professors, tutors, administrators, secretaries, plumbers, gardeners, cleaners and many, many more who dedicate their time, commitment, collegiality and loyalty in support of this beautiful dream.

We, in NTEU, believe that Rhodes can only achieve this dream – and surpass it – through returning that dedication that is continually demonstrated by staff. We can only achieve this dream if management and unions work together to make Rhodes a home for all.

To you Dr Mabizela we have five important pillars as NEHAWU members that you should always remember as you carry out your responsibilities:

Ÿ leadershipŸ intergrityŸ flexibilityŸ team workŸ unity

1. On leadership – provide leadership and take decisions without fear.

2. Integrity – keep the integrity and dignity of the institution as it is an internationally recognised University. The Community should always have hope when you talk Rhodes.

3. Flexibility – let us be innovative and think outside the box. Let's get rid of the tendency that says we have been doing this for years, doing it for years does not mean it is the best. Prepare us for change so that we do not resist.

4. Team work – this is important for all of us understanding that we are part of the family, an inclusive approach helps for ownership of decisions

5. Unity – we should not compromise this pillar because everything may collapse if we do not realise that we need each other.

6. We want to invite you together with our new Director

Sitsho singabazali balapha kule University zigcine ke eziziyalo.

Together we take Rhodes University Forward. Let us do things better, faster and differently. We are in agreement with Lenin, history is indeed turning and it is turning with our full participation as worker component.

Congratulations Dr Mabizela on your new appointment.

I thank you.

NATIONAL EDUCATION, HEALTH AND ALLIED WORKERS UNION, Mr Z Vena

A revolutionary, Communist Leader from the Soviet Union, Lenin once said “When the history turns it should not turn without your participation”.

Programme Director, Chancellor Judge Mpati, Vice-Chancellor Dr Mabizela, Registrar Dr Fourie, Rev. Lange, Senior Management Team, Members of the Senate, Members of the Council, Student Representative Council, respected members of Rhodes community

Good evening to everyone present. On behalf of NEHAWU members of Rhodes University it is pleasure to be part of this auspicious occasion and deliver a note on behalf of workers.

This gives us an opportunity to formally welcome Dr Mabizela, into his new responsibility. Students come and go in this institution, so do the academics but the worker component is an institutional memory in that we had an opportunity to work with Dr Mabizela before he was appointed as Vice Chancellor we are claiming you, ungunyana wethu, this is just a reunion with your family members.

This also creates an opportunity for us as a collective to rededicate ourselves afresh to the tasks set before us. We have together travelled the journey of transformation and when we look back we are able to see the changes. You would all agree with me that Rhodes University is not what it was before 1994.

We are also confirming that Rhodes University is where leaders learn indeed. Here is our own tree that we have nourished and allowed it to grow, and now ii is now expected to provide leadership. Nanku umthi wethu esiwukhulisileyo ngobunono sawuncenceshela wakhula ngoku ulindeleke ukuba anikezele isikhokelo.

Rhodes University is part of Grahamstown Community, hence it is very important that we continue our outreach programmes that benefit the community.

NEHAWU at Rhodes is different to any other unions, NUM in the MINES, NUMSA in the Auto Industry we are operating within the institution of higher learning hence it becomes important for us to empower ourselves so that we are able to engage the MANAGEMENT.

We need each other, for students to excel in their studies they need us to create a conducive environment and for us to provide that we should also be happy in carrying that important and primary task.

In his short tenure as acting Vice-Chancellor he has gone above and beyond the student body's expectations and has truly embraced his role. In his capacity as both DVC and Vice-Chancellor, Dr Mabizela has shown a true compassion and understanding of students and student life. His approach to the issues most prevalent to the student body is characteristically gentle, but firm. It is qualities such as these that give us confidence that Dr Mabizela will work towards and with the SRC towards a greater and fuller representation of the student body.

The University is always striving to include students in the decisions that affect them. And now as SRC President I am confident that Dr Mabizela understands and values student involvement, student governance and Management-Student-Partnerships.

Dr Mabizela –

You come into office in a difficult time in our country where there are barriers to higher education and training to those that find themselves in situations of previous disadvantage. You also take office in a university in the Eastern Cape, a province battling with basic education, amongst many other things. The winds of change are however blowing, as SRCs all over the country have committed themselves to address these socio-economic setbacks in collaboration with their respective institutions. It is our hope that never, never and never again shall we see students turned away from opportunity as a direct result of their socio-economic background. Our mantra as the SRC 2015 is “Students Remain Central”. We are comforted in the knowledge that Dr Mabizela embodies this mantra as seen in his interactions with students from all walks of life.

Rhodes University has, for a number of years, exceeded my aspirations and expectations. And I am sure that Dr Mabizela as a Vice-Chancellor will find that it does the same for him. Students here, as you rightly know, pride themselves in Rhodes' reputation by participating in a number of avenues such as Purple Thursday's , societies, sports clubs and the infamous “Spot the VC campaign” where you took a world record of selfies all over Grahamstown even while you were shopping in Pick 'n Pay.

We're therefore delighted today to entrust that reputation to you as our brand new Vice-Chancellor. Dr Mabizela, on behalf of a multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-national student body, I welcome you and your family officially as the Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University!

PRESIDENT OF THE STUDENTS’ REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL, Mr S Makhubo

The Chancellor, the Hon Judge President Lex Mpati, The Vice-Chancellor, Dr Sizwe Mabizela, The Deputy Vice-Chancellors Prof Boughey and Dr Clayton, The Registrar, Dr Steve Fourie, Deans of our respective Faculties, The Director of Student Affairs, Dr Colleen Vassilliou, Directors of our respective Divisions, HODs Present and academic staff, former SRC Presidents present, SRC Alumni and SRC Members, members of our Student Forum, The Mabizela Family and friends, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

Good-evening.

It is an honour and not to mention what a privilege it is on behalf of the entire student body past and present, to officially welcome our new Vice-Chancellor, Dr Sizwe Mabizela.

Dr Mabizela is today officially joining us for the first time as Vice-Chancellor to a University to which I am exceptionally proud to be a part of and to serve as its SRC President. It is a University in its truest sense a place in which we're free to explore the joy and opportunity of learning as prescribed by our sacred constitution. Our journey here is to become enlightened individuals with a true sense of our place in the world. It is a place of the fusion of ideas, people and experiences; it is, I believe, a University that leaves its mark in South Africa, the African continent and the world beyond as a leading place of knowledge and research.

I am delighted that Dr Mabizela's academic journey has brought him to Rhodes University, first as the HOD of the Mathematics Department and then later on as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs and now finally as Principal and Vice-Chancellor.

Rhodes University's approach to learning at its core is a belief that practical experience should not be an afterthought which should be a vital part for degrees and qualifications that also demand intellectual rigor and creative thinking. It is no accident, or stroke of luck that this is the university in its ascendant that challenges the very best universities in areas like graduate employment and student life and satisfaction. Rhodes University students are encouraged to seize every opportunity that opens up for us to transform our lives while we're here and to be passionate about our work and our future.

The former SRC President Mr Bradley Bense as a sitting member of Council promised the SRC and the student body last year that he would use his status and valued input on Council to appoint a tremendous leader. The SRC together with the student body wanted a leader who truly fits the ethos and values that Rhodes takes to pride. A leader who embraces change and would earn the trust and respect of the entire Rhodes Community. I feel our efforts were successful, for what a leader we have found in Dr Mabizela.

GREETING FROM THE ACADEMIC COMMUNITY, Distinguished Professor T Nyokong

Distinguished guests, and distinguished fellow academic staff of Rhodes University

It is with great pleasure that I welcome Dr Mabizela as the Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University.

Right from the start, I need to clearly state that Dr Mabizela is not a BLACK Vice-Chancellor, he is the best Vice-Chancellor for Rhodes University, who happens to be of African origin. On announcing Dr Mabizela as the new Vice-Chancellor, Rhodes University's council chairman Mr Vuyo Kahla said Dr Mabizela was unanimously recommended for the post by a committee which was representative of all sectors of Rhodes University (Council, academics, Unions, etc.). I am sure I talk on behalf of all academic staff when I say, Dr Mabizela you have our support and we have full confidence in your leadership. Thank you for availing yourself to lead Rhodes University.

Dr Mabizela is a very humble person and does everything with a human touch. He is a listener and makes informed decisions. We look forward to your humble leadership.

South Africa has some of the finest Universities in the world. We (in South Africa) are leading in many areas of research. And Rhodes is one of the top universities in South Africa. Having a leader of your calibre will take this University to new heights.

At Rhodes University, we are small enough to have open policy – so that we have direct interaction with the management like the Vice-Chancellor as academic staff. I am sure this will continue under Dr Mabizela's leadership.

With declining funding for higher education, you have often said we have to go into “business unusual”. This means that you are already making sure that Rhodes is financially viable. We will support you as academics on your “business unusual” mission.

We have infrastructure that works, and as academics we appreciate our technical and support staff for all they do to maintain Rhodes.

At Rhodes University, every one counts from the cleaners, students to professors. And Dr Mabizela, you have already shown your commitment to all sectors of the University

We welcome you to Rhodes University.

MAYOR OF MAKANA MUNICIPALITY, Councillor Z Peter

Minister of Higher Education Hon Blade Nzimande, The Chancellor Hon Justice Lex Mpati, all the dignitaries amongst us, invited guests, the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor Dr Sizwe Mabizela, ladies and gentlemen

Good evening all.

It is with great honour for me to be part of this inauguration to congratulate Dr Sizwe Mabizela as the first black African to be appointed as a Vice-Chancellor of one of the prestigious universities in the entire world. This shows that South Africa indeed is transforming and opportunities like these are now available for all South African citizens irrespective of their colour, race or religious beliefs. This institution is generally known as a white academia institution and this signifies the fact that this institution is for all South Africans not only a particular group or race. Not so long ago you were appointed as a Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the institution and I believe that it never crossed your mind and that of many South Africans that today you will be congratulated as a capable Head of the institution.

I stand here on behalf of Makana Municipality and its community as a proud African man with my head held up high to show our solidarity and confidence in your ability to take this institution further. As the municipality we also hope to work together to restore the dignity and image of our town and surrounding areas. The municipality and the community at large acknowledge the support we get from Rhodes University and I believe that this partnership will strengthen under your leadership and will continue even when you are no longer with the institution.

This is history in making and we wish you all the best in your tenure as the Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University.

Congratulations, God bless you.

We fully support the wireless initiative.

I thank you!

As you know, the post-1994 era has presented our universities with immense opportunities to re-imagine their role in society. The role of knowledge and scholarship is becoming perhaps the single most important differentiator between successful countries and those that are less successful. As we grapple with the challenge of creating and transmitting knowledge that is at once universal and globally competitive, it is also true that our nation is facing a number of socio-economic challenges which demand that our universities be responsive and relevant institutions. Universities must and do address some of the intractable challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment, climate change, health and much more.

Dr Mabizela, with your intellect and experience, we are confident that you will be able to inspire and lead this great institution to sustained success. We pledge to work with and support you and Rhodes University as you set a new direction and tone for the university in the knowledge that many of the problems of individual universities can best be addressed once we have recognised their national commonality. As Ralph Dahrendorf, the German sociologist once put it “stagnant universities are expensive and ineffectual monuments to a status quo which is more likely to be a status quo ante, yesterday's world preserved in

iaspic” (2000: 106) . As you put Rhodes University on a renewed path for the future, we wish you; your management team, and the entire university community, success.

HIGHER EDUCATION SOUTH AFRICA, Dr M Price

Chancellor, Honourable Judge Lex Mpati; Chairperson of Council, Mr Vuyo Kahla; Members of Council; Vice-Chancellor, Dr Sizwe Mabizela; members of Executive Management of Rhodes University; members of the Senate; President of the SRC, Leaders of organised labour and student organisations; fellow Vice-Chancellors and their representatives; leaders of Government (Eastern Cape Provincial Government and Makana Local Municipality); leaders of business, industry and community organisations; the University community; distinguished guests and ladies and gentlemen.

As Vice-Chairperson of Higher Education South Africa (HESA), the association which represents, and advocates for the interests of the 26 public Higher Education Institutions in our country, I bring you greetings on behalf of those universities collectively. We congratulate the new Vice-Chancellor, Dr Sizwe Mabizela, on being appointed to this office of this distinguished university, and congratulate Rhodes University on its fine choice of leader. I would like to extend a warm and personal welcome to Dr Sizwe Mabizela as the new Vice-Chancellor to the HESA community. We are indeed delighted to have you as a member of the HESA collective and look forward to your contribution at a national level to helping HESA, “… create an environment in which universities can prosper and thrive in South Africa, thus enabling them to contribute efficiently and effectively to the social, economic and cultural development of our country”.

i Dahrendorf R.(2000) Universities after Communism. The Hannah Arendt Prize and the Reform of higher education in East Central Europe. Hamburg, Körber-Stiftung, 176p.

VICE-CHANCELLOR OF RHODES UNIVERSITY, Dr S Mabizela

My brother and I completed Form Five (Standard 10) in the same year. We had both been accepted at university. Realising that our parents would not afford to support both of us at university, he opted to go to a teacher training college in order to make it possible for me to attend university. He then studied part-time until he completed his PhD. Sadly, his PhD degree was awarded posthumously after he had died tragically in a car accident. He was the Registrar at the Welkom campus of Vista University.

I also am deeply indebted to my wonderful friend and brother who has been part of my life since our teen years, the Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Technology, Prof Thandwa Mthembu. He has been with me through thick and thin and has never left my side. We also spent time together in a police cell in Alice in the turbulent early eighties.

Lest we forget…

I would like to dedicate this inaugural address to the memory of three remarkable South Africans who were born and raised in this part of our country. Their love for this country, their deep passion for, and unwavering commitment to, social justice, human rights, equality and human dignity knew no bounds. They laid down their lives so we could enjoy the freedoms and democracy we now have. These outstanding giants of our liberation

1 2struggle are Mr Bantu Stephen Biko , Mr Mlungisi Griffiths Mxenge and Mrs Victoria 3Nonyamezelo Mxenge .

I am enormously grateful that Mama Ntsiki Biko, Mr Bantu Biko's wife, and Mr Nkosinathi Biko, their eldest son, are here this evening to celebrate this auspicious occasion with me as special guests of Rhodes University.

I am also greatly honoured to welcome as special guests and recognise Mr Mbasa Mxenge, the son of Mr and Mrs Mxenge, and his wife, Lusanda. When I told Mbasa that the date of my installation was 27 February 2015, he quickly pointed out that that day is Tata Mxenge's birthday. He was born on this day eighty years ago!

On 12 August 1985 I had the great fortune of attending the funeral of Mama Victoria Mxenge. It was a moving experience. Thousands of people defied the state of emergency and the road-blocks that had been set up around King Williamstown. The atmosphere was highly charged with emotion; there was palpable anger, defiance and resolve in every direction.

I am enormously grateful to both the Biko and the Mxenge families for honouring us with their presence this evening. The selfless dedication, deep commitment, courage, bravery and resolve of your loved ones to advance the cause of freedom, justice and human rights

Mr Chancellor, the Honourable Justice Lex Mpati; Chairperson of Council, Mr Vuyo Kahla; Eastern Cape Judge President, Mr Justice Themba Sangoni; Premier of the Eastern Cape Province, Honourable Phumulo Masualle; Your Worship, Executive Mayor of Makana Municipality, Councillor Zamuxolo Peter; Members of Council; Members of our Board of Governors; President of Convocation, Rev Dr Simon Gqubule; Vice-Chancellors and representatives of other universities; Deputy Vice-Chancellors; Deans; Members of Senate; Academic, Administrative and Support Staff; Leadership of our unions: NEHAWU and NTEU; President and other members of the Student Representative Council; Students; Honoured guests; Ladies and gentlemen; Comrades and friends.

Good evening, molweni, kgotsong, goeie-naand, dumelang, sanibonani.

I would like to begin by thanking every single person in the audience this evening for joining us on this very special occasion. The inauguration of a Vice-Chancellor is a very special milestone in the life and history of a university. It is also a very special milestone in my own life.

I am deeply honoured and privileged that so many Vice-Chancellors and representatives of Vice-Chancellors of our sister higher education institutions across our country have travelled to Grahamstown to share this event with us.

I have been very fortunate to be surrounded by wonderful, caring and loving people in my life. Members of my immediate and extended family, my in-laws and my many friends are here this evening to celebrate with Rhodes University and with one of their own. A special note to my wife, Dr Phethiwe Matutu and our girls, Zama and Zinzi - I am proud of each of you and grateful for the love and support that you give me all the time.

There are two people who are with us only in spirit: my late father and my late elder brother, Siza. Knowing my father, he would have hired a number of buses and invited the whole of our village to travel with him to Grahamstown for this celebration!

1 Mr Bantu Steve Biko was arrested near Grahamstown on 18 August 1977. During torture at the security branch headquarters in the Sanlam Building (Port Elizabeth), he sustained massive brain haemorrhage. On 11 September 1977 he was transported naked and without medical escort, to Pretoria – a twelve-hour journey – in the back of a police Land Rover. He died on the floor of an empty cell in the Central Prison on 12 September 1977.

2 Mr Griffiths Mxenge was a human rights lawyer. He was assassinated by the apartheid security force hit squads. He was found butchered with 45 stab wounds and his throat slit in the Umlazi cycle stadium on November 19, 1981.

3 Mrs Victoria Mxenge was a human rights lawyer who studied law and joined her husband's practice as an attorney in 1981. She was assassinated by the apartheid security force hit squads on 1 August 1985. She was shot five times and hacked to death at the door of her house in Umlazi.

hands today, here in South Africa, here in the Eastern Cape, here in Grahamstown. But it requires of us that we reflect on how we ourselves within the University conduct our work, how we can build on our excellent strengths already established in this direction, and how we can seek other opportunities for renewal and innovation.

I believe that Rhodes is an institution animated in large part by a progressive and innovative spirit, and that there is an appetite for a future characterised by a culture of “Business Unusual”. In this address, I want to indicate some of the means by which the leadership of this University will advance this spirit and deepen its realisation.

Gratitude…

Words cannot adequately express just how deeply humbled and inordinately privileged I am in being given the opportunity to serve this great University as its 6th Principal and Vice-Chancellor. It was with a profound sense of honour and humility that I accepted the Council's invitation to serve in this role. There is no place I would rather be than right here at Rhodes University.

An enormous debt is owed to my five predecessors, Drs Thomas Alty, James Hyslop, Derek Henderson, David Woods, and Saleem Badat, whose exceptional leadership and stewardship helped build and sustain this fine institution. I am particularly beholden to my immediate predecessor, Dr Saleem Badat, for his steady, thoughtful and visionary leadership over the past eight years. I was enormously privileged to serve this great institution alongside him as one of his Deputy Vice-Chancellors. He was a great friend and a reliable mentor for me.

The number 6 is beautiful…

As the 6th Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University, I cannot resist the temptation to comment on the beauty of the number 6. In Mathematics, numbers like 6 are very special. Observe that 6 = 1+2+3, and 1, 2, and 3 are divisors (or factors) of 6 that are less than 6. Such positive integers which can be written as a sum of their positive divisors smaller than them are called perfect numbers. The number 6 is the smallest perfect number. The next perfect number is 28, since 28 = 1+2+4+7+14. Perfect numbers are very rare. In fact, there are only 48 perfect numbers known to date. All known perfect numbers

p−1 pare even, i.e., they are divisible by 2, and are of the form 2 × (2 – 1), where p is a prime number. It is not known if there are perfect numbers that are odd. It was reported in

1 500November last year that there are no odd perfect numbers less than 10 . So much for perfect numbers!

inspire us all. We owe it to them and thousands of others who perished in the prosecution of our liberation struggle that we use education to bring about a more just, a more humane, a more caring, a fairer and a more equitable society.

At this point, however, it is worth pausing to reflect on where we stand today, since these great figures from our history stood their ground for social justice and, in giving their lives for this cause, helped to change the path that our history has taken.

On one hand, we must acknowledge and celebrate that South Africa is a different country today and many significant advances have been made, often beyond our expectations.

On the other hand, we still have a long way to go, and the imperatives that lie ahead of us are starkly visible, here in our own immediate context.

The struggle that we fought into the early 1990s was sharply defined then as a South African, and an African, issue. However, the challenges that we face now on our doorstep increasingly take on global dimensions and significance. The seemingly intractable – and frankly completely intolerable – persistence of poverty in our own country is also a reflection of deep inequalities that are now an acknowledged global pattern. Despite the fact that equality is one of the founding values of our Constitutional democracy, we are the most unequal society on earth. Similarly, we are confronted by a number of stark indicators that point to, among others, the vulnerability of societies in the shape of volatile social upheavals and extremist movements; to the fragility of the global economy and the inadequacy of its financial systems, and to the instability of the planetary climate and its ecology.

Across a whole range of fronts, then, we are forced to concede that the paths we have followed in the past are no longer sustainable paths for the future. It simply cannot be business as usual.

However, we cannot afford to be paralysed or intimidated by the global dimensions of these problems. They are simply our problems replicated elsewhere. We can, and must, tackle these issues as they present themselves in our society. South Africa has something of a reputation for innovation, and the solutions we find to the problems confronting us here will be of considerable interest globally, because these are their problems too.

In short, during my tenure as Vice-Chancellor of this University, I want Rhodes to be increasingly distinguished as an institution that tackles local problems in ways that command attention and respect more widely, indeed globally. I want Rhodes to be an institution that erects powerful signposts for how the pathways of the future must differ from those of the past. The capacity to model a different and better future lies clearly in our

taught by academics who are actively engaged in advancing the frontiers of knowledge.

Ÿ We have one of the highest proportions of academic staff with doctoral degrees.Ÿ We represent less than 1% of the higher education enrolments, but our students win

most of the prestigious scholarships. Just to illustrate this point, late last year, we submitted nine (9) names of our students for the prestigious Mandela-Rhodes Scholarship. These nine names were part of 500 applicants for the Mandela-Rhodes Scholarship from other parts of the country. So of the 500 applications they received, we nominated 9 (i.e., 1.8%). Of the 60 candidates who were shortlisted for interviews, 7 (i.e., 11.6%) were from Rhodes; and of the 40 who were awarded the Mandela-Rhodes Scholarship, 6 were from Rhodes (15%). An incredible achievement for the smallest University in the country!

We have the highest number of Mandela-Rhodes scholars of any South African university.

This is the kind of success and achievement which has defined Rhodes University for generations. I am keenly aware of the significance of this legacy and what it demands of me as I seek to lead this University into a new and what I am sure will be a profoundly exciting future. I draw strength, courage and inspiration from the past and am intensely aware that one of my duties is to lead in a way which will enhance the standing of our university as a truly exceptional institution of higher learning and academic excellence. We must strive to uphold and grow this legacy and I assure you of my deep commitment to my own role in promoting the continued success of this remarkable place of learning.

Our academic project…

On an important occasion like this, it is important that we remind ourselves of the purpose of an institution such as Rhodes University.

Our university exists to serve three core purposes, each of them deeply traditional in nature, but also each required to be acutely attuned to the changing inflections of the era:

Ÿ Our first purpose is to produce and disseminate knowledge through all kinds of research, creative endeavours and scholarship so that we can advance the frontiers of knowledge, human understanding and wisdom.

Ÿ Our second purpose is to teach in ways which allow and encourage our students to engage critically with knowledge and its production. Through our teaching, our students should not only develop a “critical appreciation of the ways in which we gain knowledge and understanding of the universe, of society, and of ourselves”, but should also be inducted into the intricacies of knowledge-making. As such, our curricula and

A deep desire and commitment to serve ….

These are challenging times for higher education in this country and beyond. Some of these challenges include: The declining level in real terms of State funding of higher education; time-consuming bureaucratic compliance and onerous reporting requirements; ever-growing demand for access to higher education; inadequate funding for financially needy students; high drop-out rates and low graduation rates; fierce competition for talented academic, support and administrative staff; poor public schooling which delivers inadequately prepared students to higher education; ageing staff; dubious world rankings and global league tables; commodification of knowledge. And the list continues.

Given all these challenges, why, you might wonder, would anyone in their right frame of mind accept an offer of Vice-Chancellorship? While I cannot give a response on behalf of those who have recently accepted the offer, I can give you my reason. It is contained in a letter I sent to our Chair of Council when an offer was made to me. I indicated to him that my acceptance of the position of Vice-Chancellor at Rhodes University was not motivated by any quest for personal glory, financial or material gain, but by a deep desire and commitment to serve Rhodes University, to serve our great nation and to serve humanity. I accepted because I am motivated and driven by a desire to make a difference!

Our university, our history and our legacy…

Rhodes University is a remarkable institution which deservedly enjoys an enviable reputation for academic excellence. Founded in 1904, Rhodes University is one of the oldest universities in this country. This year we will be celebrating our one-hundred-and-eleventh year of existence!

Ÿ We are, by far, the smallest university in South Africa. Unlike at other universities, each one of our students is a young person with a name and a face; not just a number or statistic.

Ÿ We have a well-entrenched culture, tradition and experience of developing and nurturing exceptional intellectual talent in our students.

Ÿ We are proud of, and strive to maintain, our reputation as an outstanding university that provides high quality formative education for its students. We are fortunate to have a core group of top researchers and inspiring teachers at our University.

Ÿ We enjoy the best undergraduate pass and graduation rates of any South African university.

Ÿ We have outstanding postgraduate success rates and enjoy one of the best research outputs per academic staff member of any South African university. Our students are

that no institution or individual 'may unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including 'race', gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual identity, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth.' We are enjoined to 'respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights.'

We are indeed fortunate to have one of the most progressive Constitutions in the world, but its value lies only in the extent to which it is given practical effect in the lives of all of our people, and the extent to which it is defended against relentless encroachment. A large proportion of our population lives without the protections promised by our Constitution. Universities have a very special place in providing a platform to interrogate our success in giving effect to this Constitution, and in prompting the innovation required to fulfil the societal vision that it expresses. A significant challenge for all of us is to embrace, internalise and live out the values of our Constitution.

The 1997 White Paper on higher education further expresses the core principles that universities are meant to embody. These are: equity and redress, democratisation, development, quality, effectiveness and efficiency, academic freedom, institutional autonomy and public accountability.

Our future…

Change provides us with an opportunity to reflect and to take stock of where we have been, where we are, and to prepare for what lies ahead. I am inestimably fortunate in that I have been at Rhodes University for 10 years and have been part of its senior leadership for the past six years. I have been integrally involved in shaping and driving the trajectory that we are currently pursuing and can confidently state that we have built a solid foundation from which we can continue to re-imagine and reshape our institution.

As one might expect, with change in leadership, there will always be continuities, discontinuities and adjustments. However, my promise is that I will use my leadership to further our shared objective of strengthening our University's position as a distinct and distinctive institution providing outstanding education to young people of our country and beyond, generating and disseminating knowledge of high quality which advances human understanding and wisdom; knowledge that helps us build and sustain a better society and a better world.

Having been part of Rhodes University for as long as I have and having been part of its senior leadership, I am under no illusion regarding the challenges that lie ahead. We must address these imaginatively and creatively if we are to remain a pre-eminent and

pedagogy should be designed with a view to fostering students' inclusion in the journey of discovery.

Ÿ Universities do not exist in a vacuum - they exist within a particular social, economic, cultural, political and historical context and are an integral part of the community in which they exist. In this regard, Rhodes' third core purpose is to discharge its critical societal responsibility through engagement with the pressing questions of the day, whether these are urgent local needs in our own community, or wider issues confronting societies globally. Our Community Engagement endeavours range from formal credit-bearing service-learning courses to student volunteering in local projects. In these activities, we forge respectful, reciprocal, mutually-beneficial and knowledge-driven partnerships with our local (external) community. It is through our Community Engagement activities that we endeavour to “take knowledge beyond the confines of the academy into a variety of social domains”. In this way, our knowledge is tested and enhanced, our scholarship enriched and the socio-economic condition of our local communities improved. In the process, we gain new and deeper insights into the pressing and complex challenges facing our local communities, and a more deeply nuanced view of the wider patterns in which we are located.

These three core purposes constitute our academic or intellectual project. This is what it means for us to be a university that takes knowledge, scholarship and learning very seriously and that works hard to create an institutional culture that embraces academic freedom, embraces intellectual inquiry and debate, and places a high value on creativity and innovation. These three core purposes are not distinct from or in competition with each other but are mutually supportive; each one feeds into and catalyses the other two.

To emphasise the centrality of 'knowledge' as the key defining feature for us as a university is a risky undertaking, particularly so in a society that shows a disappointing and dangerous disdain for knowledge and intellectual integrity. However, to do otherwise would reduce us to something other than a university. And so our Institutional Development Plan boldly and proudly proclaims that we are a university, a place of knowledge – siyindawo yolwazi, a community of scholars engaged in the generation, dissemination and application of knowledge in the service of humanity.

Our values ….

As we pursue our intellectual project, we are guided by a set of core values which are formulated against the backdrop of our national Constitution of 1996 which sets out the character of the society that is envisaged, proclaiming the values of 'human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms,' and the creation of a non-racist and non-sexist society. The Bill of Rights unambiguously proclaims

Rhodes University is committed to ensuring that students from poor, rural and working class backgrounds benefit from the outstanding educational experiences it offers. We believe that diversity in the composition of the student body not only enriches the academic, social and cultural environment in significant ways but also enhances students' own life experiences while they are here. Our students' interaction with others from diverse social, economic and cultural backgrounds contributes towards their holistic educational experience and prepares them for the global society in which we live.

Funding for students from poor, rural and working class households is a major barrier to their ability to access quality higher education at Rhodes University. These students rely on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to fund their tuition and residence fees. The demand for student financial aid far exceeds the available resources.

A significant segment of students not catered for through the student financial aid scheme is that of young people whose parents or guardians are civil servants – nurses, teachers, police officers – whose family income is just above the NSFAS threshold, but not large enough to be able to afford university education.

As Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University, I will make it my personal mission to strive to ensure that no academically talented, but financially needy, student is turned away from Rhodes University. I call on our staff, students, alumni, donors and the private sector to make a contribution in this endeavour.

When I became a Deputy Vice-Chancellor, I made a salary sacrifice to contribute to a bursary fund intended to help academically talented but financially needy students. In my capacity as Vice-Chancellor, I am able to increase this salary sacrifice in order to advance our strategic objective to make higher education accessible to those who come from poor families. I call on others to contribute in whatever ways they are able to make the learning experiences we value so greatly here at Rhodes University more available to all.

Third, we must attract, nurture and retain academic, administrative and support staff of high calibre.

Our greatest strength, as an institution, is the quality of our staff – both academic and support. The rich legacy of academic excellence to which I made reference earlier has been made possible by the outstanding staff who have an unwavering commitment to, and passion for, excellence in all that they do. It is their loyalty, dedication, commitment and hard work that have enabled us to build and sustain this University as a place of knowledge.

It is important that we continue to make Rhodes University an institution of choice for the

innovative academic centre of knowledge creation, knowledge dissemination and knowledge application.

As always, challenges present new opportunities to do things differently. And so I have been very clear in my conversations with the University community that we cannot and will not continue with business as usual. We must do things differently.

How do we enhance the already pre-eminent standing of our university as an outstanding institution of higher learning and academic excellence whilst embracing the challenges I have noted?

First, we must enhance the quality of education and overall experience of our students.

Students are the main reason we exist as an institution of higher learning. We must build on our reputation for excellence in teaching and learning and prepare our students for a productive and fulfilling life, a life of selfless service to society and humankind.

Our in- and out-of-classroom activities should seek to develop leadership opportunities so that our students develop the necessary skills, appropriate values and attitudes that will make them worthy citizens of our global village.

In line with our slogan “Where leaders learn”, we must, through our teaching and learning, community engagement and extra-curricular activities, produce leaders who are knowledgeable, skilled and competent; leaders who are critical and democratic citizens; ethical leaders who are committed to the values of human understanding, social justice, human development and service to society; leaders who are unwavering in their support of human rights and environmental justice; leaders who can heed Mahatma Gandhi's advice that we live simply so others may simply live; leaders who will not just see our society or the world as it is but can imagine a better society and a better world and act with courage and confident conviction to change our society and the world for the better; leaders who, in the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, do not only inspire confidence in people but inspire people to have confidence in themselves; leaders who will not succumb to the venality that has become so much part of our everyday life.

Indeed, we must inspire and guide these young leaders to be more than what they ever imagined possible.

Second, we must make Rhodes University accessible to academically talented students from diverse racial, social, cultural, economic and class backgrounds and provide them with the support they need to succeed.

similar levels of transformation have not been witnessed in our staff complement. In particular, it has been difficult to attract and retain Black academic staff. Additionally, the paucity of Black and women academics in the higher ranks of the academy is a matter of great concern. We acknowledge our predicament and pledge ourselves to intensified efforts to transform our staff complement. We must harness all efforts to create highly-attractive and welcoming environments and scholarly positions filled with academic richness, scope and promise and to follow this with purposeful investment in Black and women academics so that they are attracted to academic careers, that they are able to exceed their expectations, that they are able to rise through the academic ranks, and that they are able to assist in charting the future through their leadership. Such purposeful investment is exemplified in the 10-year old Accelerated Staff Development Programme funded by the Mellon Foundation and by the Kresge Foundation. A number of our Black and women colleagues of academic influence and position bear witness to the programme and its impact. May their numbers, role and fine contribution to this University grow prodigiously, if not exponentially. A university characterised by 'Business Unusual' requires this.

Indeed, we welcome the initiative of the Department of Higher Education & Training to develop and train a new generation of academics for our higher education system. It is a matter of immense pride for us, as Rhodes University, that that initiative had its genesis in our own Accelerated Staff Development Programme.

Another significant area of transformation is the curriculum. As mentioned earlier, the social and demographic composition of our student body has changed significantly over the past number of years. The question which arises is: to what extent have we engaged our curricula and pedagogic approaches to respond to this diversity and to draw on the richness that it presents? Are we still privileging and valuing knowledge from some parts of the world to the exclusion of that which comes from other parts of the world? Broadening the content to embrace knowledge from different parts of the world is just one part of curriculum transformation. Another important part is the pedagogic philosophy and approach adopted to accommodate and leverage on the diversity of our student population. As academics, do we see that the students who sit in front of us in the lecture and seminar rooms of our campus are different to those who sat beside us when we were students? Have we adapted our pedagogical approaches to ensure that every one of those students is included as an equal in the learning that goes on in our classrooms? Does our approach to diversity of participation, and to diversity of knowledge, assist our graduates to provide leadership for a more sustainable and resilient society? These are the kinds of questions we need to be asking as we move forward into a more equitable future.

As part of our engagement with the issue of curriculum transformation, we will host a

best and the brightest academic, administrative and support staff.

In order to achieve this, we must, among other things, Ÿ Create and maintain an enabling institutional culture that values people and is an

intellectually rewarding space in which to work;Ÿ Improve our staff remuneration in order to be competitive;Ÿ Assist staff in finding affordable accommodation in and around Grahamstown;Ÿ Create opportunities for professional development and advancement of staff;Ÿ Create clear pathways for career advancement for support and administrative staff.

Fourth, we must create and maintain an inclusive, welcoming, affirming and positive institutional environment.

We must, in the first instance, embrace diversity and celebrate difference. However, as an institution of higher learning we must go further than that and use the power of civil and reasoned argument, logic and debate to engage differences with a view to narrowing them, breaking new ground and enhancing and deepening shared understanding.

As Vice-Chancellor, I pledge to encourage and support freedom of expression and opinion and model practices and values that are consistent with the spirit and prescripts of our Constitution. We must, and will, respond with firmness and decisiveness to behaviours and attitudes that are divisive, hurtful and demeaning to others and which, sadly, still characterise much of our wider society. Many of those engaged in these behaviours and attitudes may be unconscious of the effects of what they do because of the way they have been socialised into thinking their acts and thoughts are 'normal'. Through awareness-raising activities, we must challenge every single student and every single staff member to reflect on the way they interact with others in order to identify the hidden thoughts and attitudes underpinning the way they go about their daily lives. In 1994, our country emerged from a great struggle against racism, hatred and inequality. Many lost their lives in that struggle, as I indicated at the beginning of this speech. As a nation, we cannot afford to go backwards and, as a place of knowledge and an institution of higher learning, Rhodes University has to take a stand against any attempts to do so, however conscious or unconscious they may be.

Fifth, we must advance the transformation imperative of our University.

We have made significant progress in the transformation of the demographic and social composition of the student body. The 'race', class, gender, ethnic, national, linguistic, cultural and religious composition of our student population has changed and will continue to change given our imperatives of social equity and social justice. However,

On that score, I wish to place on record our deep appreciation to our national Department of Higher Education & Training for the significant investment made by the state in infrastructure in higher education over the past 9 years. We were able to build a number of residences, dining halls, lecture theatres and we were able to extend and refurbish our library as a result of this additional money coming into the University. However, we still need to set aside significant funds to replace some of our ageing research and teaching infrastructure.

As we look to infrastructure, we must consider the changing patterns in student learning. Our new library offers exciting and different learning spaces conducive to group work, as well as individual study and to the use of electronic texts, as well as conventional books. We must continue to explore what is possible and what is needed and not simply rely on what we have always been used to.

Eighth, we must ensure financial sustainability and long-term viability of our University.

The first step towards ensuring financial sustainability and long-term viability of our University is to exercise prudent stewardship over the resources that have been entrusted to our care. We must ensure effective, efficient and optimal use of all university resources. Furthermore,Ÿ We must continue to develop viable financial strategies and plans for the University.Ÿ We must aim for a more sustainable balance between revenues and expenditure,

between staffing costs and operational costs, and to do so in ways that enable us to position Rhodes University as an increasingly compelling career destination for academics, support and administrative staff of high calibre.

Ÿ We have succeeded in ensuring that our residence system is financially self-sustaining. We will work to underpin the continuity of this, in the face of the pressures operating on this front.

Ÿ We must enhance mechanisms for ensuring that we collect all that is due to the University.

Ÿ We must grow our research income.Ÿ We must explore and establish innovative and creative ways to expand our third stream

income by making this University even more attractive to donors.Ÿ We must continue to build a strong relationship with our alumni and encourage them to

contribute to the fundraising efforts of our University.Ÿ Recognising that we are a small university with limited resources, we must grow strong

and effective partnerships in the financing aspects of the University and in the provision of services, which are as important to us in discharging our knowledge mandate as having strong intellectual collaborative partnerships.

conference on 17 and 18 April 2015 under the theme “(Re)Making the South African University: Curriculum Development and the Problem of Place.”

Sixth, we must maintain and grow the intellectual outputs and scholarly reputation of our university.

We are proud of our position in the top three universities producing the highest number of research outputs per academic staff member. We must jealously protect our intellectual space by ensuring that there is little or no encroachment into the research space of our academics.

One of the challenges we face is that of concentration risk: the bulk of our research outputs comes from a relatively small group of highly productive researchers. We need to invest time and resources to significantly broaden our research base.

Our Sandisa Imbewu Initiative and Mellon Focus Areas have helped us build critical mass behind certain focus areas.

In the next ten years, we will, among other things,Ÿ Significantly increase the percentage of academics with doctoral level qualifications to

at least 70%;Ÿ Raise the total research output for the institution by encouraging and supporting all

academic staff members to produce at least one accredited output per year;Ÿ Maintain the postgraduate proportion of the student body to 30% whilst, at the same

time, ensuring the diversity of the postgraduate population; Ÿ Grow the number of research focus areas, with significant critical mass behind them, for

which the university is known as a place of scholarly excellence across all faculties of the university.

Seventh, we must provide the best academic infrastructure, equipment and facilities to support our academic project.

We recently commissioned the CSIR to carry out a professional assessment of the condition of our campus infrastructure. Their estimation is that we need some R1.3 billion to bring our infrastructure to a fit-for-purpose condition over the next five years to address the accumulated maintenance backlog – this over and above the implementation of a life-cycle maintenance plan. We must attend to this maintenance backlog. Our Facilities Services Section is working on a plan, as well as mechanisms to address this significant challenge. Given the sheer scope and quantum of the backlog, we will rely on Government Infrastructure Funding for some measure of assistance.

now our Municipality is under administration because of poor management and poor leadership. It is in our own best interest that we work with our Municipality to develop the necessary capacity and capability for it to fulfil its constitutional mandate to the benefit of all residents of Grahamstown.

We must understand this project in the context of the central importance of municipal delivery in changing the lived conditions of the poorest communities in our country. Demonstrating a working model for a turn-around in this sector could have far-reaching spin-offs for poor people more widely.

We must brighten the corner where we are!

Education….

Of equal importance is our second area of focus in Grahamstown, which is education. It is a matter of public record that the Eastern Cape Province is the worst performing province when it comes to public education. Since 2007, except for two years in 2009 and 2010, the Eastern Cape has come last of all provinces in matric pass rates. Every single year its matric pass rates have been way below the national pass rates.

In Grahamstown, we have a collection of some of the best schools in the country interspersed with some of the most dysfunctional schools imaginable serving the majority of our young people. As an institution of higher learning, indeed, as a greater community that cares, we cannot sit and watch when young people amongst us are condemned to a life without hope; a life of despair because of the failure to provide them with the education they need and deserve. We need to work with our Education District Office, Subject Advisors, Principals and Educators to find ways of improving the quality of teaching and learning. I look forward to meeting all important role-players in the education sector to discuss how we might work together to make Grahamstown a true centre of academic excellence – from Early Childhood education to University, and a model for consideration more widely. We are delighted that officials of our District Office and Principals from our local schools have honoured us with their presence this evening. I take this as a most meaningful and sincere commitment to work together.

We must brighten the corner where we are!

Wireless connectivity…

The third leg of our strategy – following delivery of essential services, and the provision of life-changing education – is to connect our community to the wider world of knowledge flows embodied in the Internet, and all the opportunities that become available through

Ÿ We must hasten the modernisation of our systems, procedures, protocols and processes in order to inform policy formulation and efficient, effective and timely decision-making in support for the University's intellectual project. Ideally all essential information – accurate and up-to-date – should be readily available at the click of a button so that we can respond with nimbleness when opportunities come our way.

Ninth, we must make our contribution in building a vibrant and sustainable Grahamstown community.

Grahamstown is a microcosm of the sharp and stark realities of apartheid legacy where grinding and debilitating poverty and deprivation exist alongside relative affluence. Our future and our success as Rhodes University are inextricably bound up with the future and success of the greater Grahamstown community. We are deeply and intimately connected with our local community. It is therefore vitally important that we become actively involved in finding sustainable solutions to the challenges that face us in this space we jointly occupy. We must send a clear and unequivocal message that our University is not just in Grahamstown but is also of and for Grahamstown. We have a particular responsibility to contribute to the creation of a well-functioning, economically sustainable and prosperous Grahamstown. We draw courage and inspiration from the lyrics of the old chorus “Brighten the corner where you are”:

Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may doDo not wait to shed your light afarTo the many duties ever near you now be trueBrighten the corner where you are

We have an extraordinary opportunity to craft fresh and innovative approaches to seemingly persistent societal problems. As I have noted earlier, our success in doing so will attract the interest and respect of observers much more widely. In this way, we can provide signals for how our future can be configured differently from our past.

We must and we will brighten the corner where we are!

In particular, there are three areas that will underpin our engagement with the greater Grahamstown community: Municipality, education and wireless connectivity.

Our Municipality….

We rely on our local municipality for the provision of basic services such as water, electricity and sanitation. Failure by the Municipality to provide us with these basic services will have serious and far-reaching ramifications for our university and its intellectual project. Right

If we remain true and faithful to our intellectual project, as we must, we will be able to produce leaders who will become agents of social change and societal transformation and we will be able to generate and disseminate knowledge that can change our society and the world for the better.

If we remain true and faithful to our intellectual project, as we must, we will be able to advance the realisation of our Constitutional promise to establish "a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights" and one that is able to “free the potential of every person”.

If we remain true and faithful to our intellectual project, as we must, we will be able to fashion out of a society brutalised and kept apart by centuries of colonialism and decades of apartheid a new and virtuous society animated by values of our Constitution; a more humane, a more just, a more caring, a more equitable and a fairer society; a society free of hunger, want and ignorance; a society in which illiteracy, hopelessness and despair cease to define everyday existence of the majority of its people; a society in which exploitation of the vulnerable, abuse of women and children, corruption, greed and mendacity are no more than a rare aberration; a society that upholds social justice, environmental justice, sustainable development, human dignity, and places human development and common social good above selfish and self-serving interests; a society in which every person is able to realise his or her full potential and is able to make a contribution to the betterment of humanity; a society in which we all appreciate and embrace oneness of humanity and realise that our own humanity can only reach its fullness if and when we affirm, advance and defend the humanity of others.

If we remain true and faithful to our intellectual project, as we must, we will be able to advance the higher purpose of higher education: to transform individual lives for the better, to transform societies for the better and to transform the world for the better.

Thank you very much. Enkosi. Ke a leboga. Ngiyabonga. Ke a leboha. Ndo livhuwa. Ngiyathokoza. Inkomu. Baie dankie.

connectivity. We would like to work with our local municipality and other role-players to make Grahamstown a wireless city! This initiative will underpin our efforts to improve the quality of education, to spur economic development and to improve service delivery in this community.

We will soon conduct a detailed feasibility study on funding such an initiative to ensure its long-term viability and financial sustainability. Our I & TS Division has already started to create Wi-Fi networks in some strategic sites in the township.

We must brighten the corner where we are!

Tenth, we must cooperate and collaborate with the other three institutions of higher learning in the region to address pressing development challenges facing our province.

The four universities in the Eastern Cape, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, University of Fort Hare, Walter Sisulu University and Rhodes University, have identified a number of initiatives aimed at addressing pressing challenges facing our province. These include: Improving the quality of Basic Education; working together on developing programmes aimed at strengthening our capacity and capability to research Water; sharing of facilities and equipment. Earlier this year, we met with the CEO of the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) to explore possible mechanisms and avenues of collaboration to improve the quality of public education in this province. The challenges with regard to basic education are truly enormous, but the synergy which would result from opening ourselves up to working with other Eastern Cape universities offers an opportunity for us to contribute to real change for the better.

Each of the universities in the province brings different strengths to this cooperation and partnership because of their histories, their location and their institutional types.

Remain true and faithful to our mission and purpose…

These are times for us to think and act creatively, imaginatively and boldly. We cannot be complacent in a highly competitive higher education environment. We cannot continue with business as usual. While we cannot do everything at one go; we must prioritise and not shy away from taking hard decisions.

Dear SizweI am most delighted to receive news just now of the official announcement of your appointment by Council as Vice Chancellor of Rhodes University. Please accept our warmest congratulations and confidence that the university is in good hands. We wish you everything of the best as you steer this eminent institution into the future. Needless today, as Rector of COTT we trust we shall build on the good and solid relations we built with Saleem, and hope that with the new status of the College we could forge a solid partnership.With very kind regardsSincerelyBarney Pityana

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As you will understand, it is difficult for me to write to you only in my capacity as a fellow Vice-Chancellor because of our 36 year association as classmates, fellow mathematicians, friends, and a dear brother. So pardon me if this letter fails to follow any logical and thematic sequence. It is most likely to be a mix of the formal and the personal. I will also dig too deep into the past and end up being rather emotional and even irrelevant. I do not even know whether this will end up being a congratulatory letter from a fellow Vice-Chancellor, a tribute to a friend or just musings about the past that the old people we are are wont to engage in.I must, first and foremost, congratulate you on such a fine, sturdy and steady academic and research career you so carefully and painstakingly carved for yourself in mathematics, university management and societal leadership in general. It has certainly paid off spectacularly. And, Rhodes University, being one of the top universities in this country, is fortunate to have a person of your caliber and academic stature as a Vice-Chancellor. Congratulations! Halala, mzala-we!Prof Thandwa Mthembu, Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Technology

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My dear brother Please accept my personal congratulations on your step up the ladder to the helm of Rhodes University. There is always concern after a visionary and successful leader vacates a position and it is rare in this society that they are replaced by someone of equal stature. Your appointment is cause for celebration not only for the university itself but for the entire Grahamstown community. with warmest regardsElinor Sisulu

MESSAGES OF CONGRATULATIONS

It is with the utmost sense of positivity and encouragement that I write to congratulate you on your appointment as the Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University.I wish you the best of luck in your new position and much strength as we are equally aware that this is a huge and very important task that has been placed on you. However, I verily believe that you will be up to the challenge.Yours sincerelyMr Mduduzi Manana, MPDeputy Minister of Higher Education and training

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Dear SizweI was delighted to hear the news of your appointment as Vice-Chancellor at Rhodes. Congratulations, and well done! It seems like a very long time ago when the young Dr Mabizela walked into my office at the Maths Department of UCT, having recently returned from Penn State, to take up a lectureship. Clearly this has been one of my most successful appointments - made doubly so by the fact that I also had the good fortune to appoint Phethiwe, and thus unwittingly play cupid. I am an alumnus of Rhodes, as you may know - in fact a double alumnus, having obtained both the MSc in Maths and the MA in Philosophy there. So as an alumnus of the University, and a former colleague of the Mabizelas, this is very pleasant news indeed. I am sure Rhodes will prosper under your leadership.Warm regards, and all best wishesProfessor Chris BrinkVice-Chancellor: Newcastle University

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Dear SizweI was delighted to hear that you have been appointed as the next VC of Rhodes. Hearty congratulations on this outstanding achievement and very good wishes for the period you will serve in that position!It is remarkable to note that several of the highly accomplished students of mathematics of your era at Fort Hare have ascended to the position of DVC and/or VC: Loyiso Nongxa who was VC of Wits; Themba Dube who was DVC of Unizul; Mvuyo Tom who is VC of Fort Hare itself (I know he went the medical route, but he always proclaims mathematics as his best/favourite academic discipline); and then, of course, yourself. Wow, what a gallery of masterful academic leaders!All the very bestTerry Marsh

May I congratulate you on your appointment. I saw you when the book on intellectual traditions was launched at Rhodes a few months back but was not then aware that you were acting VC.I have been a part-time visiting professor since 2011. I wish you well in your position and will assist insofar as I can (mainly through publishing) to assist you to achieve your goals. Yours sincerelyRaymond Suttner

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Dear SizweIt is 09.00 and I have just returned home from an invigorating 80 minute walk in Central Park with our dog Joey. It is a cool 10 degrees here. On our way back home, I spotted a man with two dogs observing Joey and I as we made our way towards him at the bottom of a gentle hill. As we got there, he said to me: "God, he is a handsome dog"! I said "He is an African dog, with the beauty, elegance and gentleness of our home". The encounter made my day. Now, my first email for the day bears the wonderful news of your appointment. This is a truly blessed day!My warmest congratulations - I am thrilled! This is a thoroughly deserved appointment and I wish you all the best as you start an exciting new phase in your life.I was told that you were brilliant in your interview. This and the knowledge that you have all the university constituencies fully behind you must inspire you to lead with confidence.I have admired how you have always sought to lead and manage on the basis of important human values and principles - this will serve you well as you take Rhodes forward in the coming years and provide leadership more generally through HESA and other structures.If there is any way that I can assist you I am, of course, happy to do so. I am copying family and friends, as a way of sharing the joyous news. Love to Phethiwe, Zama and Zinzi (they must be excited) All the bestSaleemDr Saleem BadatProgram Director: International Higher Education & Strategic ProjectsThe Andrew W Mellon Foundation

Dear Sizwe,Hearty congratulations on your appointment as VC of Rhodes University! My colleagues and I at Penn State are very pleased for you and proud that you're one of our alums.All best wishes,Rodney A. EricksonPresident Emeritus, The Pennsylvania State University

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Dear SizweJust a short note to congratulate you on your appointment as Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University . I am delighted both for you and for Rhodes ! I look forward to seeing you at the BOG in early November . Mike Spicer

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Hi SizweYou will have so many emails today that it may take you many days to read them!I just wanted to add my congratulations- I am so happy about your appointment, and very excited that I am going to get to work with you over the next few years.You have so much support at the university and outside of it.See you soon and hope that you have time to celebrate a little.Kind regardsThandi Lewin

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Dear Sizwe,Greetings from El Ouatia in Morocco. I take advantage of this very rare moment of access to the internet during a field trip to offer my sincere congratulations on your appointment as Vice Chancellor of Rhodes University.I am delighted.Regards and best wishes,Christopher McQuaid

Dear Dr Mabizela,We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ, for your appointment as the new Vice Chancellor. The Bible says: “when the righteous rules, the people rejoice”.We join the heavens in rejoicing with you and your family Dr Mabizela.May the Father's favour, mercy and wisdom be upon you as you take Rhodes University forward? May the Holy Spirit be the Counselor, Friend, and Comforter Father God has appointed Him to be as you execute your duties? In Jesus Christ's Name we ask this. Amen and Amen!!!Kind regards beloved, and to God be the glory for your life.Prof Emmanuel M. Mgqwashu, PhDEnglish Language Teaching & Literacy Development, Rhodes University

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Dear Sizwe,How wonderful to hear about your new appointment! It is a well-deserved and justifiable honor. I am proud of you and of all that you have become. Keep up the good work.Congratulations and best wishes,Frank DeutschPenn State University,(PhD Supervisor)

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Dear Sizwe:This is marvelous. We thank God for your life and rejoice with you and your family with the bestowment of this honor, which is very thoroughly deserved.With much congratulations and best wishes for great success.Michael AdewumiGlobal Penn StateGlobal Citizenship & Global Leadership

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Wow!!! This is the best news. I am dancing here for you my brother. Huge congratulations. I will call you soon to chat. Collins O. Airhihenbuwa Head of Biobehavioral Health, Penn State

Dear SizweMany congratulations on your appointment as VC of Rhodes. We are delighted and Rhodes will benefit as a result of your leadership. I hope your tenure as VC is as happy and fulfilling as I experienced. Please feel free to contact me if I can be of any assistance. I am still involved with a number of tertiary education projects.Best wishesDave and Charlotte Woods

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Yay - at last we can talk openly about it. Warm congratulations again, Sizwe; and thank you again for making yourself available for the position. I am looking forward to the next few years.Warm wishesPeter Clayton

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Dear SizweI am very pleased to learn of your appointment as Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University. On behalf of the University of Cape Town I wish to extend out and my personal congratulations to you. I am particularly pleased to know that UCT features in your impressive career trajectory having previously been an academic member of staff in our Mathematics Department.Rhodes University has a fantastic record on which to build. I wish you every success in the challenges ahead, and look forward with much enthusiasm to on-going collaboration between our respective institutions. May Rhodes University continue to grow and achieve its goals under your leadership.Yours sincerely Dr Max PriceVice-Chancellor

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Dearest SizweBig congratulations on this impressive appointment! I had the feeling that you would be appointed VC. And given your personality I am sure you will do a great job.Best wishes on you new appointment.Warm regardsIndra

Dear Dr MabizelaCongratulations on your appointment as the new Vice Chancellor of Rhodes University. I wish you well in your new post and trust that you will continue in the fine traditions set by your predecessors in making Rhodes one of the premier universities in South Africa.Kind regardsPrins NevhutaluVice Chancellor CPUT

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Dear Sizwe,You may not believe this: On Sunday night I dreamt that you had been appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University. On Monday morning I read In the Herald that you have been so appointed. Congratulations ebony son of Africa. I wish you every success. You have joined an illustrious galaxy of your predecessors who were, like you, outstanding scientists, mathematicians and leaders.Blessings on you,Simon Gqubule

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Hi SizweJust a short note to say congratulations. As everybody I know says, we all have trust in you and we know you will do an excellent job.RegardsThemba Dube

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Dear Dr Mabizela, I have just heard about your appointment as VC. Congratulations - Rhodes has a gem.May I wish every blessing and strength with the very demanding and responsible task.Best regardsHugh Jeffery.

Dear SizweMy heartiest congratulations on your appointment as Vice Chancellor – a thoroughly well-deserved promotion and I am delighted that you have obtained the recognition you deserve.We have enjoyed a strong relationship in the past several years and I know that it will grow in the years to come.Best wishes in your future endeavours. The University is in very sound hands.Kind regardsBrian RaynerExecutive Projects Management Services (Pty) Ltd

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Dear Dr MabizelaOn behalf of the Rhodes University Trust UK may I offer my hearty congratulations on your appointment as Vice-Chancellor and I look forward to meeting you soon.I am delighted that you have the full and positive suppport of the University and you certainly know and understand the challenges which Rhodes faces and needs to address to ensure that it remains one of South Africa's foremost universities.I hope very much that you will also use your considerable expertise to restore the Rhodes Mathematics Faculty to its former status as the leading Maths Faculty in South Africa.Please let me know if there is anything that the UK Trust or me personally can do to assist you.Kind regardsGeoffrey de Jager

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Dear SizweI have just returned from a trip to learn the wonderful news of your election as Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University. My warmest congratulations!You have already made substantial contributions within the community of universities, and beyond. I have no doubt. I have no doubt that your tenure will be characterised by visionary leadership, and that we will see Rhodes University being taken to new heights.I extend my warmest wishes to you for your tenure as Vice-Chancellor.With personal regardsProfessor BD Reddy

I asked for flowers, Angela probably thought a MAN should not receive flowers, but they were also for Pethiwe, being a VC's wife is not an easy job. On the other hand, perhaps Angela sent fruit because the pineapple industry here is caput and with water shortages, fruit may be more needed . Good luck, at end of year when Stellenbosch has appointed their VC i am going to write a piece for the Mail and Guardian about appointing new VC's, the section on Rhodes will be short and successful!!Nico Cloete

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Dear SizweThe other evening at an ASSAf/SAYAS function an existing VC reminded me of advice I once gave him which I had actually forgotten which he maintains was the best advice anyone ever gave him on his role and duties as a VC- whether that is so or not I don't know but for what it is worth it was this: Your most important relationship at the university is with your chair of council. Make sure that it remains healthy and mutually respectful. Don't ever allow a situation to arise where he/she is caught by surprise and reads or hears about a university crisis for the first time in the media. Keep him/her informed on a constant basis. You'll do well - I have no doubt whatsoever. Rolf Stumpf

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Dear Dr Mabizela My heartfelt congratulations on your appointment as Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University. It will be a great honour to work with you in the various fora where we will interact in future. My best wishes for success to you personally and to the Rhodes community. Yours sincerely Prof ND Kgwadi Vice-Chancellor North West UniversityDear Dr MabizelaWe are so privileged to have you as our new Vice-Chancellor – congratulations.With kind regardsLilla Stack

Dear Sizwe MabizelaIt is a great honour and privilege for me to have this golden opportunity of sending you this message in my personal capacity and on behalf of our Catholic Diocese of Port Elizabeth. The social media is abuzz with the news that you have been appointed the 6th Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University with effect from the 1st November 2014. I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations and sincere appreciation for this stunning achievement.Your hard work, determination, perseverance, professionalism and visionary leadership have earned you many well-deserved accolades. As an educator, mentor, professor and academic, you have not simply mourned the state of education in our country, which is still in a process of transformation in any case, however you have engaged yourself in a constructive debate, seeking always to create opportunities for historically disadvantaged learners who show great potential and talent.Wishing you many innovative, fruitful, fulfilling and prosperous years ahead, as the 6th Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University.Yours faithfully in ChristVincent Mduduzi Zungu OFM

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Morning Prof,I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the Eastern Cape Planning Commission, to congratulate you on your appointment as the Vice Chancellor and Principal of Rhodes University.As the Commission we are particularly pleased because of the engagements we have had with you on the role of institutions of higher in the development of the province. As we conclude the drafting of the Provincial Development Plan at the end of this month, we hope to continue our engagements with you and your colleagues on its implementation and continuous review.But I am also pleased with your appointment as a parent who has two children at Rhodes University. I am confident that you will lead this great university to greater heights.Good luck.Kind regardsDr Lulu Gwagwa.Deputy Chairperson: Eastern Cape Planning Commission

Good Day Sir,I am Mawonga Deliwe, the poor old man who was squeezed between you and Fani Titi on Honours grad day at Fort Hare way back - both of you graduating cum laude, while I scraped through with a mere pass.Congratulations on your appointment as VC at Rhodes. We are very proud of you at Fort Hare.You have been a star throughout your career to date.Mawonga Christopher Deliwe.

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Dear SizweGreat was our delight when we learnt that Council unanimously approved your appointment as the Principal and VC of Rhodes University. Sharon and I congratulate you on the appointment which you so richly deserve. We wish you everything of the best for a job which we know you will perform with distinction.With kind regardsGerald and Sharon Bloem

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Hi Sizwe,I just want to share with you the message that went out yesterday, via social media, soon after the national TV announcement of your appointment:“ Baldaskraal, Watershed, Emhlwaneni, Catholic!. Viva Ndawo yangakithi, Sizwe Mabizela,Vice Chancellor Rhodes University”We wish you everything of the best and have no doubt that you will make a success of it. It's role models like you, who keep us going!.RegardsDeli GumbiSnr Business Partner, Human Resources

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Dear SizweI picked up the news of your appointment in the newspaper yesterday. This is wonderful news and I am so pleased that you are the new VC. I think that your calmness at the helm

Dear Dr MabizelaOn behalf of the HESA Board, I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your appointment as Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University.We look forward to interacting with you in our endeavours to further enhance the quality of the higher education sector, as well as the future of our country.Please accept our warmest welcome to you as a member of the HESA Board of Directors on the start of your term of office as the Vice-Chancellor.I hope the period ahead will be rewarding for youKind regardsDr Jeffrey MabelebeleChief Executive Officer

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Dear Dr. Mabizela,I would like to congratulate you on behalf of the SRC and the student body. We really wish you all the success in your new position, and believe that you will bring about fantastic things for Rhodes University as Vice Chancellor.All the best,Brad BensePresident, Student Representative Council

*Dear Dr Mabizelasiyakuhalalisela ekunyuselweni esikhudleni wabangu Vice- chancellor tatu'Mabizela. this promotion you got i think of Psalm 23:2-5-6 "He makes me lie down in green pastures....You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever' is fulfilled. Unkulunkulu ukukhethe kwamaningi wakwenza umgcotywa wakhe ukuba uphathe emadlelweni aluuhlala eRhodes University. Prayers and God's protection will lead you to even greater success! siyabonga tata. Sivuyisana nawe.with regardsKhayakazi Maphetshana

Bulelwa NosilelaAfrican Languages Studies

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Dear SizweI know you will be getting thousands of emails of congratulations, but I just wanted to add my small voice to all the others. Congratulations, I am so happy that you will be our next VC! It will be a honour for me to work in this university with a leader such as yourself whom I have come to respect as a person of the highest moral integrity with unfailing commitment to education and transformation in this country. Congratulations again! I hope that your tenure as VC will be enjoyable. I know that you have the highest level of support of everyone in the university, including myself. Heila Lotz-Sisitka, PhD

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Dear Sizwe, Congratulations on confirmation of this wonderful news of your appointment ! I was privy to the Senate meeting where there was a unanimous endorsement of your appointment and we have all been waiting to hear this official confirmation. Your incredibly poignant and powerful presentation at the vigil event in solidarity with our comrades and the oppressed people of Palestine re-affirmed so powerfully what Saleem says that you are a leader informed by a humane ethics and values. I said when I head you speak with eloquence and conviction on this matter of principle on that evening that I heard the voice of that great selflessly committed leader of our movement comrade OR Tambo. Your appointment hopefully signals the emergence of a new wave of principled leadership, to the great benefit of our university, our Higher Education sector and the country in general. You have my unreserved support in the task ahead of transforming our university and HE sector building on the formidable legacy that Saleem has left us with.Amandla !Best wishes,Robbie van Niekerk

will be a valuable asset going forward. Here's wishing you all the best in the position and may you take Rhodes to even greater heights.I look forward to congratulating you in person when next we meet.All the bestProfessor Rob MidgleyDVC, Research and Innovation, University of Zululand *

Dear SizweMany, many congratulations on your appointment as Vice Chancellor. I know that Rhodes University will be in very good hands and I wish you a fulfilling time at the helm.with sincere regardsLynette Paterson

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Dear SizweAfter the usual depressing read through the Sunday papers and being reminded of the growing precariousness of a morally informed politics in our country, it was such a pleasure to get this news of your appointment as VC of Rhodes. It is absolutely the right thing for the university and for the higher education system and for the region as well. Many congratulations and warmest good wishes for the work ahead. Best wishesMala Singh

*Molo tata wethuWe as the African Languages Section would like to congratulate you on your newly assumed responsibility. We rejoice on this appointment as we know that you are worthy of this post. We are convinced that your many gifts, talent to lead and experience makes you an excellent choice for this demanding position. We wish you all strength and success to this historic challenge. Accept our best wishes that come with highest respect as we believe you have been very much part of the university vision and have already contributed to its excellence. We are confident that you will continue with the vision and will take this institution to higher levels.We wish you abundant blessings and offer you our continued support.Halala, sinebhongo neqhayiya ngawe!!!!!! Amaqobokazana angalal'endleleni zube kunyanzelekile!!!!!!!!

Hi Sizwe,This is just a quick e-mail to say warm congratulations on your appointment as Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes. We are very proud of you and rooting for you all the way. We called you as soon as we got news of your appointment last week, but couldn't get you so we left a message. Please do let us know if there is going to be an official inaugural event and if friends and family are invited. Lindi and I will be honoured to be there to witness this historic event and to celebrate your magnificent achievement.Best of luck brother, and do drop us a line when you get a chance.Kind regards,Salif Siddo

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Dearest Sizwe,I know I have posted my congratulations on your fantastic achievement to Facebook but I really longed to congratulate you in person (or at least on the phone). I unfortunately do not have your mobile number so this email will have to do.You are embarking on a long and hard struggle and have, of course, already had a taste of how threatened privilege tries to obstruct and wear one down at every turn when challenged. You have also already, of course, shown your integrity and humanity in so many areas that there are far more people who wish to see you continue what you have started than those who may try to exhaust you.Those for whom you have been a role-model, a genuinely caring person, a thoughtful leader and a wise revolutionary will be with you to support you and cherish you.I offer, wholeheartedly, my congratulations and, humbly, any support I might be able to give, and delightedly a huge hug!Aluta continua!Dr Carla TsampirasNRF Postdoctoral Fellow

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Dear SizweCongratulations on your appointment – a good appointment for Rhodes, and I hope it will be for you, too. I wish you strength in the position, which is sure to bring with it difficult challenges.Best wishesPaul Maylam

Dear SizweI would personally like to extend very deep congratulations to you on your appointment as VC at Rhodes.There is no doubt in my mind that your wisdom and humanity will be a source of great strength to the University and its mission in the years to come.I wish you every success in ensuring that Rhodes, under your leadership, will reach new levels of generating the graduates, the research and the social outreach that are all so very much needed – locally, provincially, nationally and for the continent.Yours most sincerelyGuy BergerDirector: Division of Freedom of Expression and Media Development/

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Dear Sizwe,Congratulations on your appointment as Vice-Chancellor of the University. Not only do you bring immense prestige to the post, but also a legacy of wisdom and hard work. I am looking forward to a bright future for the University with you at the helm.Warmest regards,Tim Huisamen

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Dear Dr Mabizela

On behalf of the Chairperson of Council of the University of the Witwatersrand, Dr. R Carolissen, and other members, we would like to congratulate you on your appointment as Principal and vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University.We are delighted that Rhodes has acknowledged your extensive track record in the Higher Education environment by choosing you as their Vice-Chancellor.We look forward to continuing the good relationship we share with Rhodes University, with you at the helm.Yours sincerelyMrs Carol CrosleyRegistrar, The University of the Witwatersrand

Dear Sizwe.A while back I heard the announcement that I had been expecting and hoping for that you were to be the next Vice Chancellor of Rhodes. I did write an email to you a week ago but I am having all sorts of problems with emails and I am not sure it went through.Rhodes will always have a very special place in my heart. It gave me and my family so much and we will always be grateful.I cannot think of a better person to lead Rhodes into the future. I know the challenges are significant but I also know that with the support of your colleagues, you will guide the University to a wonderful future.My very best wishes to you and your family.Professor Ric BernardDeputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), University of Mpumalanga

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Thembela Kepe here.I wanted to add to the many congratulations that I know and suppose you have received. Rhodes is very fortunate to have you take it forward.As a son of Grahamstown, I am particularly proud that you have highlighted the issue of accessibility of education between the haves and the have-nots. It's not going to be easy, but your awareness and commitment gives us hope.One of the traits that I have secretly admired about you, going back many, many years, is that you are a 'celebrity' who is down to earth. When I went to Fort Hare as a first year student, you were beginning your Masters in Maths. We heard about you; those who knew you would point and say 'there he is'. So it was not what you publicized, but what you did as a normal course of life for you that got you noticed. My colleagues in Geography at Rhodes, for example, simply confirmed the view that I had almost 30 years ago. I am also particularly glad that you shared a little bit about your humble beginnings over the last few weeks. Stories like that have a positive influence on so many young people who had similar challenging backgrounds or worse. This is also my mission in Grahamstown, whenever I can get the ear of young people.Sorry for the long email. I am just so excited for Rhodes and Grahamstown. I am also glad that I will hopefully be part of Rhodes as a visiting professor, at least for part of these exciting times.CongratulationsThembela

Dear SizweCongratulations on your appointment as VC, and every best wish for your ongoing service to the nation. By what I read in the MG you continue to set yourself thorough and critical agendas, and invite others to engage, with integrity and frankness. There is great wisdom in that approach, but as you will be first to note, many find that challenge awkward. What I think you bring to difficult situations is a kindness that is never without courage. I am sure you will have a great impact that ramifies beyond Rhodes and Higher education.Your concern for the schools is timely and constructive. We all need to embrace the schools as a locus of our common responsibilities to the youth.Every best wish for that imaginative project too.Tim Dunne

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Dear Dr Mabizela On behalf of the Executive Management Committee (EMC) of the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), I would like to congratulate you on your appointment as Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University. Rhodes University will be privileged to have a leader of your calibre and experience, who will grow the institution into a bastion of intellectual activity in the Eastern Cape province, the country and internationally. Your many years of experience in higher education and the quality of leadership that you have been providing give many of us in the higher education system confidence that you and your diligent executive management team will be equal to the task ahead. We wish you all the best in this exciting yet challenging journey of maintaining and accentuating excellence in teaching and learning, research and engagement at RU. I look forward to meeting and engaging with you in some of the higher education fora in the country. Yours sincerely Prof Nthabiseng Ogude Vice-Chancellor and Principal

Dear Dr MabizelaCongratulations on your new appointment as Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University with effect from 1 November 2014.The appointment is proof of the quality and invaluable contributions you have made over the years to higher education. Your appointment will, without doubt, contribute immensely to the growth and development of Rhodes University.May the challenges and opportunities from this position lead to personal rewards and enrichment.I look forward to working with you in your new position.Yours sincerelyProfessor Cheryl de la ReyVic-Chancellor and Principal, University of Pretoria

Dear SizweYou are about to embark on a new and exciting phase of your professional life journey. The road the the future will be built by walking it. At times the journey will be tedious and slow, perhaps even frustrating and requiring great courage and tenacity, and at times it will be filled with excitement, new possibilities, hope and great beauty.The journey will require enormous energy and endurance, as well as courage and determination but NEVER forget that you have been chosen the lead because you have the respect, love and admiration of all who know you at Rhodes. Remember too the power of hope, faith and love, for with these there is little that the human spirit cannot do or achieve. And importantly, know that you are not alone. You have many fellow travelers accompanying you who will support and care for you.As an alumni, mother of a Rhodes graduate, member of Senate, Dean and colleague, I offer you my sincere congratulations on being chosen as the leader of Rhodes University.

“Do not pray for an easy life.Pray to be a stronger person.Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray forpowers equal to your tasks.Then the doing of your workshall be no miracle. But you shall be a miracle.Every day you will wonder atthe richness of life, which hascome to you through the Grace of God”

SincerelyDi Wilmot

Photo creditsRuan Scheepers, Mike Dexter, Foto First Grahamstown, Hlumela Mkabile