From a Khayelitsha Girl with Dreams of Acting to a Celebrated Scientist Supporting Others

Photo Credit: University of the Western Cape via Facebook

From dreaming of the stage as a child, Professor Fanelwa Ngece-Ajayi has built a celebrated career in science. Now she is turning that unexpected change of path into a mission to open doors for the next generation.

Western Cape, South Africa (06 October 2026) – Before Professor Fanelwa Ngece-Ajayi became a scientist, researcher, educator and community leader, she was a young girl from Khayelitsha who dreamed of becoming an actor.

At school, she loved drama. Then came an experience that seemed to confirm where her future lay: a trip to the Baxter Theatre to watch University of Cape Town students perform Shakespeare’s King Lear, which she had been studying in class.

“I fell in love with it. I thought: ‘Okay, this is the career that I want to do’,” she shares.

Her mother, however, was not convinced that acting would offer the promise of a successful career or a good life.

And so, the curtain came down on her acting ambitions. It would not be the last time life took Prof Ngece-Ajayi in a direction she had not anticipated.

Today, she is a C2-rated Professor of Physical Chemistry and Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of the Western Cape (UWC).

She is also one of the lead researchers at UWC’s SensorLab Laboratories, where her work focuses on green and sustainable nanotechnology. This includes developing drug-metabolism sensors, alongside research into water purification, plant enhancement and the eradication of harmful microbes. Her work has earned her national and international recognition.

Prof Ngece-Ajayi grew up in Khayelitsha. Her mother was a domestic worker, while her father worked as a security guard when he was actively involved in her life, before leaving the family. He eventually returned, but by then he was ill, and their circumstances had changed.

Through it all, her mother remained determined that her children should receive a good education. Without someone to care for them, she moved Prof Ngece-Ajayi and her brother from township schools to former Model C schools.

Education mattered deeply in their household, but university was unfamiliar territory. Prof Ngece-Ajayi had assumed her mother would know what was required when the time came, yet her mother had never attended university herself.

That was when an unexpected act of generosity changed the course of her life. Her mother’s employers, Janine and Peter Hundemark, understood the family’s circumstances. They also saw potential in her daughter and paid her university registration fee.

For a young woman whose family lacked both the financial resources and university experience to ease that transition, it was a crucial intervention. It also came with a sense of responsibility.

“I knew that my parents needed support.”

Photo Credit: University of the Western Cape via Facebook

She understood that she had to work hard, make the opportunity count and, eventually, help support her family. She took that responsibility seriously, braiding hair and working as a domestic worker on some weekends to help cover school expenses and transport.

As she worked to build a future in higher education, she was equally determined not to leave behind the people who had raised her. That experience would shape the academic and community leader she later became.

Chemistry became the discipline in which she found her place. As her academic journey unfolded, mentors also helped shape her development as a scientist. Among them were Prof. Priscilla Baker and Prof. Emmanuel Iwuoha, who have guided her since the third year of her studies.

For Prof Ngece-Ajayi, mentors such as Prof. Iwuoha and Prof. Baker became part of the academic community that helped her grow from student to researcher. Their role in her journey reflects the idea at the heart of her recent inaugural lecture at UWC: nobody arrives alone.

Today, her research sits at the intersection of chemistry, health and sustainability. She develops green nanomaterials for drug-metabolism sensors while also exploring applications in water purification, plant enhancement and antimicrobial technologies.

For her, the true value of science emerges when discovery leaves the laboratory and engages with society. That principle also underpins her commitment to STEM education. Prof Ngece-Ajayi founded AmaQawe ngeMfundo to promote and enrich STEM learning in marginalised communities.

As a young woman, she benefited from people who helped open a door for her; today, she is holding that door open for others. Those who invested in her could not have known exactly what she would become. Now, she is extending that same faith to young people who may not yet know where their own journeys will lead.