Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng is using her platform to inspire the youth as well as provide towards their tertiary educations.
On Monday morning, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng walked into her new office and sat down at her desk. She is the new UCT vice-chancellor, a job that is not for the faint-hearted!
She has big plans and great ideas about how to keep UCT as one of the top universities in Africa and isn’t shying away from tough topics. She hopes that her new position will help inspire the youth of South Africa and the continent as a whole.
“It is time for young hopeless Africans who need to know and hear this message now, that my achievement is a testimony and assurance it is possible. So this is not about me. I have the hardest job and will ensure that the institution remains one of the best in Africa and adopts an identity that does not seek to make it something that it is not,”
“We need to be unapologetically African and move from Afropolitan, as it is not an innocent term. For me, it feels like shying away from being African.
“Our version is to be an inclusive and engaged, research-intensive African university. We do work that can make an impact globally and is relevant to the continent, and the world should sit up and take us seriously as Africans,”
Hoping to do more than just inspire, Professor Phakeng said she would contribute 10% of her salary to the Thuma Mina Fund. The fund aims to ensure struggling students don’t miss any opportunities.
She has even shunned the idea of being celebrated by the university, claiming that the funds needed to throw a party could be used elsewhere.
“How can a million rand or more be spent on a party where I’ll be told how special I am while some students couldn’t graduate in April, and they have completed their degrees? Many of our researchers submitted proposals for grants at the National Research Foundation, and they were rejected, not because they were bad but because of funding.
“It doesn’t resonate with my values and with who I am. I would never be able to sleep at night; it will all be about me, and it makes my blood boil as it is just self-centred”
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Professor Phakeng is the woman to watch! She could very well be the person making history in South Africa’s tertiary education sector. Selfless, determined and inspirational are just a few of the words we now equate to this powerful woman. Go get ’em, professor!
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