The University of Cape Town (UCT), largely recognised as one of the best higher education institutions on the continent, has appointed Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng for a second five-year term as Vice-Chancellor (VC), the institution announced on Thursday.
Reacting to her appointment, Phakeng said: “I came to UCT to serve not just this university but South Africa and the continent. My personal mission has been to develop African leaders who can inspire their own communities and the wider world. I’m humbled by the support I have received over the last four years and am proud to continue in office until 2028.”
Phakeng was first appointed to the role in 2018. She has survived attacks on her leadership style. The university’s erstwhile Ombud Zetu Makamandela-Mguqulwa in 2020 lashed out at Phakeng and other executives in her annual report published on the ombud’s website.
The report’s reporting period coincided with Phakeng’s first year at the helm of UCT (July 1 2018 to June 30 2019).
“During this reporting period a number of work-related complaints came to me about professional interactions with the VC where people felt bullied, silenced, undermined, rebuked and/or treated unfairly. Their pain was visible. Some affected bystanders also came to express fear and told me how they were impacted individually by different incidents,” Makamandela-Mguqulwa wrote in the foreword of the annual report.
However, her supporters poured cold water on the allegations.
Chair of Council Babalwa Ngonyama said: “The feedback that I have received in consulting with key stakeholders, along with the strength of the endorsement given by Senate, demonstrates that despite the many challenges she has faced in her initial four years as Vice-Chancellor, Professor Phakeng continues to be the right person to lead our university, and that Council should appoint her for a second term in office.”
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