Not one to conform to preconceived ideas of how the head of a leading university should behave, University of Cape Town (UCT) vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng is determined to stay true to herself as she steers the institution to greater heights.
In a wide-ranging interview with Sunday World, Phakeng said it’s important for women in leadership positions to “stay the course” in environments that are male dominated.
She recalls that she was given only six months on the job after she was appointed to lead UCT in 2018.
“Every woman who is in a position of leadership gets attacked, I’m not the only one. But I’m aware that being at the No 1 university on the continent makes me get even more attention.
“Professor Puleng LenkaBula is at the largest university on the continent,” she said, referring to the vice-chancellor of Unisa, and the first woman to hold that position.
“Unisa makes higher education accessible for the majority of people on the continent – maybe that’s also why she is getting the attention.”
Phakeng is among the world’s leading scholars in mathematics.
She became the first black female South African to achieve a PhD in mathematics education in 2002 and is determined not to be the last.
In the past two decades, Phakeng has published more than 80 research papers and five edited volumes that continue to shape maths in classrooms across Africa and far beyond.
Last year, she became the first African to be elected chair of the International Alliance of Research Universities, succeeding Professor Stephen Toope, the vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge.
Phakeng – who was reappointed this year to head Africa’s No 1 varsity for another five years – says though women leaders are under intense scrutiny, even more so for black African women, she has accepted that it is not about her.
“If I succeed as a VC (vice- chancellor) it will mean that a black African woman can do it. It will silence every doubting Thomas about what black African women are capable of.
“Frankly speaking, there are people who push back against me [because they are against] the idea of having a black African woman in the leadership of a top institution succeed because if I do, then the country, continent and world would have to accept the fact that a woman leader can actually succeed.
“It is not easy, but we must stay the course … the scrutiny will be excruciating, but is not about you, but what you represent and what you represent is a huge threat to some people and some interests.”
Despite all the challenges Phakeng says she loves what she does and is inspired each day by the vision of creating a sustainable university.
“I have been criticised for the way I dress, my hair, my personality … They have doubted my PhD, saying it must be investigated. There are even reports that I’m insecure … that I can’t lead; I can’t work with executives, that executives leave ….
“As a woman you are criticized when you make those choices that a male vice-chancellor makes.
“Why can I not make a decision that the term of this person has ended, or this person wants to leave and I’m not going to ask them to stay because this is not working …”
South Africa has only five women vice-chancellors out of 26 public universities.
Besides Unisa and UCT, the University of Zululand is headed by Xoliswa Mtose,Sibongile Muthwa heads Nelson Mandela University and the University of Mpumalanga is run by Thoko Mayekiso. All of them are professors.
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