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Accelerating education systems: Women take charge
A round up of influential women navigating the South African learning landscape
By Charndré Emma Kippie
DR. EDITH PHASWANA
Dr Edith Phaswana is currently the acting head of the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, UNISA, and the Vice President of the South African Development Studies Association(SADSA). Taking on the responsibility of facilitating the Thabo Mbeki Leadership Institute, Dr. Phaswana has transformed the face of the establishment by mounting its accessibility to underprivileged youths, whose interaction with its resources is crucial for South Africa’s society and economy. Her contributions to this educational organisation stands in line with her enduring pursuit of cognising and tackling structural inequalities. Just last year, she received the 2020NIHSS Best Edited Volume Book Award(Non-fiction) – a marker of excellence in Literature and Academia.
Very early on in her career, Dr. Phaswana worked diligently in a remote area known as Manoke in Burgersfort, at the border of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. During this time, she immediately realised the increasing value of her work as an educator. She applied her skills here for a decade, endeavouring to conquer existing socioeconomic and cultural hurdles, and utilise her skillset and wisdom for the betterment of others. “I realised that unless I embark on a deliberate effort to intervene in the little space I occupy, it will take many years to wipe out the legacy of our past as it manifests in every aspect of our lives — psychologically, politically, socially, economically, culturally, and spiritually”, she says.
Prior to her association with the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, she was a faculty member at the University of Johannesburg, which is where she received an award for Distinguished Teaching Excellence in the Humanities for the year 2014. Dr. Phaswana was the recipient of the 2019 Mail & Guardian Top 100 Women Changing South Africa, and is a co-founding member of the Africa Decolonial Research Network (ADERN). She is also the co-editor of the Award Winning Title ‘Black Academic Voices: The South African experience’, which was published in 2019. She has continuously provided research & advisory services, and policy reviews, for the South African government at both national and provincial level.
“The modern world we live in has been constructed without us, as women…One of the biggest issues that always bothered me as a young professional woman had been the lack of support structures in place for women in the workplace, and this is a global phenomenon. When young women find themselves occupying those lonely seats at the table, they must ensure that the ‘terms of conversation’ change. Their presence, even if they are outnumbered, must make it difficult for certain things to be said or done.” ─ Dr Edith Phaswana, Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, UNISA.
Phaswana continuously speaks about academia’s effect on perpetuating inequalities, which she finds disheartening. She finds it concerning that society has learned about inclusion and exclusion schemes from academic circles and even published papers that are pervasive and underpinned by historically-prejudice dogmas:
“When it is reflected in our societies, we act as if we are surprised, but this is what academics live daily. We are all aware of the disparities according to race and gender, which continue in many of our universities. In terms of the workload, women pay a high price for unrewarded, unappreciated academic citizenship.” ─ Dr Edith Phaswana.
EDUCATION
• PhD from London South Bank University, UK.
• Master of Arts from the University of Johannesburg
• BA Degree from the University of Pretoria
• TCE Teacher’s Diploma (Grade 10-12 Mathematics)
MAMOKGETHI PHAKENG
In 2018, Rosina Mamokgethi Phakeng ─ mathematics educationalist ─ became the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT). Prior to this appointment, she was the Vice Principal of Research and Innovation, at the University of South Africa, as well as the Acting Executive Dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology at UNISA. She is a highly regarded B2 NRF-rated scientist with over 80 research papers and five edited volumes published. Over the years, Mamokgethi has been welcomed to deliver well over 30 keynote talks and lectures at international conferences, and was also a visiting professor at a plethora of universities around the world, in locations such as Australia, Botswana, Canada, USA and the UK.
She has multiple accolades added to her belt for her research and community contributions:
• SA Woman of the Year (one of the three finalists) for the Science and Technology Category (2003).
• Recognised as one of top three NRF Top Women in Research (2006)
• Golden Key Honours Society Association of Mathematics Education of South Africa (AMESA) Honorary life membership (2009)
• Association of Mathematics Education of South Africa (AMESA) Honorary life membership (2009)
• NSTF award for being the most outstanding Senior Black Female Researcher over the last 5 to 10 years in recognition of her innovative, quality research on teaching and learning mathematics in multilingual classrooms. (2011)
• CEO Magazine award for being the most influential woman in education and training in South Africa (2013)
• Order of the Baobab (Silver) conferred on her by the President of South Africa (2016)
Mamokgethi Phakeng was the founding chairperson of the Board of the South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF) from 2004 to 2006, and served as the secretary and member of the executive committee of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) during 2003-2007. Passionate about empowering the youth, she is the founder of the Adopt-a-learner Foundation, a non-profit organisation that started in 2004 and provides financial and educational support to students from township and rural areas to acquire higher education qualifications.
As an academic and researcher, she has been focusing on developing key pedagogies for multilingual mathematics classrooms, since 2006. Her research focuses on mathematics in multilingual contexts. Her journey in this area of study started in 1998 with a concern about the low mathematics performance of a majority of learners in multilingual classrooms, in South Africa, who learn in a language that is not their home language. At the core of this concern was a need to address the uneven distribution of mathematical knowledge and success:
“So far I have developed what I refer to as the deliberate, proactive and strategic use of the learners’ home language in the teaching of mathematics. In this work I specifically focus on algebra as an area of study that is used to communicate most of mathematics. Through my collaborations I am now extending this work to also focus on multilingual mathematics classrooms of immigrant learners and also undergraduate students”, she comments.
RESPONSIBILITIES
• Strategic leadership
• Public relations, communications
• External relations
• Fundraising
• Council accountability
• Institutional financial sustainability
• Risk management
• Transformation
• Ceremonial functions
DR. NTHABISENG MOLEKO
A woman of many talents, Dr. Nthabiseng Moleko is a poet, author, the Commissioner of the Commission for Gender Equality, and the Deputy Chairperson of the Ikaha TVET College Council. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the National Empowerment Fund, and is a former CEO of the Joe Gqabi Economic Development Agency in the Eastern Cape.
Nthabiseng has worked extensively in business education and economic development, and was designated by the African Institute of Financial Markets and Risk Management (AIFMRM) as a leading future African researcher in finance and economics. To date, Nthabiseng lectures in economics and statistics at the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB), where she completed her PhD in Development Finance, in 2019 ─ she is the first woman in SA to receive this qualification.
Despite having a huge career to maintain, alongside continuous research work, she is on a mission to lessen poverty and fight for the economic rights of women in South Africa. During a virtual Inclusive Economic Growth-Oversight Summit in November 2020, hosted by Parliament, she addressed the fact that gender barriers mean the detriment of South, limiting the nation’s potential. “Accelerating women’s participation in South Africa’s economic reconstruction: maximising the growth potential of provinces, districts, and localities”, she says.
Her journey in academia has been remarkable. In finding a research area that complements her passion, she has been able to make significant contributions to society through her publications and in-depth lectures:
“Having completed a PhD, I have gained more in-depth knowledge and therefore have more authority and a voice in that area. I am able to influence thoughts and thinking in my field, which is great”, she says. “We are in need of solutions to the multiple problems and complex issues faced on the continent, be they economic, in healthcare, scientific, the built environment and all other spheres and disciplines…I am proud to be black, in academia, and in the quantitative and economic space, which is predominantly male-dominated. If doors could open for me, a girl from Umtata, it is possible for other girls too, no matter their background”.
MOLEKO’S THREE WISHES FOR GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN IN SOUTH AFRICA:
• That every woman would fulfil her economic destiny. Women are hardest hit by inequality, poverty, and unemployment. If we can improve those things, women’s livelihoods would be improved.
• For women to enter into areas of critical and scarce skills — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
• To see greater representation of women at the highest levels of decision-making, women who fill the space in both the public and private sector, at executive and senior management levels, as well as at board level.
PROFESSOR SIBONGILE MUTHWA
Professor Sibongile Muthwa, Vice-Chancellor of Nelson Mandela University, South Africa, completed her PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, as well as an MScin Development Policy and Planning, from London School of Economics and Political Science. With a distinguished career, both in South Africa and internationally, she has worked in academia and development and public sector institutions. As the very first woman Vice-Chancellor appointed at Nelson Mandela University, Professor Muthwa serves as the Chairperson of Universities South Africa [USAf],which endorses and expedites optimum conditions for universities to function effectively and contribute to social, cultural and economic improvement.
Before her time at Nelson MandelaUniversity, Muthwa acted as the DirectorGeneral of the Eastern Cape ProvincialGovernment [2004 and 2010]. She wasalso previously appointed as the Directorof the Fort Hare Institute of Government.She is deeply committed to gender justice,social inclusion and active democraticparticipation, and accordingly serves on anumber of Boards and advisory structures,including from 2014 as a Commissioner ofthe Financial and Fiscal Commission.
Professor Muthwa’s passion for educationstems from a simple childhood experience─ learning to read and write. “My love ofreading came from my grandfather whohad taught himself to read. My father wasa teacher and my mother a nurse, butgrowing up we spent most of our time withour grandparents and I was particularlyclose to my grandfather”, she says.
“My journey has inspired my commitment to contribute to changing the trajectory of every young person whose life I have the privilege to touch.”
Professor Muthwa’s thoughts on Tertiary Education in SA:“As we all know, our sector and country is at a crossroads. As a higher education institution we need to be acutely attuned to the issues of our country, including poverty and inequality, and to be committed to improving the lives and educational opportunities of the marginalised in particular. The calls for free education for all those who cannot afford it have made this task urgent and critical… We will continue to strive, with great pride and humility, to live up to our responsibility of leading the only university in the world that carries Nelson Mandela’s name”.
EDUCATION
• PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London
• MSc in Development Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics
• BA Honours from Wits University
• BA in Social Work from the University of Fort Hare
DR. PRECIOUS MOLOI- MOTSEPE
In 2019, Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe was appointed as the new chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT). Taking up office in January 2020, she is previously known as top businesswoman and philanthropist in South Africa, and is successor to Graça Machel who was first elected back in 1999. Dr. Moloi- Motsepe is married to mining magnate and billionaire, Patrice Motsepe, and together they founded the Motsepe Foundation in 1999, becoming the first African couple to join The Giving Pledge ─ a commitment by the world’s most affluent families, and individuals, to contribute the majority of their wealth to philanthropic efforts.
Dr. Moloi-Motsepe has strong roots in Medicine and Gender Activism, and has further authored a resource guide for women across South Africa titled The Precious Little Black Book, published in 2017, and created the Gender Responsive Budgeting Initiative South Africa. Her strength and talent spans far beyond philanthropy and academia, as she owns African Fashion International (AFI), claiming her place in the fashion world. She’s also partnered with the Harvard Kennedy School’s Women’s Leadership Board and Centre for Public Leadership Council, served on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council, and was previously also appointed as the president of the Cancer Association of South Africa.
A passionate advocate for women’s rights, she continuously endorses initiatives geared towards achieving economic, political, and social equality. As a medical practitioner, Moloi-Motsepe established the first women’s clinic in Johannesburg, receiving the Elizabeth Tshabalala Award for her cancer awareness initiatives and outstanding work in women’s health, in South Africa. In addition to the many hats she wears, she is Patron of Birdlife South Africa and Patron of Child Welfare South Africa, and occupies a seat on the board of Synergos ─ an organisation committed to tackling global poverty and social injustice by means of collaborating with governments, business and civil society, and generating sustainable systems transformation.
HER PHILOSOPHY
FAST FACTS HOMETOWN: Soweto, Gauteng
ACCREDITATIONS: MBChB, Diploma in Child Health from Wits University, Diploma in Women’s Health from Stellenbosch University
NURESHKA VIRANNA
Durban-born tech and e-commerce entrepreneur, Nureshka Viranna, founded the online education platform, Lit Academy, in 2019. The academy offers online courses to the public, and uses video and study guides to digitally assist learners with enhancing their marks. Lit Academy makes quality education accessible to learners, lowering traditionally exorbitant tuition costs. “Our aim is to disrupt the education system in South Africa,” Nureshka. In 2019, she was also recognised for her achievements in the Forbes Africa’s 30 Under 30 List.
Nureshka started out as a teacher in 2013. As much as she appreciated working with kids, she always had a burning passion for technology. “I was lucky enough to meet an entrepreneur who was in the tech space and he said something profound: ‘Jump and the net will appear.’ I did just that. I resigned from my 9 to 5 job and co-founded an e-commerce company called ShopLi”, she explains. ShopLi is a specialist e-Commerce company dedicated to helping businesses in Africa. The brand’s focus is to grow smaller businesses by making the e-commerce space easier to navigate – eliminating rental and salary expenses.
The idea for starting an online education platform for learners, came after a friend of Nureshka asked her for assistance with their son who was experiencing much difficulty in learning Afrikaans. This was when she realised that there was a clear lack of online materials and tools to support and enrich his learning process.
ON CHALLENGES SHE FACED:
A lot of people are wary of taking their business online because they don’t know what to expect. The way in which we can address this through education and awareness. The whole world is moving online and the stats show how e-commerce is growing. Nobody realises how much harder women work in every field, most things are male dominated. Being a female change maker opens a new pathway to show women that anything is possible. As a young woman, I’m able to help encourage women to assert themselves and act upon their ideas – to make it happen.
ON EMPOWERING WOMEN IN ONLINE EDUCATION:
Women are multi-faceted individuals and have various roles that they play throughout their lives. You can do it all. We have great ideas, but an idea is just an idea unless you act on it. We have the skills and tools to make it in technology. It’s all about actually making it happen.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Education (BEd) in Elementary Education and Teaching, Embury Institute for Teacher Education
PROFESSOR XOLISWA MTOSE
Professor Xoliswa Mtose began her journey, in tertiary education, as a lecturer at Rhodes University back in 1996, which is where she also acted as the co-ordinator of the Distance and Continuing Education Programme. Since then she has been climbing up the ranks, and she was appointed as the Dean at the Faculty of Education at Fort Hare in 2009.Attaining much recognition for her dedication to the education sector, Xoliswa moved on to the University of Zululand, which is where sheunder took the role of Dean of the Faculty of Education. Thereafter, she was quickly promoted to Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning. As a distinguished international scholar, Professor Mtose has had many opportunities to study abroad. Thus, she was able to experience the University of Harvard in the United States of America, after being granted a South African Scholarship.
Today, Professor Mtose is a trained educator, higher education specialist and psychologist, who has been positioned as the seventh Vice-Chancellor appointed at UNIZULU’s Faculty of Education Dean, since 1960 when the University was first established. She is the third black female Vice Chancellor that UNIZULU has had. She also serves as executive member of the Anti-racism Networking Higher Education. Professor Mtose in known for leading by example in setting goals and standards of performance. Her seasoned experience in academia has moulded her into a thriving manager and pioneer in higher education.
ONGOING RESEARCH
Professor Mtose’s research focal point regards issues of race, post apartheid blackness, and overall identity politics. While accepting that race is a social construction and that racial identities are fluid, she believes that “forms of racial subjectivity are also deeply rooted and persistent.”
REINVENTING SA’S UNIVERSITIES FOR THE FUTURE
“You cannot train and educate a black child to live a white discourse and be employed in a white discursive formation. This is the central anomaly that has been fully intellectualised and which I hope this conference will begin to attend to, constructively and transformatively… The African university needs to be reinvented, remade, yes, but it must be imbued with African formats, discourses, discursive formations and knowledge praxis.”
EDUCATION
• PhD in Psychology from theUniversity of KwaZulu-Natal
• Master of Philosophy in Higher Education from University of Stellenbosch
• BA Honours in African Languages from Rhodes University
• BA from University of Fort Hare
• HDE (Post Graduate) Primary from University of Cape Town
PROFESSOR PULENG LENKABULA
Professor Puleng LenkaBula has just recently been appointed as the new vice-chancellor of the University of South Africa (UNISA), by The Higher Education Transformation Network. She will be taking over from Professor Mandla Makhanya, who has been at the helm since 2011. She is excited about taking over in 2021 and remains dedicated to implementing transform and diversity policies. She becomes the nation’s fifth woman vice-chancellor and UNISA’s first – joining the likes of University of Zululand’s Professor Xoliswa, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng from the University of Cape Town, and Professor Sibongile Muthwa of Nelson Mandela University.
Prior to her recent appointment, Professor LenkaBula was the Vice-Rector of Institutional Change, Student Affairs and Community Engagement at the University of the Free State. Before taking up her post in the Free State, she was the Dean of Students at Wits University. Leading up to her new promotion, Lenkabula worked at UNISA as an associate professor of ethics, as the Dean of Students and in Makhanya’s office as a director and adviser. As of 2015, there have been an estimated 20 vacancies for vice-chancellors in the South Africa, yet only four women have been given the opportunity to occupy these seats at tertiary institutions.
EDUCATION
Professor LenkaBula has obtained a Doctorate in Ethics (Theology and Philosophy), specialising in Ethics of the Economy, Ecology and Politics (Social Ethics), from the University of South Africa. Prior to this achievement, she received her Master’s degree from St Andrew’s College at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, specialising in Social Ethics. Her Master’s dissertation focused on studying the ethical repercussions of multifaceted finance, as well as financing institutions on economies and economic policies in Africa.
