Pretoria - The troubled Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) could see the dawn of a new era as former city mayor and ex-deputy minister of health Dr Gwen Ramokgopa takes over the reins as chancellor, and vows to tackle prevailing problems head on.
She cited the constant student unrest and the high turnover of senior management as being top of her priority list. They needed urgent intervention, she said. “TUT has two student strikes a year. We need to work with government and industry to prevent this and avoid economic exclusion,” she said.
The university was also going through a problematic transformation phase, she said. “The institution’s management has been unstable but I am sure that, with collaboration with the university council, we will handle that matter,” Ramokgopa said.
She was installed as the third chancellor of the 10-year-old university on Wednesday night at an event attended by the heads of the Sefako Makgatho University and the University of Pretoria, as well as members of the provincial executive, including Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi.
She takes over the institution’s top position which has been vacant since the departure of former deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in 2013, and steps into a place damaged by protests from trade unions and the abandoning of classes by students.
Strikes, marches and student protests during his tenure saw Professor Nthabiseng Ogude resign as vice-chancellor and principal in November last year, in a trend that has worried the Department of Higher Education.
Ogude was the third vice-chancellor to leave the institution before the end of their contractual terms. She left two years into her five-year contract.
Unions and others claimed she had been cut loose over her damage to TUT’s image, caused by the constant disruption of academic processes and calls by unions and students.
Student unrest has also been a major concern to the academic community and the department, the most recent being a three-week boycott of classes over the National Student Financial Aid Scheme earlier this year. It resulted in the closure of all campuses due to increased violence by the students.
Ramokgopa explained that she would be playing a supporting role to the programmes of the university, among them improving the image of TUT and getting it into the global field.
On Wednesday, the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) said her reputation as a progressive, social activist, an academic leader and doctor was just what TUT needed.
“She is well-educated and passionate about education. A woman of her calibre is what we need to get this institution back on track,” the union’s Gugulethu Xaba said.
TUT was a transformative institution, he said, and as such it needed a person with the dedication to work which Ramokgopa had displayed.
The one-time mayor had been a student activist during her youth, and had grown to become a champion for youth and women empowerment. She has sat on various bodies in both health and other spheres of society, and on Wednesday she spoke about her belief in the need to combine skills competence, a passion for excellence and the drive to achieve as being key. She said she will work with the whole university community in promoting the ideals of an institution whose focus included health and innovation. “There are many centres of excellence within TUT, and they need to be highlighted and promoted,” she said.
She will also work towards taking TUT onto the global stage and encouraging it to produce the best it can. “TUT has played its part as a proudly South African product,” she said, urging the institution’s alumni to come forward and support their alma mater and current students.
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