Anele Mngadi wants to uplift black students
Funding challenge is uppermost in strategist’s mind Two top educators go head-to-head in the battle to lead Wits University into the future
● Anele Mngadi struck the right notes when she addressed about 100 students at the University of the Witwatersrand on Tuesday night.
The turnaround strategist, who has a string of academic qualifications to her name, spoke with passion about her 30 years of work and dedication to help improve the lives of black children and students.
Students looked at her in disbelief as she recounted how she gave up a golden opportunity to graduate with a doctorate after an overseas bank bought her research for a substantial sum of money.
“I forfeited being a doctor, which I was desperate for, and I took that money and started a foundation for children in need of care. That’s how I decided to change my world,” she said to loud applause.
Mngadi was addressing students at a meeting billed as a debate between herself and Judy Dlamini, a medical doctor, about their vision for the chancellorship role.
The two are the nominees in the running for the position of chancellor.
The term of the current chancellor of Wits, former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke, ends in November.
Voting for the new chancellor closed on Thursday and the result is expected by Tuesday.
However, Dlamini, who is the executive chairwoman and founder of the Mbekani Group, was not invited to the debate.
“They didn’t tell me. I was not informed at all,” Dlamini said.
The controversy took another twist after the university distanced itself from the event, which was jointly organised by the student representative council and the Postgraduate Association.
Wits spokeswoman Shirona Patel said the invitation was “misleading” and that the event was not sanctioned by the university.
“The university has no problem with anyone organising an event or a debate. The particular problem in this case was that it was touted as a debate between two candidates but the other candidate was not informed of, nor invited to, the so-called debate.”
“We are now aware that Dr Mngadi organised the event herself as part of her election campaign.”
But Mngadi categorically denied organising the event for herself, saying “it was never my idea to have the intellectual conversation with the students”.
She said students first invited her for the event in June while she was at Harvard University in Boston.
“I categorically said I cannot accept the invitation if the other lady has not accepted. They assured me that both people are invited and they are coming.
“I’m very shocked that they said I organised it for myself. What for? If I wanted to organise something, I would have brought people to the hotel where I am staying at. Why did I need to go to Wits?”
In her contribution, Mngadi spoke about an issue “closest to my heart”, which was the funding of students.
“A black child struggles at university. I’ve seen students sleep at libraries; I’ve seen children go without food for days, but they have to come and be clever.”
She should know — she and her 27-yearold daughter, Nina Hammond, graduated with LLB degrees from Wits earlier this year after studying together from 2015 to 2017. It was Mngadi’s 11th academic qualification.
Struck by the plight of black students at Wits, she and her daughter started a bursary fund and assisted about 149 of them.
She was also in the thick of things during the #FeesMustFall protests in 2015 when she bought piles of food and water for weeks for hungry protesters, using her black Ferrari to transport the meals.
She strongly disagrees with the role played by chancellors at South African universities, who are largely perceived as being ceremonial figures who only confer degrees during graduation ceremonies.
“I think that’s an insult to take somebody and make them a figurehead who will just cap people twice a year. For me it is a blank canvas, a platform, where every chancellor can choose what issues are important to them, for them to solve.”
In an interview with the Sunday Times, she said the chancellor’s role should be that of a bridge between the university’s management and its students, “to bring them closer together”.
Commenting on Wits making history by having a first black woman chancellor, she said: “I don’t want to be called a black woman; I’m a human being. Don’t put me up as a trophy because we are following this and following this. Put somebody who is going to change the system and make the lives of the grassroots better.”
Interestingly, she and Dlamini have been training at the same gym for 20 years.