By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The University of Cape Town (UCT) council chairperson Norman Arendse has officially announced Prof Motlagolo Mosa Moshabela as the university’s new vice-chancellor on Friday.
Speaking during the briefing, Arendse told journalists that when he first looked at Moshabela’s credentials and CV, he thought “this was the right candidate”.
Moshabela went through a rigorous process and earned a near “unanimous” approval from the senate, explained Arendse.
He was contending for the top job at UCT with Prof José Frantz, deputy vice-chancellor for research and innovation at the University of the Western Cape (UWC); and University of Venda deputy vice-chancellor for research and postgraduate studies, Prof Nosisi Nellie Feza.
This follows a six-month recruitment and selection process.
Moshabela will formally take up the UCT vice-chancellor position on 1 October 2024.
He is taking over from Prof Dayanand Reddy, who has been acting as interim vice-chancellor since the departure of Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng on 3 March 2023.
Moshabela thanked the leadership involved with running the institution. “Their term ends in June and I want to thank them, they’ve really succeeded in at least getting me here before they leave, “he said.
“I don’t imagine that was easy… I think to me what it does is show that there are a lot of committed people who are really willing to work hard to ensure that UCT succeeds,” he said.
An independent panel tasked with investigating governance failures at the University of Cape Town released a report in November last year painting a picture of a deeply divide and traumatised university.
The report by an independent panel investigating governance failures at UCT in recent years excoriated Phakeng. It painted a picture of a narcissistic and thin-skinned leader who exploited and encouraged racial divisions – talking up a narrative of racial empowerment in public while saving some of her worst abuse for black women in private.
Moshabela is currently the deputy vice-chancellor for research and innovation at the University of Kwazulu-Natal (UKZN).
Other positions he holds or has held include the National Research Foundation board chair, the former chair of the Standing Committee on Health at the Academy of Science of South Africa, and former board member of the South African Medical Research Council.
According to his CV, Moshabela is a medical practitioner working as a specialist. His qualifications include Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery obtained at UKZN in 2001; Diploma in HIV from the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa in 2006; Master of Medicine in Family Medicine from the University of Limpopo in 2009; Doctor of Philosophy from Wits University in 2012, and an MSc in Demography and Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK in 2017.