One of the Eastern Cape’s leading research institutions, Walter Sisulu University, could find itself working with Palestinian scientists if the wishes of science, technology and innovation minister Prof Blade Nzimande are realised.
Speaking at the WSU Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Awards at Mthatha’s Nelson Mandela Drive campus on Friday night, Nzimande announced plans to collaborate with Palestinian scientists as part of his ministry’s solidarity and support.
“We are living in a world where we are seeing genocide live on television,” he said.
“The children of Gaza, the women and civilians are being bombed ... and the world is watching and doing nothing about that.
“That is why we must congratulate our own government for the stance we have taken to take the Israeli regime to the International Court of Justice.
“[WSU council chair] advocate [Tembeka] Ngcukaitobi SC was part of that. I have decided that, to support that work, we need other solidarity activities.
“I have established a special programme of co-operation to support Palestinian science programmes and activities.
“We are going to invite Palestinian scientists, wherever they are in the rest of the world, to come and study in our universities and be attached to our research programmes.
“We hope Walter Sisulu will apply for some programmes of co-operation, even if you have one or two researchers attached here including [for] joint programmes that look at Palestinian issues and SA issues.”
Now in its third year, the awards were the brainchild of WSU vice-chancellor and principal Prof Rushiella Nolundi Songca and designed to celebrate academic and research excellence.
A total of 78 master’s graduates, doctoral, National Research Foundation (NRF) rated researchers and teachers were honoured during the event.
Songca also announced the official launch of the International Journal of African Reflections, a collaboration between WSU and Juta Publishers.
She said the awards symbolised hard work and a culture they were building at WSU.
“We are quickly becoming a choice for our first-year entrants‚” Songca said.
WSU had 346 graduates at the master’s level in 2021, and 383 in 2024.
In 2020, there were 217 staff members with doctorates and the number rose to 237 in 2024.
“We still had to introduce the Going Back to School initiative, because when you look at our staff cohort, we stand at 29% of staff members with doctorates and this has to improve radically if we are to achieve our goals.”
In 2019/2020, WSU placed second from the bottom in terms of research productivity. Songca said they wanted to be among the top 10 universities in SA by 2030 as far as research was concerned.
The university has 44 NRF-rated researchers, a huge jump from the three it had in 2019/2020.
She told Nzimande that running day-to-day operations at an institution such as WSU was not easy and thanked him for his support.
Nzimande said the University of Transkei, which later merged to form WSU, had produced many luminaries.
Among them were SA’s first black chartered accountant, Prof Wiseman Nkuhlu; current WSU chancellor and SA’s first female chartered accountant Dr Nonkululeko Gobodo; former vice-chancellor Prof Marcus Balintulo; SA chief justice Mandisa Maya; respected businessman and former NSFAS chair Sizwe Nxasana; ex-SA auditor-general Terence Nombembe; advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza SC and, later, Ngcukaitobi.
Ngcukaitobi said it was crucial to reward academic excellence at a historically disadvantaged institution as its graduates had the added responsibility of not only contributing to the redevelopment of SA, but were expected to break the cycle of poverty in their own homes.
Award recipient and Master of Philosophy in Quality management graduate Nomfanelo Mbiza, the university’s quality assurance manager who graduated cum laude, said it had not been easy to study towards her qualification.
She has been working at WSU for 21 years after starting out as a student assistant.
“This was my second master’s after graduating in 2018 with a master’s in business administration,” she said.
“I am passionate about quality, hence I decided to enrol for a master’s in quality assurance.
“I am super excited and honoured to get an award. Information is generated every day, so learning never stops.
“I have three children who are still young. It was not easy, but I managed to find a balance between them and my studies.”
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