Cape Town - Self-described as a “product of transformation”, Professor Mosa Moshabela has been announced as the 11th vice-chancellor of UCT and will be assuming office as of October 1.
UCT Council chairperson Norman Arendse made the announcement during a media briefing at the Bremner Building on Friday.
Moshabela will be taking over from interim vice-chancellor Professor Daya Reddy, who had assumed the position since March last year following the vacancy left by former vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng’s exit.
Moshabela was born and raised in Limpopo before moving to pursue Medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). He was just 16 when entering university due to having started school a year earlier and having skipped a year of schooling at high school.
He specialised in Family Medicine and pursued Public Health as part of his doctorate studies at Wits University.
“Most of my work really was in Public Health because of HIV. I entered the career of Medicine when HIV was rife and generally I like to move towards where there is a crisis and there’s a problem to assist with. That’s how I got involved with HIV and I got involved with infectious diseases until recently I got involved with Covid-19.”
Moshabela, 44, has worked at the UKZN for 11 years now, having served as head of department, dean of Public Health, and deputy vice-chancellor of Research and Innovation.
“When I finished high school, I could read and write English, but I couldn’t really speak it. So in my first year of Medicine at UKZN, I had to learn how to communicate in English and UKZN gave me the chance to do that because of the policies that were there for transformation.
“Wits and UCT rejected my application at that time, so if it wasn’t for those policies, I wouldn’t even be here today. So in a way, even UCT is able to benefit today because of the adoption of those policies and I’m hoping that people can understand the transformation in that sense and the impact of it in that sense.”
Student Representative Council (SRC) president Hlamulo Khorommbi said the SRC had been part of the process from the start, with Khorommbi part of the committee responsible for interviewing and shortlisting candidates. He said he was satisfied with the process and final outcome.
“We think he can lead us properly and I think it also speaks to the transformation looking at the history of UCT. UCT back then was a white institution. Looking at it now, after being led by a black woman, it is now being led by a black man. It signifies how we take transformation very seriously.”
He said the SRC would be supporting the new vice-chancellor when the need arises and counts on him to listen to the SRC when advocating for the students.
“He was supported by 89.5% of the Senate for his position. When it came to the Council meeting, he was supported 100% by all members of Council who were attending that meeting. So clearly it indicates that everything went well. We are quite impressed and excited and we are ready to start working with him.”
Two other candidates were shortlisted for the position, deputy vice-chancellor of Research, Innovation and Post Graduate Studies at the University of Venda, Professor Nosisi Nellie Feza; and deputy vice-chancellor of Research and Innovation at UWC, Professor José Frantz.
Arendse said Council had unanimously approved the Selection Committee’s recommendation last week, with the entire process concluded on Tuesday.
“We are very excited about our new vice-chancellor coming on board at a crucial, critical period in the history of this university. It’s a significant day for us. We went through a wide ranging consultative process of some six months, culminating in a near unanimous Senate vote which I understand was unprecedented,” Arendse said.
“During the interview, he impressed us with his deep knowledge and understanding of the many challenges that the university faces. He is young, agile and transformative.”