The appointment of Professor Mashudu Davhana-Maselesele as the first woman rector of the North West University (NWU) Mahikeng Campus should be celebrated as yet another milestone against patriarchy which is often given a cultural halo and identified with customs and personalities of different communities, North West Premier Thandi Modise said on Monday.
In congratulating Professor Maselesele, Premier Modise said that her appointment which follows closely on the appointment of Professor Dan Kgwadi as Vice Chancellor of the NWU should accelerate and deepen transformation within the higher education institution.
“As reflected by the strides that the university has made despite the challenge of slow pace of transformation, 20 years of our democracy has advanced us towards non-racialism and non-sexism.” Modise said.
Modise said that she is encouraged by Professor Maselesele’s NWU-Mahikeng Campus vision 2020 which responds to the National Development Plan and provincial priorities identified in the Provincial Development Plan and among others seeks to reposition the institution to serve as an engine for rural development for the province and the country.
In her inauguration message delivered on Friday, Maselesele said that the campus has an ethical and moral responsibility to ensure that the programmes that it offers address the needs of communities.
She said that the campus will focus more on its Professional Degree programmes to ensure that it addresses the scarcity of skills in the country.
Veterinary programmes, B Comm Law, Agric Engineering, Honours in Chartered Accountancy, Primary Health Care to facilitate the process of re-engineering primary health care (PHC), Nursing Education and Health Care Management are some of the new programmes that are planned for establishment, the Professor said.
Maselesele also highlighted that the campus together with its sister campuses is also pursuing the possibility of training of medical doctors and is has commenced with negotiations with the national Department of Transport in preparation for introduction of Transport Engineering programme.
“We do not want programmes that will only add to the numbers of unemployed youth in this country!!” she emphasised.
In his inauguration and official opening of the academic year address, Vice Chancellor Kgwadi said that universities have an enormous responsibility to contribute towards government’s National Development Plan and 2030 vision and should embrace their role in transforming society.
Professor Kgwadi said that universities cannot contribute towards transformation when they are not themselves convincingly transformed.
“I am convinced from concerns in a number of reports about our transformation that if our ‘evolutionary’ approach is not accelerated we will be faced with a revolution at some point,” he stressed.
In congratulating the campus rector, Campus Student Representative Council Acting President Tsohana Mokhothu said that the current epoch is the epoch where women leaders have come to the fore, grabbing the bull by its horns and leading.
Mokhothu cited the first female Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Her Excellencies Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, President Helen Johnson of Liberia, President Joyce Banda of Malawi and Premier Thandi Modise among women who have made a difference on the continent, in their respective countries and in their communities.
She said that Modise had made the Premier’s Office more responsive and the North West province actively developing at a faster rate than it was before.
Six females were among the 8 first year students who were awarded merit certificates and laptops at the inauguration ceremony for outstanding performance and obtaining between 4 and 10 distinctions during the 2013 academic year.
Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele
Tel: 018 388 3705
Cell: 083 629 1987
Fax: 018 388 3157
E-mail: LKgwele@gmail.com
