A UCT stalwart, through and through

Each year, the University of Cape Town (UCT) bids farewell to a number of staff, either as they reach retirement age or simply decide to slow down from the pace of working life. This year, we say a fond goodbye to a longstanding member of the university’s executive management team, Registrar Royston Pillay.

In his own words – and by all definitions of the phrase – Pillay is “a UCT stalwart through and through”. Having studied at the institution and worked here for nearly three decades after a relatively short stint as a high school teacher and deputy principal, he is a part of the proverbial furniture.

However, as much as he had wanted to enter the university in a professional capacity during his early career, landing up in the registrar’s seat was by no means his end goal when he first applied for a job.

“I didn’t necessarily have in mind becoming the registrar of this university when I first interviewed here. I wanted to be here and I set about trying to get a post at what I thought was an appropriate point in the early part of my career,” Pillay explained.

“I was interested in coming to an institution like UCT that, much more than a high school, represented South Africa as a microcosm of society. That’s what I wanted to experience more of.”

A series of fortunate events

Pillay’s first role at UCT was in student affairs. After a brief stint there, he quickly transitioned to being the first faculty manager for the newly merged Faculty of Humanities, which brought together the previously separate arts, social science and education faculties. Following this, he took on the role of director of student admissions.

From there, he became the director of the Office of the Vice-Chancellor. It was in that space that Pillay was able build the deep understanding of the ongoing macro issues, complexities and challenges that the university faces and would ultimately lead him towards the role of registrar.

“I got a very deep understanding of the complexities of the university, the challenges of the university and the multitude of issues that prevail at any one time.”

“In those 10 years, I was exposed to UCT from the Bremner Building, and I got a very deep understanding of the complexities of the university, the challenges of the university and the multitude of issues that prevail at any one time,” he said.

“When the opportunity arose to be a candidate for the job of registrar, I had been in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor under Njabulo Ndebele and Max Price; and I had a fair amount of prior experience in other parts of the university’s operations. So, I thought, let me give it a go.”

Pillay’s appointment as registrar was announced in late 2014. He took up the role as registrar designate in 2015 and formally took the reigns at the outset of 2016.

Not all smooth sailing

Pillay recalls his first year as registrar as being a baptism of fire, and he soon realised that he needed to walk in his own shoes. Six weeks into his tenure, protests had sparked flames – literally and figuratively – on campus, in the media and in the courts around the constitutionally protected right “to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket, to protest and do so within lawful limits”.

As many challenges as this presented, it was nothing that the registrar wasn’t used to. Having grown up on the Cape Flats after being forcibly removed from District Six and followed a path into education during a tumultuous time in our country’s history, Pillay was already well versed in getting a job done amid complex political and social conditions.

“What attracted me to a career in high school education was that schools were a place to participate in and be exposed to political discussions and issues.”

“In the late 1970s and early 1980s, it was an interesting time in the country. And certainly on the Cape Flats. It was a time of heightened political activism in high schools; and what attracted me to a career in high school education was that schools were a place to participate in and be exposed to political discussions and issues,” he explained.

“The exposure to a political awareness that I derived from living on the Cape Flats and working at a school on the Cape Flats – the agency that one needed to have to cope in that environment and the exposure to daily uncertainty and complexity – were certainly very good preparation ground for everything that would come later in my career.”

It takes a village

The resilience and resolve that Pillay developed during his early years undoubtedly set him in good stead for achieving the various successes that have been born out of the registrar’s office during his tenure.

However, he is not one to bathe in the limelight. Rather, as he thinks back on his time in the seat, he noted that he is most thankful for the opportunity to work with the many people whose indelible spirits have managed to change the face of UCT over the past decade.

“The greatest satisfaction I’ve had comes from the successes of teams that I’ve had the opportunity to be part of. And there have been numerous positive developments. The expansion of UCT’s feeder school base has been a deliberate transformation undertaking and today this is reflected in the profile of the graduating classes each year,” he said.

“The work that we’ve done has been good not only for UCT itself, but also for the higher education sector and the country.”

His team has often had to navigate a terrain that has at key moments presented UCT with complex legal cases that have had to be dealt with through the senior courts in the country and where outcomes have established important case law.

“These initiatives have helped us to stay on track in our on-going mission to be an institution that’s relevant for the country and the continent. I think the work that we’ve done has been good not only for UCT itself, but also for the higher education sector and the country,” noted Pillay.

Looking ahead

Unpredictable and ambiguity are certainly words that you could use to describe a day in the life of a university registrar. With that in mind, Pillay plans on taking his retirement one day at a time rather than making any grand plans before he gets into it. And he doesn’t foresee his time with UCT coming to a complete end just yet.

“I certainly plan to take a bit of a break. I would like to find some time just to recharge my batteries and to re-focus, which includes making up for some of the sacrificed time over the past few years with my family.

“I will leave UCT as an ambassador for the institution and hope to find ways of being able to give effect to that.”

“Given the roller coaster that I’ve been on for such a long time now, I think it’s going to be very difficult to become accustomed to a much slower turning of the wheels. After having had an opportunity to take a bit of a break, I know I’m going to need to still be engaged mentally and I still want to feel that I can contribute where I may be needed.

“I will leave UCT as an ambassador for the institution and hope to find ways of being able to give effect to that in terms of sharing the experience that I’ve acquired and the valuable lessons that I’ve learned, as a consequence of the opportunities that UCT has given me, with the next generation.”