Wamkelekile, Welkom
Message from the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng
04 November 2022
The work of transformation goes far beyond employment equity. While employment equity can be legislated by government policy and put into practice by management, true transformation must happen in people’s hearts and minds to have a lasting effect through our actions.
Transformation calls us to commit to building community. This report is evidence of the way the University of Cape Town (UCT) has acted on that commitment during 2021. It also outlines some of the lessons we are learning. One thing we have experienced is the need to apply time, patience and courage to transformation. The way we build community is through vulnerability: admitting our fears and our mistakes, being willing to learn and to change.
For example, this report includes a summary of activities in 2021 that made LGBTQI+ staff members and students feel that the university was a hostile environment for them. I appreciate being called to account for these events and for my own role in how they came about. One positive outcome of these events and the reactions they attracted is that LGBTQI+ issues are firmly on the table, where they have always belonged, alongside issues of gender equality.
This kind of interaction is uncomfortable, but it is part of the work of transformation. It delivers important rewards for the whole community
This report also discusses initiatives that are proving to hold value for the UCT community, including the Executive Transformation initiative and our work towards academic transformation. We are developing the academic pipeline for Master’s, PhD and postdoctoral students from previously marginalised communities, to help them embark on an academic career. This is an important step not only for the academic future of South Africa but also to help these young academics to secure successful careers as researchers, teachers and thought leaders.
These kinds of initiatives are reshaping the culture of UCT. They would not be possible without the support of the UCT community. I thank the UCT Council in particular for investing in our transformation projects.
I also thank our black academics, who have provided insights from their own lived experiences and made practical suggestions that we could implement, hence we now have the Accelerated Transformation of the Academic Programme. They have helped to bring us where we are today on UCT’s transformation journey.
I invite you to join us on this journey by reading about our progress through 2021 and continuing on your own transformation journey within your work, study and community life.
Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng
Vice-Chancellor
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Mama Thembi – one of the three Thembis of Phillippi by women sculptors Angela Mac Pherson, Jen Bam and Sean Mac Pherson. Commissioned by the UCT GSB, the concept is a celebration of women as holders and creators of safe spaces. The vision was for these sculptures to create areas in the open back area of Phillippi Village to seed the future garden, and to create places of safety for plants, birds and people to gather and grow in the harsh climate. Monwabisi Dasi did the welding work with the help of 36 other artists and artisans from Phillippi, Napier and Muizenberg.
An introduction to the 2021 Transformation Report
The UCT Transformation Report 2021 is titled “Fear, flame and metamorphosis: transformation, diversity and inclusion in uncertain times”. It is titled to reflect that in 2021, the UCT community was challenged with racism, queer- and transphobia, and socio-economic disparities. The fire in the Jagger Reading Room brought forward important questions about how coloniality and gatekeeping continue to frame UCT as an exclusive and inaccessible space. Yet even with these challenges the university, through transformation agents, was able to transform these difficult realities through tactical and innovative actions. Through cohesive inclusivity strategy initiations in faculties and departments; developments in succession planning, retention and recruitment; recognition of the voluntary work of transformation committees through the inclusion of key performance areas for transformation, inclusion and diversity work in job descriptions; dialogical spaces, seminars, capacity strengthening, training and other events-based interventions, campaigns and curated art interventions; and innovations in research, teaching and learning, current realities were metamorphosised into safer and more affirming spaces.
How to read the 2021 Transformation Report
Please click and slide/swipe to the left to see the next point:
An overview of transformation
Setting the scene for the 2021 Transformation Report.
Benchmark results for 2021
Introducing UCT’s transformation benchmarks.
Looking ahead
The conclusion and recommendations of the 2021 Transformation Report.
Transformation resources and references
Transformation, inclusivity, and diversity is based on continual growth and development. Listed below are the articles and poems referenced in this report, and some other useful texts to help make sense of 2021.
