From the Chancellor
I applaud all of you for your strength during this time
06 May 2020 | From the Chancellor
Dear colleagues, students and members of the university community
I trust that you, your families and loved ones are coping under these difficult circumstances.
When I last communicated with you on 28 March, we were two days into the first stage of the COVID-19 lockdown, with little idea of what was to come or how long we would be in isolation; our families, work and studies disrupted in a way none of us could have imagined.
While I am grateful that the number of infections at UCT have remained low, I know that the situation in our communities and homes can change quickly as the virus infections begin to peak.
I am thinking of you all and standing by you at this time. I want to voice my support and gratitude by way of this letter.
Like institutions across the globe, UCT is facing a highly complex and evolving situation. I applaud the UCT executive and the Leadership Lekgotla of deans and executive directors, headed by Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng who lead and manage this institution, a community of 34 000 staff and students, with courage, dignity and compassion.
I applaud our academic staff, for their dedication and resilience, which I know has been experienced by all our students in the form of the many remote teaching innovations you had to create and launch at very short notice. I also applaud those UCT researchers who are a part of the collective drive to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. I am most grateful for what each of you is contributing to this fight.
I applaud our professional, administrative and service staff for their work to keep the university’s systems operational under trying circumstances. Thank you also to our alumni who so generously support us. Your continued support is invaluable to keeping our institution operational.
We do not know when the stages of lockdown will end. Indications are that COVID-19 will be with us until a viable vaccine has been found and that we know from the scientific community and media reports, is many months down the line.
I am very aware of the difficulties students face in adapting to new ways of being taught and learning, especially when your environment is not ideal. Again, may I urge you to stand together. Look after one another, practise self-care, reach out to those who are struggling, and take one day at a time. Do your best every day, and in the end you will look back and be rewarded for your resilience and strength shown during this time.
I am also mindful of the leadership, past and present, that we are able to draw on at this time. We look to leaders such as Ma Sisulu, Albertina, one of the great mothers of our Nation, whose story and legacy can guide and inspire us now.
Pandemic was a word well known to her. Ma Sisulu was born into a global pandemic. It was 1918, the year the Spanish flu swept the globe; killing 50 million people worldwide and 30 000 alone in the Transkei, her birthplace.
The flu, or ‘umbathalala,’ was especially dangerous for pregnant women and babies. But Ma Sisulu survived. With her unfaltering spirit, she became one of the great inspirations of our nation, steadfast in her leadership and beliefs in the face of apartheid.
Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu said of Ma Sisulu, “…try as they might, they could not break her spirit, they could not defeat her love.” At the height of the struggle in the 1980s, she called on communities to “stand up and protect each other”.
We must stand up and protect one another, too, with strength and compassion. Seek help when you need it. If you are battling with the stress of lockdown, please make use of the services that are available to UCT staff and students, even if you are far from campus.
May I urge you to also visit the Coronavirus Disease 2019 page on the UCT website regularly for more information and updates.
This too shall pass. The pandemic will not last forever. But our lives will never be the same again. It will take all of us to bring this pandemic to heel and then to begin dealing humanely with its impact on our society, and our UCT community. In the months ahead, we’ll be called on to start reimagining our nation. I believe we will do so with new insight, energy and empathy.
Once again, I am thinking of you and standing with you in the knowledge that our collective responses will make us stronger together.
Sincerely
Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe
UCT Chancellor
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Chancellor’s Installation and Inaugural Address
On Friday, 10 December 2021, the University of Cape Town installed its sixth Chancellor, Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe.
The Chair of Council of the University of Cape Town
Ms Babalwa Ngonyama
has the pleasure of inviting you to watch the installation and inaugural address of UCT’s Chancellor
Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe.
This event took place from 11:00 on Friday, 10 December 2021.
“The chancellor is the titular head of the university and presides at graduation ceremonies, confers degrees, and awards diplomas and certificates in the name of the university. The role of chancellor requires an individual of stature with exceptional personal qualities and integrity.”
– Chair of UCT Council
Previous UCT Chancellors
Today we are installing Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe as the sixth Chancellor of the University of Cape Town. We honour our previous Chancellors in this historical photo gallery:
Ceremony order of proceedings
The items collected together in this section of the feature page will help you to easily follow the order of proceedings during the ceremony.
It is tradition for a dedication to be read at the installation of a new Chancellor at UCT.
10 Dec 2021 - 1 min read
Duly elected
On 30 August 2019, Sipho M Pityana, then Chair of Council at UCT, was proud to announce that Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe had been duly elected as the new chancellor of the university, a position that she would take up from 1 January 2020. The new chancellor was elected by an electoral college consisting of holders of UCT qualifications, academic and PASS (professional, administrative support and service) staff, and students.
The chancellor is elected for a 10-year term and Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe’s term started on 1 January 2020. She has embraced the role, even as the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020 and gained momentum in the months that followed.
“As I took up the reins as Chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT) last year, I was inspired by the example the institution set during the pandemic and lockdown crisis. I saw the resolve of Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng and her colleagues to continue to care for their students and each other while lockdown forced everyone to remain at home. I saw the students’ resolve to continue their degree programmes, even under conditions of hardship.”
– Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe, UCT Chancellor
from her welcome message in UCT’s Year in Review 2020 publication
In the news
