Our people

As of 31 December 2022, we had 41 permanent and contract staff, with five vacancies to fill. Seventy two percent of staff at the Communication and Marketing Department (CMD) are permanent staff members, with the balance being on short- (one-year) to medium-term (three-year) contracts.

A significant amount of Human Resources (HR) work resides within the department and this is supported by the executive director’s (ED) executive assistant, the deputy director, the Executive Support Unit, line and unit managers. HR-related work includes responsibilities such as staff development and support, ensuring staff are onboarded well, encouraging mental wellness, completing the annual Development Dialogues (DD), selection and recruitment processes, supporting and signing off training requests, supporting line managers when staff leave CMD or the University of Cape Town (UCT).

In 2022, we bade farewell to Aamirah Sonday, Ebrahim Lakay, Justin Marthinus, Kylie Hatton, Lindikhaya Ngalo and Siyavuya Makubalo. We again thank them for their contributions to CMD’s successes in the period they were with the department. Justin was not lost to UCT though as he joined the Engineering & Built Environment faculty as their communications manager.

We warmly welcomed Kamva Somdyala, Boikhutso Ntsoko, Timothy-John Benjamin, Shaqeel Less, Beki Boneni and Aalieyah Rejaldien. We are excited to see how each of them grows in confidence in their roles, and also as our CMD colleagues, bringing their experience and expertise to bear on our work outputs.

We requested four Appointments Without Advertisements (AWA) to make four contract positions permanent appointments, and we were successful with only two of the four.

Post the May 2021 to June 2022 DD process, 12 individuals were awarded with either an Exceed or Discretionary award. These awards are made to staff who have consistently shown an extraordinary commitment to their work and CMD, as well as to UCT’s values and who have attained their objectives, and/or contributed something innovative and/or impactful in the way the department/university delivers its outputs. We are extremely proud of these colleagues, and once more thank them for their excellent service to the department and the university.

In 2022 we spent 63% of our training, development and conference attendance budget; this is 48% more than what was spent in 2021. Staff attended leadership coaching sessions, online voice coaching, copy editing as well as the Marketing, Advancement and Communication in Education (MACE) symposiums and award ceremony. CMD is committed to investing in and supporting the training and development needs of all our staff, in line with UCT HR and applicable Finance policies.

A few CMD colleagues continued their formal academic journeys. Aniqah Deers and Manisha Govender started their Executive Masters in Business Administration (EMBA) journeys, while two – Nombuso Shabalala and Olwen Manuel – completed theirs. Lizette Hendricks was in her final year of her Bachelor of Arts (Health Sciences and Social Services) degree. Other colleagues opted for informal short courses such as Design Thinking completed by Rozanne Engel and Social Media Management completed by Snethemba Phiri.

Without a doubt this professional and passionate team of incredible humans are CMD’s superpower.