The University of Cape Town (UCT) has elected ALI Fellow and former Safika Holdings CFO Babalwa Ngonyama (Class VIII: Mahube) as the new chair of its council. Nazeema Mohamed will serve as deputy chair.
In the words of UCT’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, the appointment is “historic” because it is the first time in 100 years that a woman chair serves on UCT’s Council. It is part of the university’s drive for transformation in institutions of higher learning.
“The election of Babalwa and Nazeema means that the university has women leaders at the helm in the crucial governance, ceremonial and executive roles. Even more historic, it is for the first time that UCT has a female chair of the council,” said Professor Phakeng.
The mandate of the all-women UCT council is to determine the mission, objectives, goals, strategies and policies for the progress of the institution. Its responsibility is to ensure an environment conducive to efficient, effective, economical and ethical attainment of these goals.
“The Council is aware of the many past and more recent successes of the university, and the collective contributions of the Vice-Chancellor and her senior executive team in leading and managing UCT during these extremely demanding times,” said Babalwa.
Babalwa sits on the boards and audit committees of Implats and Barloworld. Previously, she was the group chief internal auditor of Nedbank and an audit partner at Nkonki and at Deloitte’s Financial Institutions Services Team division. She was also the founding chairman of the African Women Chartered Accountants (AWCA).
