media releases - Unisa to host lecture on sustainable development

The University of South Africa (Unisa) will host a lecture on sustainable development on Thursday, 11 October 2012.

Eminent scholar and Executive Director of Greenpeace International, Dr. Kumi Naidoo will deliver the keynote speech on the theme ‘Rio + 20: How sustainable is the sustainable development agenda?

Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mandla Makhanya is the respondent.  

 The media is invited to the lecture. The details are as follows:

Date                 :           Thursday, 11 October 2012

Time                 :           12:30

Venue               :           Protea Restaurant, 3^rd Level, OR Tambo Building,

Muckleneuk Campus, Preller Street, Tshwane

Dr Kumi Naidoo’s profile

Born in South Africa in 1965, Kumi Naidoo became involved in South Africa’s liberation struggle at the age of 15 when he joined the Helping Hands Youth Organisation (an affiliate of the South African Youth Congress). He received his BA in Political Science, cum laude, from the University of Durban-Westville in 1985. After the Apartheid government imposed a State of Emergency the following year, Kumi was arrested numerous times, charged for violating provisions against mass mobilisation and civil disobedience. Police harassment eventually forced him to go underground before fleeing to the UK n 1987. Kumi spent his time in exile at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, earning a doctorate in political sociology.

After Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990, Kumi returned to South Africa to work on the legalisation of the African National Congress. He was founding executive director of the South African National NGO Coalition (SANNGOCO), whose mandate is to ensure that the traditions of civil society continue to serve the people of South Africa. In addition, he held several leadership positions on a wide range of education, development and social justice initiatives, including the 1997 National Men’s March Against Violence on Women and Children, the adult education NGO sector as well as serving as the official spokesperson for the 1994 Independent Electoral Commission. He remains a board member of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development.

From 1998 to 2008, Kumi was the Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of the Johannesburg-based Civicus: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, which is dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world. He has also been Global Council co-chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty since its inception in 2003.

Kumi Naidoo became the Executive Director of Greenpeace International on 16 November 2009.  

Professor Mandla Makhanya‘s profile

Professor Mandla Stanley Makhanya was appointed Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of South Africa on 1 January 2011. A sociologist by training and profession, Professor Makhanya is a genuine “people’s person” as evidenced in his commitment to and practice of Servant Leadership. 

Having risen steadily through the academic ranks, Prof Makhanya was the Dean for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the old Unisa from January 2000 to February 2004. He continued serving in this capacity after the establishment of the new Unisa, from 2004 until his term as Executive Dean of the College of Human Sciences ended on 1 January 2008, when he was appointed Pro Vice Chancellor of Unisa. A mere two years later, Professor Mandla Makhanya was appointed to the highest office in the University.

Professor Makhanya holds a BA and a BA (Hons) (in Sociology) from the University of Fort Hare, a Masters Degree in Industrial Sociology from the University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu Natal), and a DPhil from the University of Pretoria and a DTE from Unisa. In 2007 the University of Athabasca in Canada conferred upon him a PhD (Honoris Causa) in recognition of his outstanding leadership at Unisa and his contribution as a distinguished scholar in distance education.

Professor Makhanya is an executive member of Higher Education South Africa (HESA) whose membership comprises the Vice Chancellors of South Africa’s universities.  He is the Treasurer of the African Council for Distance Education (ACDE) as well as an executive member of International Council for Distance Education (ICDE). He also served as a member of the executive of the National Association of Distance Education and Open Learning in Southern Africa (NADEOSA) in 2007 and 2008.  Professor Makhanya is also an Executive Committee Member of the Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association (HETL) – International Body (2012).  HETL is a body of international experts with a global footprint in education and, in particular, informing on ODL and e-learning issues.

Professor Makhanya is actively involved in UNESCO’s activities. He is a deputy Chairperson of the South African National Commission for UNESCO as well as a Chairperson of the Culture Sector of the South African National Commission for UNESCO. He has also been a member of the National Committee of the Memory of the World (MoW).  In the 1990s he served in various leadership roles in the South African Sociological Association and eventually became its Deputy President in 1998, for a period of two years. During this time he also served as an editorial committee member of their journal Society in Transition. He continues to be a member of the South African Sociological Association (SASA), as well as the International Association of Sociology (ISA) and he continues to exercise his own scholarship through regular publications. Professor Makhanya remains actively involved in student matters through his supervision of postgraduate students. He is also an external examiner for some universities, including the University of Fort Hare and the University of North West. Professor Makhanya completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2009.