Associate Professor
| College of Human Sciences
School of Social Sciences
| Department: Health Studies
Prof. V.E. Matahela is an Associate Professor of Health Sciences Education at the University of South Africa (UNISA), where he contributes to postgraduate teaching, masters and doctoral supervision, and academic leadership in an Open Distance and e-Learning (ODeL) context. His scholarship is grounded in the transformation of nursing education, with a particular emphasis on nurse educator retention, self-leadership in nursing education, humanising pedagogies, and policy reforms.
Prof. Matahela’s career spans over two decades, beginning in psychiatric clinical practice at TARA The H. Moross Centre and CH Baragwanath Hospital. He transitioned into academia as a Lecturer at CH Baragwanath Nursing College, where he taught Psychiatric Nursing Science, coordinated clinical placements, and supported curriculum development and research initiatives. He went on to serve as a Professional Officer at the South African Nursing Council, contributing to accreditation and quality assurance processes for nursing education institutions and nursing programmes.
From 2015 to 2024, Prof. Matahela served as Deputy Director for Nursing Education and Training at South Africa’s National Department of Health. In this role, he coordinated national policy initiatives to reposition nursing education within the post-school education system. These efforts were instrumental in aligning nursing education with national health system needs and higher education standards.
Since joining March UNISA in 2024, Prof. Matahela has expanded his scholarship to address planetary health and climate change in health sciences education. His work now explores intersections between self-leadership, humanizing and decolonial pedagogy, policy reform, and climate change and mitigation.