Prof Puleng LenkaBula

Principal and Vice-Chancellor
University of South Africa (UNISA)

Professor Puleng LenkaBula, a South African of Lesotho and South African descent, is a trained feminist ethicist with a PhD in social ethics. She has published widely in the intersections of Ethics, Economy, and Ecology, especially on thematic areas of feminist social theory, ecology, economics, justice and Ubuntu. She has also supervised graduate students to completion in these areas. In January 2021, she became the first woman Principal and Vice-Chancellor in the 148 years of the University of South Africa’s (Unisa) existence and the third black Vice-Chancellor since the advent of democracy in 1994. She served in various leadership capacities in the SA Higher Education sector including but not limited to being the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Institutional Change, Student Affairs and Engaged Scholarship at the University of Free State, the Dean of Student Affairs both at the University of the Witwatersrand and Unisa. She was a visiting Professor at the Emmanuel College of the University of Toronto where she worked on the interface of intellectual property rights on life forms and the ethical questions associated. She leads the South African National Task Team on Gender Based Violence.

She is one of the voices advocating for socio-economic, ecological and gender justice in the global South and North relationships. She has worked as an expert and adviser in multiple international academic and ecumenical organisations including but not limited to:

The Vice-President of the South African Council of Churches in the consolidation of South Africa’s democratisation.
An Executive Consultant for Africa Region: Geneva, Switzerland the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) now referred to as the World Communion of Reformed Churches.
Expert Consultant/Advisor on Poverty, Wealth & Global Economy for the World Council of Churches (WCC) - Geneva, Switzerland.
A member of the Circle of Concerned African women Theologians and Ethicists, the Council for the Development of Social Sciences Research in Africa (CODESRIA), where she also served as a member of the Executive Committee for 7 years.

Prof LenkaBula continues to partner with scholars in other universities, including but not limited to visiting scholarships in Botswana, Ghana, Vasteras, Sweden, Columbia University Center for African Studies and Emmanuel College of the University of Toronto.