Category: South Africa Government

Posted on

SA, Tunisia reaffirm science diplomacy as a pillar for women’s empowerment

Source: Government of South Africa

SA, Tunisia reaffirm science diplomacy as a pillar for women’s empowerment

Science diplomacy must be harnessed as a tool to close gender disparity gaps, accelerate progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and inspire the next generation of girls to pursue careers in science.

This was the central message as South Africa and Tunisia jointly celebrated Women’s Month in Pretoria on Thursday, reaffirming their partnership in advancing women’s empowerment through diplomacy in science, technology and innovation (STI).

Both countries, which mark National Women’s Day in August, used the occasion to reflect on their shared history of women’s struggles and emancipation, while strengthening collaboration to address barriers to gender equality in science and innovation.

The event was hosted by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) and the Embassy of Tunisia, with the theme: ‘The Role of Science Diplomacy in Women’s Empowerment: South African–Tunisian Experience’.

READ | Deputy Minister Gina to address SA-Tunisia Women’s Day celebration

Delivering the keynote address, Deputy Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Nomalungelo Gina, stressed that “science knows no borders”. She called for deeper cooperation between South Africa and Tunisia.

“We are here to insist that science diplomacy without a gender dimension is incomplete. We, as women across borders, must start collaborating on joint scientific and research projects more than before. We must support each other across nations,” said Gina.

She highlighted achievements made since the signing of the 2010 STI cooperation agreement with Tunisia, including joint research projects worth over R14 million. 

The Deputy Minister reaffirmed South Africa’s commitment to inclusivity through policies such as the STI Decadal Plan, the Grassroots Innovators Programme, and targeted support for women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

South Africa’s strides also include National Research Foundation funding instruments for Master’s and PhD studies, the annual South African Women in Science Awards (SAWiSA), and bursaries offered through the SA Radio Astronomy Observatory, which currently supports Tunisian researcher, Dr Raja Mchaalia.

Tunisia’s Ambassador to South Africa, Karima Bardaoui, outlined her country’s progress in advancing gender equality since independence in 1956. Women now make up more than 55% of science graduates and hold a high proportion of PhDs.

“We have implemented policies aimed at ensuring access to education for all and at providing knowledge, tools and opportunities that help bridge gender gaps and promote equality, regardless of gender, socioeconomic background, or geographic location,” said Bardaoui.

She said science diplomacy can help address underrepresentation in leadership, funding disparities, and cultural barriers, while inspiring the next generation of African women scientists.

The programme, supported by the Science Diplomacy Capital for Africa (SDCfA), featured thematic discussions with the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD), United Nations Women, the Commission for Gender Equality, and representatives from leading South African universities.

Programme Officer at AUDA-NEPAD, Dr Barbara Glover, urged greater visibility for women in science.

“Let us put women on the map so that the younger ones can see,” said Glover.

A recipient of National Research Foundation bursaries, Glover shared how science diplomacy enabled her to study in both Africa and Europe.

Founder of Traversing Liminality, Dr Lulamile Gwagwa, encouraged the DSTI to create a networking platform for SAWiSA participants to engage and collaborate. 

Recent SAWiSA winner, Dr Maurine Musie, said the awards inspired her to start a podcast on maternal and neonatal health in Africa. 

The event concluded with a united call to strengthen bilateral and continental partnerships that place women at the centre of science diplomacy.

Gina summed up the spirit of the day: “Women supporting each other, instead of competing against each other, bring a unity and strength like no other. Let’s hold hands and empower each other across our countries.” – SAnews.gov.za
 

Gabisile

92 views

Posted on

Final call for Gauteng public schools online applications

Source: Government of South Africa

Final call for Gauteng public schools online applications

The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has reminded parents and guardians that the 2026 Online Admissions Application Period for Grade 1 and Grade 8 in the province’s public schools will officially close at midnight.

“We urge all parents who have not yet completed the full five-step process to do so immediately. Failure to act before the deadline will result in disappointment and loss of placement priority,” said Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane on Friday.

Parents are encouraged to apply now before applications close at midnight by visiting www.gdeadmissions.gov.za.

As of Thursday evening, at 19:15, the GDE Online Admissions System had recorded a total of 800 530 Grade 1 and Grade 8 online applications, with Grade 1 applications accounting for 345 493 applications and Grade 8 applications were at 455 037.

“We are concerned that a significant number of applications remain incomplete. To date, 52 929 incomplete applications have been recorded. These include parents who registered details but did not finalise school selections, and those who applied but failed to submit or upload the required documents,”  the MEC said.

Parents are reminded that certified copies of all required documents must be submitted to schools or uploaded online by 12pm on 9 September 2025. 

The proof of home address is particularly important, as placement is based on feeder zones. Applications without this document will be regarded as incomplete.

The department has reminded parents and guardians that incomplete applications will not be considered for placement offers. 

Similarly, applicants who submit fraudulent or invalid documents will forfeit placement offers as well.

Only learners with complete applications and verified documents will receive placement offers during the placement period, starting from 16 October 2025 until all learners are placed.

Placement is not based on a first-come, first-served basis but according to the following criteria, applied in order of priority:

  • Home address within the school’s feeder zone, closest to the school.
  • Sibling/previous school.
  • Work address within the school’s feeder zone.
  • Home address within a 30km radius.
  • Home address beyond a 30km radius.

–SAnews.gov.za

nosihle

101 views

Posted on

Justice Minister saddened by the passing of Judge Tlhapi

Source: Government of South Africa

Friday, August 29, 2025

Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has sent condolences on the passing of Judge Vuyelwa Vivienne Tlhapi.

Tlhapi, who served at the Gauteng North High Court in Pretoria, passed away last week Thursday. She was widely respected for her analytical jurisprudence, integrity and commitment to strengthening the rule of law.  

Throughout her distinguished career, Tlhapi advanced justice, accountability and good governance through landmark rulings, including the restoration of the AmaRharhabe kingship, the order compelling the release of records relating to the Nkandla project, and judgments reinforcing principles of fair process. 

Tlhapi devoted her life to public service, beginning as a Magistrate, progressing through private practice where she co-founded her own firms, and serving as an Independent Electoral Commission commissioner during South Africa’s first democratic elections.

She was selected for the pioneering Bridget Mabandla Aspirant Judges Programme and appointed a judge in 2010, earning a reputation for fairness, integrity, and dedication to constitutional and administrative justice.

Kubayi has extended her heartfelt condolences to Tlhapi’s family, colleagues and the broader legal fraternity.

“The justice family is poorer with the passing of Judge Tlhapi. Her unwavering commitment to justice, transparency, and fairness has left an enduring legacy in our courts,” said Kubayi – SAnews.gov.za 

Posted on

President Ramaphosa arrives in Zimbabwe for working visit

Source: Government of South Africa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has arrived in Harare, Zimbabwe, at the invitation of His Excellency Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, for a working visit.

The President will also participate, as a Guest of Honour, in the Official Opening of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show.
The Zimbabwe Agricultural Show is an annual event organised by the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society to facilitate and promote agricultural development in the country.

This year, the show will be celebrating its 130th Anniversary since its founding in 1895 and will run under the theme “Building Bridging: Connecting Agriculture, Industry and Commerce”.

In 2024, the show attracted 570 exhibitors, including 13 international exhibitors. About 230 000 visitors visited the show last year.
The visit will also provide the President with an opportunity to solidify the cordial relations that exist between South Africa and Zimbabwe, particularly in the economic sector.

“The Zimbabwe Agricultural Show will also help promote intra-regional trade and economic integration within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

“Zimbabwe is one of South Africa’s main trading partners in the SADC region. In 2024, South Africa exported R 69,21 billion worth of goods and merchandise to Zimbabwe compared to R 57,5 billion in 2023. Vegetables were the main exports and contributed R11,9 billion to the total exports to Zimbabwe,” the Presidency said on Friday.

In terms of imports, in 2024, South Africa imported R5.4 billion worth of goods and merchandise from Zimbabwe compared to R R4.4billion in 2023.

Over 120 South African companies are doing business in Zimbabwe in various sectors including, among others, mining, aviation, tourism, banking, property, retail, construction and fast food.

Former President Nelson Mandela had graced this event as a Guest of Honour on 26 August 1994.

During the working visit, President Ramaphosa will be supported by the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Alvin Botes, and senior government officials. –SAnews.gov.za

Posted on

Operation Vala Umgodi nets 215 suspects

Source: Government of South Africa

Friday, August 29, 2025

The South African Police Service’s nationwide Operation Vala Umgodi has led to the arrest of 215 suspects of different nationalities.

“These suspects were arrested for illegal mining related offences and various other serious crimes such as unlawful possession of explosives, unlawful possession of unlicensed firearms, illegal possession of gold bearing material, illegal possession of precious metals, possession of gold processing equipment and contravention of the Immigration Act,” the South African Police Service (SAPS) said in a statement.

The arrests were effected between 18 and 24 August.

Meanwhile, members deployed under Operation Vala Umgodi have secured yet another effective jail sentence for two Mozambican nationals. On 20 August, the Polokwane Regional Court sentenced 28-year-old Adam Sithole and 22-year-old Musa Mlambo to 10 years direct imprisonment each after they were convicted of charges relating to unlawful mining and contravention of the Immigration Act.

“Operation Vala Umgodi is a testament to the government’s commitment to combating these criminal networks and protecting the country’s mineral resources,” the police said. – SAnews.gov.za

Posted on

SA appoints economic experts to produce G20 report on global wealth inequality

Source: Government of South Africa

With the state of global inequality set to worsen, South Africa’s Group of Twenty (G20) Presidency has launched a historic initiative that will deliver a report on global inequality.

“South Africa’s G20 Presidency is proud to launch an initiative that will target this issue of global wealth inequality – a first for the G20 – and offer a practical way forward. 

“We are honored to host a group of the world’s most respected economic experts, led by Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz, to produce a report that will be presented to G20 Leaders,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday.

The President commissioned an Extraordinary Committee to produce a report on global inequality amid macroeconomic fears that global wealth and income inequality, which was already very high, is set to sharply accelerate.

Recent analysis shows that the world’s richest 1% have increased their wealth by more than US$33.9 trillion in real terms, since 2015 – more than enough to eliminate annual global poverty 22 times over.

New shocks to global trade patterns, international financing and critical minerals flows, along with the intensification of problems created by sovereign debt overhang and imbalanced tax regimes, are creating uncertainties for policymakers, consumers and firms, and look likely to deepen the divide.

According to The Presidency, inequality of this scale poses a serious systemic risk to global economic, social and political progress.

The six independent experts are Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz (Nobel Economics Prize Laureate, USA); Dr Adriana E. Abdenur (Brazil); Ms Winnie Byanyima (Uganda); Professor Jayati Ghosh (India); Professor Imraan Valodia (South Africa), and Dr Wanga Zembe-Mkabile (South Africa). 

The experts will report on the state of wealth and income inequality, their impacts on growth, poverty and multilateralism, and present a menu of effective solutions for leaders.

“People across the world know how extreme inequality undermines their dignity and chance for a better future. They saw the brutal unfairness of vaccine apartheid, where millions in the Global South were denied the vaccines to save them. 

“They see the impacts of rising food and energy prices, debt and trade wars, all driving this growing gap between the rich and the rest of the world, undermining progress and economic dynamism. A new oligarchy in our global economy is becoming apparent,” the President said.

Stiglitz said inequality has widened to extremes that threaten democracy itself and should be a concern of all.

“…The profound rise in the discontents of mismanaged globalisation, which in many places has contributed to this growth of inequality, is also evident. 

“Inequality was always a choice – and G20 nations have the power to choose a different path on a range of economic and social policies. I am grateful to President Ramaphosa for placing inequality as central to the G20 agenda.

“The burgeoning body of scholarship on the causes of, and ways of reducing inequality, can help us to redress the great divide that has grown enormously in recent years. Our task must now be to translate the evidence and public’s palpable anger at the great divide into sound, practical and transformative policy proposals for G20 leaders,” he said.

Professor Ghosh, of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, said policymakers the world over are asking for evidence-based, practicable strategies to reduce inequality – and a new playbook to deal with the fractured and financialised 21st century political economy.

“It is a great privilege to have an opportunity to address this, provided by South Africa’s G20 Presidency. We must move away from depending on economic orthodoxies that generate business-as-usual strategies rather than grappling with complex and inconvenient truths.

“The longer-term trend of worsening inequality reflects ongoing processes accentuated by shocks, from the 2008 financial crisis to the 2020 pandemic. We now see a “perfect storm” of shocks, from tariffs being weaponised to push for deregulation, to the slashing of life-saving aid, to uncertainty affecting private investment and employment — all in the context of worsening climate change,” Ghosh said.

These further increase the wealth of the rich and aggravate poverty and insecurity among the majority. 

“This makes our work all the more urgent,” she emphasised.

Further details of experts are as follows:

  • Professor Joseph Stiglitz (USA): a Nobel Laureate in Economics; university professor at Columbia University and chief economist of the Roosevelt Institute.
  • Dr Adriana E. Abdenur (Brazil): a Brazilian social scientist, former Special Advisor in International Affairs in the office of President Lula of Brazil; co-founder of the Brazilian think tank, Plataforma CIPÓ, and current co-President of the Global Fund for a New Economy (GFNE).
  • Ms Winnie Byanyima (Uganda): Executive Director of UNAIDS and an Under-Secretary General of the United Nations; Convenor of the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics, and co-founder and co-chair of the People’s Medicines Alliance.
  • Professor Jayati Ghosh (India): Professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Co-Chair: International Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation.
  • Professor Imraan Valodia (South Africa): Professor of Economics; Pro Vice-Chancellor: Climate, Sustainability and Inequality, and Director of the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand.
  • Dr Wanga Zembe-Mkabile (South Africa): Senior Specialist Scientist in the Health Systems Research Unit of the South African Medical Research Council, and an Extraordinary Professor at the UWC School of Public Health.

The G20 Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Wealth Inequality is a special project located in the G20 Sherpa’s Office in the Department of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa. – SAnews.gov.za

Posted on

Gauteng government condemns intimidation of private vehicle owners

Source: Government of South Africa

Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport Kedibone Diale-Tlabela has strongly condemned reports of alleged intimidation, and coercion of commuters and private vehicle owners by some public transport operators. 

“Any form of bullying or coercion on our roads is unacceptable. Our officers are actively intervening to protect the public and uphold peace. 

“Commuters’ constitutional right to choose their preferred mode of transport is fully protected,” the MEC said on Thursday.

In January 2025, the Department of Roads and Transport established the Public Transport Crisis Committee, chaired by the MEC, and sits on Fridays, to coordinate with all stakeholders in the taxi, bus, e-hailing and scholar transport sectors.

“We are bringing all industry stakeholders under one roof to ensure that operations comply with the law and that commuters are treated fairly,” the MEC said.

She has also cautioned public transport users against making use of unregistered e-hailing operations and encouraged commuters to utilise recognised, legal and known platforms. 

“Law enforcement has been deployed in areas where illegal practices have been reported. Gauteng residents deserve a safe, reliable, and lawful transport system. We are committed to ensuring that every commuter can travel without any form of fear or intimidation,” Diale-Tlabela said.

The department’s Gauteng Transport Inspectorate (GTI) continues to work in restoring law and order on the province’s public roads. 

This week, the GTI was able to impound over 16 vehicles for various offences, including for illegal operations and vehicle unroadworthiness.

Enforcement operations, including vehicle impoundment, are conducted in line with the National Land Transport Act.

READ | Maponya Mall shooting a threat to public transport system stability

“We will not allow lawlessness, illegal operations and unroadworthy vehicles to put commuters’ lives at risk.

“Our law enforcement teams are on the ground to ensure peace, enforce compliance and lawful operations at all times. The safety and rights of our commuters are non-negotiable,” Diale-Tlabela said. – SAnews.gov.za

Posted on

President Cyril Ramaphosa arrives in Harare to participate in the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show

Source: President of South Africa –

President Cyril Ramaphosa has today 29 August 2025 arrived in Harare, Zimbabwe, at the invitation of His Excellency Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, for a working visit to Zimbabwe and to participate, as a Guest of Honour, in the Official Opening of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show.

The Zimbabwe Agricultural Show is an annual event organised by the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society to facilitate and promote agricultural development in the country. 

This year, the show will be celebrating its 130th Anniversary since its founding in 1895 and will run under the theme “Building Bridging: Connecting Agriculture, Industry and Commerce”. 

In 2024, the show attracted 570 exhibitors including thirteen (13) international exhibitors. About 230 000 visitors visited the show last year.

The visit will also provide the President with an opportunity to solidify the cordial relations that exist between South Africa and Zimbabwe, particularly in the economic sector. 

The Zimbabwe Agricultural Show will also help promote intra-regional trade and economic integration within the SADC region. 

Zimbabwe is one of South Africa’s main trading partners in the SADC region. In 2024, South Africa exported R 69,21 billion worth of goods and merchandise to Zimbabwe compared to R 57,5 billion in 2023. 

Vegetables were the main exports and contributed R11,9 billion to the total exports to Zimbabwe. 

In terms of imports, in 2024, South Africa imported R5,4 billion worth of goods and merchandise from Zimbabwe compared to R R4,4billion in 2023. 

Over 120 South African companies are doing business in Zimbabwe in various sectors including, among others, mining, aviation, tourism, banking, property, retail, construction and fast food.

Former Presidents Nelson Mandela graced this event as Guests of Honour on 26 August 1994. 

During the working visit, President Ramaphosa will be supported by the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Mr Alvin Botes, and senior government officials. 

Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President – media@presidency.gov.za

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria
 

Posted on

President Cyril Ramaphosa launches historic G20 experts taskforce led by Joseph Stiglitz to combat extreme wealth inequality

Source: President of South Africa –

The G20 Presidency of South Africa today launched a new “Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts” – commissioned by the President of South Africa, H.E. Mr Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, and chaired by Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz – which will deliver the first ever-report on global inequality to G20 to world leaders since its inception.

The Extraordinary Committee is launched amid macroeconomic fears that global wealth and income inequality, which was already very high, is set to sharply accelerate. 

Recent analysis shows that the world’s richest 1 percent have increased their wealth by more than US$33.9 trillion in real terms since 2015 – more than enough to eliminate annual global poverty 22 times over. 

New shocks to global trade patterns, international financing and critical minerals flows, along with the intensification of problems created by sovereign debt overhang and imbalanced tax regimes, are creating uncertainties for policymakers, consumers and firms, and look likely to deepen the divide.

Inequality of this scale poses a serious systemic risk to global economic, social and political progress.

The six independent experts are Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz (USA); Dr Adriana E. Abdenur (Brazil); Ms Winnie Byanyima (Uganda); Professor Jayati Ghosh (India); Professor Imraan Valodia (South Africa); and Dr Wanga Zembe-Mkabile (South Africa). 

The experts will report on the state of wealth and income inequality, their impacts on growth, poverty, and multilateralism, and present a menu of effective solutions for leaders.

The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa: 
“People across the world know how extreme inequality undermines their dignity and chance for a better future. They saw the brutal unfairness of vaccine apartheid, where millions in the Global South were denied the vaccines to save them. 

They see the impacts of rising food and energy prices, of debt, of trade wars, all driving this growing gap between the rich and the rest of the world, undermining progress and economic dynamism. A new oligarchy in our global economy is becoming apparent.

“South Africa’s G20 Presidency today is proud to launch an initiative that will target this issue of global wealth inequality – a first for the G20 – and offer a practical way forward. We are honored to host a group of the world’s most respected economic experts, led by Professor Stiglitz, to produce a report that will be being presented to G20 Leaders.

Professor Joseph Stiglitz (USA), Nobel Economics Prize Laureate:
“Inequality has widened to extremes that threaten democracy itself and should be a concern of all of us; the profound rise in the discontents of mismanaged globalisation which in many places has contributed to this growth of inequality is also evident. Inequality was always a choice – and G20 nations have the power to choose a different path, on a range of economic and social policies. I am grateful to President Ramaphosa for placing inequality as central to the G20 agenda.

“The burgeoning body of scholarship on the causes of, and ways of reducing, inequality, can help us to redress the great divide that has grown enormously in recent years. Our task must now be to translate the evidence and public’s palpable anger at the great divide into sound, practical and transformative policy proposals for G20 leaders.

Professor Jayati Ghosh (India), Professor, University of Massachusetts at Amherst:
“Policymakers the world over are asking for evidence-based, practicable strategies to reduce inequality – and a new playbook to deal with the fractured and financialised 21st century political economy. 

It is a great privilege to have an opportunity to address this, provided by South Africa’s G20 Presidency.

We must move away from depending on economic orthodoxies that generate business-as-usual strategies rather than grappling with complex and inconvenient truths.

“The longer-term trend of worsening inequality reflects ongoing processes accentuated by shocks, from the 2008 financial crisis to the 2020 pandemic. We now see a “perfect storm” of shocks, from tariffs being weaponised to push for deregulation, to the slashing of life-saving aid, to uncertainty affecting private investment and employment—all in the context of worsening climate change. 

These further increase the wealth of the richest and aggravate poverty and insecurity among the majority. 

This makes our work all the more urgent.”

Experts
Professor Joseph Stiglitz (USA): a Nobel laureate in economics, university professor at Columbia University and chief economist of the Roosevelt Institute.

Dr Adriana E. Abdenur (Brazil): a Brazilian social scientist, former Special Advisor in International Affairs in the office of President Lula of Brazil, co-founder of the Brazilian think tank Plataforma CIPÓ, and current co-President of the Global Fund for a New Economy (GFNE).

Ms Winnie Byanyima (Uganda): Executive Director of UNAIDS and an Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, Convenor of the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics, and co-founder and co-chair of the People’s Medicines Alliance
Professor Jayati Ghosh (India): Professor, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Co-Chair, International Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation
Professor Imraan Valodia (South Africa): Professor of Economics, Pro Vice-Chancellor: Climate, Sustainability and Inequality, and Director of the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand (WITS)
Dr Wanga Zembe-Mkabile (South Africa): Senior Specialist Scientist in the Health Systems Research Unit of the South African Medical Research Council, and an Extraordinary Professor at the UWC School of Public Health.

Notes to editors
The G20 “Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Wealth Inequality” is a a special project located in the G20 Sherpa’s Office, in the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) of South Africa. 

The G20 comprises 19 countries including: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, United Kingdom, and United States and two regional bodies, namely the European Union and the African Union.

Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President 
media@presidency.gov.za

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

Posted on

University of Zululand names its Engineering Department after Minister Nzimande

Source: Government of South Africa

The University of Zululand this week marked a major milestone with the unveiling of new state-of-the-art facilities at its Richards Bay campus and the naming of the Engineering Department in honour of the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Blade Nzimande.

The new additions include a dedicated engineering building, 442 new beds, the refurbished Madiba House, and the Richards Bay Lodge.

The Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) said one of the highlights of the ceremony was recognising Minister Nzimande for his contribution to education and development.

Humbled by the tribute, Nzimande reflected on his journey.

“As a boy from Dambuza, I never imagined that I would have my name inscribed on a university building.”

The Minister also unveiled two other buildings, one named after Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first democratic President, and another named after Vuyani Cyril Gamede, a pioneering black engineer and former Chairperson of the University Council.

Delivering the keynote address, Nzimande said government’s investment in infrastructure was about more than access: it was about creating a world-class learning environment.

“We also hope that these investments will inspire our students and academics to not simply see themselves as consumers of the knowledge that is produced by others, but to also see themselves as knowledge producers in their own right. This, of course, resonates with your purpose and statement as a university, that of positioning yourself as ‘A Node for African Thought’.”

He stressed the importance of establishing an engineering department in the uMhlathuze District, noting the area’s industrial role as home to the Southern Hemisphere’s largest aluminium smelter, a major coal export terminal, and significant operations in minerals, chemicals, and agro-processing.

“Through the Richards Bay port, this district is making a significant contribution in minerals and metals, chemicals, and agro-processing, all of which are key drivers of local economic development, job creation, skills development, technology transfer, and international trade,” he said.

Nzimande added that meeting these economic needs required technological skills and innovation. “Therefore, your decision to build this engineering department in this particular district is profoundly visionary.”

He also called on students to protect the new facilities. “You must never forget that these new buildings are for you and future generations, and you have a shared responsibility to make sure that they are well looked after. This is to make sure that, in a few years from now, the children of this area who are still in primary and high school can also come here to pursue their academic dreams.” – SAnews.gov.za