The late Prof Hlengiwe Mkhize

On 14 October 2021, Unisa, in partnership with South African Women in Dialogue and the Ministry of Women, Youth and People with Disabilities, hosted a memorial service at the Senate Hall for the late Deputy Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Prof Hlengiwe Mkhize. 

In her welcome address, Prof Puleng LenkaBula, Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor (VC), reflected on the character and academic life of the late deputy minister.

"Hers was a rich life," said the VC, "a life accompanied with deep reflexibility around the roles of human beings in shaping our societies and ensuring that their talents contribute to the shaping of dignity, human rights, freedom and social justice, but also the value of education as a transformative, progressive and important endeavour in building communities and ensuring a safer world than that which we are bequeathed."

In her description of Prof Mkhize, the VC said many claimed her as their own or as one of them because she was a gifted and caring diplomat. She added that Mkhize "was an academic, an administrator, an activist and one who dared to speak about communities that sometimes in our society are often forgotten if not alienated".

According to the VC, the late deputy minister, who passed away on Thursday 16 September 2021, did not promote fancy slogans, but she ensured that people speak for themselves.

The VC emphasised that Prof Mkhize’s contribution to society involved healing the wounds of the apartheid regime and its residues that had designated not only our people but had stolen the dignity of their humanity by stratifying them according to how they looked and the pigmentation of their skin.

The love for education, rallying for change

In her reflection, the VC pointed out two aspects of Prof Mkhize that she had encountered which she believes are significant for higher learning institutions. The first was her love for education and for seeing education as a rallying point for the changes in society that are meaningful. The second was the idea of justice as integral to the formation of dignity, freedom and a democratic culture.

The VC further mentioned that the late deputy minister studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree in the Non-Governmental Organizations Initiative (NGOi), an initiative of the American University of Beirut that provides different services to the NGO sector in Lebanon and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, and completed her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal at a time when black women in the country were faced with so many barriers in achieving anything, let alone academic excellence.

The VC further explained: "In her search for education, Prof Mkhize was not deterred from completing her studies and this speaks volumes of the type of person she was because those were trying times. Many of us can relate to the challenges of failing and struggling with studies because of financial exclusion, assessment systems that literature has shown can discriminate according to race, gender and disability, and sometimes even our sexuality."

Prof Puleng Segalo and Tebogo Moemise rendered a music item at the deputy minister's memorial service.

The VC remarked that Prof Mkhize created a community of inclusivity that took into cognisance people living with disabilities and LGBTQIA+ communities. "She embraced women and children who had high hopes for improving their lives," said the VC, "and when we track her history, we find that Prof Mkhize had long entered an uncharted territory of being a trailblazer when she became one of the few black academics at a previously white university, the University of the Witwatersrand, in 1990. She ensured that the talents of black women were not just spoken about but were the rallying point of transformation that was happening in our country."

Prof Puleng LenkaBula, Unisa's Principal and Vice-Chancellor

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane speaking on behalf of Ministry of Women, Youth & People with Disabilities

Speaking at the event, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Youth and People with Disabilities, described the personal and professional relationship she had with the late Hlengiwe. Referring her as the ever beautiful "Buhle" which is her middle name, Nkoana-Mashabane recalled a time when the late deputy minister said, "Let’s run to Mme Zanele Mbeki, the former first lady of South Africa, and seek advice", because the ministry they were allocated to was penniless. Nkoana-Mashabane characterised the late deputy minister as a courageous and fearless woman who worked hard for the betterment of all.

Comforting the family of the late deputy minister, Nkoana-Mashabane recalled Prof Mkhize’s husband as a man of God who always asked about the philosophy of life and also said, "We spend little time with our families, but listening to Mr Mkhize every time I met him I was consoled because he is a good counsellor." To Mkhize’s children, Nkoana-Mashabane said: "My dear children, you are the products of a formidable woman. Remember that she is not gone, mmago motho ga ahlokofale, meaning even after death, you go to the well and nurse those great ideas from the one who breastfed you."

It was clear to all who attended the memorial that the deputy minister was not only a woman of strength, but also a sincere giver who had a heart for the less fortunate.

* By Lesego Chiloane-Ravhudzulo, Journalist, Department of Institutional Advancement