News & Media
The Thabo Mbeki Foundation hosts a gala dinner in honour of Dr Brigalia Bam
The Thabo Mbeki Foundation held a gala dinner in honour of Dr Brigalia Bam. The dinner preceded the International Women's Day dialogue, hosted by the Thabo Mbeki Foundation in partnership with Unisa and the Nelson Mandela University (NMU), powered by the Finance and Accounting Services Sector Education and Training Authority (FASSET).
Bam is a trained social worker and educationist who holds four honorary doctorates from various universities from across the globe. She was the Chancellor of the former University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela University) from 2000 to 2005. She received an honorary doctorate from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2005 in recognition of her contribution to enhancing the quality of life of the diverse communities of the Eastern Cape and South Africa. Bam has devoted her life and career to advancing women's leadership and empowerment globally.
Bam at Unisa
"May we continue to place a sharp focus on women's rights as human rights" - Prof Puleng LenkaBula, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Unisa.
From 2012 to 2017, Unisa hosted the WIPHOLD Brigalia Bam Chair in Electoral Democracy in Africa. The Chair was a vehicle for researching and exploring elections within Africa. Speaking at the gala dinner, Prof Puleng LenkaBula, Principal and Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Unisa, said: "Since its inception in 2012, the chair played a critical role in South Africa's evolving democratisation and Africa's elections."
The Chair contributed immensely to understanding contemporary debates, innovations and dilemmas of democratisation through elections in Africa. It also produced publications in accredited periodicals and books, hosted numerous seminars, and initiated an election observer mission to train Unisa staff, students and members of civil society on elections in Africa. These initiatives aligned with its mandate of promoting electoral democracy regionally and continentally through the Chair's four main pillars of research, capacity building, community engagements and academic citizenship.
LenkaBula said: "Unisa prides itself on being one of the leading organisations that make celebrating International Women's Day in our country fashionable. Together with the Unisa Women's Forum, the university prides itself in its unequivocal stand for equality, freedom and justice for all." The VC added: "International Women's Day is one of the most significant in the institution's calendar as it echoes our vision to be an African University shaping futures in the service of humanity." She continued: "It is a day that epitomises our greatest strength as an institution, which promotes human development, skills acquisition and education that is accessible to everyone, including women and people in our remote and marginalised communities."
To preserve Bam's legacy, LenkaBula asserted: "As we observe Human Rights Day on 21 March 2024, may we continue to place a sharp focus on women's rights as human rights."
* Compiled by Tshimagadzo Mphaphuli, Editor: Internal Communication, Department of Institutional Advancement
Publish date: 2024/03/12
Accounting pundit appointed to lead Unisa's College of Accounting Sciences
World Social Work Day: A shared future for transformative change
Unisa partners with Palabora Mining Company to create research-based solutions
Unisa’s student leadership takes debt bull by the horns
From medical scrubs to legal robe