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Unisa forges firm ties at DIRCO’s Ubuntu Awards

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Dr Naledi Pandor, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, addressing the audience (Photo: DIRCO)

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) hosted its 6th annual Ubuntu Awards in Cape Town on 12 February. Unisa, an institution known for embodying Ubuntu (humanity) in its research, teaching and learning, and community engagement, was represented by the institution’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor (VC), Professor Puleng LenkaBula.

As the only head of a South African university invited to the event, the VC joined in honouring the achievements of the awardees, but also took the opportunity, on behalf of Unisa, to strengthen existing ties and form new ones with the many luminaries in attendance.

Following a personal introduction by the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, the Honourable Alvin Botes, the VC had an opportunity to engage with World Health Organisation Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who received the Special Ubuntu Humanitarian Award. Ghebreyesus was in the country to discuss progress in making Africa self-sufficient in the production of Covid-19 vaccines and related treatments, and the VC appraised him of related research initiatives at Unisa, and also the university’s role as a prominent science and research hub on the continent.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organisation Director-General, and Prof. Puleng LenkaBula, Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor

Significant informal conversations also took place between the VC and, among others, Dr Naledi Pandor, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Meryame Kitir, Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy, and Peter van Binsbergen, CEO of BMW Group South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Prof. Puleng LenkaBula, Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor, and Meryame Kitir, Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation and Urban Policy

For the VC, known for her strong youth development agenda, two awards stood out. The Ubuntu Youth Diplomacy Award was received by young entrepreneur Lesego Finger, who forfeited his income to create the hugely successful Matric Live mobile app to help learners during the Covid-19 lockdown. Master KG and Nomcebo Zikode, whose smash hit-song had the world dancing and singing all through 2020, received the Ubuntu Arts and Culture Diplomacy (Youth) Award.

The other awardees were:

    • Aziz Pahad, who received the OR Tambo Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his role in bringing peace to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Angola.
  • Pitso Mosimane, who received the Ubuntu Sports Diplomacy Award in recognition of his tenure as coach of the most successful soccer club in the world, Egyptian side Al Alhy.
  • Nomso Kana, who received the Ubuntu Social Responsibility Award in recognition of her work in driving programmes to empower the girl child in the SADC.

“It was indeed a delight for Unisa to be present at this event and to join in celebrating great South Africans and world humanitarians,” says Unisa’s Ambassador Professor Iqbal Jhazbhay, Acting Director of Projects in the Office of the Principal and Vice-Chancellor, and former South African Ambassador to Eritrea. “Equally, events such as these afford the head of the institution the opportunity to form new relationships and strengthen existing ones as she continues on her mission to consolidate and extend Unisa’s research and academic footprint further into South Africa, Africa and around the globe.”

* By Philip van der Merwe, Editor, Department if Institutional Advancement

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Publish date: 2022/02/18

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