Prof Leketi Makalela

Prof Leketi Makalela
Full Professor, Founding Director of the Hub for Multilingual Education and Literacies (HuMEL), and Deputy Head of the Wits School of Education, leading Research and Innovation at the University of the Witwatersrand

Professor Leketi Makalela is a Full Professor, Founding Director of the Hub for Multilingual Education and Literacies (HuMEL), and Deputy Head of the Wits School of Education, leading Research and Innovation at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is an NRF SARChI Chair holder and internationally recognized for his theory of Ubuntu Translanguaging, which reframes language as interconnected and inclusive.

His work on bilingual education and literacy reforms influences policy across sub‑Saharan Africa. Prof. Makalela advises South Africa’s Department of Basic Education on languages and literacy, and is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at CUNY and King’s College London. He also founded the Balang Foundation and co‑edited The Routledge Handbook of Translanguaging in the Global South.