North-West University recognises its trailblazer alumni
The alumni of the North-West University (NWU) continuously shine in their respective fields of expertise, both nationally and internationally. The NWU recognised ten of these remarkable career professionals during the university’s prestigious Alumni Awards of Excellence event in Sandton on 9 November.
These awards acknowledge exceptional alumni who are making impactful contributions in their careers and to society.
The honour roll for this year’s awards includes ten recipients from all spheres of society. Among them are an impactful marketing expert, a legendary researcher, a legislative transformer, an isiNdebele cultural activist, an internationally respected clinical and sport psychologist, an art historian and artist, a visionary innovator in sustainable agriculture, and a young trailblazer and human resources management champion.
The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Prof Dan Kgwadi, the NWU’s former principal and vice-chancellor. This award was given posthumously in recognition of Prof Kgwadi’s impactful and decisive leadership that placed the NWU firmly on its transformation journey.
Lifetime Achievement (posthumous)
Prof Ntate Dan Kgadi (1967 – 2023)
Academic leader, transformation champion, and trailblazer (read more)
Lifetime Achievement (posthumous): Prof Ntate Dan Kgadi (1967 – 2023)
Academic leader, transformation champion, and trailblazer
Prof Ntate Daniel Kgwadi stood at the centre of the NWU’s transformation journey. In his role as principal and vice-chancellor, his decisive leadership successfully guided the university through very challenging times in the South African higher education sector, including the Covid-19 pandemic and the Fees Must Fall student protests.
His vigorous pursuit of transformation placed the NWU firmly en route towards becoming an inclusive, equitable institution that embraces social justice.
During his tenure as the first black African at the helm of the NWU from April 2014 until January 2022, Dan successfully guided the NWU to achieve very important milestones such as the adoption of a new strategy, a restructuring process and the implementation of a repositioning strategy.
Prior to this, Dan served as the first rector of the NWU Mahikeng Campus, a position he had held since 1 January 2005.
He made significant contributions towards the successful merger of the three NWU campuses during this time.
His academic credentials were extensive and he had the following degrees: BSc (physics and chemistry, University of Bophuthatswana, RSA); MSc (physics, Ball State University, USA); MPhil (environmental law and management, University of the North, RSA); PhD (Physics Education, PU for CHE, RSA); PhD (management – honoris causa – Hanseo University, South Korea).
Throughout his life, Dan was passionate about teaching and mentoring budding academics and leaders. He started his career as a physics teacher at Phatisma High School and later served as senior manager/assessment coordinator at the National Nuclear Regulator. Dan was also head of the Physics department at the Vaal University of Technology, as well as the Physics department at the University of North-West.
Dan left the service of the NWU on 31 January 2022 when he was appointed as vice-chancellor of the Vaal University of Technology.
He is remembered and revered for his commitment to transformation and academic excellence.
Special 2023 Award
Susan Cilliers
Investigative journalist, voice for communities and authorSpecial 2023 Award: Susan Cilliers
Investigative journalist, voice for communities and author
Susan Cilliers’ byline regularly appears under some of the biggest headlines making national and international news. From crime and politics to municipal affairs and human interest, Susan has covered it all.
Her dedication to uncovering injustices and corruption and reporting factually has made her a voice for various communities. She brings their needs and experiences into public consciousness through her writing as a senior reporter for Netwerk24.
Susan’s commitment to engaging with communities from the time the news breaks until court proceedings are finalised, has kept them in the loop, helping them find closure to the horrific tragedies or events that befell them.
She published her first non-fiction book, Huis van gruwels in 2019, a best seller, about the experiences of the eldest child of the “Springs Monster”, the man who inflicted the most heinous forms of abuse on his ex-wife and children. Her second book, Die Stella-moorde, was about the murder of two teenage girls at a school hostel in the North West town of Stella in 2021.
Susan’s mastery of the written word has been honed through study as well as practice. She completed a BA degree in communication at the then Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education in 1994, and then obtained an honours degree in translation studies (cum laude) from the University of South Africa in 2013. She went on to complete a master’s degree in journalism at the NWU in 2018.
No stranger to accolades, she was awarded the Beeld newspaper’s News Gatherer of the Year title in 2013. Her writings also earned her a place as a finalist for Media24 Editor’s Choice Awards in 2004, and top 10 places for investigative journalism in the Sanlam National Competition for Regional Newspapers from 2000 to 2002. She was also runner-up as journalist of the year at MooiVaal Media in 1999.
Credible, trusted, creative and committed, Susan demonstrates every day that good journalism is alive and well in South Africa.
Arts and Culture
Amé Bell
Arts professional, arts historian and artist (read more)
Arts and Culture: Amé Bell
Arts professional, arts historian and artist
Thanks to art curator Amé Bell, South Africans did not need to visit Venice to view the South African artworks on display at Italy’s La Biennale Arte in 2022. Amé brought the exhibition to the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival in 2023, showing that home is where her heart is.
This is but one example of how Amé is using her passion for art to raise the profile of South African art in our own country and internationally, and to open doors for aspiring and emerging artists and art professionals.
Amé is the director of David Krut Projects, an alternative arts institution that operates in Johannesburg and New York and is dedicated to encouraging awareness of and careers in art and related literature and media.
Professionally and in her own time, she mentors and assists young artists and professionals to develop strategies to build and maintain their careers in art – a field that is well known for being difficult to break into.
The NWU is proud to be associated with her. Amé obtained her master’s degree in history of art in 2012, an honours degree (cum laude) in 2009 and a BA degree in 2009 ― all from this university.
She is currently busy with her PhD research at Wits University, focusing on how local artists are navigating the art world by using digital platforms and artist-run independent spaces.
Her greatest professional achievement so far was curating the South African Pavilion at Venice’s La Biennale Arte. This provided an opportunity to educate international audiences about the current social-political landscape in the country and encourage investment in local creative institutions and practitioners.
Then, by bringing that exhibition home to South Africa in 2023, she succeeded in getting local audiences involved and invested in artists who have represented South Africa abroad.
Another recent highlight for Amé was contributing to a top-level discussion in 2022 on Africa’s rebirth and the power of creative economy. This was at the Southern Africa Europe CEO Dialogue, at the invitation of the Italian think tank, The House Ambrosetti.
Amé is a talented artist, printmaker and illustrator in her own right. Since 2018, her work has featured in various group exhibitions and in 2020, she became the co-founder and podcaster of the Chopped Liver Appreciation Society, a local platform for independent creatives.
It is clear that Amé has indeed used her art to bring people together and open doors.
Business Leadership
Dr Alistair Mokoena
Impactful marketing expert and development advocate (read more)
Business Leadership: Dr Alistair Mokoena
Impactful marketing expert and development advocate
Dr Alistair Mokoena’s career is proof positive that business success and social impact can go hand in hand. While holding senior management positions at top corporates, he has been instrumental in equipping millions of Africans with digital skills and dramatically improving the black economic empowerment performance of the companies he works for.
Alistair is a chartered marketer with a quarter of a century’s experience in leadership roles at some of the most respected national and multinational corporate brands. These include Unilever, Tiger Brands, SABMiller (ABInbev), Cadbury (Mondelez), Absa Bank, FCB Advertising Agency and the Ogilvy South Africa Group.
He is currently director of Google South Africa, playing a significant role in initiatives that are taking Africa forward digitally. Among them are Google’s major investments in Africa’s digital transformation, the Google Africa Investment Fund to support African tech start-ups, and the Google Africa Digital Skills programme, which has trained seven million Africans in digital skills.
Alistair’s commitment to transformation saw him achieve a historic Level 1 B-BBEE rating for the Ogilvy Group and a Level 3 B-BBEE rating in three years for Google South Africa. He is chairman of the Transformation Committee of the Association for Communication and Advertising and a member of Google’s global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council.
He has received many industry awards over the years, most notably Global Brands Magazine’s Best Advertising & Marketing Leader for 2019. During his tenures at FCB Johannesburg and Ogilvy South Africa, both agencies raked in various awards, such as agency of the year.
His craving for knowledge has earned him several academic qualifications. He obtained his PhD from the NWU Business School (2020), MBA from Mancosa (2014), and LLB (1997) and BCom (1995) from Rhodes University. He registered for a second doctoral degree with the University of KwaZulu-Natal Graduate School of Business Leadership in 2023.
In addition to his corporate career, Alistair serves as an associate professor of practice at the Johannesburg Business School and extraordinary professor of practice at the North-West University Business School and is a regular MBA lecturer at several local and international business schools.
Alistair’s heart is in community development. He regularly makes donations to the Waldorf Village School, the Bronberg Nursing Academy and the NWU to support underprivileged students. He is CEO of the Johnny Magwegwe Mokoena Football Foundation, which invests in township football development.
In short, his career demonstrates the power of good business and a good heart.
Community Involvement
Louis-Gillis Janse van Rensburg
Visionary innovator and advocate for sustainable agriculture (read more)
Community Involvement: Louis-Gillis Janse van Rensburg
Visionary innovator and advocate for sustainable agriculture
Convinced that there must be other ways to feed households, communities and cities than to have a few large-scale producers growing food, Louis-Gills Janse van Rensburg set out in 2016 to disrupt the fresh food production market.
He established Fresh Life Produce as an alternative to concentrated farming and, before long, had developed the African Grower, a groundbreaking Africanised hydroponics system.
This vertical system, which has growing pods stacked on top of each other, is pest-resilient and water efficient, maximising crop yield and minimising resource consumption.
Fresh Life Produce has already constructed 39 pop-up greenhouses and supplied more than 1 500 African Growers to communities in low-income areas, empowering them with the knowledge and tools to become self-sufficient.
Going further, Louis-Gillis has established nine community hubs across the country where growers can sell their produce, share knowledge and develop their skills.
He is also advancing agricultural development and agri-skills nationwide through his involvement in the HandPicked cultural project, a collaboration between Fresh Life Produce and the Mr Price Foundation that cultivates entrepreneurship in agriculture.
One of HandPicked’s standout projects is the rooftop farm at the Kenilworth Centre in Cape Town. It has transformed unused urban spaces into productive agricultural zones where unemployed young people from the Langa community are learning how to set up their own urban farms.
Louis-Gillis’s impact has transcended borders. After winning first place in the United Nations Development Programme Cultivate competition in 2020, his African-grown solutions were transferred to Uruguay. He also won Cape Talk’s 2017 Small Business Award and the Investec agriculture competition of 2018, and was runner-up in the French South African Agricultural Institute’s agriculture competition in 2020.
Surprisingly, his qualifications have nothing to do with agriculture. Louis-Gillis obtained a BCom in industrial psychology and labour relations, a postgraduate diploma in business management and a certificate and diploma in advanced project management from the NWU.
This “green entrepreneur” is rolling up his sleeves and enabling communities to break free from food insecurity and improve their quality of life.
Education
Dr Monicca Bhuda
Specialist in Indigenous Knowledge Systems and culture activist (read more)
Education: Dr Monicca Bhuda
Specialist in Indigenous Knowledge Systems and culture activist
In safeguarding and promoting South Africa’s indigenous knowledge, Dr Monicca Bhuda has achieved a huge amount in a short space of time. She works tirelessly and with great energy to ensure that indigenous knowledge systems and culture take their rightful place in our education system and in society generally.
Her expertise in this field has earned her national recognition. As recently as September 2023, Monicca received the 2023 Voice of Heritage Award from the National Heritage Council of South Africa. She is currently the youngest member of the Indigenous Knowledge/Intangible Cultural Heritage National Authentication Panel. In this role, Monicca advises and assists the Minister of Sports, Art and Culture, who appointed her to the panel in 2021.
Monicca is not only an advocate for Ndebele heritage, art and the isiNdebele language but also an impactful influencer. She collaborates with traditional leaders and the media to actively promote Ndebele brands.
She is also the coordinator of a programme that focuses on African identities, heritage and history at the University of Mpumalanga where she lectures.
Bringing African languages to the fore, she is a member of the African Language Association of Southern Africa, the African Association for the Study of Indigenous Knowledge Systems and MacArthur Bates Communicative Developmental Inventory Infant’s and Toddlers’ Forum, among others.
Actively involved in academia, she already has more than six years’ experience in teaching in the indigenous knowledge systems field, has presented over 30 papers at various conferences, published 18 academic publications, and contributed various chapters in books on indigenous knowledge systems.
Monicca obtained her PhD in 2022. She completed both her master’s degree (2019) and BA degree (2017) with distinction – all from the NWU.
Never one to rest on her laurels, she is pursuing a second PhD at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, focusing on the IsiNdebele language and culture development, in particular the survival of the language and cultural practices after the 1883 Mapoch war.
She is actively involved in communities, working with young Ndebele leaders to preserve the Ndebele culture through traditional events as part of the Isizukulwane sikaMusi organisation. She is also part of Ndebele culture preservation through her work with the Ndzundza Mabusa traditional leaders and the North-West University’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems Centre.
Monicca’s energy and commitment to preserving and promoting indigenous knowledge and culture is nothing short of inspiring.
Public Service
Dr Dumisani Jantjies
Legislative transformer, policy advisor and promotor of gender equality (read more)
Public Service: Dr Dumisani Jantjies
Legislative transformer, policy advisor and promotor of gender equality
Women empowerment is fundamental to the success of South Africa’s legislative sector and no one knows this better than Dr Dumisani Jantjies, director of the Parliamentary Budget Office in the National Assembly.
Under his leadership, the office has played crucial roles on two important fronts: giving Parliament independent, professional advice on budget and fiscal policy and bringing more women into the legislative sector.
In fact, the Parliamentary Budget Office has been recognised as leading the legislative sector in women empowerment. This achievement that was featured in the Top Women Leaders publication, which celebrates organisations that prioritise gender empowerment as integral to their growth and success.
Dumisani, who joined the office in 2014, broke new ground in the fiscal policy arena when, during the 2015 Fees must Fall protests, he led a research team that calculated what it would cost government to provide free higher education. This report was one of the few independent projects at the time that gave a credible costing estimate analysis for policy consideration.
He also wrote a policy paper in 2020 on the digital economy and its implications for South Africa’s tax policy. The context for this paper was the Covid-19 pandemic, when rapid digitalisation and remote working was the order of the day, potentially squeezing tax revenues. Dumisani’s policy paper presented proposals on how government should consider expanding its tax base given digitalisation.
The impact of his work has been felt beyond South Africa’s borders. In 2016, Dumisani led a group of five African country budget offices in establishing the African Network of Parliamentary Budget Offices. The aim of this platform is to support legislatures on the continent to strengthen their oversight capacity over governments.
Passionate about youth development, Dumisani co-founded a non-profit organisation that assists young people from disadvantaged communities to acquire technology, finance, business and related skills.
He also worked as facilitator in a graduate development programme at the NWU from 2007 to 2010 and from 2011 to 2014.
His own skills and qualifications are formidable. Dumisani obtained his BCom degree from the former University of North West in 2004, an MSc in finance and economic development with merit from the University of Oxford Brookes in 2009, and a postgraduate certificate in research methodology from the University of Birmingham in 2011. He holds an LLM degree in international trade, business, and investment law from the University of the Western Cape in 2017 and a PhD in governance from the University of Birmingham in 2014.
A true servant of the people, Dumisani exemplifies the virtues of accountability, work ethic and empathy needed to build a nation.
Research
Prof Kobus Eloff
Legendary researcher, mentor and patentor (read more)
Research: Prof Kobus Eloff
Legendary researcher, mentor and patentor
In a research career spanning nearly 60 years, Prof Kobus Eloff has produced a bumper crop of botanical and phytomedicinal knowledge for the world to reap.
His work on phytomedicine and the classification, ecology and uses of Southern African flora has helped to elevate the status of traditional knowledge systems and contributed to solving various problems in the herbal medicine industry.
A prolific researcher, Prof Eloff’s work has featured in more than 350 peer-evaluated scientific publications, receiving 20 800 citations (with an h factor of 69 and 258 publications cited more than 10 times).
He was editor of several scientific journals, delivered 240 international presentations and mentored more than 100 postgraduate students, many of whom went on to serve their local communities.
Prof Eloff’s impressive research credentials have earned him professorships at various South African universities and local and international recognition for his work on phytomedicine. He was elected as a foreign member of the Italian Academy of Sciences Bologna Institute and received the SFE Outstanding International Ethnopharmacologist Award from the Indian Chapter of the International Society of Ethnopharmacology. He also received a bronze medal from the International Horticultural Society.
On home soil, Prof Eloff received gold and silver medals and honorary life membership from the South African Association of Botanists, as well as a gold medal, the Havenga medal and MT Steyn Prize from the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, among others.
Leadership positions he has held include executive director of the National Botanical Gardens of South Africa, research director of the National Botanical Institute and founding the interdisciplinary phytomedicine programme in the faculty of Veterinary Science of the University of Pretoria.
He also chaired the Western Herbal Medicine Review Committee of the Herbal Products Association of South Africa.
Several professional societies take pride in counting him as a member, including the Academy of Science of South Africa, the African Academy of Sciences and the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns.
Not surprisingly, it all started here at the NWU. Prof Eloff obtained various degrees from the former Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, notably a BSc (1959), BSc Hons (1960), MSc (1962), BSc Hons (1963), MSc status (1965) and DSc (1967). He also achieved certificates in executive management and strategic management from the University of Stellenbosch in 1984 and 1986.
He has registered several patents, including a new framework compound with excellent antifungal and antiparasitic activity, and licensed products to industrial companies. People and plants alike have flourished under Prof Eloff’s guidance.
Sport
Prof Pieter Kruger
Internationally respected clinical and sport psychologist (read more)
Sport: Prof Pieter Kruger
Internationally respected clinical and sport psychologist
It takes more than physical fitness and training for sports stars to perform at their best; they need mental stamina too. Clinical and sport psychologist Prof Pieter Kruger has supported many national and international athletes and teams to cope with the mental stress of competing at the highest levels of sport.
He is one of the go-to performance psychologists and high-performance consultants for an illustrious list that includes the McLaren Formula 1 racing team, the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), Team South Africa at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the Springboks competing in the Rugby World Cup.
Working with the cream of the crop of local athletes, Pieter has supported many of South Africa’s national teams and was instrumental in the design and development of the high-performance plan for SASCOC in the Olympic cycle for 2016 to 2020.
He will continue to play this leading role in the next two Olympic cycles, leading into the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028.
It is not just star athletes who call on his expertise. In the corporate sector, Pieter has hosted various national and international performance and mental health programmes and workshops. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he presented 116 workshops between April and October 2020, spanning several countries and involving 5 000 participants.
Pieter has received many awards and other accolades. These include being invited in 2022 to join the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Association of South Africa as an academic member. He has been an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society since 2011 for his significant contributions in the field of psychology.
Passionate about nurturing young minds, he is a guest lecturer at Burgenland University of Applied Sciences in Austria and a visiting professor at the University College London Medical School for the MSc in Sports Medicine.
Pieter has also been involved in upskilling sports coaches at primary and high schools in Potchefstroom, North-West Cricket and various NWU sport codes. His work contributed to the NWU’s first-ever Varsity Cup win in rugby in 2016.
All his qualifications are from the NWU, obtained between 2000 and 2006, namely a BA degree in psychology and human movement science, BA Hons in sport science, BA Hons in psychology and PhD in psychology.
When the pressure’s on, Pieter is the expert to have at your side, as countless top-performing sportspeople can confirm.
Young Alumnus
Prof Musawenkosi Donia Saurombe
Young trailblazer and human resource management champion (read more)
Young Alumnus: Prof Musawenkosi Donia Saurombe
Young trailblazer and human resource management champion
Since becoming the youngest female postgraduate in Africa when she obtained her PhD at the age of 23 in 2017, Prof Musawenkosi Donia Saurombe has not been sitting back. Now an associate professor at the University of Johannesburg, she has set a cracking pace in her research on industrial psychology and human resource development.
So far, her research has been published in 15 accredited journals and she has delivered papers at an array of high-level conferences. She is collaborating with academics from universities in Canada, Nigeria and Iran, all the while serving as qualification leader for master’s and doctoral human resource management students at UJ.
Donia’s research focus is talent management, the employee value proposition, the psychological contract and women and youth empowerment. Her work has yielded insights across various sectors, including basic and higher education, banking, finance, and local government.
Her longer term goals are to work towards eradicating illiteracy and encourage young people, especially women, to pursue opportunities to further their education and careers.
Understanding the challenges young people face, Donia is deeply committed to mentoring and supervising young academics and has actively contributed to the academic development of multiple PhD, master’s and honours students. She also informally mentors aspiring academics.
Donia is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management, head of innovation in higher education for the BRICS Youth Chamber for Commerce and Industry and part of the Charlotte Mannya-Maxeke Institute, which cultivates and enhances youth knowledge and skills.
Recognition has been flowing in for her contributions to her field. In 2022, she was ranked 27th out of 359 academics for research outputs by UJ’s College of Business and Economics.
Donia was also a finalist in the Accenture 10th Gender Mainstreaming Awards and received honorary membership of the Golden Key International Society.
While her achievements are all her own, there is no doubt that Donia had a solid start here at the NWU, where she obtained a PhD in industrial psychology, master’s degree (cum laude) and honours degree in human resource management. She is currently enrolled for a postgraduate qualification at UJ.
As her alma mater, we watch her achievements with pride and look forward to many more.