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17 September 2019 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Stephen Collett
Dr Khotso Mokhele
Dr Khotso Mokhele, was recently honoured by the National Research Foundation.
Dr Khotso Mokhele, Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS), received the special 20-Year Recognition Award from the National Research Foundation (NRF) during its annual awards ceremony at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West, Western Cape, on 12 September 2019. 
 
Dr Mokhele was recognised for his extraordinary, impactful, and transformative contribution to the advancement of South African science and its positioning globally.

“On behalf of the UFS Rectorate and the university community, I would like to congratulate Dr Mokhele on this fine achievement,” says Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS. 

“With this award, the NRF has accentuated the immense value Dr Mokhele has been bringing to not only science, but also to the many other areas he has been involved with for many years – including the UFS in his capacity as Chancellor,” says Prof Petersen. 
 
On 7 September 2019, Dr Mokhele was also named Honorary Chancellor’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year during the UFS’s annual Chancellor’s Distinguished Alumni Awards. 

Background of Dr Mokhele

Khotso David Kenneth Mokhele was born and bred in Bloemfontein, matriculated from the Moroka High School and obtained a BSc degree in Agriculture from the University of Fort Hare, where he won the Massey-Ferguson award for the best student in his field. He continued his postgraduate studies at the University of California Davis on the prestigious Fulbright-Hays Scholarship Programme, obtaining his MSc (Food Science) and PhD (Microbiology). He was subsequently awarded postdoctoral fellowships at the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania in the USA. Mokhele returned to South Africa in 1987, set on becoming a top-class academic and researcher. He held lecturing posts at the Universities of Fort Hare (1987-1989) and Cape Town (1990-1992). 

In 1992, he was approached by Dr Rein Arndt, the then President of the Foundation for Research Development (FRD – the predecessor of the NRF), to join the foundation as one of its vice-presidents. The decision was a difficult one for the young Mokhele. Not only had he just embarked on an academic career, he was uncertain whether it was appropriate for a political activist to join a parastatal organisation under the apartheid government. After much soul searching, he accepted the offer on condition that he was given the freedom to transform the FRD into a funding agency geared to meeting the needs of higher education in South Africa. Shortly after he joined the FRD in June 1992, he made his presence felt as an outstanding organiser and communicator; several new research-funding programmes were initiated, with a strong emphasis on developing people who had previously been excluded. When Dr Arndt retired in 1996, Mokhele was the obvious choice to succeed him as President of the FRD. As President and CEO of the National Research Foundation (NRF) (1999-2006), Dr Mokhele played a central role in providing visionary and strategic direction to the South African science system and to the development agenda of the country. 

He was part of the team that drafted the Green Paper for science and technology, was the founder President of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAF), Chairperson of the Economic Advisory Council to the Premier of the Free State (2001-2004), and a member of the Advisory Council on Innovation to the Minister of Science and Technology (2003-2007). His role in securing government and international support for the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) Project is evidence of his dedication to science in South Africa. The success of this project laid the basis for South Africa being selected to host more than 70% of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), an international mega-telescope for radio astronomy. He was appointed as member of the first Council on Higher Education and deputy convenor of its task force on the Reconfiguration of Higher Education, and he served on the councils of a number of universities. More recently, he was appointed by the Minister of Science and Technology as a member of the National Advisory Council on Innovation, and by the Minister of Labour as chair of the National Skills Board. 

His role in science is recognised internationally. In achieving his vision, he recognised the importance of South Africa’s re-entry into the international science community and has been an ambassador for South African and African science in high-profile international fora. He was elected Vice-President: Scientific Planning and Review of the International Council for Sciencee (ICSU) and as Chairperson of its Committee for Scientific Planning and Review (2005-2008), as well as a member of the Committee on Developing and Transition Economy Countries of the International Social Science Council (2008-2010). He also represented South Africa on the executive board of UNESCO (1997-2001) and served as Chairperson of the Special Committee of this board (1999-2001). Dr Mokhele was part of the UNESCO assignment (2006-2007) to review the science and technology system of the member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and giving advice on how to leverage science, technology, and innovation for the development of the Caribbean region. 

Dr Mokhele’s corporate positions included Non-Executive Chairman on the Board of Directors of Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd (Implats), ArcelorMittal South Africa, and Adcock Ingram Holdings Ltd; Non-Executive Director of African Oxygen Ltd (Afrox), Zimbabwe Platinum Holdings Ltd (Zimplats), Mapitso Consortium, Kenosi Investment Holdings, and Tiger Brands Ltd. He is the President of the Hans Merensky Foundation (South Africa) and a trustee of SciDev.Net (a web-based scientific magazine based in London, UK) and Start International Inc (a global-change capacity-building initiative based in the USA). He was Chairman of the Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee for Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, Lesotho, and Swaziland (2007–2011) and has served on the South Africa at Large Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee for more than 10 years. 

Khotso Mokhele’s contribution to science in South Africa has received wide recognition locally and abroad. He has received six honorary doctorates, the most recent from Rutgers University in the USA. He was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour by the President of France in recognition of his personal efforts in strengthening scientific ties between France and South Africa, and was appointed a director of the Salzburg Global Seminar – an institution focused on global change, and subsequently as member of its Council of Senior Fellows. He was the recipient of the Technology Top 100 Lifetime Achievers Award in 2009, and the National Science and Technology Forum Award in 2005. He also received the Science Diplomacy Award from the Minister of Science and Technology in South Africa (2015). 

News Archive

Top PhD graduates hailed for excellent research in development and historical studies
2017-07-11

 Description: Top PhD graduates hailed for excellent research Tags: Top PhD graduates hailed for excellent research  

Prof Melanie Walker and Prof Ian Phimister

The Centre for Research on Higher Education and Development and the International Studies Group celebrated its PhD graduates on 26 June 2017. The four graduates were joined by their PhD promoters Prof Ian Phimister and Prof Melanie Walker, the Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, and their families, who came from far and wide, as well as various faculty academics and staff. Their areas of study ranged between Development Studies and Africa Studies, exploring issues that make a significant impact on the Southern African region and the continent as a whole.

In the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, specialising in Development Studies, Dr Faith Mkwananzi, promoted by Prof Merridy Wilson-Strydom, explored the lives and educational aspirations of marginalised migrant youth, a case study in Johannesburg. She focused on the complex nature of the daily lives and experiences of marginalised migrant youth and the complexities that influence the formation and achievement of educational aspirations in contexts of vulnerability and disadvantage. The study provides compelling evidence for policy and practice that can make the lives of marginalised young migrants better.

A focus on teaching and learning in Zimbabwean universities with a focus on quality as a human development, was what Dr Patience Mukwambo, put her research efforts into. Her work makes an original contribution to national, continental, and international debates on conceptualising and operationalising the quality of teaching and learning in higher education. She successfully developed a significant alternative approach to understanding what quality in higher education teaching and learning entails, the factors that influence the realisation of quality as she theorises it, and the overall importance for human development and human well-being in universities and society.

Dr Bothwell Manyonga, who also specialised in Development Studies, examined the broader debates on the purposes and practices of teaching and learning in higher education with a case study at two South African universities, with an emphasis on principles of social justice and equity. In the thesis, he developed a model that proposes grounds for (re)thinking sociology teaching and learning to address how the capabilities approach and dominant human capital theory might complement each other in higher education and curriculum development. This takes into account both the instrumental aim of employment, which is of concern to students, as well as the intrinsic goods of critical discourse and personal development.

In the Faculty of the Humanities, with a specialisation in Africa Studies, Dr Abraham Mlombo’s doctoral research explored the relationship between Southern Rhodesia and South Africa 1923-1953, examining the ‘special relationship’ between the two countries from the former’s perspective, highlighting the complexity of the ties between them by examining (high) political relations, economic links and social and cultural ties. “It is through Abraham’s research that for the first time, black experiences of both sides of the colonial border are detailed,” said Prof Phimister.

In congratulating the graduates, Prof Melanie Walker expressed that a lot of hard work was put into training the PhD candidates and they had without a doubt produced work that was of the highest level, at international standards.

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