A new chancellor at the University of Mpumalanga has taken over from President Cyril Ramaphosa. An inauguration was recently held at the university’s main campus.
The President of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa (SCA), Justice Mandisa Maya, has been installed as the Chancellor of the University of Mpumalanga (UMP).
Her inauguration was held at the University of Mpumalanga’s main campus in Mbombela.
Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtsweni- Tsipane, King Makhosonke II of AmaNdebele, UMP Vice-chancellor Professor Thoko Mayekiso, and the Chairperson of Council of the University of Mpumalanga Professor David Mabunda were amongst the dignitaries that were in attendance at the event.
“I am honoured and grateful to have the privilege of serving as the second chancellor and might I say the first woman chancellor of this pioneering centre of knowledge and education, the University of Mpumalanga,” said Justice Maya when she made her acceptance speech.
Maya’s predecessor is President Cyril Ramaphosa, and she is the second Chancellor of the University of Mpumalanga.
Justice Maya is the first woman to hold the position as President of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa, she’s also a candidate for Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
Maya had imagined herself being a Doctor but things turned out differently than she had initially thought.
Her first experience of the legal profession was when she worked at an attorney’s law firm in Mthatha, working as a Clerk Messenger.
It was right there when she fell in love with law.
According to the UMP, her contribution to the country’s democratic institutions and jurisprudence dates as far back as 1994 when she served as a case investigator for the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) during the first democratic South African elections.
“One task that I’m particularly excited about that’s already in my diary for 2022 is the archbishop Thabo Makgoba annual lecture on morals and ethics which I will address later in the new year and this initiative was established to strengthen the moral compasses of young leaders that attend our university, to ensure that they lead with integrity and honor,” said Justice Maya.
Maya is particularly interested in one of the university’s strategic priority areas – which is engagement and partnerships, which concerns collaborative engagement and partnerships with relevant stakeholders on her term as Chancellor of the university.
