25 April 2024

Dear members of Convocation and the UCT community

A new University of Cape Town (UCT) Council is being constituted to serve from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2028.

A Convocation nomination and election process ran from 9 to 23 April 2024.

The following four Convocation nominees received the highest number of votes, in alphabetical order:

  • David Ansara
  • Brian Kantor
  • Mark Oppenheimer
  • Kelly Phelps

See the full vote counts.

Further Council elections are ongoing and the processes and results around those will be communicated.

UCT is grateful to all 20 Convocation candidates who expressed an interest to serve UCT.

Regards

Royston Pillay
Registrar

A call for nominations of candidates for election to Council was sent out to Convocation on 29 February 2024.

Twenty nominations were received for the election by Convocation of four members to serve on the UCT Council. An electronic ballot was held. Voting opened on 9 April 2024 and closed at 16:00 SAST on 23 April 2024.

9 April 2024

TO MEMBERS OF CONVOCATION

Election by the UCT Convocation of four members to serve on the UCT Council for a term of four years from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2028

Twenty nominations have been received for the election by Convocation of four members to serve on the UCT Council. An electronic ballot will be held.

Voting opens on 9 April 2024 and will close at 16:00 SAST on 23 April 2024.

Log in using the e-mail address with which you are registered as a member of Convocation (where you will have received information about your password).

Select “UCT Council Convocation Election 2024”

Kindly follow the online instructions.

If you know of any member of Convocation who has not received this notification by email or does not have an email address registered with UCT, or if you require any assistance, please send an email to convocationelection@uct.ac.za.

Royston Pillay
Registrar

Note:

  1. The email addresses of members of the UCT academic staff, and those persons elected to emeritus rank, have been pre-loaded onto the voters’ roll. Members of Convocation who have registered e-mail addresses with UCT’s Development and Alumni Department (DAD) have also been pre-loaded onto the voters’ roll and will be able to vote using the above user credentials.
  2. Members of Convocation who are not registered with DAD, and who wish to participate in the election, may request a username and password by sending an email containing the information in the table below to convocationelection@uct.ac.za. When submitting such an email please use ‘Voter Registration’ as your subject line.
    Student number (If known)  
    Surname  
    Previous surname at the time of graduating (If applicable)  
    First names  
    Date of birth: yyyymmdd format  
    Year(s) of graduation  
    Degree(s)/Diploma(s) obtained.  
  • For those persons referred to in #2 above, once your standing as a member of Convocation has been verified, a username, password and voting instructions will be sent to you by email. Please note further that for those members of Convocation who still need to be registered to vote, the registration process referred to above will close at 16:00 (SAST) on 22 April 2024.

29 February 2024

TO MEMBERS OF CONVOCATION

The University of Cape Town (UCT) Convocation consists of the graduates and all holders of diplomas and credit-bearing certificates of the university; the vice-chancellor, the deputy vice-chancellors and the academic staff; and those former professors and associate professors elected by the Senate to the emeritus rank.

Invitation to nominate persons for election as members of the University Council 2024–2028

The term of office of the members of the University Council elected by Convocation will expire on 30 June 2024.

You are invited to nominate up to four people as candidates for election to the Council, to hold office for four years from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2028.

Nominees in this category may not be current UCT staff or students, and do not have to be members of Convocation, but must be able to attend regular Council and committee meetings and be willing to commit time and energy for this purpose. Membership of Council does not carry any remuneration. Each nomination must be accompanied by the nominee’s written acceptance of nomination and a one-page curriculum vitae listing name (and, optionally, former names), address, academic and professional qualifications, occupation, offices held now and in the past, a statement of intent (not exceeding 200 words), and an ID photo of the nominee in jpeg format. Statements of intent exceeding 200 words will be edited.

Please ensure that you download the form to your computer or other electronic device before filling in any information. Any information filled in while the form is open in a web browser will not be retained when the file is saved. Completed nomination forms should be e-mailed to convocationelection@uct.ac.za. Nominations signed by six members of Convocation must be received not later than 22 March 2024. No late nominations will be considered.

If more than four nominations are received, an electronic election will follow.

The curricula vitae of nominees and their statement of intent will be posted on the university website: www.uct.ac.za. The results of the election will also be posted on the website after the voting process has been concluded.

The Council is responsible for the governance of the university under the Higher Education Act. By law, the Council may not exceed 30 members of whom 60% must be external members. Council meets four to six times annually. Members are usually also involved in standing committees of Council. The UCT Annual Report for 2022 gives some idea of the work of the university and of the Council.

The qualities sought in Council members include personal integrity, a commitment to ethical conduct and decision-making, familiarity with the higher education sector, a capacity to advocate for the university’s interests, and a sound understanding of governance principles. Council members should have a record of professional and personal accomplishments and be dedicated to the mission and values of the university.

Specialist competencies that should also be represented in Council include expertise in the following areas: finance, legal, audit and risk, physical and spatial planning, human resources, information communication technology, and diversity and inclusion awareness.

The UCT Statute requires that any person or body appointing a person, or nominating a candidate for election to the Council, the Senate, the Institutional Forum or a committee, must have regard to the historic under-representation of women, in particular black women, and black people in general on such bodies and the need to redress that.

Royston Pillay
University Registrar

Published: 29 February 2024

Nominee profiles added: 9 April 2024

Results added: 25 April 2024