Latest news with #TshilidziMarwala
TimesLIVE
15-05-2025
- Science
- TimesLIVE
My grandmother was my first engineering teacher: global AI expert
Prof Tshilidzi Marwala, who recently received his honorary doctoral degree in engineering from the University of Pretoria, says his grandmother was his first engineering teacher. The honorary doctorate was conferred in recognition of his exceptional contributions in South Africa and globally. During the faculty of engineering, built environment and information technology's graduation ceremony, Marwala used his keynote address to reflect on how his grandmother unknowingly laid the foundation for his future in engineering, automation and artificial intelligence through her intuitive craft. His grandmother, Vho Tshianeo Marwala, was an organic engineer, master potter and mat weaver. 'What fascinated me the most as a child was how she gently knocked on her clay pots, listening to the sound that revealed whether the pots were strong or weak. Little did I know then that this simple act would ignite a lifelong passion to understand, test, innovate and solve problems to improve the world around us,' says Marwala. While Marwala was studying at UP, he discovered that clay pot knocking is called vibration excitation and that using sound to assess the integrity of clay pots is known as non-destructive testing. He realised that his grandmother's intuitive engineering lessons mirrored the scientific principles he would go on to study. 'In fact, my grandmother was my first engineering teacher. She taught me material selection without algorithms, optimisation without equations, and the art of slow cooling without needing to know the Boltzmann equation. When she tested her pots by the length of their ring, she unknowingly applied principles of structural vibration that I later encountered here in Prof Stefan Heyns' vibration course,' he said. Marwala's grandmother was also his first business teacher, he said. She sold pots, mats and snuff. When her snuff business stopped turning a profit, she closed it, teaching him about profit and loss. She was also a storyteller of ngano (Venda fairytales). Marwala learnt about wisdom, mischief, morality and resilience from her grandmother's fairytales. 'I have drawn on these lessons in diplomacy, leadership and teaching, sometimes using stories to explain even the most complex technical ideas,' said Marwala. Above all, he told the audience, his grandmother instilled essential leadership values, the importance of education, the art of listening, seizing opportunity, staying focused on the goal, using intuition, acting with humility, practising patience, having the courage to change course, and being broad-minded. He told graduates that their personal journey won't be a straight line — his journey passed through a brewery. One time after brewing one of the famous beer labels, he had his own Damascus moments — to 'go and brew people, not beer'. That's when he resigned and went to Wits University to be an academic. 'Today, I serve as the UN University's rector and a UN under-secretary-general based in Tokyo, Japan. He told the students, 'There will be detours, obstacles and moments of doubt, but your greatest lessons lie within those twists and turns. Whether you come from a great city or a small village like Duthuni, you can change the world.' He said that in this era of artificial intelligence, the ability to learn and relearn is the currency that will take students far. Students must let their life be a journey of learning, discovery and service — the world is waiting for their light. 'Those who do not read must not lead, unless they are going to lead us into temptation and deliver us into temptation.' Marwala dedicated his honorary degree to his grandmother and his family, mentors, colleagues, students and the people of South Africa, whose resilience and spirit inspire him daily. According to Prof Wynand Steyn, dean of the EBIT faculty at UP, the university is proud of its contribution towards Marwala's development as an engineer and a visionary. 'He took up the challenge of using his engineering and leadership skills to help make South Africa, Africa and the world at large a better place.'
Daily Maverick
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Ashley Saul's attempt at questioning foreign staff at universities shows a lack of understanding
Tshilidzi Marwala, the former vice-chancellor of the University of Johannesburg, is now the Rector of the United Nations University (UNU) in Tokyo and a UN under-secretary-general. In August 2023, he was appointed to the United Nations Scientific Advisory Council. A global scholar in the field of artificial intelligence, Marwala is among South Africa's most distinguished academic international appointment is not only a personal honour — it is a reminder that our country has long been both a contributor to, and a beneficiary of, global academic exchange. The question now raised by some populist voices is: Should he and others like him return home to make space for natives of the countries in which they work? That, essentially, is the dangerous logic behind the latest xenophobic campaign, dressed up as concern for South African jobs in month, a Patriotic Alliance (PA) Member of Parliament, Ashley Sauls, accused universities of prioritising foreign nationals over South African academics, citing a single contested case at the Central University of Technology (CUT) and extrapolating it into an alarming generalisation. Sauls' confidence is matched only by his lack of understanding. He has taken one grievance and distorted it into a narrative that undermines both institutional integrity and our country's international standing. Struggling Let's be clear: South African universities are not flooded with foreign staff. They are struggling — still — to become truly representative of our demographics, values, and developmental priorities. But foreign nationals are not the obstacle. The real crisis lies in our failure to invest in and grow a new generation of black South African to the Ministerial Task Team (MTT) Report on the Recruitment, Retention and Progression of Black South African Academics, South Africans make up 88.4% of the academic staff in our universities. Foreign nationals — who often bring scarce expertise or participate in global research collaborations — constitute only 11.2% of the total academic importantly, many of those international academics are black Africans, whose presence in South African lecture halls should be a source of solidarity, not suspicion. The MTT report identified the real barriers to transformation: A shrinking and unequal postgraduate pipeline, especially in Stem and health sciences. Exclusionary institutional cultures that marginalise black scholars, particularly women. Poor working conditions and heavy teaching loads, leaving little room for research or advancement. Fragmented policy and funding support for initiatives like nGAP, which are critical to building black academic excellence. These are the bottlenecks. Not fellow scholars from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana or fact, many senior South African academics and vice-chancellors have benefitted from international exposure, studying or working in the US, UK, Germany, China, Brazil and across the continent. Are we now to punish those whose careers were sharpened abroad? Or suggest that they have no right to shape the institutions they now lead?It is precisely through international engagement that we sharpen our intellectual tools. South Africa collaborated with global institutions to develop and trial Covid-19 vaccines that saved millions of lives — right here, led by African scientists and researchers. That is what international collaboration looks like: not replacement, but suggest otherwise is to play directly into xenophobic populism, with dangerous consequences. The last time this rhetoric escalated, lives were lost. Shops were burned. Migrants were hunted. South Africa's reputation took a beating on the global may be right to raise a grievance about an individual hiring case at a university — but to generalise it into an anti-foreigner campaign is reckless and disingenuous. It's not transformation. It's be honest: if transformation was truly the concern, Sauls would be championing postgraduate funding, fixing NSFAS bottlenecks, defending nGAP, and holding universities accountable for succession planning. Scapegoating and political posturing Instead, what we get is easy scapegoating and political we need is not louder voices, but better ones. Let's cherish the black academics we can attract, from both South Africa and the continent, and build a system that grows more like them, with rigorous support, mentorship, and public us fix the real problems: underfunding, institutional inertia, a lack of coherence in building academic careers. But let us not turn fellow scholars into enemies. In the battle for transformation, our best allies are those who believe in justice, equity, and the power of shared knowledge. We don't build a better academy by building walls. We build it by growing our own — while learning with, and from, the world. DM
