The University of Cape Town (UCT) Council has for the first time in its more than 100 years of existence elected women as its Council’s chair and deputy.

As part of transformation drive in the higher institutions of learning, UCT Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng said the election on Saturday of Babalwa Ngonyama as the new chair of Council, and Nazeema Mohamed as deputy chair signalled the historic moment for UCT, which is the oldest university in the country.

Phakeng said in a statement: "The election of Ngonyama and Mohamed also means that the university has women leaders at the helm in the crucial governance, ceremonial and executive roles. Even more historic, it is for the first time that UCT has a female chair of Council."

Ngonyama and Mohamed’s appointments are seen as part of the ongoing transformation of UCT which was the first university in South Africa to be hit by transformation protests which began with #RhodesMust Fall movement which later changed into countrywide radical #FeesMustFall protests. Ngonyama is known for wearing many caps; she is the former chief financial officer (CFO) of Safika Holdings (Pty) Ltd. She sits on the boards and audit committees of Implats Ltd and Barloworld Ltd. Previously, she was the group chief internal auditor of Nedbank Ltd and an audit partner at Nkonki and at Deloitte’s Financial Institutions Services Team (FIST) division. She was also the founding chairman of the African Women Chartered Accountants (AWCA), an organisation focusing on accelerating the development and advancement of female chartered Accountants.

Mohamed has served as a director of policy development and support in the department of education, she was a transformation manager and director at the University of Cape Town and the University of Witwatersrand and also a programme officer for the social justice and universities programme area of the Ford Foundation's Southern Africa office.

Phakeng said she wished “the two women all the best as they are going to carry out, over the next four years, the task of leading a collective that is responsible for steering the institution at a governance level”.

The University’s Council also elected chairs of its main committees which, among others, saw Zama Khanyile being appointed to head the university’s finance committee while Sheila Barsel was named chair of Honorary Degrees Committee. Malcolm Campbell was given the responsibility to lead the university audit and risk committee while Pheladi Gwangwa has assumed the role of university human resources committee chair, with Tshidi Mokgabudi entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the university’s buildings & development committee.