Diplomas, Degrees and Honorary Doctorates to be Conferred During the 2022 UNIZULU Graduation

The highly anticipated 2022 University of Zululand (UNIZULU) graduation week, which commences on Monday, 9 May and concludes on Friday, 13 May, will see over 3 900 granduands receiving their hard-earned diplomas and degrees.

A total of 10 sessions will be held in the King Bhekuzulu Hall, while simultaneously broadcast on the University’s YouTube and Facebook accounts.

The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) will launch the graduation week with two sessions on Monday and one on Tuesday morning. It will be followed by the Faculty of Commerce, Administration and Law (CAL) which will hold one session on Tuesday afternoon and one on Wednesday morning. The Faculty of Education’s sessions will begin on Wednesday afternoon and end on Thursday afternoon. Finally, the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering (SAE) will hold the last two sessions of the week on Friday.

The Faculty of Education has the lion’s share of graduands with 1 092 qualifications to confer. HSS follows very closely with 1 091, while CAL has 1 016 and SAE 792 qualifications.

Honorary Doctors

The 10 sessions promise to be nothing short of spectacular, with an array of guest speakers and two esteemed honorary graduates.

Dumakude Mayivuke Ndlovu, a renowned playwright, journalist, anti-apartheid activist and one of South Africa’s (SA) most successful filmmakers, will be conferred with an Honorary Doctorate Creative Arts (honoris causa) on Monday, 9 May.

Ndlovu was born in Orlando East, Soweto, on October 12, 1954 but grew up in Phiri in Soweto, after his family was forcefully removed from his birth area in 1958. His teenage and young adult years were characterised by fervent activism which he displayed through politics and journalism. He joined the ANC underground while he was a student and later worked as a journalist for The World Newspaper, where he stood out for his political consciousness and work on cultural issues. After the banning of the newspaper and a writers’ association he had co-founded and later headed, Ndlovu went into exile to evade his imminent arrest.

It was here where he carved his path in the creative arts industry. He worked on theatrical shows and music festivals and was involved in the success of shows like Woza Albert, Asinamali (which he produced), Sarafina (as associate producer) and Bopha.

He contributed immensely to the careers of iconic musicians such as Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela and Nigeria’s Fela Kuti.

He broke into television after his return to SA in 1992. His first major TV drama was ‘Muvhango’, the first ever Tshivenda drama to air on SA TV screens. Ndlovu’s feats did not end there. He was instrumental in the introduction of the TV industry in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. He created the popular isiZulu shows uZalo and Imbewu.

FCAL will confer a Doctor of Commerce in Economics to Gaby Magomola on Wednesday, 11 May.

Magomola is a respected business leader with extensive corporate finance, banking and general management experience acquired over 30 years in various countries. He is the chairman of Thamaga Holdings and is Director and Chairman of Audit Committee of Global Asset Management (listed on the JSE).

Shortly after his release from Robben Island where he was detained as a political prisoner for six years, Magomola was awarded a Full-Bright-Hayes Fellowship to study business in the United States of America (US). He completed a two-year internship as a financial analyst with a major US cooperation and later joined Citibank. His professional experience includes heading African Bank and chairing FABCOS, a coalition of black business organisations in various industry sectors.

When he returned to SA in the mid-80s, Magomola played a major role in business initiatives that later gave birth to what is today known as Black Economic Empowerment (BEE).

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