It is with great excitement that the Student Affairs and Services division, in conjunction with the Institutional Transformation, Social Cohesion & Diversity Office, formally hosts month-long celebratory events across all CPUT campuses, in honour of the role and contribution of CPUT women.

Throughout the month, there will be a series of activities (from interviews on campus radio and live internet broadcasts to cultural and sporting events) with the central theme being

'I Am a Powerful Woman'.

Below are the weekly themes for activities taking place in August:

• 03 - 07 August: Women in Business, Science and Technology
• 11 - 14 August: Women in Sports
• 17 - 21 August: Women in Education
• 24 - 28 August: Women in Arts

Branded Long-sleeved t-shirts (sizes S - XXL) will be on sale at R20 each from Thursday, 06 August 2009 at from Mbali Zulu This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Tel. 021 460 3318 at CPUT Libraries.

Contact Thobeka September (Student Development Officer) for more information on Tel: (021) 460 3548 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Written by CPUT News
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Research Chair in Literacy Development at CPUT, which is housed in the Faculty of Education, introduces teachers and lecturers to transformative literacy pedagogical approaches, focussing on developing higher order thinking skills and later assesses their impact in teaching and learning.

The Chair was established in 2016 when Prof Rajendra Chetty was appointed at the helm but was replaced by, Prof Janet Condy, to complete the term up to 2021 after he resigned in 2018. 

Condy explains how the research conducted in her Unit differs from typical research and intersects with the Focus Area: Human, Health, and Social Dynamics.

“Since I am introducing, through intervention programmes, innovative teaching pedagogies and approaches to lecturing staff across the university,” she says. “My idea is to track the lecturers’ use of these transformative strategies and how they impact on their own teaching and learning and those of their students.” 

“Before Covid-19 I planned to work with two teacher unions – National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa and South African Democratic Teachers Union – and offer intervention programmes focussing on teaching higher order critical thinking pedagogies in their classrooms across all subjects and grades.” Condy believes the SA schooling system narrowly promotes rote learning and this severely limits our tertiary students’ higher cognitive functions.

The founder of the sixteen-year-old Literacy Association of South Africa and the manager of the accredited Reading & Writing Journal, adds that this approach to teaching is based on the Active Teaching and Learning Approaches in Schools programmes she has conducted around the world for the International Literacy Association.

Condy’s motivation stems from her deep-rooted passion for providing a socially-just, decolonised educational space where everyone’s voice matters. “What lights my fire is delving deep into my pedagogical approaches and techniques and finding creative and innovative ways of working with every learner or student; developing student-led pedagogies.”

The C2 National Research Fund-rated researcher truly believes that all students can learn and that it is a matter of finding innovative ways to connect with them and allow them to manage their own learning opportunities.

This is her 23rd year as a staffer in the Faculty of Education. “The most memorable milestone and highlight of my academic journey at CPUT, was my inaugural speech in April 2019 when I was promoted to Full Professor.  This was the most amazing, humbling experience of my life and I would like to sincerely thank CPUT for the extravagant way in which they celebrated this occasion.”

Reflecting on her teaching experience of 40 years, she says sheer hard work and determination got her to where she is. Condy adds that she spent many hours reading, writing and re-writing, making mistakes and trying again and again, but never gave up.

“I kept my focus on the end goal – which was to lead a literacy research team!”

*For the duration of Women’s Month, we will be profiling several high profile CPUT women whose achievements and activities help us to become One SMART CPUT.

Written by Kwanele Butana
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Faculty of Education Lecturer Samantha Kriger, in collaboration with her co-author and PhD supervisor, Prof Jonathan Jansen, will be launching her first book, ‘Who Gets in and Why?’ on Wednesday, 26 August 2020.

The book investigates how do the schools in the Southern Suburbs administer their admissions policies? What keeps some of the Western Cape’s elite schools ‘white dominant’ in a country that is overwhelmingly black? Why does a post-apartheid government allow ‘white-dominant’ schools to exist?

Kriger, who is pursuing her PhD in Education: Curriculum Studies at Stellenbosch University, says this is a study of patterns of racial segregation in the elite primary schools of one of the ‘whitest’ and wealthiest areas of South Africa, the southern suburbs of Cape Town.  “What keeps these elite schools ‘white dominant’ in a province and country that is overwhelmingly black?

“How do the schools administer their admissions policies such that the outcome is white-majority enrolments?”

She adds this is the first available study on the micro-politics of primary school admissions that addresses the question of ‘Who gets in, and why?’ against the backdrop of South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy. “For this reason, among others, the book holds significance for international scholarship on education policy and politics while at the same time offering practical value for South African parents who struggle to get their children admitted to these elite schools,” she remarks.

Kriger who is based at Mowbray Campus, started at CPUT in January 2017 as a lecturer for Pre-Service Teachers for Primary School Teaching.  Prior to CPUT, she was actively involved with teaching in schools for 25 years.  Her research interests include primary schooling, music education, and its impact on language literacy development recognising the complexities of changing teaching practice.

The mother of two boys, who is married to a SANDF naval captain, says her interaction with Prof Jansen through her studies has resulted in them collaborating for “this much-needed book”.

“I have learnt so much! To co-author with someone, who has written so many books is certainly a highlight for me.  What is surreal is to co-author with someone who has received awards for his books.”

Jansen’s Knowledge in the Blood was a winner of the 2014 Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize and received the best book of the year award in the Library Journal. In 2019 Jansen received a South African Literary Award for his book: As by Fire.

Kriger says Jansen teaches by example and his drive and work ethic are what inspired her on her academic journey.  

Meanwhile, Jansen says this is one of his most productive and fulfilling research and writing partnerships. “Samantha brought great energy to the demanding research site visits, a depth understanding of the primary school environment (which I do not have), and a fairly sharp capacity for crap detection e.g. when a school claimed to be transformed when the data suggested otherwise. The book is much stronger because of her contribution to thinking and writing about a vexed problem.”

The book launch will be in the form of a zoom; Individuals are able to attend from the comfort of their homes. For more details and RSVP follow the link below.

https://www.usb.ac.za/usb_events/who-gets-in-and-why/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=USB_Leader%E2%80%99s_Angle_Series_%7C_Book_Launch&_cldee=bnBhZGF5YWNoaUBnbWFpbC5jb20%3d&recipientid=contact-2953c6001652e51180cb005056b8008e-884885f0c7da47c7b9a153b08b0d8a81&esid=ca4b4b50-28e1-ea11-811e-005056b87f92

*For the duration of Women’s Month, we will be profiling several high profile CPUT women whose achievements and activities help us to become One SMART CPUT.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ncediwe Qomoyi, Director: Human Capital Operations and Services, challenges women to grab opportunities presented to them and not to look down on themselves.

“Women need to stand up and work hard in supporting each other and not work against each other. In doing that, we will together turn any hindrances we are facing to opportunities,” she remarks.   Qomoyi believes that empowering women addresses issues of the past and transforms our mind-set to ensure gender equality and inclusivity.   

“Women are strong and can survive any obstacle placed before them. What we have to do, including myself, is to realise that we are wonderfully and fearfully made.”

Born in King Williams Town, Eastern Cape, Qomoyi, through the financial assistance of her community and church members, managed to obtain a BTech in Commercial Administration at Border Technikon, now Walter Sisulu University.  “My parents struggled to see us succeed in life… That alone made me want to achieve and do it for them. Unfortunately, my father passed on in the same year I was doing my matric and so my mother took the responsibility of ensuring that I further my studies,” she recalls.

The church leader continues: “Both my parents never went to school… During those days parenting was not done by one’s biological parents only but by the whole community [who] cared about our childhood... This shaped me into what I am today.”

Her first job was at African Bank as a Personnel Secretary and then she was employed by Border Technikon as a Personnel Clerk. She was later promoted to Personnel Officer and eventually to a Human Resources (HR) Generalist.  From 2002 -2004, the Technikon granted her a scholarship to study in Australia where she obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in HR Management and further completed a Master of Business Administration at University of Newcastle.

On her return, she was promoted to Senior HR Practitioner and three years later she was employed at CPUT as HR Manager. Qomoyi also believes commitment, dedication, perseverance and loyalty took her to where she is today.  “As a result, I had acted several times in the Executive HR roles at CPUT for longer and shorter periods.”

However, she admits that it had never been easy to be part of such high-level leadership of the Institution, “but I thank God that I persevered. I had been in hot spots and high-level institutional platforms and I managed. I am proud to say, now I hold this post [since April 2019].”  Qomoyi manages close to 30 staff members and deals with many stakeholders regarding human capital matters.

She says CPUT, through the Learning and Development Unit in Human Capital, has made good strides in empowering its staff.  “We currently have good programmes which cut across all levels.  We have provided coaching and mentoring programmes, Women in leadership programmes e.g. HERS-SA Academy, Leadership development training for directors and many more.” 

Despite her demanding job, she is currently studying towards her second Master’s degree in Labour Law with the University of the Western Cape, “Although it’s difficult and challenging, I am still determined to pursue a PhD.”

She says the representation of women in leadership is something “we still need to work on together and I am glad to be part of a department that is one of the key stakeholders of transformation in CPUT”.   

“The institutions of higher learning should trust their own and strive to ensure that they are mentored and coached to achieve.  Successful leaders regularly speak about the advice they had received from those who walked the walk before."  

 *For the duration of Women’s Month, we will be profiling several high profile CPUT women whose achievements and activities help us to become One SMART CPUT.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Executive Director in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Driekie Hay-Swemmer, distinguishes herself as a servant leader.

One of her biggest wishes is to assist colleagues in becoming the best they can be. “I want to plough back my knowledge and experiences and [I] want to see CPUT being a leading university of technology, known for excellence and ethical leadership,” Hay-Swemmer declares. The Cape Town-born academic studied at Stellenbosch University, after matriculating from Grabouw High School.

Both her parents left school when they were 16 years old.  Because of this, she grew up “poor” and had to work during school and university holidays.  “I was a first-generation student and the only one of my siblings to attend university,” she says.

“My parents were salt of the earth people and taught me the value of hard work, honesty, perseverance, loyalty and to never give up.”

The youngest of four girls, Hay-Swemmer’s first job was that of an isiXhosa teacher and she spent most of her career in Bloemfontein at the University of the Free State.  She joined CPUT in December 2019 from the BA ISAGO University in Gaborone Botswana where she was the Vice-Chancellor since July 2018. She adds that she has faced many challenges to get to where she is today. “It was certainly not easy.  I raised three children as a single mother, [while] on the other hand trying to build my career while being the best mother I could be,” she says.

“I hardly ever took holidays, worked over weekends and worked 18 hours per day.  Fortunately, I love my discipline and my job – work is easier if you are passionate about it.” 

Hay-Swemmer had to learn to be assertive in ‘a man’s world’ as she was often the only female or one of two females on an executive team.  “I had to break down the stereotyping of female leaders in senior positions and [I] was always mindful that I must be a role model for all my female colleagues – especially those younger than me.”

She says her love for knowledge and lifelong learning, to work on her weaknesses, to stand up when she falls, to turn a challenge into an opportunity and to have a sense of humour, keeps her going when things get tough and help her to see the bright side of life.

Obtaining a PhD was certainly a big highlight for her – especially being the first and only one to obtain a PhD in her family.  Becoming a full professor was another big milestone for her.  “All the hard work paid off, all the long and lonely nights doing my research and writing articles came to fruition.  I was proud when I was appointed a DVC Academic.”

However, she feels that women are still underrepresented in senior management positions in higher education.  “I believe more needs to be done to create growth opportunities for women.  They should be more supported and affirmed.  Successful female leaders in higher education should not underestimate their role to mentor upcoming leaders.  Sadly, everyone talks about mentorship but we do not see much of it in real life.”

In her position at CPUT, she supports the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Chris Nhlapo, in his very challenging role.  Apart from that, the following divisions report to her: Quality Assurance, Academic Planning and Institutional Research, Advancement, Marketing and Communication, Transformation and Internal Audit and Risk management.

The ‘very straightforward’ person who cares for people advises young women, “to be comfortable with yourself, who you are and never allow those titles and success to get to your head”. Hay-Swemmer believes that CPUT is playing a leading role in sensitising staff, students and the broader CPUT community on the important role of women in society. However, she says: “There is more to be done to empower women in higher education.  More mentorship programmes are necessary and maybe we should seriously consider an academy for female leaders in higher education.”

*For the duration of Women’s Month, we will be profiling several high profile CPUT women whose achievements and activities help us to become One SMART CPUT.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.