The chancellor is the titular head and representative of the university, and confers degrees in its name. The chancellor is elected for a 10-year term of office, by an electoral college. The electoral college is chaired by the president of convocation, and consists of 21 graduates or holders of diplomas, 6 academic staff, 6 administrative and support staff and 6 students, together with the president of convocation and the vice-chancellor.

Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe

Chancellor

Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe is a businesswoman and philanthropist who started her career in medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). She worked in various public hospitals in South Africa as well as at the Medical College of Virginia in the United States. Together with her husband, Dr Patrice Motsepe, she founded the Motsepe Foundation in 1999, and in 2013 they became the first couple from Africa to join The Giving Pledge.

In addition to its development work in South Africa and across the African continent, the foundation has international partnerships with the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, the Harvard Kennedy School, the Milken Institute and various other philanthropic organisations. Dr Moloi-Motsepe established African Fashion International (AFI) in 2007. AFI’s mission is to aggregate the fragmented fashion and clothing industry on the African continent in order to make it commercially viable and sustainable.

She holds an MBChB and a diploma in child health from Wits, as well as a diploma in women’s health from Stellenbosch University. Dr Moloi-Motsepe authored a resource guide for women across South Africa, The Precious Little Black Book, and has produced the Gender Responsive Budgeting Initiative South Africa.

Her professional associations include the Harvard Kennedy School’s Women’s Leadership Board and Centre for Public Leadership Council, the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council, and the Cancer Association of South Africa (past president).

Read the announcement of Dr Moloi-Motsepe's election as Chancellor.

Read the Daily News story.

Visit the Chancellor’s Installation and Inaugural Address feature page on the UCT News website.