'He brought coherence to the education system': Unisa vice-chancellor pays tribute to Bengu

Unisa vice-chancellor Prof Puleng LenkaBula has described the late former education minister Sibusiso Bengu as a leader who brought coherence and advancement to the higher education system.

A funeral service was held on Friday for Bengu at the University of Zululand in KwaZulu-Natal. He died in his sleep at home on December 30 at the age of 90.

“Bengu is not only known as a master diplomat or as a politician who participated in the anti-apartheid struggle. He was one of the foremost leaders who brought coherence to the higher education system or the education system that was fragmented,” LenkaBula told TimesLIVE.

“For us as South Africans, the continent and the global arena, we must appreciate him for his science, diplomacy, for his contribution to the advancement of higher education, but also for projecting the idea that all of us can lead higher education institutions and make them accessible and successful for the advancement of science in our society.”

She said Bengu must be celebrated for the impact he made in showing that black people could lead.

“Before 1994, there were at least 17 sectoral segments in the higher education system, and it was also distributed in ways that disadvantaged the majority of the black people. In his leadership he consolidated the higher education system, the science system, the councils, as well as the innovation system, and that legacy is quite important because a coherent higher education system allows the resourcing of socioeconomic and political transitions.

“I'm appreciative to celebrate his life and celebrate his scholarship, his work, his leadership and also to hold him high as one of the leaders who created pathways for people like me who are leading higher education, to draw lessons on transforming society. I’m appreciative of that.”

TimesLIVE