OUR TEAM

Ms Sukayna Obaray

School Registrar

Tel: 053 491 0218

Qualifications: Bachelor of Education: Foundation Phase

Ms Sukayna Obaray joined Sol Plaatje University in August 2016. She has a varied background in the travel and customer service industries and extensive experience within the higher education sector. Ms Obaray discovered her passion for teaching and completed her Bachelor of Education degree with specialisation in Foundation Phase Teaching.

Ms Kedibone Mokgotu

Senior School Administrator 

Tel: 053 491 0089

Qualifications: Diploma – Management Assistant and Human Resources

Ms Kedibone Mokgotu was born and raised in Kimberley. She completed a diploma in Management Assistant and N6 certificate in Human Resource Management at the Northern Cape Urban Technical and Vocational Education and Training College (NCUTVET) in Kimberley. Ms Mokgotu joined Sol Plaatje University as an administrator in the admissions department and later joined the School of Humanities as the Senior School Administrator. Prior to joining SPU, she worked within the business studies department at NCUTVET for 13 years. She is currently pursing a B.Com. in Economics.

Mr Sabelo Gumede

Officer: Administration

Tel: 053 491 0084

Qualifications: Master of Commerce in Management (UKZN), Postgraduate Diploma in Management (UKZN); BTech Degree: Business

Sabelo Gumede is the Officer: Administration in the School of Humanities. He considers himself as a rural boy from KwaZulu-Natal with roots in Appelsbosch Mission (Ozwatini) 45km outside North of Durban. Mr Gumede has worked for several higher education institutions including CPUT, MUT and UKZN in both undergraduate and postgraduate student academic administration. Prior to joining SPU, he was an Administrative Officer: Research & Higher Degrees at UKZN in the Graduate School of Business & Leadership. He is a soccer fan and enjoys music, which includes Maskandi.

Dr Garth Benneyworth

Head of Department

Senior Lecturer: Heritage Studies

Tel: 053 491 0127

Qualifications: PhD (History); MA (Heritage Studies); Licence in Managing Successful Programs (UK).

Dr Benneyworth’s PhD research was on the black concentration camps of the South African War. From 1999 to 2018, he located 13 of these historic camp terrains and pioneered the first ever-archaeological surveys on such camps in South Africa.

Dr Benneyworth has extensive experience in the global Heritage Sector and developed and curated numerous exhibitions including the Nelson Mandela National Museum, Liliesleaf: A Place of Liberation, Chief Albert Luthuli Museum, Magersfontein Battlefield Museum and the Voortrekker Monument.

He specialises in War Studies and the Heritage of Conflict, focusing on the South African War and the War for Southern Africa (1960-1994). His research is published in several leading international journals, including Historia, the South African Historical Journal, the Journal for Contemporary Affairs and éditions Academia L’Harmattan, Université catholique de Louvain. He is publishing two books in 2022, namely: Work or Starve. The black concentration camps of the South African War; and The Battle of Magersfontein. Victory and defeat on the South African veld, 10-12 December 1899.

Dr Benneyworth serves as the current Chairperson of the Council for the War Museum of the Boer Republics and as Director on the Board of Directors of the Moral Regeneration Movement. He is affiliated as Senior Research Associate to the University of Johannesburg and with the McGregor Museum as a Research Associate.

Having worked globally in business and consulting since 1989, he joined Sol Plaatje University in 2014 to pursue an academic career.

Research and Publications

For 2022, two book publications as sole author, namely: Work or Starve. The black concentration camps of the South African War; and THE BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN. Victory and defeat on the South African veld, 10-12 December 1899.

Memorialisation of British and Australian soldiers graves at Driefontein battlefield Free State Province. R30,000 in donor funding was secured through fundraising in Australia and the project completed in 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2NqlmeJFcA

Developing an archaeological survey of the original Scandinavian burial site at Magersfontein battlefield which site D Benneyworth located during 2018.

Scoping the possibilities offered by Delville Wood National Heritage Site in the Somme District, France, to the Heritage Studies Programme.

Ongoing research into the commemorations around the SS Mendi which sank in 1917 during the First World War and the experience of black civilians during the South African War.

Dr Joseph Chikumbirike

Lecturer: Archaeology/Conservation/Heritage Studies

Qualifications: PhD in Science (Palaeosciences) (University of the Witwatersrand); MA Heritage Studies UZ; BSc Geography and Environmental Studies; Certificate Environmental Management in a Globalised Economy(CDG- Germany); Certificate in Software Engineering (UZ); Certificate in Heritage Education (Southampton University–UK); Certificate in Preventive Conservation in Museums in Africa (ICCROM).

Dr Chikumbirike has experience within the Heritage Sector in Southern Africa. His research interests include conservation and cultural heritage management, archaeoethnobotany, palaeoenvironment, and ethnobotany.

He is currently working on three research projects. Firstly, People and plant interaction during the MSA and LSA at Wonderwerk Cave: A vegetational history. The study aims to establish the vegetational history in this area.

Secondly, Social, environment and subsistence economy of the prehistoric societies in Shangani, in Zimbabwe. The study seeks to establish the interaction, social organisation, technological, environment and subsistence practices of prehistoric agricultural communities in this region. Finally, An ethnoarchaeobotanical study of the Kuruman cultural landscape. The study documents local resource exploitation practices by considering social and cultural dynamics native to the area. He has also collaborated as an anthracologist as part of an International Scientific Research Team working at Bushman Cave in the Limpopo Province. The project aims to clarify the stratigraphy and obtain new archaeological samples. His research has been featured in several prominent journals. Dr Chikumbirike joined Sol Plaatje University in July 2016 as a lecturer in Heritage Studies and Archaeology.

Ms Itumeleng Masiteng

Lecturer: Heritage Studies

Tel: 053 491 0229

Qualifications: MHCS Masters (Heritage and Museum Studies), University of Pretoria; BCHS Honours (Heritage and Museum Studies), University of Pretoria; Post Graduate Diploma (Heritage and Museum Studies), University of Pretoria. BSc Archaeology and Psychology; UNISA, BA Honours Archaeology, UNISA.

Ms Masiteng a qualified Archaeologist holds a Master’s degree in Museum and Heritage Studies at the University of Pretoria. She has worked as an Archaeology  Researcher and Curator for Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History. Ms Masiteng has worked for the South African Heritage Resources Agency as an Archaeologist within the Burial Grounds and Graves Unit. Her research interests include the Iron Age of Southern Africa, Archaeo-Zoology, Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology, as well as human remains in museum collections. Ms Masiteng joined Sol Plaatje University in November 2016 and teaches in the Higher Cert and BA program courses within Heritage Studies.

Ms Nyebe Mohale

Junior Lecturer: Heritage Studies

Qualifications: B.Sc. Zoology (UFS); BSC Honours Zoology (UFS); BSC Honours Environmental Management (UNISA). MSC (UFS-ongoing)

She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Environmental Management at the University of the Free State. 

Her research focus is on the Late Pleistocene paleoenvironmentof the South African central interior. Her current research relies strongly on stable isotope analyses for understanding the paleo-environments and dietary behaviour of ancient herbivores of the region and considers how these species responded ecologically differently to climate change.

Dr Lorenco Pinto

Lecturer: Archaeology/Heritage Studies

Qualifications: BA Archaeology, History of Art and Anthropology; BA (Honours) Heritage Studies, MSc Rock Art Studies (University of Witwatersrand), PhD in Archaeology (University of Witwatersrand)

He worked at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum, in Pietermaritzburg, as assistant collections manager.

Dr Pinto is committed to heritage community involvement in South Africa. He was the chairperson of the Archaeological Society of South Africa (Northern Branch) from 2016 to 2018. Currently, he is a committee member of the Archaeological Society of South Africa (Trans-Garib branch) and is keen to assist in growing the Society.

From 2017 to 2018, he co-facilitated a National Geographic palaeoanthropology outreach programme. He has worked with various communities from different social backgrounds. Working with these communities has allowed him to share his passion for southern African heritage and the importance of preserving such heritage.

Dr Pinto was appointed a Lecturer at Sol Plaatje University in February, 2018, and teaches undergraduate Heritage Studies and Archaeology modules in the Heritage Department.

Professor Gilbert Pwiti

Professor: Heritage Studies and Archaeology

Tel: 053 491 0096

Qualifications: Gilbert Pwiti is a Professor of Archaeology and Heritage Studies with a BA Honours (History and an African Language) from the University of Zimbabwe, an MPhil (Archaeology) from the University of Cambridge, England and a PhD (Archaeology) from Uppsala University, Sweden. Have been teaching Archaeology, Prehistory and Cultural Heritage Management at the University of Zimbabwe and have also taught at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London and the University of Botswana.

He has conducted archaeological research on prehistoric farming communities and the development of complex societies in southern Africa as well as research on cultural heritage management and have published widely in accredited journals and monographs.

Have served on various international professional bodies including as Executive Secretary of the PanAfrican Association for Prehistory and Related Studies and President of the World Archaeological Congress. Serving member of the Advisory Boards of the journals World Archaeology, African Archaeological Review and Zimbabwea. Served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe and member of the Board of Directors of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

Current research: Research team participant in two major international research projects: Cosmo-Art rock art research project (with University of Bordeaux, France and institutions in South Africa, Namibia, Australia) and University of Zimbabwe (with institutions in Germany) Archaeology and Heritage Management project  The past in the present: the Zimbabwe culture and other archaeological heritage in north-western Zimbabwe

Joined Sol Plaatje University in February 2021 as Professor of Heritage Studies

Recent Publications:

Ndombochani, N. & Pwiti, G. 2018. Investigating incorporation of community cultural values in archaeological impact assessment processes: case studies from Botswana. In Ndoro, W; Chitikure, S. & Deacon, J. (eds). Managing Heritage in Africa: Who Cares? London: Routledge. 139-150.

Shenjere-Nyabezi, P; Pwiti, G; Sagiya, M; Chirikure, S; Ndoro; W; Makuvaza, S. 2020. Style, chronology and culture: A critical review of Whitty’s stylistic classification of Zimbabwe Culture using evidence from Hwange district, North-Western Zimbabwe. South African Archaeological Bulletin 75 (212): 4-16.

Shenjere-Nyabezi, P. & Pwiti, G. 2021. Ancient Urban Assemblages and Complex Socio-Political Organisation in Iron Age Sites from Southern Africa. In Cesar, F-C; Mtetwa, E & Schlebusch, C. (eds). Africa, The Cradle of Human Diversity: Cultural and Biological Approaches to Uncover African Diversity. Brill, Leiden 111-147.

Shenjere-Nyabezi, P. & Pwiti, G. 2022. The past in the present: the Zimbabwe culture and other archaeological heritage in north-western Zimbabwe. Weaver Press, Harare.

AFRIKAANS

Prof Victor Nico Teise

Head of Department and Associate Professor: Afrikaans

Qualifications: BA (UWC, majoring in Afrikaans and Dutch and Linguistics); BA (Honours) (UWC); Higher Diploma in Education (UWC); MA (cum laude, Afrikaans & Dutch, UFS); PhD (Afrikaans & Dutch, UFS)

Prof Teise is Head of Department for Languages and Communication in the School of Humanities.

Prof Teise started his teaching career at Dr Blok Senior Secondary School in Heidedal, Bloemfontein and was later appointed as a lecturer and senior lecturer at the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT, FS). At CUT, he also acted as programme head for the Language Practice programme before joining the University of the Free State as a lecturer-researcher in higher education studies where he was responsible for teaching numerous modules in the Advanced Diploma, Postgraduate Diploma as well as the MA programme.

Before joining Sol Plaatje University, Prof Teise was the acting head of the School of Higher Education Studies at the UFS.

He joined Sol Plaatje University in February 2016 and lectures in Afrikaans and Dutch in the BA and BEd undergraduate programmes.

His research focus includes Afrikaans literature and textual criticism as well as higher education.

Dr Marga Stander

Head of Department

Tel: 053 491 0000

Qualifications: PhD (Applied Linguistics, Afrikaans – Vista University); MA in Sociolinguistics (UFS); BA Honours (UFS); and BA in Drama and Theatre Arts (UFS); BEd Honours in Deaf Education (WITS); PGCE (Unisa); a TEFL certificate (Table Bay) and TESOL certificate (Trinity College, London).  She received Excellence in Teaching and Learning Awards from the UFS in 2015 and 2016.

Dr Marga Stander has held several academic posts, which included: coordinator for the Unit for Language Development on the Qwaqwa Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS); teacher of English, Visual Arts and South African Sign Language at the Thiboloha Special School in Phuthaditjhaba; senior lecturer in Afrikaans Linguistics and Academic Literacy facilitator at UFS.

Dr Stander is a research associate at the Sign Language Department of UFS and supervised four master students and several honours students.  She is currently supervising a PhD student in the Department of Sign Language (UFS).

Dr Stander has presented her research at local and international conferences and has published several articles second language learning and acquisition. Her research focus includes applied linguistics, second language acquisition, academic writing and plagiarism.

She joined Sol Plaatje University in March 2017 and teaches Afrikaans.

Dr Frederick Botha

Tel: 053 491 0075

Lecturer: Afrikaans

Qualifications: PhD (Afrikaans & Dutch, North-West University); MA (Afrikaans – cum laude, University of Johannesburg); BA Honours (Afrikaans – cum laude, University of Johannesburg); BA in Humanities (North-West University).

Dr Frederick Botha started his professional career as a high school Afrikaans teacher before joining a community newspaper as a journalist. In 2013 he joined the University of Johannesburg as Junior Lecturer in Afrikaans. At the end of 2015 he was offered a position on the writing team of the kykNET soap opera, Getroud met Rugby, where he worked as scriptwriter for five years. During this time he also lectured Afrikaans part-time at the University of the Western Cape. In 2021 he joined Sol Plaatje University as a Lecturer in Afrikaans, teaching Afrikaans literature on both under- and postgraduate level.

Dr Botha served on the judging panel for the UJ prizes for Afrikaans from 2013 till 2022. He has published several journal articles, presented various research papers at local conferences, and have written numerous literary book reviews.

His PhD research investigated Afrikaner identity in post-1994 Afrikaans fiction. His current research focus includes Contemporary Afrikaans literature and Creative Writing.

Several of his short stories have been published in anthologies. In 2014 he won NB Publishers’ short story competition and in 2016 he was shortlisted for the PEN International New Voices Award. He is currently enrolled for a Master’s degree in Creative Writing at the University of Stellenbosch, working on a manuscript of short stories.

CREATIVE WRITING

Mr Sabata Mokae

Lecturer: Creative Writing

Qualifications: MA in Creative Writing, Rhodes University; PHD African Languages (ongoing – Rhodes University)

Mr Sabata Mokae is the author of The Story of Sol T. Plaatje (SPET), Escaping Trauma (Corner Café Press) – a collection of English poems, a Setswana novella titled Ga ke Modisa (Geko Publishing/Oxford University Press), a Setswana young adult novella called Dikeledi (Geko Publishing/Oxford University Press) and Kanakotsame: In My Times (The Inksword Publishing), and a collection of newspaper columns.

He has also translated Gcina Mhlophe’s two children’s books from English to Setswana. These are Semaka sa Dinaane (Our Story Magic, UKZN Press) and Dinaane tsa Aforika (Stories of Africa, UKZN Press).

He is the recipient of the South African Literary Award (2011), MNET Literary Award for Best Novel in Setswana (2013), MNET Film Award (2013) and Lesedi la Afrika Award (2017).

In 2014, he was a writer-in-residence at the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program, where he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in Writing.

He is currently completing a PhD in African Languages at Rhodes University.

His research interests are Sol Plaatje, mother tongue fiction writing, historical fiction as well as race and reconciliation in post-apartheid Setswana literature.

He is also involved in the annual Northern Cape Writers Festival, which is organised jointly by Sol Plaatje University and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. He facilitates a Prison Writing Programme at Tswelopele Correctional Centre and the Kimberley Correctional Centre. He joined Sol Plaatje University in September 2015.

Ms Sizakele I Mokhele

Lecturer: Creative Writing 

Qualifications: MA in Creative Writing, Rhodes University

Ms Sizakele I Mokhele is a published author and a renowned poet who obtained her MA in Creative Writing in 2018 from the Rhodes University and her thesis was a collection of poems focusing on real stories about poverty, love, politics, past pains and healing, written in demotic language.

Her poetry has been published in local and international literature magazines and journals such the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Anthology and JALADA Africa.

She is also an author of children’s stories, written in IsiZulu, with Oxford University Press. Before she joined Sol Plaatje University in October 2019, she taught English and IsiZulu in Soweto and Parkhurst.

She has a vast and varied experience in running community development programmes.

Since 2009, she has coordinated various local and regional (SADC) literary projects and works voluntarily as an Executive Director of House of Siza – a registered NPO that seeks to change people’s lives through literature, music and art.

Her research interest is in isicamtho poetry. Isicamtho is an informal urban language spoken in South Africa and infuses different languages.

ENGLISH

Mrs Elna van Rhyn

Junior Lecturer: English

Qualifications: B.A (Languages) with English and Afrikaans and Nederlands (UFS); H.E.D (Unisa); B.Ed Hons (UFS); Postgraduate Diploma in Intercultural Communication (Stellenbosch)

Mrs Elna van Rhyn is currently completing an MA degree in General Linguistics Stellenbosch University.

She has several years of teaching experience and was a lecturer in English at the National Institute for Higher Education in Kimberley.

She joined Sol Plaatje University in January 2015 and teaches courses in English Poetry and Literature.

Her research focus includes intercultural communication, linguistics and editing.

Dr Felix Awung

Senior lecturer: English

Tel: 053 491 0048

Qualifications: Ph.D. (Language Practice), University of the Free State; MA (Translation), University of Buea; BA (English and French), University of Buea

Dr Felix Awung has many years of international experience in teaching English, French and translation studies. He worked at the National University of Lesotho, where he became the Head of the French Department before leaving in 2012 to join the Department of Media, Language and Communication of the Durban University of Technology. Dr Awung’s research interests are in the fields of translation studies, English and French studies and language planning. He has presented papers at different conferences and published articles in local and international journals. His current research is on the role of social factors in the translation of African francophone literature into English. Dr Awung is also a Board Member of the Association of Translation Studies in Africa, and the junior editor of reviews for the Journal of Translation Studies in Africa.

INTERPRETING AND TRANSLATION 

Ms Cecilia Nomalanga Mashibini

Lecturer: Interpreting and Translation

Qualifications: Diploma Legal Interpreting, University of Potchefstroom; BA Hons Language Practice, University of the Free State

Cecilia Nomalanga Mashibini is a language practitioner specialising in interpreting and translation. 

She holds a Diploma in Legal Interpreting obtained from the University of Potchefstroom in 2001 and a BA Hons Language Practice obtained from the University of the Free State in 2012.

Before she joined the University of Sol Plaatje in 2020, she was employed at the Department of Justice & Constitutional Development as a Provincial Manager: Court Interpreting.

Cecilia Nomalanga Mashibini is a Lecturer in Interpreting & Translation and teaches Interpreting and Theory of law for court interpreters.

She is presently enrolled and studying MA (Language practice) at the University of the Free State.

Ms Mmatlou Jerida Malatji

Lecturer: Court Interpreting  

Tel: 053 491 0466

Qualifications: BA Degree, BA Hon. Degree in Translation Studies and Linguistics and MA in Translation Studies and Linguistics- University of Limpopo

Ms Malatji is currently registered with Durban University of Technology for her Doctoral degree in Language Practice with a special focus on Linguistic Landscape. She currently lectures Interpreting Liaison Contexts, English Communication Skills for Interpreters and Legal English courses for the Higher Certificate in Court Interpreting qualification

ISIXHOSA

Dr Zandile Kondowe

Lecturer: isiXhosa

Tel: 053 491 0000

Qualifications: DLitt. (isiXhosa discipline), Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, MA (isiXhosa), NMMU; BA Honours in (African Languages), BA in Translation (Vista University)

Zandile has been teaching isiXhosa language and literature for several years at Stellenbosch University and Nelson Mandela University. She was recruited at Stellenbosch University as lecturer in African Languages dept (2012-2017) She subsequently moved to Nelson Mandela University under isiXhosa section in School of Languages and Communication. In 2020 she went back to SU as a lecturer and a language coordinator under isiXhosa portfolio in Language Centre department. She taught isiXhosa language, literature, culture and translation courses to home language and non- mother tongue speakers of isiXhosa. She successfully promoted students from Honours level to Masters level, and a co supervisor to PhD candidates. Dr Kondowe’s research interests are in the fields of literature, language and culture, translation, and interpreting. She has presented papers at different conferences and co published an article in an international journal (SAJAL). Her current research is on translation of texts in isiXhosa for Universities and African literature into isiXhosa and importance of academic literacy for home language students of isiXhosa

SETSWANA

Ms Violet Pule

Lecturer: Setswana

Tel: 053 491 0000

Qualifications: MTech (cum laude), BTech and National Diploma in Language Practice – Tshwane University of Technology

Ms Violet Pule joined Sol Plaatje University on 1st September 2020 as a Setswana lecturer in the Department of Languages and Communication. She holds a Master’s degree (cum laude) in Language Practice. Her dissertation was looking into careers in studying African Languages further. She started teaching and specialising in Setswana in 2012 at the Tshwane University of Technology and proceed to the University of South Africa in 2017. She has written Setswana study guide and setting of Setswana assessments for various colleges that established African Languages Departments. She is an Internal moderator (Setswana) for Department of Higher Education and Training. Currently she just completed her PhD degree with the University of the Witwatersrand, focusing on Prosodic feature’s awareness in comprehending Setswana readings, the thesis is written in Setswana.

Research output:

Written a paper on Awareness of language careers and employability with reference to South African indigenous languages from Masters dissertation (waiting for publication) and;

Presented papers on:

• The use of dictionaries in promoting reading in African languages with special reference to Setswana
• Gamification as a supporting tool in the learning of Setswana Grammar for Distance learning students
• Studying African languages for who and for what? The awareness of language profession and its employability with reference to South African indigenous languages

Ms Valencia Wagner

Lecturer: Setswana

Tel: 053 491 0037

Qualifications: MA (Language Practice), Tshwane University of Technology; B-Tech (Language Practice), Tshwane University of Technology; N-Dip (Language Practice), Tshwane University of Technology

Mrs Valencia Wagner is a Setswana Language Lecturer. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Languages and Literature with Linguistics and Literary at the North-West University. She has previously worked as a Setswana Lecturer at TUT from 2017 – 2019. Prior to joining SPU she worked as a Setswana Language Researcher at the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR) where she conducted research into the principles and practice of Digital Humanities. Her role at SADiLaR included assisting with the development and assessment of digital language resources as well as assessing the validation of text and speech corpora relating to official South African languages. Her research interests include Sociolinguistics, Phonology & Digital humanities.

HISTORY

Dr Cornelis Muller

Lecturer: History

Qualifications: PhD (Africa Studies), University of the Free State; MHCS Masters (History), University of Pretoria; BCHS Honours (History), University of Pretoria; BA Languages (English Studies), University of Pretoria.

Dr Cornelis Muller is a historian of the socio-political history of state formation in southern Africa during the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century. He obtained his PhD in 2016 from the University of the Free State for his thesis on the development of policing in Johannesburg during the period 1886 to 1902. He also holds a degree in BA Languages (English Studies) and Honours and MA degrees in History from the University of Pretoria. Before he joined Sol Plaatje University in April 2017, he was a postdoctoral research fellow in the International Studies Group (ISG) at the University of the Free State. He is also the digital editor of the Historical Association of South Africa and has been a member of the executive of this organisation since 2012. His research focus includes late 19th and early 20th century southern African history, the history of colonial policing as well as the history of farm labour in South Africa during the 1950s. Dr Muller is a Lecturer in History and teaches courses on World, African and South African history.

Dr Karthigasen Gopalan

Senior Lecturer: History

Qualifications: PhD (History), University of KwaZulu Natal; MA (History) University of KwaZulu Natal, BA hons (History) University of KwaZulu Natal; BA University of KwaZulu Natal

Dr Karthigasen Gopalan is currently a senior lecturer for the History Department. Prior to this, he worked at the University of Fort Hare (from 2016) where he served as lecturer and Deputy Head of Department for History, and the University of KwaZulu Natal where he served as contract lecturer for History Department and History Education.

He completed his PhD at the University of KwaZulu Natal in 2016. His early research aimed to add to our understanding of transcontinental exchanges amongst displaced migrants during the early twentieth century, by looking specifically at the role of Hindu reformed movements, and how these were communicated, experienced, interpreted and negotiated in different social settings. 

Recently he has written about force relocations during the implementation of Apartheid Government’s Group Areas Act, by looking at how specific communities responded to the laws imposed upon them and the meanings that this history has to them in the present. He also looked at the paradox of community leaders in a township after the Group Areas Act, who were willing to work with apartheid structures, and are consequently viewed as collaborators with the apartheid regime. 

ANTHROPOLOGY

Professor Godfrey Maringira

Associate Professor: Anthropology

Qualifications: PhD (Sociology with specialisation in Social Anthropology), University of the Western Cape; MA (Migration Studies), Wits; BSC Social Sciences (Social Anthropology and Sociology), Great Zimbabwe University

Professor Godfrey Maringira is a Volkswagen Stiftung Foundation Fellow.

He is the Principal Investigator on two research projects:

– For the Volkswagen Foundation research grant with the project, “Soldiers in Politics”: Civil-Military Relations.

– The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) project, Promoting Inclusive Policies and Approaches to address youth networks of gang violence in South Africa.

His areas of research include the ethnography of war and violence, soldiers in post-colonial Africa, and the spirituality of military landscapes.

In 2018, he was awarded the accolade of Best Author for the African Affairs Journal published by Oxford University Press.

He is the author of several articles published in Armed Forces & Society (SAGE Publications), the African Review Journal (Cambridge University Press), Review of African Political Economy Journal (Taylor & Francis, Routledge), Medical Anthropology Journal: Cross cultural Studies in Health & Illness (Taylor & Francis, Routledge), Sociology: British Sociological Association Journal (SAGE Publications), Journal of War & Culture Studies (Taylor & Francis, Routledge) among others.

He is also the author of a book entitled Soldiers and the State in Zimbabwe (2019: Routledge). Professor Maringira obtained his PhD in the department of Anthropology & Sociology from the University of the Western Cape.

His Master’s in Migration Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and his BSC Social Sciences majoring in Social Anthropology & Sociology from Great Zimbabwe University.

He currently teaches Social Anthropology in the School of Humanities at Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley.

Ms Carina Truyts

Lecturer: Anthropology

Qualifications: MA Anthropology, UCT; BSC Hons in Social Anthropology, UCT; BA in Journalism and Media Studies and Anthropology, Rhodes University

Carina Truyts is a Social Anthropologist who works at the intersections of health, food, society and the body. Her MA work on Nourishment in the Cape Winelands explores the “space between” prescription and practice. This is housed in a research project on the “first thousand days of life” part of which considers the implications of epigenetic and DOHaD (Developmental Origins of Health and Disease) in everyday life. Her work on food, memory, and notions of hunger stem from her previous career in professional cooking, and her interests in food security and nutrition science. She is one of the Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity in South Africa at Tekano, and is currently collaborating on an IDRC funded research project titled “Nourishing Spaces”. The interdisciplinary project investigates the links between food systems and non-communicable diseases in 6 African cities, including Kimberley. She cares about teaching and facilitating conversations, and is particularly invested in the project of re-thinking the university and social anthropology in the current Northern Cape and South African contexts. Her research interests include ethics, medical anthropology, food anthropology, nutrition, maternal and infant health, epigenetics, urban anthropology and the body. Ms Truyts joined Sol Plaatje University in February 2016 and teaches social anthropology. Her 2017 Urban anthropology research course the Big Hole Counter Narrative Project was based on collaboration with artists such as Francois Knoetze and Mkhululi Mabija with Amandla Danca Teatro. It was funded by the Goethe Institute as part of Goethe Project Space. She tweets occasionally under @foodanthrop

Dr Edmore Chitukutuku

Lecturer: Anthropology

Qualifications: PhD (Anthropology), University of the Witwatersrand; MA (Anthropology), University of the Witwatersrand; BA Honours (Anthropology), University of the Witwatersrand; BSc Social Science (Anthropology & Sociology), Great Zimbabwe University

Edmore Chitukutuku is an anthropologist of the state, focusing on state sponsored violence. He  graduated with a PhD in Anthropology from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2017, and his work took a distinctively spatial dimension, (militia bases and scared places), in understanding how political violence and the history of the liberation war is used in the making of political subjectivities in Zimbabwe. More broadly, his research interests include themes and debates on violence, military studies, security, landscapes, peacebuilding, youths, governance, democracy; and economic anthropology. He worked as a research Fellow in the History department, University of Warwick for Wellcome Trust Funded collaboration project on Global Health. He consulted for the Mandela Institute for Development Studies (MINDS) on youth participation in politics and governance project. His research has been funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Studies- Wadsworth African Fellowship; Social Science Research Council-Next-Generation Social Sciences in Africa; SSRC-African Peacebuilding Network; Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation-Young African Scholars Program. He has published a number of articles in ISI-listed journals. He is a lecturer of anthropology teaching Social theory and Anthropology of violence.

PSYCHOLOGY

Dr Eleanor Addinall

Lecturer: Psychology

Qualifications: B.Psych (UFS); B.A. (Practical Theology) Honours  (UFS); M.A. (Pastoral Therapy) (UFS)

Ph.D (Pastoral Therapy) (NWU)

Dr Eleanor Addinall completed her B.Psych, BA in Practical Theology and MA in Pastoral Therapy at the University of the Free State.  She obtained her PhD in Pastoral Therapy from the North West University in Potchefstroom. Her PhD research focused on the bodily discontent experienced amongst women.  An empirical qualitative study was done to evaluate the women’s thoughts, feelings, causes and effects regarding their bodies. A holistic pragmatic model was developed as a possible aid in the psychological therapeutic process. Before being appointed as a lecturer at Sol Plaatje University in October 2014, Dr Addinall worked as a Life Skills facilitator at the University of the Free State from 2005 until 2014.  She is currently a lecturer in Psychology at Sol Plaatje University. Dr Addinall is passionate about empowering young girls and women and her research areas includes cognitive behavioural therapy and pastoral care and counselling.

Mr Thembelihle Lobi

Lecturer: Psychology

Qualifications: B Social Work (UFH), B Soc Sci Hons Psychology (UFH), MA Counselling Psychology (UFH), currently enrolled for PhD in Psychology with NWU.

Thembelihle Lobi is a Counselling Psychologist registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). He is part of the New Generation of Academic Programme lecturers at SPU. His masters research explored self-concepts of homeless men in East London. The study examined a variety of factors (e.g. family relationships, employment, school achievement, and friendships) that affect a person’s self-concept, and how the deficit in those factors link with the emergence of psychopathology. For his PhD, Mr Lobi will be examining teacher well-being and its impact on student’s experience of academic boredom. His research interest is on certain positive psychology constructs, such as well-being, flourishing and resilience.

SOCIOLOGY

Dr Crispen Chinguno

Senior Lecturer: Sociology and Postgraduate Coordinator 

Qualifications: PhD (Sociology), University of the Witwatersrand
MA (Industrial and Economic Sociology), University of the Witwatersrand
BCom (Industrial & Labour Studies)
Diploma in Human Resources Management, Institute of Personnel Management

Dr Chinguno’s academic and research interests emerged from his work experience at the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) where he was an engineman and worker activist. His experience from the world of work and in the trade union movement posed a number of intellectual challenges that motivated him to pursue postgraduate studies and later the academia. His principal research interest explores questions on labour, work, the future of work and society, state, power, resistance social policy and political economy. Part of his work is published in the Review of the African Political Economy, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Global Labour Journal, Journal of Workplace Rights, Peripherie, Juridikum, and several book chapters. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Society, Work and Politics Institute(SWOP) and lecturer(Sociology) in the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand between 2014 and 2018. He is an alumni of the Global Labour University(GLU) and the International Centre for Decent Work and Development(ICDD). Dr Chinguno has conducted an ethnographic study of South Africa’s platinum mineworker’s continuous struggle over working conditions and worker’s organization(s) which he is turning into a book manuscript. He is a National Research Foundation (NRF) rated researcher category C3-(established researcher) 2020-2025 and is a fellow in the Department of Higher Education (DHET) Future Professors Programme Phase one-2020-2021.

View Dr Chinguno’s Google Scholar profile here.

Ms Lesego Bertha Kgatitswe

Lecturer: Sociology

Qualifications: BA, BA (Honours in Industrial Sociology) Rhodes University; MA (Health Sociology) University of the Witwatersrand.

Ms Lesego Kgatitswe has worked as a researcher, facilitator and project manager at several research institutes in South Africa which include the Human Sciences Research Council, Institute for Social and Health Sciences (UNISA) and the Medical Research Council. Her research interest is on topics that intersect with health, gender and class. Ms Kgatitswe was appointed as a lecturer in Sociology at SPU in May 2017. She is currently reading for a PhD in Health Sociology focusing on the illness experience of women diagnosed with breast cancer in low-income contexts in South Africa.

Dr Simbarashe Gukurume

Senior Lecturer: Sociology

Tel: 053 491 0000

Qualifications: PhD (Sociology and Social Anthropology), University of Cape Town; MSc (Sociology and Social Anthropology), University of Zimbabwe; BSc Sociology, University of Zimbabwe, Certificate Climate Change Adaptation, Brown University, USA.

Simbarashe Gukurume is a social scientist working at the intersections of Sociology and Social Anthropology and is a senior lecturer at Sol Plaatje University. Prior to joining Sol Plaatje University, he was a faculty research chairperson and taught sociology and social anthropology at Great Zimbabwe. Simbarashe is interested in questions around youth, informality, livelihoods, displacement, Pentecostalism, money, and other forms of the everyday lives of young people. He is particularly interested in the forms of agency, socialities and convivialities that emerge and are forged in times of protracted crisis, uncertainty, and flux.

Simbarashe’s research projects have been funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Economic and Social Research Council, the Social Science Research Council, Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, African Peacebuilding Network, Mastercard Foundation, NorGlobal and American Council of Learned Societies. His recent publications appear in the International Journal of Transitional Justice, African Affairs, Third World Thematics, African Identities, Journal of Southern African Studies, Political Psychology and the Extractive Industries and Society among other journals. Simbarashe is also in the editorial board of two top journals and is a mentor of the Harry Frank Guggenheim African Fellows.