Inaugural/Installation address
of
Prof Andrew M Crouch  
Vice Chancellor and Principal of Sol Plaatje University: “Make dreams come true”
26 November 2021

Thank You registrar, I think after those two musical interludes, I don’t know whether I should cry, and I was, or whether I should just celebrate the joyfulness of the occasion, I think it will be the latter, but forgive me if I cry in between. I’d like to thank everyone that turned up here today for this installation event. Dumelang, Hello. I would like to acknowledge the presence of the Chancellor, Council Members, the Premier of the Northern Cape Province, Sol Plaatje Municipality representatives, honored guests, SMT, Senate members, IF members, SRC members, family and friends, as well as those that are watching the proceedings online, including the Vice Chancellors for other universities in the HE Sector.

It is indeed an honor for me to address you today. Given the times in which we live, I was not sure whether I would ever be afforded an opportunity to have an installation. The opportunity that the more favourable health and safety conditions present us is therefore grabbed with both hands, but we must be mindful that we should always be careful and alert, so that we protect ourselves, and protect others. I therefore urge you to exercise the utmost caution.

• I would like to start my address by going down memory lane. I reflect on my early upbringing in Ronaldsvlei where I spent the first 10 years of my life. We were evicted from Ronaldsvlei following a decision by the then government to declare that area a white suburb. The decision was made by P W Botha as Minister of Community Development in 1965 to build 1800 houses for white families. We had to clear the land next to the airport for this in 1968.
• My father, as a 50 year old with a wife and a young family of nine children had to start from scratch. He was not alone, there were 85 other families who were subsistence farmers on their leased smallholdings were in the same boat. This was the order of the day for many families who were affected during the periods 1958 to about 1970. Most of them had to start their lives afresh, some never recovered from this displacement.
• In Kimberley, you still see the scars of the people who were moved to places like Colville, Floors, Homestead, Homevale, Galeshewe and Moghul Park, just to name a few. The effect of these displacements has affected so many, scarred so many, changed so many lives and affected the fabric of society. Are we ever going to recover?
• The decision to displace the families of Ronaldsvlei had a lasting impact on my life. As a 10 year old (when we were evicted), I decided that I will do something with my life that no-one can take away again. For me, education was the key which opened so many doors. I sometimes stared into the night sky of the Northern Cape as child and dreamt that one day we would be able to make our own decisions about our futures. Today I am standing in front of you, confident that I am partly living that dream.

• I am however recognizing that I could not do it alone. The people who are congregated today, those physically present here and those who are virtually connected have had a great part in this achievement.
• I thank my wife and children, my family, friends, for their selfless support. To my family for the many months that they had to struggle alone whilst I was pursuing the life of an academic, and later a university administrator and leader, I thank you.
• My wife Lynnette in particular has been a pillar of strength, then and now. I would publicly want to recognize her role in my success as an academic and as a university leader and manager.
• My children (all of them) have also been a source of inspiration to me. Their independence, maturity and ability to stand their ground is a testimony to me that we did not do such a bad job in raising them. These days they are more our friends who we ask for advice too😊 as they are the new generation and we also have to listen to them from time to time.
• I dedicate this achievement to my father, my mother and my family, in part for their support, but for believing in me. For believing that even if you are from a background of the dusty streets of a smallholding called Ronaldsvlei, or from the streets of Homestead, you could achieve success.
• I am particularly indebted to my teachers and the schools I attended (Ronaldvlei Primary, Beacon Primary, William Pescod High). Throughout my schooling period, I was blessed to have had dedicated teachers, especially my Maths teachers and Language teachers. I was contacted by my Primary School Teacher Mr Wentworth who congratulated me (90 years old). My High School Teachers Mr McAnda, Ms Lewis and Mr Geduldt (who is in the audience today) and several of my class mates at the time.
• I also wish to acknowledge the support and assistance of several individuals and organizations who assisted with my development: Peninsula Technikon, Dr Franklin Sonn, Prof Brian Figaji and Dr Dwight Triegaardt and Prof Jean Triegaardt. Also, the assistance abroad by an ex-South African from Ficksburg in the Free State, Mr John Evert who assisted me financially when I ran out of funds whilst studying in Canada. I tried to contact his family, but was unsuccessful.
• A special thank you to my supervisor in Canada, Prof Cooper H Langford (now deceased). His guidance assisted me in turning out to be the academic and supervisor I became.
• A special word of thanks also to Dr Rani Yangar and Dr Charly Berks, for their understanding and unwavering support during my time (and that of Dr Muller) in Canada.
• To the numerous students I taught and supervised over the years (Hundreds of undergraduates, more than 50 honours projects, about 35+ Masters, 15 PhD’s and 6 Post Docs). There are some here, and some are virtually connected. I learned something from each one of you. Just as you had a learning experience, it was also a learning experience for me and I’m still learning
• Thanks to the research collaborators I had over the years, particularly Prof David Williams (Cardiff University in Wales, now deceased), Prof Jim Jorgenson (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA), Prof Pat Sandra (Gent University in Belgium) with whom I had extended periods of sabbatical time, collaboration and Fellowships. They have added greatly to the international footprint of my academic profile.
• My journey through my academic career, the opportunities presented would not have been possible without their assistance.
• There were also failures along the way, but these should be seen as learning opportunities. Thus, I don’t see a failure as a failure, but as a learning opportunity.
• Mr Booker T Washington, a well-known American Civil Rights leader (1890 – 1915) said in his autobiography called “Up from Slavery” and I quote ‘I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he had to overcome while trying to succeed”. I can associate with this, since my journey to this point was marked by many stops along the way, some intended, some by design, others by consequences.
• Booker T Washington was, like myself, also interested in the development of young people. His greatest achievement was to establish a School for Coloured youth in America. Through this school, many young people were given an opportunity to make their dreams a reality. This school is still standing today. He lived in the period 1890 -1950.
• He was, like me, also interested in youth development, and making the dreams of young people come true…. For them “to dream the impossible dream….to follow that star, No matter how hopeless, No matter how far”.
• Education has been what brought me to where I am today (with the help of others) and it is through education that I would like to create hope, create peace, create opportunities and make dreams come true, no matter how far those dreams might be.

• It was therefore almost as if my path was determined for me when I got the call-in early December 2019 that I was appointed as the Vice Chancellor and Principal of SPU.
• On the one hand I felt like the proverbial character “Kanna” in the play by the well know Afrikaans poet Adam Small (Kanna hy ko huistoe)…
• In this play Kanna was wrestling with his own identity when he returned home, after having left his community to get educated. His poor mother Makiet, who raised him, was always hoping that he would return home to integrate back into the family, but he only did it for her funeral. He could not fit into the environment that he left behind before he got educated.
• I know that my mother Louisa, or Aunt Fennie as she was called (like Makiet in “Kanna hy ko huistoe”) secretly wished that I should also come back home to integrate back into the family. I can tell her now that I am back and I know her prayers have been answered. But like Kanna, I was also wondering whether I would fit into this community that I left so long ago.
• Unlike Kanna however, I have realised that my past and my future is linked to this community. That the dust of the Northern Cape is forever stuck in my lungs, therefore I cannot leave this region, I cannot leave this country.
• I am now in Kimberley for one year and eight months. The conditions I left 40 years ago have not drastically improved since I left. On the contrary, it seems to have worsened. Like in the time of Kanna, the conditions of poverty and inequality are persisting, there is limited opportunities for youth due to the slow, or no economic growth and low education levels. Social challenges brought about by low (or no) economic growth are persisting.
• That is why the decision to create a university in the Northern Cape was a wise one.This social justice project, which started 8 years ago to address the plight of the peoples of the NC to have their own university has become a reality.
• But a university by its very nature is universal, and Sol Plaatje University, named after one of the sons of the NC, is not different. Is it living up to the expectations of the people of Kimberley and the NC?
• The question is? Have the citizens of Kimberley and the NC come to terms with the fact that it now has a university and that it can join the many small cities and towns in South Africa and abroad in claiming “University Town” status. Is it not hanging on for dear life to its mining town status? Does Kimberley have a split personality?

• The integration of the Kimberley into the social, cultural and economic fabric of Kimberley as a University in a Town remains a crucial driver for the growing intellectual, cultural and physical interconnectedness of the University to the evolving city. That is why I signed a Town and Gown agreement with the Mayor (of Sol Plaatje Municipality) earlier this year. This Town and Gown agreement means that there is a commitment between the Municipality and the University to work together and support each other on certain projects (name a few, HR development CPD, Safety and Security, Infrastructure !!!!!)
• But prior to becoming a city, this region had a rich history, inhabited by San and Korana. Their presence is still visible in the rock art of the region (Wildebeeskuil, Driekopseiland and the Wonderwerk cave near Kuruman) and in the dance of the Riel. When the Griqua moved in, followed by white settlers, the better armed group won, so this region was always earmarked by resistance and strife.
• Even when diamonds were discovered and Kimberley was formed as a city following colonial conquests, the region seem to always have been involved in some war or another. Diamonds transformed the landscape and cultural diversity of this growing city. More and more people streamed into the city as it presented the possibilities of instant wealth. We know that not everyone became wealthy, but a cultural mix of European, Indian, African and Coloured descended on Kimberley.
• In later years, this integration had to be untangled by the Group Areas act. I have already pointed out earlier what impact this disentanglement had on my own life. I was however not alone. The acts involving the relocation of inhabitants of Malay Camp, Ronaldsvlei, Beaconsfield and others which then resulted in the Colville, Floors, Homevale (Tips), Homevale Extension, Galeshewe and others are testimony to the success of the Group Areas Act, but the root of much of the hardship I have observed in Kimberley today. (I looked at records in the Africana Museum)
• The fact that we now have a golden opportunity, though this university, to mend the ills of the past, should not be wasted. We are soon to purchase the Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens, the erstwhile site of Malay Camp, and we hope to turn this space into an iconic public open space, with our main Great Hall Complex of the university erected there.
• This past Saturday, I announced the winners of the Architectural Competition whose design we will use for the new Great Hall Complex on the Oppenheimer Gardens. Through this project, we hope that the presence of the university on this historic site will bring more hope to the descendants of the peoples of Malay Camp, that the vibrancy which once existed in the city centre will be brought back. That, in the words of Mr Solly Hunter (one of my former teachers at William Pescod High School) “I remember the people as a single community, not as a composition of various races”.
• Let the establishment of this university therefore be a reminder of the past struggles of this region, but let it also be an inspiration for our future.
• The only wars/battles we must now fight should be the intellectual battles 😊

• I am now been asked to lead this young university. Leading a university and setting a strategic course in these troubled times of Climate Change, Poverty and Inequality, Social Tsunami’s and wave after wave of epidemics is a daunting task.
• Leading a university and setting a strategic course is a daunting task anywhere in the world, even in ideal times. With multiple and complex challenges that face higher education institutions as we enter the third decade of the 21^st century, compounded by several parallel challenges that faces the world, it becomes even more daunting.
• It is even more complex if one has to lead a university that is new and operates in a developmental context characterised by extremely high levels of poverty and inequality, as is the case in South Africa.
• Charting a strategic course capable of contributing to the policy expectations of knowledge-based development for the country, while at the same time navigating the tensions that emerge in the course of pursuing this possess a significant challenge. There’s always pressure, pressure, from above, pressure from the sides, from below and impacts of these pressures are exaggerated by the limited resources we have available.

• The first five years of Sol Plaatje University’s (SPU’s) existence have, in many ways, provided the opportunity to grapple with these dilemmas and trade-offs in attempting to set the institution on a trajectory in which it was able to make its contribution to democracy and social justice, as enjoined in its vision.
• The first-generation strategy (2015 – 2019) recognised these limitations of a five-year planning cycle for laying down and embedding the genetic markers and codes capable of defining the university’s identity and positioning. The chancellor has already said in his opening address it is a young university, but it is already gaining some significance. The broad positioning points laid down as markers remain as follows:
• A site of learning, research and culture – endeavouring towards excellence and embedded in quality academic process;
• An engaged social participant – giving expression to democratic practice, seized with the challenges facing society, and enabling participation in social, cultural and economic life;
• A knowledge economy leader – facilitating knowledge for development and economic advancement locally, regionally, nationally and globally;
• An innovative 21^st Century institution – creative and inventive in teaching and learning, research, funding and community engagement, driven by state-of-the-art digital technology;
• A university in Africa – integrally connected to African issues, projecting knowledge globally.

• The dominant motif that characterised the first five years of SPU under my predecessor reign was growth, growth and growth.
• Growth in student numbers, growth in staff numbers, and I have all the statistics here, but in the interest of time I’m not going to quote them, sufficed to say that the university started with 124 students, and currently we are now at 2784 students.
• It started off with 33 staff members, and we are now at 590 staff members.
• We have at the recent graduation ceremony graduated our 1000^th
• Thank you very much Prof Ballim for setting the basis and the foundation for that growth.

• The scale at which these challenges will confront the University will only grow in scope and complexity as the institution embarks on this next cycle of growth and complexity.
• There are a few challenges that are worth mentioning, but they are by no means exclusive in terms of having an impact on the future of the university.
• These include slow economic growth, the underfunding of the university sector, increase pressure on funding of university students (the NSFAS model) causing instability in the university sector, rapid technological changes caused by digitalisation (highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic in the past 18 months), the need for a vibrant social, educational and cultural environment, the need for access and success within universities and the changing world landscape.
• The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 changed Higher Education worldwide and catapulted us into a period of uncertainty. It has however allowed institutions like Sol Plaatje University to fast-track projects which would only have been implemented a few years from now. The crisis also exposed and further highlighted the schism and deficiencies we have in our country (the divide between the haves and the have nots).
• As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, SPU had to fast-track its move towards online teaching and learning.
• We have been able to socialise the Digital University by placing the emphasis on digital tools, and this has now become a natural part of our daily activities of every user.
• We had to expand our work in the areas of staff development, student support workshops, tutorship programmes, quality assurance, module evaluation and assessment practices.
• We shifted our focus towards digitisation and e-learning earlier than we anticipated and assisted both staff and students to navigate e-spaces.
• This process would have taken an entire change management process to achieve, but the crisis has allowed it to take a firm footing in a short space of time at the University.
• I mention all this at this point in time since digitalization was one of the major strategies identified by the university as part of its next five-year cycle.

• Our second-generation strategy (2020 – 2024) draws on the same vision, mission and values to frame the strategic choices and action for the University over the next five years. (only mention the Mission since it is printed on the programme)

The SPU mission is:

To become an institution of higher learning uniquely positioned to: 

• graduate citizens competent and capable of realising the aspirations of society;
• produce new knowledge impacting on key challenges of the region;
• engage critically with communities of discourse and communities of people in order to search our pathways to equitable development.

• At the heart of this mission is the kind of graduate we aim to produce as this institution, in turn, shapes the knowledge we produce and share through our different relations and engagements.
• SPU take for granted that graduates misunderstand the foundational principles and ways of reasoning in their disciplines; are able to integrate and contest knowledge and ideas from other disciplines and domains; and are committed to life-long learning.
• In the world of work, SPU graduates are actively engaged in the progressive transformation of their professions and social environments.
• In society, they must have a broad understanding and commitment to principles of human rights, social justice and global sustainability.
• These vision and missions that we espouse, should transpose into values. I always say to our SRC, we can read these values, but the fundamental value for me is respect. If we do not have respect for each other we can talk about academic freedom, independent thinking, academic citizenship and all the other things, for me it starts with mutual respect.
• These fundamental values and choices must be embedded in the strategy which we will cover for the next five years.

• This strategy lives itself out in the kind of university that we would like to produce and transpose and imagine what the typical university in South Africa should look like 50 years from now. One wonders whether the newly – established universities, such as SPU should look like as modern 21^st Century universities. We should therefore all ask ourselves some key questions.

My questions are:

1. What should a university of the 21^st Century look like, and what is excellence?
2. How do we teach and learn in the 21^st Century University?
3. What should the structures, the academic and research programmes be at the university of the 21^st Century?
4. Who should this university serve?

• These are vexing questions which the rest of the world is currently wrestling with.
• What I do know, ladies and gentlemen, is that to a certain extent, SPU, as a new university are already grappling with all of these, in the face of our changing circumstances (Covid 19 brought about) and the opportunities that has presented to us..
• When I was appointed at Sol Plaatje University I presented the Council with the idea of an innovative university embedded in the community.

• My five-point plan when I was appointed as Vice Chancellor included the following:
  1. The idea of an Innovative University embedded in the community.
  2. Humanizing teaching, learning and research at SPU, its curricula, research, stable governance
  3. Talent Management within the university (staff and students)
  4. A framework for student support and the centrality of student life
  5. The digital university as an enabler for the learning, teaching and knowledge generation projects
• In considering the above 5 point-plan and how it fits into what was then an approved strategy of the university, I believe those are pointer of the arrow that will take this university forward, in terms of it being a novel, innovative, entrepreneurial 21^st century institution.
• Allow me to expand on one aspect, and that is the talent management. I would like to talk about one project that is already launched. This is not a new project, by no means, I have been involved in a similar project in my previous institution, but I thought it fitting that it would be a project which would greatly enhance the capacity within the Northern Cape, in terms of building capacity amongst its youth.
• What is the Talent Pipeline Programme? This project involves us identifying youths at grades 10-12 and bring them onto the university campus, and building their capacity so that it can give them a better chance of obtaining a higher APS mark, I believe a good matric pass opens many doors for students future endeavours, because many rural learners in the Northern Cape and other provinces are caught in poverty after completing their basic education because they cannot find opportunities in the main economies of agriculture and mining, or any other emerging economy. Therefore, a lot of talent goes to waste, because these learners, although talented are precluded from attending university.
• Regardless of the introduction of free education, we find talented learners unable to pursue with tertiary education.
• With the assistance of the Chancellor, and the previous Chair of Council Judge Mokgoro (who has agreed to be the patron of this project) we have launched this project earlier in 2021 with 43 learners.
• As a university we are growing in staff and students, our focus is on programmes that are unique to this region, that is unique to this institution.

These programmes include:

• Data Sciences
• Heritage Studies,
• Focusing on Writing in African Languages, refocusing our educational programmes to adjust to the needs of these regions.

• Engagements with the Northern Cape Department of Health are underway for the University to include programmes in Therapeutic Sciences and Emergency Medical Care (Nursing, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy),
• Senate has already approved the curriculum for the Bachelor of Environmental and Agri Sciences, which we hope to introduce in the near future.

The identification of seven breakthrough initiatives involving the establishment of various centres in:

• Data Sciences
• Entrepreneurship
• Writing of African Languages
•  

Establishment of Advancement Division to build on partnerships with private and public sector that includes:

• Sol Plaatje Municipality
• The Premiers Office

Fortune favours those who are well-prepared.

As Priscilla has told you, I firmly believe in starting from the basics and fundamentals to work your way up to what I describe as the bigger picture, this is captured in our enrolment plans, our teaching and learning plans or rather learning and teaching plans as I always express to the Deputy Vice Chancellor. You must be able to learn to be taught, not taught and then learn. Our research plan which is just been approved by senate. We also have other plans such as Talent Management, Sustainability and plans to turn this institution in a model institution for digital learning.

One example is the Digital University Framework signed with Microsoft that made SPU the first university in South Africa to procure unfettered access to all Microsoft suites.

I would like to close off by expressing that we all here today have one common goal that is to ensure that the young people who enter the university should be successful in their endeavours.

I would like to conclude with a story of a certain Mr Sylvester Molawa, He’s a former SRC member. Mr Malawa originated from a small village near Kuruman, he completed his matric in 2016, due to insufficient funds to further his education Mr Malawa took a gap year in 2017. He writes very eloquently in his post he says he obtained a R200 got onto a taxi and headed to Kimberley. When he arrived he had a remaining balance of R55. He slept at the police station with the knowledge that it is safe to do so as he was strandered in an unfamiliar environment. Mr Molawa was granted an opportunity to study at SPU. Today he is a Bsc Data Science Graduate currently enrolled for his honours in Data Science and will hopefully graduate in the near future. Ladies and Gentlemen, this story touched me because this institution made it possible for Sylvester to create hope for his family, there are many Sylvester’s in our surroundings.

• The dreams with which they entered the university should be realised. This would speak to creating hope through education, and eventually freedom. Dreams can become possible, only if one works on making it possible.

I would like to thank the Council of the University for entrusting me with this role; to be the second Vice-Chancellor of Sol Plaatje University. I inherited stable governance platform, a stable management and the two cycles of clean and unqualified audits. I can certainly claim responsibility with the CFO for the second one.

• I believe I have committed to clean & ethical governance and will continue for this university to have clean audits. I thank you and I thank thee almighty for this opportunity.
• To my friends who came from afar, thank you very much I am honoured. Kea leboha, Dankie, Thank You.

1. The Africana Museum
2. The SPU Strategic Plan 2020 -2024
3. The Institutional Performance Plan 2020
4. The Institutional performance Plan 2021
5. “Sol Plaatje University, An idea and its origins” by Brain Willan.
6. Sol Plaatje University Annual Report 2020.