PhD(Wits), Hon DSc (Bristol), MASSAf, GCOB, FAAS

Mamokgethi Phakeng (formerly Setati) began her term of office as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town on 1 July 2018, where she had been serving as Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalisation since January 2017. Prior to this appointment, Phakeng assumed the role of Vice Principal for Research and Innovation at the University of South Africa (Unisa) for five years, after serving three years as the Executive Dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology at the same university. Phakeng holds a PhD in Mathematics Education from the University of the Witwatersrand and is an esteemed B1 NRF-rated research scientist with over 80 research papers and five edited volumes published. 

Phakeng has been invited to deliver over 40 keynote/plenary talks at international conferences and served as visiting professor at various universities around the world including Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, India, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Lebanon, Lesotho, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Senegal, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the USA. She has won numerous awards for her research and community work, including the Order of the Baobab (Silver) conferred on her by the President of South Africa in April 2016. In August 2014, CEO magazine named her the most influential female academic in Africa and in August 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Businesswoman of the Year Award in the education category. In July 2019 the University of Bristol conferred on her an Honorary Doctorate in Science in recognition of her leadership roles taken to drive mathematics education in South Africa.

Phakeng was elected as a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in November 2007; an honorary member of the Golden Key International Honour Society in May 2009, an honorary life member of the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (AMESA) and a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences in 2018. In 2008 she became the first black South African researcher to be appointed to co-chair a study commissioned by the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction. The study entitled “mathematics and language diversity” was published in a volume in 2016, which Phakeng also co-edited.

Phakeng is a member of the board of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG), a board member of the South African Student Solidarity Foundation for Education (SASSFE), a board member of the Pearson Marang Education Trust (PMET) and a trustee of the FirstRand Foundation. In 2016 she was appointed by the then Deputy President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, to chair the Human Resource Development Council standing committee on Mathematics and Science Education. She served as member of the board of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and chaired its Research Development and Innovation Committee from January 2015 until September 2017. She was elected in 2011 as the first female President of the Convocation of the University of the Witwatersrand and served for five years until 2016. She led the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (AMESA) as its first female National President from 2002 to 2006, served as founding chairperson of the Board of the South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF) from 2004 to 2006 and secretary and member of the executive committee of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) from 2003 to 2007.

Kgethi, as she is also affectionately known, is the founder of the Adopt-a-learner Foundation (www.adopt-a-learner.com), a non-profit organisation that was started in 2004 and that provides financial and educational support to students from townships and rural areas to acquire and achieve higher education qualifications