23 September 2022

The South African Association of Public Administration and Management (SAAPAM) will on Monday, 26th September 2022 host a special gala dinner in honour of Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. The luminary will be honoured with SAAPAM’s highest recognition, the Distinquished Public Service Award. The Public Service Award is one of the highest awards that the Association confers to practioners in the discipline and some of the previous recipients include Dr’s Cassius Reginald Lubisi and Sam Gulube, Zola Skweyiya and Professor Stan Sangweni.

Dr Mlambo-Ngcuka enjoyed illustrious public service careers and played an instrumental role in laying the ground for a professionalised public service and the role of women in Public Service. She has left an indelible footprint in the offices she led.

Mlambo-Ngcuka served as Deputy President of South Africa from 2005 to 2008, as the first woman to hold the position in the country and at that point the highest ranking woman in the history of South Africa. During her period as deputy president of South Africa, she oversaw programmes to combat poverty and ensure the poor people benefit from the advantages of a growing economy. Mlambo-Ngcuka was appointed as the Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (UN Women) by then United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. She was sworn into Executive Director of UN Women on 19 August 2013.

Mlambo-Ngcuka obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science and Education from the National University of Lesotho in 1980, as well as a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Cape Town in 2003, which dealt with educational planning and policy. In 2013 she completed a Doctorate from the University of Warwick. Her doctoral work covered using mobile technologies to support Teacher Development in resource poor nations. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 2014.

The special gala dinner attendees will receive a Keynote address by National Planning Commissioner and Faculty Dean (Humanities) from Tshwane University of Technology, Professor Mashupye Maserumule as well as a congratulatory messages within scholarly and goverment circles.

The details of this august event are as follows:

– Date: 26 September 2022
– Time: 18:00
– Venue: Premier Hotel ICC, East London, Eastern Cape

Enquiries:
Dr John Molepo
076 750 2300
John.molepo@ump.ac.za