The curtain is coming down on one of the University’s longest serving employees. Dr Mthokozisi Emmanuel Ntuli, the Student Development Officer, has had an association with the University for 33 years, having been its student from 1992 to 1994. Young Ntuli became a student leader during this period. A year later he did off-campus work. From 1996 to 2003, Dr Ntuli worked at the Department of Information Technology and Networks (IT&N). In 2003 he joined the Financial Aid Bureau when he worked until 2009. From 2009 Dr Ntuli joined the Department of Student Affairs, where he has been a Student Development Officer for the last 16 years.
Dr Ntuli, the energetic student development officer, has made a telling impact. Throughout his tenure as a member of the Student Affairs department, he has been a pillar of strength for student development. MUT is well known for being a stable university, a big turn-around from a very negative history of constant student protests. This is largely because of Dr Ntuli’s efforts at empowering the student leaders with the essential knowledge they need to lead the students and be good leaders in their communities.
Soon after the annual Student Representative Council (SRC) elections, which occur in September every year, Dr Ntuli conducted an SRC induction workshop where he informed the student leaders of the important regulations governing the University. He said the most important of these is the Higher Education Act, followed by the Mission and Vision of the University, then the SRC Constitution, and the SRC Electoral Policy, the Institutional Statutes, the Student Development Policy, and other relevant documents. Dr Ntuli’s main message to the student leaders has always been that leadership is about being a servant to those that you lead, irrespective of your political affiliation.
What made Dr Ntuli’s approach unique was that he was passionate about what he was doing. He is probably one of the few individuals with a PhD in student governance, which he used to good effect. Dr Ntuli said what he imparted upon the students was “giving them the ability to influence the future of the country and solving problems of the society”. What motivated Dr Ntuli to delve into the student political arena was that there were “no-go areas” in student residences. “It necessitated that one had to think outside the box to deal with the conundrum which confronted the University. The research conducted showed that MUT was a microcosm of a wider society and what manifested on campus was a manifestation of the wider society. We introduced a variety of political tolerance programmes and social cohesion workshops which yielded positive results, years later,” said Dr Ntuli.
Some of the student leaders who benefited from Dr Ntuli’s efforts were Vusumuzi Mthethwa and Thobisa Dalasile. These are recent SRC Presidents from different student formations. Both former student leaders said what they learned from Dr Ntuli will be of help to them for the rest of their lives. Dalasile, SRC President from 2023 to 2024, said he learnt a lot from Dr Ntuli. “I learned the importance of discipline. It is uncommon that only one student political formation takes all the available SRC positions. Dr Ntuli taught us that it was necessary to have political tolerance as we were different student political formations in the SRC. He taught us the value of respect and conducting ourselves well,” said Dalasile.
Mthethwa, who was SRC President from 2022 to 2023, said what he learnt from Dr Ntuli was that student leaders need to focus on their academic obligations while they are in the office. Mthethwa also acknowledged that Dr Ntuli empowered student leaders so they would be able to contribute to policy discussions. This would have a long-lasting effect on them as student leaders, he said. Both former student leaders confirmed that what they learned from Dr Ntuli would shape their behaviour beyond MUT.