This week Community Engagement Directorate (CEAD) ran a third edition of the Community Engagement Day. Professor Busisiwe Nkonki-Mandleni, the Director of the CEAD, said the 2025 annual Community Engagement Day that took place at the University’s Seme Hall, on 5 March, was an opportunity to showcase the projects that are run by the University staff at different locations in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. “The event also encourages others to take community engagement seriously and have a better view of what happens in our communities,” said Professor Nkonki-Mandleni, adding that community engagement has some far reaching consequences; it improves the lives of the affected communities, and gives MUT staff a chance to record what they are doing with communities, and in some cases publish academic papers. The projects are also an opportunity for the students to learn about communities and get to know about research at a very early stage.
The event was hailed as a big success by several participants. Two of the participants were guests from different organisations. Professor Angela James, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal said MUT projects are not “tick box exercises; they are live events. They have action and essence. We are feeling the Community Engagement, not think about it.” Dr Anisa McNeil, CEO of Education Work, an NGO in the USA, said MUT projects are focusing on what matters most – the communities. Dr McNeil described the communities as the “heartbeat” of the business that she is running. Dr McNeil is the Founder and Executive Director of the Mental Health and Social Justice Clinic in South Africa.
As has become the tradition, the event focused on the success of the projects and their impact on the communities that the project drivers are working with. Some of the projects were the Food Security for Better Health project, by Dr Caiphus Hlungwani, Lungi Nxasana, Tholakele Kunene, and Maswazi Shabane; the Food Safety Training project, by Dr Jugen Manyatsa and Dr Trishka Pilay; the Phytoremediation project, by Dr Awonke Mbangi; the Environmental Education and Sustainability project, by Dr Sibonelo Mbanjwa and Mr Skhumbuzo Mhlongo; the STEM Robotic Education and 4IR Development project, by Tshibangu Rogerant, Dr Vikash Jugoo and Dr Richard Chidzonga, and the Reading Project, by Queen Bhengu, with one teacher and learner, and Sanelisiwe Ngubane, from Shutter & Shooter.
The faculty deans made a compelling case for supporting the projects. During their presentations, the deans, Professor Babatunde Bakare of the Faculty of Engineering and Dr Kevin Ramsarghey of the Faculty of Management Sciences, indicated how impactful the projects were upon the communities.