New Council members for SU

Six leading South Africans have been elected to the Council of Stellenbosch University (SU) – four by the Convocation, namely Prof Wannie Carstens, Dr George du Toit, Adv Jan Heunis and Dr Rhoda Kadalie, and two by the donors of the University, namely Mr George Steyn and Prof PW van der Walt.

SU announced the outcome of its Council Election  on Tuesday (30 March 2010). Members of the Convocation and the donors were able to vote from 1 to 25 March for the six vacancies on the Council. Eligible voters were able to bring out their by online, by e-mail, via fax or by delivering their ballot manually.

The vacancies on the Council came about because of the expiry of the terms of Council members as well as two resignations.

Prof Carstens is the director of the School of Languages at Northwest University, Dr du Toit is a gynaecological oncologist, Adv Heunis a senior advocate and Dr Kadalie is the managing director of the Impumelelo Innovations Award Trust and received an honorary doctorate from SU last month.

Mr Steyn is the managing director of the Pep retail group and Prof Van der Walt is an Emeritus professor of Electronic Engineering at SU and is currently affiliated to Reutech Radar as a technology executive.

In total 5 661 members of the Convocation and 612 members of the donors’ electoral college brought out eligible votes. This is considerably more than in the previous election in 2008 when 2 664 members of the Convocation took part; however, it is less than in the 2006 election when more than 7 000 votes were cast.

Dr Paul Cluver, Chairperson on the SU Council, extended a welcome to the new members and said he is looking forward to their knowledgeable contributions to ensure the effective functioning of the Council.

Prof Russel Botman, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, thanked the alumni of the University for their active participation in the election. Prof Botman said he believes the new Council members will help to ensure that the University maintains its excellence in the 21st century and at the same time make a relevant contribution to society.

The electoral officer and Registrar of SU, Mr Johann Aspeling, expressed his satisfaction with the election and said the internal auditors of SU monitored the election very closely. Mr Aspeling said the integrity of the election was continually tested and remained above board throughout.

The terms of the new Council members will run from 2 April 2010 to 1 April 2014.