Witsies with the edge

Himkaar Singh

2022 Forbes Africa 30 under 30 list

Founder and CEO of The Compost Kitchen Himkaar Singh (BSc Eng 2014, GDE 2017) made it on to the coveted Forbes Africa 30 under 30 class list of 2022.

He was acknowledged for his commitment to enhancing water security through his innovative way of improving soil quality through composting. The Compost Kitchen initially started as a collection and recycling business that converted recycled food waste into vermicompost, using thousands of earthworms. Customers were given the vermicompost back each month, which they could use in their vegetable garden to grow food again. The business has matured into using a technological innovation called iCompost which is a low-noise machine with a two-litre capacity that turns all types of food waste – including coffee grounds, tea bags and eggshells – into a dry, natural and nutrient-rich modified soil.

The 30-year-old Wits-trained civil engineer and entrepreneur shared that his social awareness had been germinating over several years. The company was recognised as one of the 300 World Best Practices on Sustainability and Innovation by the United Nations in February 2021 as well as having been selected as part of the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship in South Africa’s Food Waste Innovation Challenge.

Wits memory: “The only lecturer I have kept in contact with since graduating is Dr Precious Biyela. I remember in the first lecture I had with her, she encouraged questions and engagement, and remembered my name. I always sat in the front and asked a lot of questions – which she answered logically and patiently.”

PROFESSOR YAHYA CHOONARA

2022 Distinguished Pharmaceutical Science Award

Professor Yahya Choonara (BPharm 2002, MPharm 2004, PhD 2009) was awarded the 2022 Distinguished Pharmaceutical Science Award from the Bureau of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in recognition of his outstanding research and significant contributions to the pharmaceutical sciences globally. The award was presented at the 80th FIP World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences held in Seville, Spain.

He is an advocate for pharmaceutical innovation and leads Wits’ Advanced Drug Delivery Platform Unit – an Africa first. The unit contributes to the design of novel targeted drug (and/or bioactive) delivery systems, nanomedicine, functional biomaterials and regenerative medicines. Drug delivery science is the method and process of formulating a newly discovered (or existing) drug (or bioactive) to achieve a better therapeutic effect in the human body, i.e. improved bioavailability. One of his inventions is the WaferMat – the world's fastest dissolving matrix. He is also the first South African pharmaceutical scientist to receive both the FIP Award and South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation’s Top Intellectual Property Creator Award, one of the country’s highest awards for distinguished contributions to innovation.

DR BOITUMELO SEMETE- MAKOKOTLELA

2022 NSTF Management Award

Dr Boitumelo Semete- Makokotlela (MM 2015) is the chief executive officer of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority and received the Management Award at the 24th National Science and Technology Forum-South 32 Awards, known as South Africa’s “Science Oscars”, for her pivotal role in establishing the Innovation Hub’s Biotech Incubator. She was instrumental in authorising COVID-19 diagnostic tests, vaccines and therapies to ensure the regulator was an enabler during the pandemic. She told WITSReview the award was “testament to the role the regulator has played in ensuring that vaccines that are safe, efficacious and of a high quality are available in South Africa. Being able to achieve this for the country has been such a humbling experience for me personally. I could not have done it alone.”

She shared fond memories of her syndicate group discussions at Wits: “These discussions were pivotal in shaping some relationships I hold dear. The robust engagements and varying views have certainly prepared me to hold my own in deliberations, learn to listen and clearly articulate my views.”

The influence of Professor Chris Malikane, an economics lecturer, on her career also received mention: “He would stimulate debates and enable everyone to share their views. As CEO, being able to create a platform for the team to share their views, listen and still be decisive while consultative is important.”

• Before the pandemic it took three to four years to register a new medicine, but that has been cut down to four to 11 months.

• WHO improved South Africa’s ranking to maturity level three (ML3) — the third of four levels in classification. Maturity level four (ML4) is the highest.

PROFESSOR ZEBLON VILAKAZI

2022 Fellow of the Royal Society

Sir Peter Bruce FRS, the physical secretary of The Royal Society, presents the scroll to Professor Vilakazi, while Professor Sir Adrian Smith PRS looks on

Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Zeblon Vilakazi (MSc 1994, PhD 1998) was appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Society (UK). “This is not just an honour for me, but also for Wits University, and all those who supported me. South Africa is home to a host of incredibly talented scientists, who punch above their weight in the global knowledge arena.

While this Fellowship acknowledges some of my achievements, more importantly, it recognises the high calibre of science and scientists based in Africa.” He joins several Wits alumni to have earned this honour, such as Robert Broom, Phillip Tobias, Basil Schonland, Frank Nabarro, Nobel-Prize winner Aaron Klug and Bernie Fanaroff. Prof Vilakazi is a respected nuclear physicist who led South Africa’s entry into the CERN Large Hadron Collider project in his role as group leader of the UCT team that played a pivotal role in the development of the high-level trigger forward muon tracker at the ALICE experiment at CERN. His goal was understanding the state of nuclear matter under extreme temperatures in search of the quark gluon plasma.

PRIYANKA DAVECHAND

2022: Vice- Chancellor’s Student Leader of the Year / Most Outstanding Postgraduate

Priyanka Davechand (BSc 2017, BSc Hons 2018), who is a PhD candidate in Geosciences, won two awards at the annual Student Leadership Awards. In 2017 she founded the Wits Bridge the Gap programme, which provides mentorship for geosciences students at Wits. The initiative has expanded to seven other universities in the country. She was acknowledged for her commitment over a sustained period of five years,

despite her increased workload, and as a champion of the University’s vision of cultivating female leadership in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. Her research looks at calcium isotopes on Karoo fossil tooth enamel to trace the diet of ancient animals such as dinosaurs. She is also featured in the SuperScientist cards series – developed to inspire a younger generation to see themselves in the faces of working scientists.

PROFESSOR BRIDGET CARRAGHER

2022 Innovation Award

Professor Bridget Carragher (BSc 1978, BSc Hons 1979, MSc 1982) is a physicist specialising in electron microscopy. She is co-director of the Simons Electron Microscopy Center at the New York Structural Biology Center, which provides expertise and resources for understanding both molecular and cellular structures. She received the 2022 Innovation Award from the Biophysical Society, which recognises a member who advances the fundamental understanding of biological systems through the development of novel theory, models, concepts, techniques, or applications. She was recognised for her development of inkjet deposition and vitrification technology for cryo-EM. Recently she has also been appointed as the founding technical director of the Chan Zuckerberg Institute for Advanced Biological Imaging.

Honorary doctorates

During the April and July graduations in 2022, the following individuals were celebrated:

Dr Frene Ginwala received an honorary doctor of laws in absentia for her instrumental role in both designing the vision for a new South Africa, and leading its key institutions.

• Professor Molefi Kete Asante, born Arthur Lee Smith, was conferred with a degree of DLitt honoris causa for “his contributions to African-centred scholarship and philosophy, as well as his influence on field development and intellectual thought from and on Africa and the African Diaspora.” Professor Asante “believes it is not enough to know, one must act to humanise the world”.

• Respected chartered accountant Suresh Kana (MCom 1987) was awarded an honorary doctorate in commerce. He is an executive and non-executive director of companies, a contributor to the King Reports on Corporate Governance in South Africa and the associated King Codes. He currently serves as chairman and non-executive director of several listed companies as well as being chairman of the audit committee of the United Nations World Food Programme, based in Rome, overseeing the efficiency of its global operations.

• Charles David Nupen was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree for his role in the development of South Africa’s system of dispute resolution both as a practicing attorney and through the creation of key dispute resolution institutions. He established the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration. Nupen has dedicated his working life to the resolution of conflict.

• Novelist, playwright, painter, musical composer and academic Professor Zakes Mda was awarded a degree of DLitt honoris causa for his cultural and literary contributions. He reminded the audience that: “It is important to the African child, both on the continent and the diaspora, to internalise a new mindset that we have not always been slaves. Our history does not begin with slavery and colonisation.”

• Justice Bakone Moloto was awarded anhonorary doctor of laws in recognition of a life devoted to the pursuit of justice. He served in the Land Claims Court, which deals with claims by people who were dispossessed during apartheid. Justice Moloto served as a judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia – the only South African to have done so.

• Justice Navi Pillay was awarded an honorary doctor of laws in recognition of her contributions in law, justice, and human rights. She has served in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the International Criminal Court, and as the 5th United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She played a critical role in developing jurisprudence on freedom of speech and hate propaganda, as well as on rape and genocide.