Renewing Academic Excellence & Institutional Integrity
UCT Renewal is a community of alumni committed to strengthening the long-term health of the University of Cape Town — ensuring it remains focused, credible, and grounded in its core academic mission.
UCT is one of South Africa's most important institutions. Its credibility and standing have been built over decades — but they are not guaranteed.
Like many universities globally, UCT faces increasing pressure from competing interests that can, if unchecked, shift focus away from what the institution exists to do.
"Without thoughtful intervention, institutional drift can become entrenched and difficult to reverse."
UCT's reputation rests on the quality of its teaching and research. Protecting that standard is a responsibility shared by all alumni.
Sound governance and principled leadership are essential to maintaining UCT's standing as a world-class institution.
Short-term pressures should not compromise the university's ability to fulfil its mission for future generations of students and scholars.
The primary purpose of a university is scholarship — teaching, research, and the advancement of knowledge. Every other consideration must be subordinate to this mission.
Sound institutional governance is not a technical matter — it is a moral one. Those who steward UCT's resources and direction must be held to the highest standards.
Academic freedom — the ability to teach, research, and debate without ideological constraint — is foundational to a university's integrity and its value to society.
Graduates of this institution have both the standing and the responsibility to engage constructively in its future. Informed, principled alumni engagement is a force for good.
We bring together alumni who are willing to engage constructively and responsibly where it matters most.
Where governance falls short of the standards UCT's stakeholders rightly expect, we engage through appropriate channels — constructively and with evidence.
We identify and support initiatives that reinforce academic quality, institutional stability, and the conditions in which scholarship can flourish.
We connect alumni who are engaged, informed, and prepared to act when needed — creating a credible constituency for institutional accountability.
UCT Renewal has engaged consistently and constructively on matters of governance, transparency, and institutional integrity with UCT’s Executive team and Convocation Secretariat. Below is a record of our formal interventions to date.
Over 350 UCT stakeholders — alumni, academics, past professors, students, parents and donors — addressed individual letters to the Vice-Chancellor, the Chair of Council, and one of the Council members elected by Donors, expressing support for the Vice-Chancellor's efforts to have the Gaza Resolutions reconsidered at the March 2025 Council Meeting. An open letter was published publicly. No formal responses were received.
A formal letter was addressed to the Dean of Humanities seeking clarity on whether conditions imposed on Israeli scholars at an international conference reflected official UCT policy. The Dean responded confirming that the conditions were not official faculty policy, and that the matter was under further discussion.
"It is not the official standpoint of the Faculty of Humanities to request sworn affidavits of non-affiliation with the IDF." — Dean, Faculty of Humanities, August 2025
A formal letter to the Vice-Chancellor requested full disclosure of UCT's internal investigation into allegations involving foreign terror organisations (FTOs) on campus, including the investigation report, its terms of reference, the stakeholders consulted, and the legal frameworks applied. UCT was placed on notice of its obligations to account to alumni for the conduct and findings of the investigation.
A formal letter to UCT Fund Inc raised concerns about the hosting of a US-sanctioned individual as a guest speaker at UCT, emphasising risks to institutional reputation and donor confidence. A comprehensive formal response was received confirming that no Fund monies were used for the event, and that the matter had been reviewed in line with the Fund's fiduciary obligations.
"We undertook a measured review consistent with our responsibilities as a U.S.-based charitable organization." — UCT Fund Inc, 2025
A formal open letter signed by 182 alumni was addressed to the Chair of Council, the Interim Registrar, and the Vice-Chancellor, raising concerns about the lack of candour and transparency in Council communications to the UCT community. The letter was published publicly at An open letter to the UCT community - by David Wilkinson.
"Our concern is more serious and more institutional: the trend of material information being omitted, downplayed or framed in a manner that obscures its gravity, thereby depriving stakeholders (and decision-makers) of a fair and complete picture."
No response was received despite follow-up correspondence.
Eventually, in April 2026, UCT Council Chair Adv Norman Arendse SC published a Council update. This update dealt largely with the awarding of honorary degrees by UCT.
A letter signed by 300 interested parties — including 190 alumni — called on UCT to engage transparently with stakeholders regarding concerns about the basis on which an honorary doctorate was conferred, and to consider whether the award was consistent with UCT's stated values. The letter created accountability, questioning the award of the honorary degree to this individual. UCT acknowledged receipt.
The letter attracted vast media attention:
And multiple opinion pieces which ventilated the issue:
The letter, together with three separate emails on the same topic to UCT leadership, was leaked outside of the UCT recipients and published by News24.
The Chair of Council chose not to respond to UCT Renewal directly — but did respond publicly, via News24, being the same publication that had published the names of our 300 signatories without authorisation.
UCT Renewal regards this as confirmation that our engagement is being taken seriously at the highest level of the institution.
A press statement on the leak of personal information was made: 300 signatories exposed in alleged UCT email leak
Following the unauthorised disclosure of signatory information from confidential correspondence to media, UCT Renewal formally insisted that the University institute an urgent independent investigation to determine how the breach occurred, identify those responsible, and communicate transparently with the approximately 300 affected signatories. The matter generated sustained formal legal correspondence between UCT Renewal and the University's legal representatives across multiple exchanges — compelling the institution to engage at a legal level with questions it had previously sidestepped by instituting a formal independent investigation.
UCT Renewal lodged a formal complaint regarding procedural shortcomings in the conduct of the 2025 Convocation AGM, including registration and voting irregularities, procedural failures, and the unavailability of key records including minutes, motions passed, and the attendance register. UCT's response characterised the concerns as without substance. UCT Renewal has placed its objections on record and the matter remains unresolved.
UCT Renewal presented a formal conflict of interest submission at the Special General Meeting of Convocation on 17 August 2026, placing on record documentary evidence that members of the Convocation Executive Committee had publicly declared partisan opposition to a section of the alumni community — specifically celebrating the exclusion of certain alumni from representation. The submission was read into the public record in full, despite procedural objections from the chair. UCT Renewal subsequently called on the Convocation Executive to commit in writing to representing all UCT alumni equitably. That commitment has not been forthcoming.
UCT Renewal filed a formal application under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) compelling the University to disclose records relating to the honorary doctorate process — specifically, the basis and deliberations on which the award was decided. The University has been required to respond within statutory timeframes. The matter remains active and ongoing.
UCT Renewal filed a separate formal PAIA application compelling the University to furnish details of its investigation into the unauthorised disclosure of signatory information to the media. UCT was required by law to respond, and the matter generated sustained formal legal correspondence between UCT Renewal and the University's legal representatives. The matter remains active and ongoing.
UCT Renewal addressed formal letters to the Dean of Humanities, the DVC Teaching and Learning, and the Vice-Chancellor regarding statements made publicly by UCT Political Studies lecturer Dr Lwazi Lushaba — including that "Hitler committed no crime" and that "Black and white people can never be friends." UCT Renewal called on the University to apply its own Anti-Racism Policy consistently and transparently. Despite initial non-acknowledgement, the Dean of Humanities was compelled to respond.
UCT Renewal is engaged in ongoing constructive advocacy for reform of Convocation processes to make them more accessible and inclusive for all UCT alumni — including improvements to the AGM format, voting mechanisms, and opportunities for broader alumni participation. This work is distinct from our formal complaints and is focused on building a stronger, more representative Convocation for the long term.
If you believe that UCT's future matters — and that alumni have a role to play in shaping it — we invite you to join us.
Thank you for registering your support. We will be in touch selectively on matters of institutional importance.
We communicate selectively and with purpose. No noise.