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The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Blade Nzimande has expressed his shock and great sadness at the news of the passing of Professor Noel Chabani Manganyi - a distinguished academic, scholar, intellectual activist, psychologist, and public servant.

“I knew Prof Manganyi in a number of different respects. Firstly, we both trained in psychology and thus shared many intellectual positions on the importance of mental liberation as a site of struggle, especially for all black people in the face of apartheid-colonialism.

Secondly, we were both activists in the struggle against apartheid and shared a common vision for a radically transformed post-apartheid South Africa, including challenging dominant intellectual discourses.

And this brought us together in the period immediately after the establishment of democratic rule, working together in the reconstruction and development of South Africa’s post-apartheid education system.”

“Prof Manganyi was the first Director-General of the Department of Education after the establishment of democracy, and we worked together then in my capacity as the first Chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Education.

He was one of the most eloquent and deeply thoughtful intellectuals spawned by the black consciousness movement, and his writings are still as relevant as ever,” said the Minister.

“His earlier book, ‘Being Black In The World’ was one of our prescribed texts in my honours psychology class in 1980 at the then University of Natal. A fine text indeed in the mould of the black consciousness philosophy, but very well written and well argued,”

“Prof Manganyi is without doubt one of our country’s most decorated academics, with roles including a professorship at the then University of Transkei in Mthatha, (now Walter Sisulu University), where he established the Department of Psychology and served as its first Chair” added the Minister.

In the 1980s, he was appointed Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand’s African Studies Institute.

He also served as Vice-Principal of the University of Pretoria, Vice-Chancellor, and Principal at the University of the North (now the University of Limpopo) and as Chairperson of the Council on Higher Education.

During the 70s and 80s, Prof Manganyi published a series of monographs, which included ‘Being-Black-In-The-World’ and biographies of E’skia Mphahlele, Gerard Sekoto and Dumile Feni.

Adding to his already vast body of work, in 2016, he published a memoir and autobiography titled ‘Apartheid and the Making of a Black Psychologist’. Through this work, he examines the impact of apartheid underdevelopment, and how it hindered the success prospects of Black people.

Owing to his exceptional and groundbreaking scholarship, he was conferred with a number of prestigious national and international honours.

These include being an Honorary Fellow of the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA) in 2012, the Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Research Foundation (NRF) in 2016 and the Humanities Book Award by the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in 2018.

“Through his life’s work, Prof Manganyi enhanced our understanding of the impact of racism and colonial underdevelopment on the black psyche, identity, and power relations in apartheid South Africa. However, his work also reinforces the honour of fighting for freedom, in a context where some chose to be indifferent.”

“On a number of levels, the passing of Prof Manganyi constitutes a monumental loss for our country and its people, as he represents a rare breed of intellectuals, who concerned themselves with both the oppressive nature of society and the struggle to rid society of oppression” remarked the Minister.

“He was endowed with intellectual courage, an irrepressible urge to serve his people and in spite of his monumental personal achievements, he possessed a disarming humility. We will remember him as an incorruptible public servant and selfless son of the soil” the Minister added.

I wish to convey my heartfelt condolences to the wife of Professor Manganyi, Dr Sekele- Manganyi, their children Nkhensani and Tintswalo and extended family.

Issued by Department of Science, Technology and Innovation