By Sayuri Persotham
The 2025 Community Engagement Awards Gala Dinner took place at Rhodes University’s Oppidan Dining Hall on Wednesday. The hall, draped in colours of red, black, and white, teemed with people from diverse walks of life. Student volunteers, academics, and community partners each came together for an evening celebration of excellence, recognition, and achievement within the community engagement discipline.
Live music wafted through the venue, while the guests mingled cheerfully around heart-accented tables. Each seating arrangement was scattered with inscribed Queen of Hearts cards, one of which reads: “This was my first time mentoring in Gadra, and it truly changed my life… This journey taught me patience, empathy, and the importance of never giving up on someone,” Athini Baleni, student volunteer.
Diana Hornby, the university’s director of community engagement, explains the overarching message behind the gala’s Queen of Hearts theme: “Tomorrow’s leaders will not lead from the front, but from the heart”.
Hornby frames the event as an opportunity to honour Rhodes University’s contributions in Makhanda’s fields of education, research, health, and economic development. She extends particular gratitude to partnering external donors, including Standard Bank, Kagiso Trust, The Solon Foundation, among others.
The evening celebrated several outstanding achievements: Holy Cross School received the Community Partner of the Year award, while Drostdy Hall was named Residence/Hall of the Year. The Student Women Economic Empowerment Programme (Sweep) earned the Sports Club/Society of the Year honour, and Sibulele Ngamntwini was presented with the #1 Gold Award for Excellence in Community Engagement. Additionally, Sambesiwe Mavela was recognised as Engaged Researcher of the Year, and Professor Samantha Naidu received the prestigious 2025 Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Community Engagement Award.
After crunching the numbers, Hornby proudly praises the 47 partners, 970 volunteers, and 110 student leaders who make up the RUCE division. These magnanimous individuals work behind the scenes of RUCE’s seven engaged citizenry programmes. “Together, participants have contributed about R1.5 million to city-wide betterment initiatives”, Hornby says.
Particular emphasis is placed on RUCE’s Nine Tenths Programme, which facilitates the mentorship of top-achieving matriculants from local high schools. Guests viewed a well-crafted documentary on the achievements of the Nine Tenths volunteers, focusing particularly on the story of RUCE mentor, Luviwe Mngcambe. Mngcambe emphasises the importance of integrating all high school students into the university atmosphere, irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds. She refers to her work as “more than tutoring – it is youth empowerment.”
Rhodes’ Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sizwe Mabizela, closes the documentary with his utmost support for the programme’s mission, saying, “I never got anything from my parents, but I got everything from education”.
The event’s MC, Dr Sandie Phakathi of the Rhodes Economics department, brings culture to the forefront of community engagement, reciting the age-old African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Similarly, Professor Mabokang Monnapula-Mapesela, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs, expresses her desire for the continued engagement and investment within the city of Makhanda. She addresses the crowd solemnly: “May this event inspire you to do more and get others involved”.
Photo: Sayuri Persotham
Following a year of meaningful community development, the deserving awardees were able to enjoy a night off, celebrating with like-minded individuals.
As the gala draws to a close, Mabizela reverberates the beliefs of each person seated before him: “Community engagement is not a peripheral activity – it is central to who we are. It is a way of being.”
