In his budget vote speech in April this year, the Minister announced that he would soon be establishing the Ministerial Oversight Committee on Transformation, whose mandate would be to monitor issues of transformation, discrimination based on race, gender and other prejudices, and advise the Minister on policy and other appropriate interventions. This was a recommendation of the Ministerial Committee on Transformation and Social Cohesion and Elimination of Discrimination in Public Higher Education, headed by Prof. Crain Soudien.

We are happy to announce that the committee has now been established, and will be chaired by Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, the current Vice-Chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

The rest of the members of the committee, and its full terms of reference, will be announced in a government gazette to be issued in January 2013.

Minister Nzimande wishes to congratulate Prof. Makgoba and the rest of the members of the committee on their appointment, and expresses his appreciation to them for taking on this important responsibility, and wishes them well on their work.