Appointment of Velaphi Gumbi as Head of the Thandulwazi Maths & Science Academy

May 29, 2018 | Campus, Thandulwazi
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St Stithians College is proud to announce the appointment of Velaphi Gumbi as the next Head of the Thandulwazi Maths & Science Academy. Mr Gumbi will take up this position on 1 July 2018.

Velaphi Gumbi has excellent qualifications, personal attributes and experience with which to lead the Thandulwazi Academy. The ‘seventh school’ of St Stithians is poised to move into its next phase of development as it impacts on 2,300 students and teachers annually.

Velaphi’s appointment is the culmination of an extensive advertising and search campaign, involving two selection panels. Integral to the selection process have been members of the St Stithians Council’s Governance Committee, the Thandulwazi Trust and the College Executive.

Mr Gumbi’s post-school education includes a Bachelor of Science Honours degree from Hartford College, Connecticut, in the United States, and a number of postgraduate qualifications in education, management and human resources from the Universities of Johannesburg, North West and GIBS Business School of the University of Pretoria.

After serving as Principal of Enkhanini Secondary School in Mpumalanga, Velaphi Gumbi was appointed in 2005 as General Manager of the Osizweni Education and Development Centre, a Sasol Mathematics and Science Initiative in Secunda. In this role, he has developed the Centre into a significant education project; and he has also been an Executive Committee member of Sasol’s Secunda Public Affairs Project.

Through his leadership of Osizweni, Mr Gumbi’s experience will be invaluable to the multiple roles of Head of the Thandulwazi Academy. The Academy’s students and teachers are drawn from diverse contexts in greater Johannesburg and two locations in Limpopo Province. The Head leads and manages the four programmes of the Academy: the Saturday School, the Teacher Intern Programme, the Teacher Development Programme, and the Scholarship Programme.

This role requires a passion for Maths and Science education; leadership and project management; stakeholder engagement within St Stithians, with participating schools and learning centres in townships and rural districts, with corporate donors, with the University of South Africa and other tertiary institutions, and with the Gauteng Department of Education. The Thandulwazi Academy programmes are funded through the Thandulwazi Trust, a BBBEE-accredited entity, in partnership with St Stithians and its network of parents and alumni. The College’s Advancement Department staff mobilise corporate social investment and private donations as revenue for the Academy.

Velaphi is married to Ntombizethu Gumbi, and they have four children, Njabulo (22), Nontobeko (20), Sanele (17) and Nombuso (11). Velaphi’s personal hobbies include fishing and power walking.

We look forward to welcoming the Gumbi family to St Stithians.