Speakers
Below is the current line-up of speakers.
Echoes of Change: #FMF/#RMF's Call for Transformed Learning and Teaching at Wits: Panelists
Omhle Ntshingila
Omhle Ntshingila is a South African writer, researcher, and activist. She serves as Project Coordinator at the Right2Protest Project, where she works on campaigns , research and strategic litigation protecting the right to protest and challenging state and corporate repression. Ntshingila is currently completing her Master’s in Development Studies, with research focused on gendered dynamics and transnationalism in informal cross-border trade. Ntshingila is also an author focusing on freedom of assembly, civic space, political memory, and leads cultural and policy work commemorating movements like #FeesMustFall. Ntshingila passionate about youth development and works toward their realisation of their civic freedoms.
Shaazia Ebrahim
Shaazia Ebrahim (she/her) is the Digital and Communications Specialist at the Climate Justice Coalition, a South African alliance of trade unions, civil society, grassroots, and community-based organisations. The coalition is committed to advancing a transformative climate justice agenda that tackles the intersecting crises of inequality, poverty, and environmental injustice. She holds an MA in Transnational Queer Feminist Politics from SOAS, University of London. Her dissertation, titled ‘Towards Queer Utopia: Building and Sustaining Feminist Revolution in South Africa’, was awarded with distinction and received the Centre for Gender Studies' Dissertation Innovation Award.
She completed her Joint Honours in Politics and Philosophy at Wits University in 2016–2017, during the second wave of the Fees Must Fall protests, anexperience that deepened her commitment to radical transformation and feminist theories of change. Shaazia was a journalist at The Daily Vox from 2016-2019 where she reported on everything from politics to pop culture, with a particular focus on protest movements - including Fees Must Fall and feminist mobilisations.
Her work is grounded in a deep commitment to social justice, with particular interest in social movements, activist burnout, and the pursuit of radical but sustainable change.
Zama Mthunzi
Zama Mthunzi is a Global Campaign Coordinator - transforming public education systems to be anti-racist – building a global movement on anti-racist public education, and connecting with over 100 anti-racist education initiatives. This includes a strategic link to the University of Bristol School of Education (leading academics on race and education) and close work with global education movements. Zama was a #FeesMustFall / #RhodesMustFall movements leader of 2015/2016 at Wits University, in which he convened the direct action task team of the movement and also initiated and led a protest against racism at Wits.
Motheo Brodie
Motheo Brodie is currently a legal researcher and project manager at the UNESCO Chair: Education Law in Africa, based within the University of Pretoria’s Law Faculty where he is working on the Climate Justice in Education Project, aimed at ensuring that the right to education is safeguarded against the climate emergency. Prior to his current role, Motheo worked as a legal researcher at the public interest law centre, SECTION27, working mainly on the organisation’s education rights programme. He also underwent and completed his articles at SECTION27.
Prior to working in civil society, Motheo was a student at Wits University, completing his LLB degree in 2017. During his time at Wits he was a student leader and activist. His involvement includes serving as Chairperson of the Law Students Council as well as Deputy President of the Wits SRC during 2015/16. As a result of his activism and by virtue of his elected position and mandate, Motheo was therefore heavily involved in the #FeesMustFall movement at the University.
Outside of his work at the UNESCO Chair, Motheo is currently a registered student at Wits, pursuing his LLM in Human Rights Advocacy and Litigation.
Omhle Ntshingila is a South African writer, researcher, and activist. She serves as Project Coordinator at the Right2Protest Project, where she works on campaigns , research and strategic litigation protecting the right to protest and challenging state and corporate repression. Ntshingila is currently completing her Master’s in Development Studies, with research focused on gendered dynamics and transnationalism in informal cross-border trade. Ntshingila is also an author focusing on freedom of assembly, civic space, political memory, and leads cultural and policy work commemorating movements like #FeesMustFall. Ntshingila passionate about youth development and works toward their realisation of their civic freedoms.
Shaazia Ebrahim
Shaazia Ebrahim (she/her) is the Digital and Communications Specialist at the Climate Justice Coalition, a South African alliance of trade unions, civil society, grassroots, and community-based organisations. The coalition is committed to advancing a transformative climate justice agenda that tackles the intersecting crises of inequality, poverty, and environmental injustice. She holds an MA in Transnational Queer Feminist Politics from SOAS, University of London. Her dissertation, titled ‘Towards Queer Utopia: Building and Sustaining Feminist Revolution in South Africa’, was awarded with distinction and received the Centre for Gender Studies' Dissertation Innovation Award.
She completed her Joint Honours in Politics and Philosophy at Wits University in 2016–2017, during the second wave of the Fees Must Fall protests, anexperience that deepened her commitment to radical transformation and feminist theories of change. Shaazia was a journalist at The Daily Vox from 2016-2019 where she reported on everything from politics to pop culture, with a particular focus on protest movements - including Fees Must Fall and feminist mobilisations.
Her work is grounded in a deep commitment to social justice, with particular interest in social movements, activist burnout, and the pursuit of radical but sustainable change.
Zama Mthunzi
Zama Mthunzi is a Global Campaign Coordinator - transforming public education systems to be anti-racist – building a global movement on anti-racist public education, and connecting with over 100 anti-racist education initiatives. This includes a strategic link to the University of Bristol School of Education (leading academics on race and education) and close work with global education movements. Zama was a #FeesMustFall / #RhodesMustFall movements leader of 2015/2016 at Wits University, in which he convened the direct action task team of the movement and also initiated and led a protest against racism at Wits.
Motheo Brodie
Motheo Brodie is currently a legal researcher and project manager at the UNESCO Chair: Education Law in Africa, based within the University of Pretoria’s Law Faculty where he is working on the Climate Justice in Education Project, aimed at ensuring that the right to education is safeguarded against the climate emergency. Prior to his current role, Motheo worked as a legal researcher at the public interest law centre, SECTION27, working mainly on the organisation’s education rights programme. He also underwent and completed his articles at SECTION27.
Prior to working in civil society, Motheo was a student at Wits University, completing his LLB degree in 2017. During his time at Wits he was a student leader and activist. His involvement includes serving as Chairperson of the Law Students Council as well as Deputy President of the Wits SRC during 2015/16. As a result of his activism and by virtue of his elected position and mandate, Motheo was therefore heavily involved in the #FeesMustFall movement at the University.
Outside of his work at the UNESCO Chair, Motheo is currently a registered student at Wits, pursuing his LLM in Human Rights Advocacy and Litigation.
Keynote Speaker Day 2: Professor Dina Zoe Belluigi
Dina Zoe Belluigi’s research considers intellectuals’ negotiation of the politics of participation in universities in contexts undergoing transition from conflict and oppression, and the conditions for the enactment of authorship, authority, flourishing and freedom. She has been fortunate to learn from the various methodologies of collaborating with educators, artists, storytellers and researchers based in South Africa, India, the island of Ireland and beyond. She is currently Professor of Authorship, Representation and Transformation in Academia at Queen’s University Belfast, and a Visiting Professor to the School of Women’s Studies at Jadavpur University and to the Chair for the Critical Studies of Higher Education Transformation (CriSHET) at Nelson Mandela University, and serves on the Scholars at Risk Ireland committee.
Keynote Speaker Day 3: Professor Emnet Tadesse Woldegiorgis
Emnet Tadesse Woldegiorgis is a Professor and Director at the Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies (AMCHES), University of Johannesburg. He holds a PhD from the University of Bayreuth, Germany, where he also worked as a researcher between 2015 and 2019. Emnet holds a joint Master’s Degree in Higher Education Studies from Oslo University (Norway), Tampere University (Finland), and Aveiro University (Portugal). He is an established researcher with a portfolio of over 45 peer-reviewed academic publications, primarily focusing on research in higher education. Emnet has received advanced-level research training in higher education from the Centre for Institutional Cooperation (ICIS) at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, as well as specialised training in Leadership and Management of Higher Education Institutions from Maastricht School of Management. Emnet is currently the Chair of the World Council for Comparative Education Societies (WCCES) Peace Education Task Force. He is also an advisory board member of the Finnish Higher Education Partnership Programme (HEP) and a member of the Advisory Committee for the Danish Knowledge and Innovation Programme. Prior to pursuing his PhD, Emnet served in various roles, including Head of the Quality Assurance Office and Department Head of various academic entities.