Puleng LenkaBula

Puleng LenkaBula is a South African academic and university administrator. She is the first ever female vice-chancellor of the University of South Africa (UNISA).

She studied theological ethics at the University of South Africa, writing a PhD thesis on the ethics of bioprospecting in 2006. She was dean of students at the University of the Witwatersrand before joining the University of the Free State (UFS), where she was vice-rector of institutional change, student affairs and community engagement.

In November 2020 she was announced as the successor to Mandla Makhanya as principal and vice-chancellor of UNISA, in a unanimous decision by the university council. Her appointment comes into effect on 1 January 2021, though the council has extended Makhanya's term to April 2021 to ensure a smooth handover.

Works

• "From the womb into a hostile world: Christian ethics and sexual abuse against children in South Africa". Journal of Theology for Southern Africa. 114: 55–68. 2002.
• Lenkabula, Puleng (2005). "Justice and Reconciliation in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A South African Woman's Perspective". International Review of Mission. 94 (372): 103–111. doi:10.1111/j.1758-6631.2005.tb00489.x.
• "A journey on the path of an African feminist theologian and pioneer, Mercy Amba Oduyoye: continuing the pursuit for justice in the church and in society". Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae. 34: 1–27.
• Lenkabula, Puleng (2008). "Beyond Anthropocentricity – Botho/Ubuntu and the Quest for Economic and Ecological Justice in Africa". Religion and Theology. 15 (3–4): 375–394. doi:10.1163/157430108X376591.