Prof Joan Hambidge, academic in the School of Languages at the University of Cape Town and public intellectual, has been elected to the Stellenbosch University Council by members of the Stellenbosch University Convocation.

Prof Hambidge’s term started on 22 June 2016 and comes to an end on 1 April 2018. The vacancy arose following the resignation of Dr George du Toit who was elected as Council member by the Convocation for the period 2 April 2014 to 1 April 2018.

Earlier this year, members of the Convocation were requested to submit nominations to fill this vacancy. As more than one candidate was nominated, an election was held. Voting closed on 21 June 2016. Convocation members were able to vote in five different ways – via fax, e-mail, by post, by hand or electronically.

The other nominated candidates were Prof TT (Tito) Mboweni, former president of the South African Reserve Bank, Minister of Labour and labour legislation pioneer; Dr CJ (Corinne) Oosthuizen, a clinical psychologist and consultant; Mr JS (Job) Amupanda, an academic at the University of Namibia and Mr CG (Christian) van Schalkwyk, SU alumnus, professionally qualified as an attorney and chartered accountant.​