Rhodes University's first black African vice-chancellor, Dr Sizwe Mabizela, has a dream.
He wants to make the City of Saints a wireless city, one of many objectives he's setting for himself.
Mabizela has been at Rhodes for 10 years. He was the frontrunner for the position of Vice-Chancellor, out of 17 applications.
Prior to his appointment as Vice-Chancellor, he served as Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic and Student Affairs since 2008.
Dr Mabizela was speaking on the DMB on Algoa FM on Wednesday.
"My greatest dream is to make Grahamstown a wireless city, so that where ever you go, you can connect to the internet and we can improve the quality of service delivery and education and make sure every person in this town lives a decent life." says Mabizela.
Dr Mabizela, who will be inaugurated on Friday, also believes that if the four institutions of higher learning in the Eastern Cape work together, they can deal with the many challenges facing this province.
He said this could become a model of what it is like for a university to work with its local communities for the greater common good.
"We will be paying a great deal of attention in trying to assist our municipality build the necessary capacity and capability for them to deliver on their constitutional mandate. We rely on this municipality on the delivery for basic services. Our future as Rhodes University, is intertwined with the future of the greater Grahamstown community."
Mabizela is also a Professor of Mathematics and was the Head of the Department of Mathematics from 2004 to 2008.
Picture by Mike Dexter
