Prof Bongani Ngqulunga

Senior Executive Director
Name: Bongani Ngqulunga
Location: 1st Floor West Wing Madibeng, Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
Management Executive Committee  Staff Members

Contact Details:
Tel: 011-559-4991/4831

Personal/Executive Assistant: Ms Annah Sekwele

About Prof Bongani Ngqulunga

Prof Bongani Ngqulunga is the Senior Executive Director: University Relations, Student Affairs, and UJ Sport.

For five years, he served as the Director of the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study (JIAS) also at the University of Johannesburg. For more than a decade, he worked in the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa where he occupied various positions including being Head of the Governance Section and Chief Policy Analyst in the Policy Coordination and Advisory Services (PCAS) as well as serving as the Chief of Staff and Spokesperson to the President.

Prof Ngqulunga serves on various boards of public entities including the Council of the Robben Island Museum, which is a World Heritage Site. He is also the deputy chairperson of the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) and a Chairperson of the Social and Human Sciences Committee of the South African National Commission of UNESCO. For four years, Ngqulunga was a member of the National Research Foundation (NRF) Board. He is also an active contributor to the national literary life, which is demonstrated by his service in the judging panels of prestigious literary prizes.

He holds a Ph.D. from Brown University in the United States and a Master’s degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Prof Ngqulunga’s scholarship focuses on the politics and political history of South Africa with an emphasis on political identities, political biography, and political contestations over inclusive citizenship in South Africa. A biographer, he is the author of a multiple award-winning biography of the founder of the ANC, Pixley ka Isaka Seme. Prof Ngqulunga is also a regular commentator on South African politics and history in the national and international media such as the New York Times, and writes regularly for national newspapers.