Women of the Year Lifetime Achiever Announced

Dr Mamphela Ramphele was honoured with the Shoprite Checkers Women of the Year Lifetime Achiever Award after the public nominated her as an esteemed South African whom during her lifetime has inspired generations. She received R100 000 to donate to a cause which she believes will better the lives of South Africans. 

She accepted her Award at a dazzling event held in celebration of women and their role in the future of South Africa this weekend (Saturday, 24 July 2010) at Emperors Palace in Gauteng. The event will be broadcast during prime time on Monday, 9 August 2010 on MNet. 

The five category winners of the Award who were announced are Ms Jackie Gallagher in the Educators Category, Ms Lesley Ann van Selm in Good Neighbours, Sister Jane Munyadziwa Dzebu in Health Care-Givers, Ms Khanyisile Motsa received the Award in the Youth Movers category and in the Corner Shop to Big Business Makers Award went to Ms Lucilla Booyzen. 

Receiving the Lifetime Achiever Award, Dr Ramphele said: “Today we are celebrating the power of women to create innovative solutions to tackle huge problems facing our society. I feel privileged to join these great women in this celebration. 

“Today women’s faces and women’s voices are being highlighted as we celebrate their acts of courage and commitment to a better society than our current highly unequal one. Women all over the world hold societies together. Africa and South Africa would do much better if only commitments to gender equality could be converted into daily reality for all people. 

“We are also celebrating the power of collective action. Shoprite Checkers as a business has been consistent in honouring women for more than a decade, in doing so they are partnering with civil society activists and professionals. We salute this progressive approach. 

The women being honoured here have also demonstrated the power of working with others to transform the lives of those touched by their work. My life achievements are only possible because of the hands that linked with mine to lift the boulders obstructing our capacity for greatness. 

I would like to dedicate the Award I am to receive tonight to the children of South Africa. The monetary value of my award tonight is to benefit those children who were robbed of parental love through premature death due to HIV/AIDS. 

Eluthandweni Homes for AIDS Orphans, which is about to open its first home in Nyanga Township in Cape Town, is my nominated beneficiary. Eluthandweni Homes are an opportunity for South Africans to collaborate to create loving environments for vulnerable children to grow and develop their talents into productive citizens. We dare not fail to keep hope alive for every South African child,” Dr Ramphele said concluding she is honoured to receive the Shoprite Checkers Women of the Year Lifetime Achiever Award. 

Dr Ramphele, a South African national, is the Executive Chair of Letsema Circle, a Cape Town based specialist Transformation Advisory Company in both the public and private sector. She is a director of Major Companies. She has been appointed Chair elect of Goldfields, a position she will assume on 2nd November 2010. 

She was Chair of Convenors of the Dinokeng Scenarios sponsored by Nedcor/Old Mutual that have energized national debates on South Africa’s future, launched in May 2009. The key message is that futures are created by citizen-leaders. 

She is Chair of a newly established Technology and Innovation Agency to help stimulate greater use of technology to address socio-economic challenges and promote sustainable economic growth. 

She served as a Managing Director of the World Bank from May 2000 to July 2004. As a member of the senior leadership team, she was responsible for managing the institution’s human development activities in the areas of education; health, nutrition and population; and social protection. She was also responsible for the World Bank Institute, which provides training and learning for both staff and clients. In addition, she provided oversight and guidance to the Bank Group’s efforts in the areas of knowledge and information and communication technologies. 

She served as Co-Chair on the Global Commission for International Migration (GCIM) 2004-2005. Prior to joining the Bank, Mamphela Ramphele was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, a post she took up in 1996, becoming the first black woman to hold this position at a South African university. She joined the university as a research fellow in 1986, and was appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor five years later. She is an author of many important titles about critical socio-economic issues in South Africa. 

Mamphela Ramphele has received numerous prestigious national and international awards, including numerous honorary doctorates acknowledging her scholarship, her service to the community, and her leading role in raising development issues and spearheading projects for disadvantaged persons throughout South Africa. 

Mamphela qualified as a medical doctor at the University of Natal in 1972. She holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Cape Town, a B Com degree in Administration from the University of South Africa, and diplomas in Tropical Health and Hygiene, and Public Health, from the University of Witwatersrand.