Imbizo is a Nguni (a grouping of certain African languages) word for a traditional community gathering called by the chief to solve pertinent community issues. Since the democratic government of post 1994 in South Africa, imbizo as was brought as a participatory approach into the mainstream by the government to engage with communities.Imbizo is a Nguni (a grouping of certain African languages) word for a traditional community gathering called by the chief to solve pertinent community issues. Since the democratic government of post 1994 in South Africa, imbizo as was brought as a participatory approach into the mainstream by the government to engage with communities.
Revisiting an age old African Participatory approach: The Rebirth of Imbizo, 2012
The rise in nationalism in Europe and the United States of America of the last few years shook the foundations of our trust in and understanding of democratic processes. Here in South Africa the FeesMustFall movement highlighted the deficiencies in or higher education environment and our broader democracy. FeesMustFall brought our attention to complexities such as epistemic access, participation and inclusion in higher education. It further reignited debates on race, gender and language participation, economic inclusion, democratic institutional cultures and decolonized knowledge production. It would appear that the conventional democratic processes, formats and styles are more and more perceived to be far removed from lived realities and too rigid in an environment that is ever changing.
It is thus crucial that young leaders in Higher Education learn to master competencies which enable them to navigate complexity and build connected democratic and reflective communities. These skills would include developing different ways of communicating the democratic ideals and values that institutions like key stakeholders promotes. Beyond the existing leadership workshops and academic lectures, universities have to enable public engagements that incorporate creative arts, intercultural experiences, research, innovation and participatory learning to expand the reach and depth of democracy building.
Stellenbosch University has crafted its 2040 vison with an aim to address these challenges to democracy building and leadership in South Africa and the world. The university’s Institutional Intent Strategy document spells out the university vison as: inclusive, innovative and future focused: a place of discovery and excellence where both staff and students are thought leaders in advancing knowledge in the service of all stakeholders.
Stellenbosch University’s Centre for the Advancement of Social Impact and Transformation fulfils a central coordinating role in offering professional and inter-institutional support to the process of realizing Vision 2040. In fulfilling this mandate, the CASIT partners with key stakeholders to implement the Imbizo 365 program (“gathering”). Imbizo 365 is a yearlong democracy building series that offers a synergised model for a campus community to engage. The Imbizo 365 calendar coordinates monthly activities in line with the South African celebrated democracy days, and provides opportunities and platforms for faculties, student communities and leadership structures to connect with South African and African democracy building discourses.
The Imbizo365 Calendar activities utilises various methodologies such as creative arts, film discussions, debates and excursions to facilitate reflection on eight calendar themes. These themes include human rights and social justice, democracy, Afrocentrism and consciousness, youth leadership and innovation, social impact and engaged citizenship, gender issues, disability, heritage and identity.
For more information or enquiries, please contact Shanté Neff at shante@sun.ac.za
Engage with our Disability Inclusion Quiz!
To commemorate Casual Day, the Centre for the Advancement of Social Impact and Transformation, the Disability Unit, and SRC portfolio for Disability Inclusion invites staff and students to participate in a Disability Inclusion quiz.
From accessibility and inclusive practices, to awareness and understanding, put your knowledge to the test in our interactive online quiz.
Click HERE to complete the quiz!
No time right now? No problem! The quiz will be open for the entire month of September, so you can participate at your convenience.
Casual Day stickers can be purchased for R20 from Leslie Olivier (lslolivier@sun.ac.za) and Linda Jacobs (jjja@sun.ac.za).
Enquiries: Shanté Neff (shante@sun.ac.za) / Luigia Nicholas (luigian@sun.ac.za).
Rhythms of Inclusion: Reflecting & Drumming as One
The Centre for the Advancement of Social Impact and Transformation, the Disability Unit, and the SRC portfolio for Disability Inclusion invites staff and students to an afternoon of reflection, interaction and engagement in commemoration of Casual Day.
Through drumming, conversation, and shared experiences, staff and students will have the opportunity to reflect on what disability inclusion means in practice, and the role each of us can play in fostering a more inclusive and accessible university and society.
Date: Friday, 4 September
Time: 12:00 – 14:00
Venue: Stellenbosch University Museum
Register HERE. Limited seating available.
Casual Day stickers can be purchased for R20 from Leslie Olivier (lslolivier@sun.ac.za) and Linda Jacobs (jjja@sun.ac.za)
Enquiries: Shanté Neff (shante@sun.ac.za) / Luigia Nicholas (luigian@sun.ac.za)
Every Step Counts at SU: Accessibility Walk
The Centre for the Advancement of Social Impact and Transformation, the Disability Unit, and the SRC portfolio for Disability Inclusion invites staff and students to an interactive accessibility walk in commemoration of Casual Day.
This walk offers staff and students an opportunity to experience our campus from a different perspective, explore the principles of universal design in practice, and reflect on how we can collectively contribute to a more inclusive and accessible university.
Date: Thursday, 17 September
Time: 12:00 – 14:00
Venue: Disability Unit, Simon Nkoli House, 39 Victoria Street
Register HERE. Limited space available.
Casual Day stickers can be purchased for R20 from Leslie Olivier (lslolivier@sun.ac.za) and Linda Jacobs (jjja@sun.ac.za)
Enquiries: Shanté Neff (shante@sun.ac.za) / Luigia Nicholas (luigian@sun.ac.za)
Recent Imbizo events:
Nelson Mandela Lecture: Decolonising the Constitution to Locate Mandela’s Founding Stones: Radical Social Justice and the Construction of a ‘humane African World’
The Centre for the Advancement of Social Impact and Transformation and the Centre for Social Justice invite staff and students to an evening of engagement and reflection in commemoration of Mandela Day.
In July 1996, President Nelson Mandela delivered a historic address to the Joint Sitting of the Houses of the United Kingdom Parliament in London. In that address, he proclaimed that post-1994 South Africa—”the new country”—was founded on three stones: a democratic system, national reconciliation, and the dismantling of racial and gender disparities.
Thirty years later, these three stones appear to have been misplaced. This lecture revisits debates on the decolonisation of the Constitution and the world, proposing pathways for rediscovering and laying down Mandela’s stones as walkways towards a “humane African World.”
Speaker: Prof Tshepo Madlingozi, Extraordinary Professor, Faculty of Law; Commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission
8th Africa Day – Public Lecture
The Rector and Vice-Chancellor of Stellenbosch University, Professor Deresh Ramjugernath, invites you to an Africa Day public lecture
by acclaimed writer, historian and cultural critic Panashe Chigumadzi.
In this Africa Day lecture, Panashe Chigumadzi leads a powerful reflection on memory, justice and human dignity. Drawing on African feminist thought
and radical notions of Ubuntu, she challenges us to confront the afterlives of racialised chattel enslavement and to reimagine ethical responsibility
and repair in the present. This conversation resonates globally, amid renewed United Nations deliberations on crimes against humanity and reparative justice.
Join us for this timely lecture and engage with one of Africa’s leading contemporary thinkers, as she provokes critical reflection on reclaiming Ubuntu as a living, radical practice in our institutions and societies today.
Worker’s Month Quiz
To commemorate Workers’ Day, the Centre for the Advancement of Social Impact and Transformation invites staff and students to celebrate the people who keep our campus running – the workers.
Think you know South African Workers’ Day history, labour rights, and a bit of fun trivia? Put your knowledge to the test in our interactive online quiz and stand a chance to win your share of Takealot vouchers!
Annual Youth Day Lecture – Bridging the gap between higher education and youth unemployment
The Annual Youth Day Lecture, hosted in partnership with the Faculty of Theology, creates a critical platform for dialogue on one of South Africa’s most pressing challenges youth unemployment. Anchored in the theme “Bridging the gap between higher education and youth unemployment,” the session brings together academics, practitioners, and students to explore actionable pathways between learning and livelihood.
What’s in a name?
The Centre for the Advancement of Social Impact and Transformation invites staff and students to an online Imbizo engagement in commemoration of Freedom Day.
Since 1994, renaming streets, towns and public institutions in South Africa has cost the state millions of rands, sparking a fierce national argument over memory, identity and priorities. Whose names belong on the map of a democratic nation, and what do we gain, or lose, when history is rewritten in signage, budgets and public space?
Speaker: Romantha Botha, SAFTA-nominated producer, documentary filmmaker, journalist, and cultural commentator
BONES – A story of homecoming
19 March 2026
An Imbizo 365 engagement hosted in commemoration of Human Rights Day
The Centre for the Advancement of Social Impact and Transformation invites staff and students to a special screening of Bones (2026), a powerful documentary which tells the story of Sarah “Saartjie” Baartman, an enslaved Khoikhoi woman who was exhibited as a freak show attraction in 19th-century Europe. Through the voice of Nomandla Vilakazi, the story draws on the acclaimed poem “I’ve come to take you home” by the late poet, writer, and activist Dr Diana Ferrus – which played a critical role in repatriating Baartman’s remains from France back home to South Africa in 2002.
Bones Documentary Screening – Gallery (2026)
