THOHOYANDOU - The University of Venda for Science and Technology bid farewell to the former Chairman of Council, Prof Barney Pityana, while welcoming Judge Yvonne Mokgoro, who will replace Pityana.

During the official handing-over last Saturday, which was held during the third session of Univen's graduation, Prof Muxe Nkondo hailed Pityana for the good work he had done for Univen since he came into this position in 1998. Nkondo said people of Pityana's calibre would not like to be associated with them if it were not for the stability and proper management of the University.

He also said people of Mokgoro's calibre would not want to be associated with Univen if there were instability and crisis.

Nkondo also emphasised people were misreading them by asking for students and staff to tighten their belts in another way of avoiding overspending as a sign of financial crisis, which he said it, was not the case. He also added that Univen would be the best Science and Technology offering University in SADC.

"We have overcome opposition by performing well. We demonstrated in nine years that we can produce useful graduates who made us gain support from high profile people, who led us not to be merge with Medunsa and Turf," he said. Meanwhile, Pityana said he would not have accepted the challenge of being Univen Chairman of Council if it had not been for Nkondo. He said he accepted the challenge because he wanted to be part of Nkondo's vision in education planning, as he respected him.

Pityana also admitted that he did not expect the challenges he came across when he came to Univen. However, he said he was happy that he managed to overcome them and get support from the Univen community, which made him succeed. Judge Makgoro said she was happy to be associated with Univen, which she described as a young, but ambitious University that she think is fast becoming a true African University. She said the challenge was to get financial support from big companies so that they can do research in the science programs they are offering now.