Loyiso Nongxa

Loyiso Nongxa is a South African mathematician, the current chairperson of the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) and a former Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits).

Early life and education Nongxa was born on 22 October 1953 in Mhlanga near Lady Frere, Eastern Cape in what was then the Transkei. Both of his parents were qualified teachers, and his father was a school principal, although his mother remained at home to raise the family. Nongxa did well at school, and matriculated from Healdtown College with distinction as the top matric student in South Africa in 1972. Nongxa was accepted at the University of Fort Hare (UFH) thereafter, and obtained a BSc (Hons) in 1976. While at UFH, he also played for the university's "Baa-bas" rugby team. After obtaining a MSc from UFH in 1978, he became South Africa's first Black Rhodes scholar, and he obtained a D.Phil from Oxford University in 1982, where he holds the title of Honorary Fellow (Balliol College).

Academic career Nongxa has lectured mathematics at UFH, the National University of Lesotho, the University of Natal and the University of the Western Cape (UWC). At UWC, he held the post of Professor of Mathematics, and he was later appointed dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences. He had also been a visiting research scholar at the universities of Colorado, Harvard, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Baylor. Nongxa was the first black vice-chancellor of Wits. He was succeeded as vice-chancellor by Adam Habib on 1 June 2013.

Besides his positions at universities, Nongxa has also served as a member of the Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee, the SAUVCA Research Committee and various National Research Foundation of South Africa committees. Since leaving Wits, he has taken up to post of chairperson of the NRF.

Nongxa was elected vice-president of the International Mathematical Union in July 2018.