Walter Sisulu University's Manager for Internationalisation Valile Dwayi has been appointed as the Vice Chairman of the International Board of Directors, Africa Leadership Transformation Foundation (ALT). 

Dwayi joins a group of African and international leaders who head the four-year-old foundation, which was formed to address what he terms “Africa's widespread failure in leadership.”

His journey with the ALT Foundation began in 2019, while attending a leadership course in Nairobi, Kenya. Here, Dwayi met fellow African academics, including the ATL’s current Executive Director, Daniel Kamanga. 

This is where the concept for ALT Foundation was birthed, and the foundation was subsequently formed with the vision to "transform leadership as the key driver of an Africa that works for everyone", with Dwayi being one of the key drivers of its development.

“I am incredibly happy, and I also feel very honoured, to have been recognised for this role beyond the limitations of my current employment engagement at WSU. Prior to ALT involvement, I have been the Director of the Learning and Teaching Development for more than 15 years, upon which I was appointed to the Directorate for Short Learning Programs (2019-2021) and currently in the International Office. Since my involvement at ALT Foundation, I have contributed enormously to establishing the infrastructure for the Foundation: The need for Standard Operation Procedures; The Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Framework, and many other management tools,” said Dwayi.

Dwayi was born and bred in Lusikisiki, in the former Transkei region. In the mid-80s, he was one of the many young black people who defeated the odds stacked against them by the government of the time. 

He obtained a Higher Diploma in Education, and Honours in English Language Teaching from the then University of Transkei. He went on to obtain an Honours Degree in Human Resource Development from the University of Johannesburg, as well as Master of Commerce in Organisational and Management Systems from the University of Natal; and is well on his way to obtaining his PhD with Rhodes University. 

An avid scholar of leadership as research and as a practice, he has spearheaded a multitude of capacity development initiatives, including the HELMD workshops for HoDs, Deans and Campus Rectors at WSU (2015-2018), focusing on academic monitoring and support for quality enhancement. He is very proud of this work with colleagues which constitutes the main part of his PhD theses. To this work, he attributes his ascendancy in leadership development.

“Being involved in academic development in the university spaces and the functionary of strategy development and implementation has allowed me to develop deep insights about the nexus of leadership. I came into a realization that being a leader is not the proxy for the actual leadership. The notion of a leader is more about a structural system, the position and its implied roles, functions, and duties. That is not enough, as leadership denotes the actual practices which must be anchored on the relevant value or knowledge systems and how such systems can be enacted. We have many people who claim that they are leaders, yet their choices and actions leave much to be desired,” he said. 

In less than five years, Dwayi and his ALT Foundation counterparts have made great strides in bringing to life their vision of “an Africa that works for everyone,” and specifically producing at least one-million leaders in 10 African countries by 2050.

Their target audiences are women, faith changemakers, scientists and the youth.

One of its most notable contributions has been the women leadership course which came at an opportune time as the entire world grappled with the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“It's not just the numbers of women trained and the African nations reached; this course was timely, coming as it did, to support African women leaders amid a pandemic.  Its focus on mental wellbeing was really appreciated as many African women were experiencing challenges related to reduced earning, loss of jobs, marital problems, home schooling and other challenges,” Dwayi shared.

By Yanga Ziwele