“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” This is according to Prof Boitumelo Marilyn Patience Setlalentoa, the newly appointed deputy vice-chancellor at the North-West University’s (NWU’s) campus in Mahikeng.

With the implementation of the university’s new unitary structure one of the significant changes was doing away with the positions of campus rectors. This allowed for the creation of positions for deputy vice-chancellors at campus level whose responsibilities include overseeing campus operations.

Prof Setlalentoa was appointed as the deputy vice-chancellor for the campus in Mahikeng and Prof Fika Janse van Rensburg for the campus in Potchefstroom, while Prof Linda du Plessis is taking care of the campus in Vanderbijlpark.

Prof Setlalentoa was born and bred in Bloemfontein in the Free State, where she attended primary school and proceeded to Moroka High School where she completed her matric.

A social worker by training, she obtained a BAHons in Social Work in 1981 from the former University of the North (now the University of Limpopo). In 1992 Prof Setlalentoa completed her MA in Social Work at the then Rand Afrikaans University (now the University of Johannesburg). She obtained her PhD in 2010 from the NWU.

Her vast work experience includes working as a social worker at the former Department of Health and Welfare in Lebowa in Limpopo as well as under the Bophuthatswana government in Mahikeng.

She also served at the level of captain in the Department of Defence and worked at the Chamber of Mines from 1988 to 2001. Thereafter she joined the NWU as a lecturer, moving swiftly up the ranks. Before her most recent appointment, she held the position of executive dean for the Faculty of Humanities.

This high-achieving academic and administrator is also a proud mother. Her son is a recently qualified chartered management accountant, whose own career successes leave nothing to doubt as to who he takes after.

Prof Setlalentoa is a community leader and devoted member of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, where she also serves as a circuit steward.

“It has been a great honour to be appointed as deputy vice-chancellor and to serve this generation of NWU students and our community – a responsibility that I aim to fulfil with honesty, dignity and compassion. In this institution, we stand together as one and united we can achieve far more than just the goals we set for ourselves,” says Prof Setlalentoa.

 Prof Marilyn Setlalentoa is the newly appointed deputy vice-chancellor at the NWU’s campus in Mahikeng.