More than 3,000 students celebrated the culmination of their academic journeys at the Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) graduation ceremonies held from 21 to 23 April 2026. However, beyond the traditional conferral of degrees, the graduates walked away with a profound, lifelong lesson: reject the notion that you were born to be an employee. Delivering his signature address, Professor Marcus Ramogale, the University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Teaching and Learning, challenged the graduates to redefine their understanding of employment and reclaim the independent spirit of their ancestors.
Professor Ramogale argued that the traditional “employee lifestyle” is a construct brought about by colonizers. “God didn’t make you to be someone’s servant,” he stated, explaining that colonialism deliberately dismantled the independent, self-reliant way of life of African forebears to create a dependent workforce.
To break this cycle, Ramogale urged the newly minted alumni to understand the critical difference between a “job” and “work.” With traditional jobs becoming increasingly scarce, he challenged graduates to become “work seekers” rather than job seekers. “If you look for work, you will be able to solve some problems that are troubling the society,” he explained, emphasising that true work is about creating solutions. “Let us recover the self-reliance spirit that our forebears had before the colonizers destroyed that.”
To support this entrepreneurial shift, Professor Ramogale announced that MUT is actively infusing business education into all its academic programmes. Furthermore, he revealed that alumni who have already exited the University system will soon have access to these business lessons via an online platform, ensuring they are equipped to navigate the realities of today’s economy.
Beyond the call for economic independence, the ceremony was a celebration of profound institutional stability. Professor Ramogale took time to commend the student leadership for their constructive engagement with University management. Professor Ramogale highlighted that MUT has not lost a single academic day to student strikes or protests in the last four years. “Stability is very important for every institution, and for the programmes that they offer,” Ramogale noted. “Graduates, you can proudly say that you did not lose a single day to student protest.”
Professor Ramogale also expressed deep gratitude to the support systems behind the graduates. He thanked the parents for backing their children, acknowledging that many did so under incredibly difficult circumstances. He praised the graduates themselves for their high level of discipline, and thanked the lecturers for their dedicated guidance, a sentiment echoed by the students, who joyfully shouted the names of their favourite lecturers who were sitting on stage.
The ceremony also featured a special tribute to the University choir. Professor Ramogale praised singers for representing the Institution with excellence, a particularly impressive feat given that MUT does not have a Music Department.