Rhodes JMS

What do a theatre-maker, a botanist, and a media scholar have in common?

At Rhodes University, they are three academics asking questions about Africa’s future, digital lives and cultural memory. Drs Nkululeko Sibanda, Tiffany Pillay, and Chikezie E. Uzuegbunam are among DHET's chosen future professors.

Rhodes University Drama Department
Department of Botany, Rhodes University
Rhodes JMS

Read more: https://www.ru.ac.za/latestnews/dhet_fpp_cohort4-1.html

It is with great sadness that we at Rhodes JMS mourn the passing of our friend and former colleague Mr Paddy Donnelly.

Paddy, who worked as the television production manager from 2007 to 2021, died early on Saturday morning after a few months of cancer treatment in York, UK. He is survived by his widow, Liz Morell.

In celebration of Paddy's life and all that he brought to the School, we are sharing the farewell speech made by Dr Alette Schoon when Paddy left the department to return to York in 2021:

"I’m saying thank you to Paddy, the man of the moment. And he really is a man of the moment, because he is someone who is so focused on the moment. As you may know Paddy was a photo editor and photographer before he came to us, which is all about knowing the right moment and being present in the now. And Paddy has an extraordinary ability to be present, and to connect and empathise with people, no matter who they are, on a human to human level – I vividly remember how I was struck when I first met him with his ability to on the one hand to have a fat chat with the VC at a posh event, but the next day to engage my six-year-old Zaza in an hour long conversation. He brought this same level of being a mensch and a resistance to hierarchy to interaction with students and staff in the section. He was always deeply interested in every single student story, and in the content of our teaching. He was immersed and totally enthused by our projects, such as the Hunterstoun project on land rights in the Tyume river valley. Paddy was particularly passionate about the arts, and his vast knowledge of film, theatre and music came to the fore in his role during the arts festival over many years where he was instrumental in CueTV. Paddy always saw being a production manager as bringing his artistic sensibility and his political ideas of equity into his role. He was never just an administrator. He is someone who prioritises people before systems, and he particularly resisted turning his role into being a security guard of the gear, and to put rules and processes before stories, group cohesion and human trust. When a piece of gear went missing Paddy had a strong trust in our students and the universe and that anything that was displaced would eventually turn up – and miraculously he was always right. Paddy resisted simply being a technician, and humanized and storified this role. He enjoyed being part of classes - where he would always have something to contribute and riff off the lecturer’s and the students comments – kind of like a jazz musician. And being in the moment he could often focus on specific things really well – such as critiquing the politics of a story, enthusing about the relevance of a particular idea and connecting it to his knowledge of local history or noticing particular technical mistakes such as the finer details of colour correction – often noticing things others were oblivious of. He would not be shy in pointing out these critiques whether of students or lecturers, and his role in teaching therefore loomed large, so that some students would credit all their learning in the TV section to Paddy. He also famously established the saying Moo-Cow as a technical buzzword. Before coming to us Paddy had not really spent much time in film production – although he most notably assisted in the production on a film about Joe Slovo, which he often reminded us was screened to one of the largest audiences ever for a TV documentary in the former Soviet Union. What he did specialise in extensively before, was in film festivals and in the archiving of video. He played an incredible role in the establishing and running of our yearly film festival, which became a highly celebrated event and spurred our students to produce works of great standard. Paddy knew how to throw a fabulous party that everyone wanted to be at, such as these film festivals became. He also diligently archived student work over the years on our YouTube channel, which has over 3 million views and more than 6000 subscribers. Paddy entered a lot of our student works into the festivals and competitions he had insider knowledge about from his former career, which meant that we would frequently win awards and students started seeing these awards as within reach, and seeing themselves as filmmakers. I suspect the fact that Jin Jeon won the sought after Berlin prize for her documentary and Pippa Erlich won the most coveted prize, the Oscar, might perhaps be directly traced to this. It's going to be impossible to fill the hole Paddy leaves behind when he goes, therefore it is perhaps fitting that we will not try and replace him - but the TV section will definitely be much poorer without him. As a man of the moment, I’m sure he has many plans - we hope he finds a way to pop up and still play a role in the future of the department, even though he may be far away. Or maybe this is it – and he will whiff out of the door and disappear into a new gig– Paddy of course is the master of finding doors that open into new performances and new experiences. So good luck with the future and most of all - Thank you Paddy."

We have lost a giant. Go gently into the universe, Paddy, blasting Bach as you streak through the stars!

A homecoming that bridges the gap between memory and the future. Rhodes JMS recently welcomed award-winning alumna, Milisuthando Bongela, back to campus for a poignant screening of her acclaimed documentary. In a powerful dialogue, she illustrated how personal history transforms into global storytelling.

Read more: https://www.ru.ac.za/latestnews/milisuthando_screening.html

Rhodes University Alumni

📸 Micky Oscar

Don't miss Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership's five-day government communicators' short course from 9-13 November 2026.

Applications are open for accredited five-day Digital Government Communication Programme. Held at the Africa Media Matrix at Rhodes University, this course equips government communicators with practical skills in strategic communication, media engagement, campaign communication, ethics, and leadership.

Please apply here: https://forms.gle/NAHNjXAkMDtANchC6