Journey from rags to riches for TUT’s first fashion doctor

THE journey of South Africa’s fifth person qualified with a doctorate in fashion design, Sipho Mbatha, to obtain his history-making qualification started with about R200 in his pocket.

Mbatha, from the Vaal, has made history by being the first South African from the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) to obtain a Fashion Design doctorate.

And Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa also confirmed yesterday that Mbatha was South Africa’s fifth student to have obtained a PhD in fashion design.

The 34-year-old lecturer at TUT’s Faculty of the Arts and Design, Department of Design Studies, made history at one of the June graduation ceremonies hosted virtually at the Pretoria Campus recently.

Mbatha told The Star yesterday that he gets emotional when he thinks about his journey to obtain this doctorate as his university journey started with difficulty. Mbatha’s mother could not afford to pay for tertiary education after high school.

“When I got accepted into TUT, it was the first time I had ever seen my mother cry because she had nothing to offer me. I left home with practically R200 in my pocket in 2006 when I started this journey,” he said.

The title of his dissertation was “Exploring University-Industry-Government (UIG) research linkages in the clothing manufacturing industry of South Africa”. Mbatha said the relevance of his study related to current debates on how the South African clothing, textiles, leather and footwear industry can improve its competitive advantage.

The PhD graduate said he was motivated to complete his doctoral studies by his research mentor and supervisor, Professor Anne Mastamet Mason, who recruited Mbatha to return to school for his Bachelor of Technology (BTech) in 2009.

“She indicated that she wanted me to be the first South African to obtain a doctorate in fashion design. I took on her challenge, since I never back down from any challenge. Through her mentorship and supervision, I passed both my BTech and MTech with distinction,” he said.

Mbatha added that his road to his doctorate was also complicated when he had to juggle his doctoral research and spending quality time with his first-born son.

“It would get emotional in some moments where I questioned if it was worth it to sacrifice my time with my child in pursuing this degree, but looking back, I’m glad I did it like that,” he said.

Mbatha said his doctorate gave him a great sense of responsibility as South Africa needed more people with doctorates in the fashion design field.

“The fact that there are only five of us in the country explains the importance of us getting more people qualifying as doctors in fashion … I feel a sense of responsibility to ensure that I invest my time into the development of other doctoral students,” he said.

A proud Mastamet Mason said Mbatha’s study revealed a disconnection between the industry, TUT and the government role in strengthening the South African fashion industry, particularly in the areas of product development, that can promote the manufacture of textiles for the South African fashion industry.

“It has contributed significantly to the triple-helix theory (of innovation) and has yielded recommendations for governmental policymakers,” she added.