This took place in the evening of 28th July 2022 when he hosted the Secretary-General, Professor Ernest Aryeetey and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) of University of Ibadan, Professor Oluyemisi Bamgbose to a dinner attended by the leadership of the University. In a short speech, Professor Mabizela, expressed his appreciation for the great relationship between ARUA and his University.

At a meeting in his office on 29th July, Professor Mabizela, in the company of Professor Peter Clayton, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research), discussed the ARUA strategic plan with Professor Aryeetey. He indicated that the plan would guide the review of the Rhodes development strategy. The meeting was later joined by a number of Deans of Faculties and Schools at Rhodes. They all affirmed their commitment to the ARUA strategic plan and agreed to the proposal to create new platforms for collaboration among the Deans of different faculties and schools in order to stimulate a bottom-up approach to the promotion of the vision of ARUA.

The ARUA Secretary-General also met with the Director of the ARUA Centre of Excellence for Water, Dr Jane Tanner and her colleagues for a brief on the CoE. The CoE has the largest number of African universities participating as research partners. Other researchers that engaged with the Secretary-General included Professor Heila Lotz-Sisitka (Environmental Learning Centre), Professor Martin Hill (Centre for Biological Control), Professor Philani Mashazi (Institute for Nanotechnology Innovation) and Professor Warren Potts (DIFS, African Fisheries Health and AU relations). These are institutions with strong footprints in Africa.

The Secretary-General, accompanied by Professor Peter Clayton, also visited the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity and met with its Director, Dr Angus Paterson. Dr Paterson gave the visitors a tour of the very impressive facility owned by the National Research Foundation. The parties agreed to work on how to make the facility accessible to ARUA researchers from the region.

The team working on the Rhodes data for the Carnegie-sponsored benchmarking project, Dr Remy Nnadozie and Dr Ashton Dingle also discussed their project with Professor Aryeetey, who expressed his appreciation for the great work done.