Dr Nkululeko Nyangiwe tick(led)
about his doctoral studies
Engela Duvenage
PhD student receives degree for studies about South African ticks
B
lue ticks, red-legged ticks, brown-ear ticks,
bont ticks, bont-legged ticks. Name a tick and
Dr Nkululeko Nyangiwe of Stutterheim in the
Eastern Cape will probably be able to tell you
where in South Africa you will find it, and in what
type of vegetation. In the past five years alone, he
has painstakingly collected more than 8000 ticks from
cattle on 80 farms across South Africa. His studies were supervised by Prof Sonja Matthee in
Stellenbosch University’s Department of
Conservation Ecology and Entomology. She praised
his commitment towards his studies. “It is never an
easy thing to do to hold down a full-time job while
also pursuing studies, let alone a PhD degree,” she
said.
Since 2012, he has worked part-time on his
doctorate in Entomology about the distribution and
ecology of ticks that are of economic importance
to cattle farmers in South Africa and Namibia, and
especially also in the Eastern Cape. Dr Nyangiwe is
one of 15 students of the Faculty of AgriSciences
at Stellenbosch University who received their PhD
degrees on 6 December during the institution’s
graduation week. Although Dr Nyangiwe didn’t have the luxury of
dedicating his attention 100% to his studies, he says
it did help that issues related to ticks and tick-borne
diseases are also part of his day job. This production
scientist at the Döhne Agricultural Development
Institute in Stutterheim regularly conducts research
trials, often with the health of livestock in mind.
There he has worked himself up through the ranks
since joining the institution in 2002 as an animal
scientist.
Pantropical blue tick (Rhipicephalus micro-
plus) Photo credit Nkululeko Nyangiwe
Hard work recognised
His diligence has paid off. In September 2017 he
received the Bronze Medal from the South African
Society of Animal Science (SASAS) at the annual
congress held at Port Elizabeth for the meritorious
PhD study. In the same month, he presented some of
his work on the range expansion of the economically
important Asiatic blue tick (Rhipicephalus microplus)
at the 3 rd International Congress on Parasites of
Dr Nkulu