Prof Zide brings with him a wealth of experience and an academic career spanning more than three decades in higher education administration and management.
Prof Zide is not new to VUT, as he previously served the university as deputy vice-chancellor responsible for governance and organisational transformation.
In 2015, he joined the University of South Africa (Unisa) as registrar, a position he held for just more than a year. Unisa also appointed him professor emeritus in anthropology.
Prof Zide matriculated at the Freemantle Boys’ High School in Lady Frere and then proceeded to Fort Hare University, where he completed his BA and BA Hons and an MA degree in anthropology. In 1999, the then University of Port Elizabeth (UPE) conferred on him a PhD in anthropology. Currently, Professor Zide is one of only a few public anthropologists in South Africa.
His senior management career kicked off when he became the first black registrar of Fort Hare University. He also served as Executive Director of Human Resources at the then University of Port Elizabeth and later as advisor to the vice-chancellor and principal of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.