Prof Keet is a distinguished scholar and higher education executive whose career spans human rights advocacy, university transformation, and critical scholarship. Currently the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Engagement and Transformation at Nelson Mandela University, he also holds the Research Chair in Critical Studies in Higher Education Transformation, where he leads pioneering work on justice-oriented, socially responsive university futures.

Born in Kylemore, Stellenbosch, Prof Keet began his career as a teacher before joining South Africa’s democratic human rights architecture in 1996. Over more than a decade at the South African Human Rights Commission, he rose to Deputy Chief Executive Officer and later served as a Commissioner at the Commission for Gender Equality. His transition into higher education in 2008 marked a deepening of his intellectual and institutional influence, with senior academic and leadership roles at the University of Fort Hare, University of Pretoria, and the University of the Free State, where he directed the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice and served in executive capacities.

Prof Keet’s scholarship explores the intersections of human rights, decolonisation, critical university studies, transformation, and social justice. He has authored and co-edited several influential books, published widely across leading academic platforms, and delivered keynote lectures internationally. His work is recognised for its conceptual rigour and its commitment to reshaping universities as democratic, socially engaged institutions.

He has supervised and mentored numerous postgraduate scholars and contributed to multiple national and ministerial committees shaping South Africa’s higher education transformation agenda. Deeply relational in his approach, Prof Keet’s career reflects a lifelong commitment to advancing justice, critical inquiry, and ethical leadership in society.