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Former Public Protector and now Law Trust Chair in Social Justice at Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Law, Prof Thuli Madonsela, has been awarded another honorary doctorate for her activism in social justice, constitutionalism, human rights, rule of law and good governance.

The degree Doctor Legum, honoris causa, conferred to Prof Madonsela by the North West University (NWU) on Thursday 23 May 2019, was inspired by her exceptional services to South Africa and her contributions in the sphere of justice, society, corporate governance and government.

Other honorary doctorate degrees awarded to Prof Madonsela are from the universities of Stellenbosch, Cape Town and Fort Hare, as well as Rhodes University.

Among the other prestigious awards she has received are the Botswana Lawyers Association Honorary Membership of the Botswana Bar; the Commonwealth Lawyers Association's Truth and Justice Award and Time magazine's listing as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world.

In 2016, she was nominated as Forbes Africa's Person of the Year and spent a year as an Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University. She is also the founder of the Thuma Foundation, an independent democracy leadership and literacy social enterprise.

Talking to media after the ceremony, Prof Madonsela said, “It has been a long time coming and I imagined that maybe NWU would think I didn't want this degree, but I wanted it. It just was not possible to organise it at the time. The awarding of this degree gained me a platform to engage with this university about social justice and with the world."

Prof Madonsela has made exceptional contributions in the sphere of justice, society, corporate governance and in government.

Photo by Stefan Els.