Nelson Mandela: Stellenbosch University pays tribute to icon of liberation and reconciliation "The best way to celebrate the life of former President Nelson Mandela is to ensure that his legacy lives on in future generations of South Africans who, unlike us, will not have the privilege of his living example. We pay tribute to an influential leader, a remarkable statesman and icon of liberation and reconciliation. South Africa, our continent and our world today lost a role-model and symbol of ethical leadership. We owe it to him that South Africans may never forget what he sacrificed in the interest of justice and freedom," Prof Russel Botman, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of Stellenbosch University said in reaction to the news that former President Mandela had passed away. (Click
here for an op-ed by Prof Botman on former president Nelson Mandela as a role model.)
Prof Botman expressed his condolences to the Mandela family and his spouse, Dr Graca Machel. Like her husband, she also received an honorary doctorate from Stellenbosch University. "Our country's people owe Dr Machel a debt of gratitude for her supporting role in the period after his release from prison and during his last years. While he was in public office it was remarkable to observe her presence in the background, caringly supporting him." "For our country's youth and our university's students there is no better example than former President Mandela. Difficult circumstances did not deter him from completing his studies and as a principled leader he dedicated his life to democracy and justice, even when it was to his own detriment. His life was characterised by respect for and tolerance towards people's points of view, language, culture and religion – the same ethos that we value at Stellenbosch University," Prof Botman said. "He played a pivotal role in the creation of our country's Constitution, and like the Constitution, he has built a bridge between our divided past and our shared future. "By honouring Madiba with the degree, Doctor of Philosophy honoris causa on 25 October 1996, Stellenbosch University acknowledged the man who has become a living symbol of empowerment through learning, of peace and reconciliation through negotiation, and of respect for those values which make a just and humane society possible." Read former President Mandela's
speech delivered after receiving his honorary degree in 1996
EXTRACTS FROM THE COMMENDATIO Included below are shortened extracts from the commendatio which was read as motivation for honouring Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela with an honorary degree by Stellenbosch University in 1996: "The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1993 ends with a postscript on 'National Unity and Reconciliation'. The first two paragraphs of this postscript contain a striking summary of our past and of a vision for the future, with which this University fully identifies: "This Constitution provides a historic bridge between the past of a deeply divided society characterised by strife, conflict, untold suffering and injustice, and a future founded on the recognition of human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence and development opportunities for all South Africans, irrespective of colour, race, class, belief or sex. "As part of the many contributions of this University – one of the three oldest universities in the country – to this historic turning point in our development, we honour the exceptional role played by a man from a small town in Transkei in the Eastern Cape in the attainment of this turning point. "Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in Qunu near Umtata. His father, Henry Mgadla Mandela, was an important advisor to Paramount Chief David Dalinyebo. After his father's death, Dalinyebo took responsibility for the young Mandela's education. Coming from a leading family it was expected of him to become a traditional leader. "The life story of the young man form Qunu, however, took a different route. Today he is not known as a traditional leader, but as the democratically-elected President of the Republic of South Africa. "His life story has not been without trauma and pain. It is the story of a man with vision, who has become one of the most remarkable people of our century. The man from Qunu is not only the head of state of South Africa, but a person who is respected world-wide for his moral leadership. For millions of people around the world he is the living symbol of liberation reconciliation.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
'First Step to Freedom'
Artist: Jeff Mwazha The wire art statue of former President Mandela at The Rainbow Experience, a destination shop in Mandela Rhodes Place, Wale Street, Cape Town. The Rainbow Experience showcases the South African rainbow nation's creativity and works closely with the Mandela Rhodes Foundation in placing the spotlight on former President Mandela's legacy of leadership and education. Stellenbosch University conferred the degree Doctor of Philosophy honoris causa on Madiba in 1996.
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"This status was achieved inter alia his untiring dedication to study as a means to self-empowerment, to use a modern and significant term. He left the Eastern Cape for Johannesburg where he continued his university studies by means of correspondence. In 1942 he received his BA degree from the University of South Africa.
"In the same year and under very difficult financial and other circumstances, he embarked on a clerkship at a firm of attorneys. In spite of an early involvement in politics he remained a student and even enrolled for an LL B degree at the University of the Witwatersrand.
"In later years, during his imprisonment on Robben Island and elsewhere, he became known for his intellectual and physical discipline. Here too he did not abandon his ideal of development through education. Once again he registered for an LL B, this time at the University of South Africa, and received his degree in absentia in 1989. "His dedication to education, particularly self-study, even under extremely difficult circumstances, makes him a role model for all teachers and students. It was this conviction which, ten years before his imprisonment, made him say: " Make every home, every shack or rickety structure a centre of learning". "As a political leader and statesman his greatness is based on the fact that he is able to look back on his momentous life without bitterness and has become a champion of reconciliation. In this too he is a worthy role model. "February 1990 placed South Africa on a new path. The world has opened up for South Africa and we can hold our heads high with pride again wherever we go. And it is important for all academics that it has once more become possible for academic and scientific institutions to gain worldwide entry and thus to make their full contribution to our country's development. "Mandela's handling of the process of change and negotiation has undoubtedly also been influenced by the spirit of the legal profession for which he was trained. From the day when he and Oliver Tambo set up the first black firm of attorneys in the country in 1952, it was important to him to act professionally in |
his chosen career and to remain true to the ideals of the law. That was definitely not easy in the turbulent political circumstances of the fifties.
"And his love for his country is nowhere more clear than when he says: 'And whenever I travel, I immediately begin to miss the familiar – the mine dumps, the colour and smell that is uniquely South African, and above all, the people. I do not like to be away for any length of time. For me there is no place like home'."
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