FLAGS flew at half mast at Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 yesterday following the death of the university long-time chancellor Professor Jakes Gerwel.
Tributes poured in from around the world for the 66-year-old academic, who died early yesterday morning in a Kuils River hospital from complications following a heart operation.
Besides being chancellor of Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 for the past 13 years, Gerwel was also chairman of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Mandela Rhodes Foundation – which awards postgraduate scholarships to talented students.
He also held several leadership roles in civil society and business organisations which Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 vice-chancellor Dr Saleem Badat yesterday described as “a testimony to the respect he enjoyed in all quarters of society”.
From humble beginnings on a Somerset East sheep farm in 1946, Gert Johannes “Jakes” Gerwel beat the odds by graduating from Paterson High School in Port Elizabeth before studying at several local and international universities – and later becoming the right hand man of South Africa’s first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela, whom he served as a cabinet minister.
A friend of Steve Biko and involved in the Black Consciousness Movement in the late 60s, Gerwel – who graduated from the 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 of the Western Cape (UWC) with a Bachelors of Arts honours degree in 1968 – went on to become education advisor to the SA Students’ Organisation in the early 1970s. A respected academic, Gerwel’s Literatuur en Apartheid published in 1983 remains a key text in the Afrikaans and Southern African literature discourse.
He also published a variety of monographs, articles, essays and papers on literary, educational and socio-political issues and became vice-chancellor of UWC in 1987. According to Badat, one of the first messages of condolence he received yesterday was from a retired Rhodes academic who said Gerwel was “a good and great man [who] will be hard to replace”.
“Indeed, he will be fondly remembered and greatly missed as chancellor,” Badat said.
“A gentle man with a lively mind and intellect he was always a source of wise counsel.
“He will also be warmly remembered for the dignity with which he officiated at the unive graduation ceremonies and capped thousands of graduating students.”
Badat said Gerwel was also a strong advocate of Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 pursuing “equity with quality and quality with equity” and took pride in the university’s academic achievements and performance in research and teaching and increasing community engagement. He said the Jakes Gerwel Rhodes 老虎机游戏_pt老虎机-平台*官网 Scholarship Fund was established to provide opportunities especially for disadvantaged students from the Eastern Cape.
“The university expresses its deepest condolences to Prof Gerwel’s wife and wonderful companion, Phoebe, and the entire Gerwel family.
“The university and South African flags at Rhodes will fly at halfmast until after the funeral service for Prof Gerwel.”
The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory yesterday sent condolences on behalf of Mandela, the board of trustees and staff to the family of their chairman Professor Jakes Gerwel. “We will deeply miss ‘Prof’ as we fondly refer to him,” the centre said.
According to Sapa, former president Mandela worked with Gerwel for many years, throughout his presidency and during and beyond his retirement.
“When Madiba stepped down in 1999 after serving one term as president of South Africa, Professor Gerwel, his director-general, left the Office of the President to join Madiba in his post presidential work … As the chief executive of the Centre of Memory, Achmat Dangor, said: ‘We will miss his wisdom and calm guidance’.”
A statement from former president FW de Klerk yesterday praised Gerwel for being a steadfast and principled opponent of apartheid and a leading champion of our non-racial constitutional democracy.
“Prof Gerwel was also a friend of Afrikaans and took a special interest in its continuing use as an academic language.
“Notwithstanding our different political origins we became good friends. I – and all those who knew Jakes Gerwel – will miss him and will continue to value the enormous contribution he has made to our new society.” — with by Sapa
By DAVID MACGREGOR
Source :Daily Dispatch