2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

December 2020

Professor James Midgley was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature.

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Read the Vice-Chancellor’s announcement of the honorary doctorate for 2020.

2019

December 2019

Professors Georges and Marlene Belfort were awarded honorary doctorates in engineering and science respectively.

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Professor Jonathan Jansen was awarded an honorary doctorates in education.

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July 2019

Denis Goldberg was awarded an honorary doctorate in engineering.

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April 2019

Professor David Roger Jones Owen was awarded an honorary doctorate in engineering.

Professor Owen is an international authority on finite element and discrete element techniques, and one of the researchers responsible for building the field of computational mechanics from nascence to maturity.

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Read the Vice-Chancellor’s announcement of honorary doctorates for 2019.

2018

April 2018

Jennifer Yvonne Mokgoro was awarded an honorary doctorate in law.

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Brian Percival O’Connell was awarded an honorary doctorate in education.

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2017

July 2017

Abdurrazak ‘Zackie’ Achmat was awarded an honorary doctorate in law.

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2016

The following honorary degrees were awarded:

December 2016

Peter Folb was awarded an honorary doctorate in science.

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Zoë Wicomb was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature.

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June 2016

El Anatsui was awarded an honorary doctorate in fine arts.

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Janette Deacon was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature.

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Francis Wilson was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature.

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2015

The following honorary degrees were awarded:

December 2015

Dr Johannes De Villiers Graaff was awarded a posthumous honorary doctorate in economic sciences.

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Professor Kenneth Reid was awarded an honorary doctorate in law.

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June 2015

Ahmed Kathrada was awarded an honorary doctorate in law.

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Thuli Madonsela was awarded an honorary doctorate in law.

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Dikgang Moseneke was awarded an honorary doctorate in law.

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Okwui Enwezor was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature.

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John Britten Wright was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature.

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2014

December 2014

Henry Louis Gates Jr was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature.

Henry Louis Gates obtained his BA at Yale and his MA and PhD degrees at the University of Cambridge.

Gates, Alphonse Fletcher University professor and director of Harvard's Hutchins Center for African and African American Research (originally the WEB du Bois Institute for African and African American Research), is one of America's foremost public intellectuals. He is a literary critic, educator, scholar, documentary-maker, writer and editor of several volumes.

The major focus of Gates' work has been the figure of the African American in American and global literature and politics. His work is driven by an abiding concern with the perception of the historic diminution of blackness in the everyday world and he seeks to show the contribution to society and culture made by people of colour, and to show how important it is for scholars to develop a better understanding of how racism has blighted modern society.

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Rodney Douglas was awarded an honorary doctorate in medicine.

Rodney Douglas graduated from UCT with a BSc(Med) in 1969, a MBChB in 1974 and a PhD in 1983. For the past 25 years he has worked in Zurich where he is based at the Institute of Neuroinformatics, part of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich.

Douglas has spearheaded major advances in neuroscience and in elucidating brain function. He has led several multi-centre collaborative projects, developed software, available in the public domain, to assist neuroscientists in unravelling patterns of synaptic connectivity in brain tissue, has supervised 46 PhD graduates and supported and launched many careers in neuroscience.

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William Kentridge was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature.

William Kentridge obtained a BA from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1976, studied art at the Johannesburg Art Foundation and studied mime and theatre at L'Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq between 1981 and 1982. He is best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films.

Over the past 25 years Kentridge has matched his growing stature as an artist by an increasing presence as a public intellectual. He is extraordinarily well-read in the visual arts, music, politics and history. In 2012 he gave the Charles Eliot Norton lectures at Harvard University.

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David Fanning was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature.

David Fanning, who graduated from UCT in 1970 with a BA, and who had been a member of the editorial team of Varsity, is undoubtedly the most distinguished international media figure UCT has produced.

For thirty years he has been the Executive Producer of Frontline, the United State's longest-running public television documentary series distinguished for its excellence, independence and integrity. He a cultural figure of enormous significance and has maintained and extended the tradition of investigative documentary making. Fanning is committed to making his work accessible: he has stayed in the public broadcasting service, and, since 2002 Frontline has streamed most its documentaries free.

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Michael Thackeray was awarded an honorary doctorate in science.

Michael Thackeray completed BSc, BSc (Hons), MSc (1973) and PhD (1977) degrees at the University of Cape Town. Early in his career he developed the ZEBRA battery which is used in applications requiring high power and energy densities, such as in electric vehicles.

Michael Thackeray is currently the director of the Energy Frontier Research Center: Center for Electrical Energy Storage – Tailored Interfaces in a partnership between Argonne (the Argonne National Laboratory), Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Thackeray has more than 180 publications in leading journals, holds more than 25 patents and has an h-index of 61 (in other words 61 of his publications have been cited at least 61 times) and in total over 12 000 citations, and is listed on the Thomson Reuters Highly-Cited Researcher List. To put this into perspective, Hirsch (who developed the h index) estimated that after 20 years a "successful scientist" will have an h-index of 20, an "outstanding scientist" an h-index of 40, and a "truly unique" individual an h-index of 60.

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June 2014

Professor Salim Abdool Karim has held academic appointments at the universities of KwaZulu-Natal, Cornell, and Columbia, and has received many honours for his significant scientific contributions to the struggle against AIDS.

Karim has contributed significantly to research capacity development in South Africa, playing a role in the initiation or creation of five highly productive research centres, and has been instrumental in restoring the status of the Medical Research Council as the country's premier medical research institute. For more than a decade he served as the principal investigator of the Fogarty International Centre, which has trained more than 500 South African researchers. Karim currently chairs the UNAIDS Scientific Expert Panel.

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Dr Bernie Fanaroff's achievements range from his work as a radio astronomer to contributions to the country's liberation through the trade union movement, and latterly, to South Africa's winning bid to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope. His studies of extragalactic radio sources were pioneering and the Fanaroff-Riley classification of radio sources, developed with Julia Riley while at Cambridge, is still used today.

During the turbulent 70s and 80s Fanaroff devoted 18 years to establishing and building the trade union movement, specifically the Metal and Allied Workers' Union, later the National Union Of Metalworkers. After a nine-year stint with the Reconstruction and Development Programme he returned to radio astronomy as part of the nascent SKA project. His acumen as a leader and his expertise in radio astronomy were crucial to South Africa's winning the bid. SKA promises to bring massive infrastructure development, create a significant legacy of skills, and attract young researchers in Africa to enter careers in science and technology.

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William Carmichael studied economics at Yale, Princeton, and Oxford. He came to South Africa in the mid-1970s as head of the Ford Foundation's Office for the Middle East and Africa, and in the 1980s led Ford's work in South Africa as vice-president of the Ford Foundation, responsible for its developing country programmes.

His leadership and understanding of the potential of think-tank organisations in repressive societies enabled the Ford Foundation to play an important role in support of a wide range of individuals and organisations working in civil society, both inside and outside universities. Through the generosity of the Ford Foundation and his shared advice and wisdom, Carmichael made a significant contribution to South African universities and broader South African society, particularly in education and law.

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2013

December 2013

Allan Gray is one of South Africa's most successful self-made business executives. When he began trading as a one-man company in Cape Town in 1973, his investment decisions were based on the difference between his assessment of a company's intrinsic value and its share price. Today, his approach is standard practice among the investment community.

The establishment of a centre and a chair in Values-Based Leadership at UCT's Graduate School of Business is a manifestation of Gray's belief that the future and sustainability of the South African economy depend upon sound, ethical and values-based management. UCT recognises Gray as a philanthropist who has consistently supported higher education in South Africa. His pioneering approach to investment and his commitment to South Africa's future make his contribution exceptional.

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Professor Daniel Kunene is a renowned literary figure who has, through his translations, contributed to exposing African culture to the rest of the world. His pioneering work on heroic praise poetry explores how heroism is defined and expressed in praise poems, and charts the manner in which praise names are conferred.

Recognised as one of the foremost figures in the translation of South African texts from African languages into English, Kunene completed an acclaimed translation of Thomas Mofolo's Sesotho novel Chaka in 1981. He was also responsible for the widely-praised translation of CLS Nyembezi's 1950 isiZulu novel Mntanami! Mntanami! (My Child! My Child!) in 2010, for which he won the Karel Čapek Medal.

Kunene has used his own prose and poetry in opposition to apartheid in South Africa, demonstrating with great subtlety the multi-faceted relationships between individuals and communities in African society, especially those societies affected by colonialism and apartheid. UCT recognises Kunene's contribution towards preserving the African tradition and promoting it to a wider audience.

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Professor Derek Yellon is a prominent cardiovascular scientist. His work on myocardial protection has provided fundamental insights into the way the heart responds to the acute deprivation of blood supply in myocardial infarction. If large clinical studies presently underway succeed, interventions based on Yellon's discoveries will become routine in coronary artery bypass surgery. Such impact on routine patient care is achieved very rarely by a cardiovascular scientist within their professional lifetime and underscores the magnitude of his achievement.

UCT recognises the significant contribution made by Yellon to molecular and cardiovascular medicine, through the establishment of the Hatter Cardiovascular Institute. This institute has made it possible for a wide range of research and educational activities to be carried out at UCT. Yellon has been instrumental in establishing the annual "Cardiology at the Limits" meeting, a joint venture between the Hatter Cardiovascular Institutes of University College London and UCT. These internationally-recognised meetings have been endorsed by the international medical journal, The Lancet, and have played a major role in reaching out to sub-Saharan Africa.

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September 2013

UCT has bestowed a Doctor of Science in Engineering, honoris causa, on alumnus and 'giant of engineering science' Klaus-Jürgen Bathe. This is in recognition of his contributions to the advancement of computational engineering mechanics.

Bathe is not only a pioneer, but also unique in the way that his work has bridged the worlds of academia and industry. Besides being the celebrated Professor of Computational Mechanics at MIT, he is also the developer of the most advanced and very widely used finite element programme in the world today.

Bathe's company, ADINA, is a leader in analysis of solids and structures and in computational fluid dynamics, which enables the analysis of aeroplanes in bad weather, suspension bridges in high winds and the blood flow through arteries, for example.

His academic works are highly cited and his textbooks are considered to be the gold standard.

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2012

December 2012

Nicholas Haysom was awarded an honorary doctorate in law. He has devoted his life to public service and the vindication of human rights, both in South Africa and internationally, particularly in Africa. He graduated with a BA Hons in 1975 from the University of Natal and an LLB from UCT in 1978.

He was admitted as an attorney in 1981 and joined the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of Witwatersrand – a pioneer institute engaged in academic research and education, but also in bringing precedent-setting cases in human rights. He published important research into the legal rights of farmworkers and the violence employed by the security forces during the states of emergency. He was detained on several occasions and banned.

In 2005 Haysom joined the United Nations to head its Constitutional Support Unit in Iraq, and in 2007 he was appointed political director in the Office of the Secretary-General. He has advised missions on conflict in Afghanistan and Kosovo, and advised on constitutional processes in Tunisia. He continues to lecture and write on issues relating to conflict resolution and constitution making, of which he is now regarded internationally as a leading expert.

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Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler were awarded honorary doctorates in literature. UCT honoured Kohler and Jones for their outstanding contribution to contemporary theatre through the medium of puppetry. Both graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at UCT in 1974. In 1981 they established the Handspring Puppet Company (initially with two other Michaelis graduates). It has since become one of the best known and respected puppet companies in the world.

The special genius of their work has been to bring their training at Michaelis and their imagination as artists and sculptors to bear on their interest in theatrical and performative traditions. Their collaboration with artists such as William Kentridge and, more recently, with the Royal National Theatre's Warhorse project, has brought their work to international attention. The accolades they have received reflect the astonishment with which audiences have encountered the powerful assimilation of animated puppet characters, sculpture, puppet mastery, and performance.

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Marlene Dumas was awarded an honorary doctorate in fine arts. Widely regarded as one of the most influential painters working today, Marlene Dumas has continuously explored the complex range of human emotions, often probing questions of gender, race, sexuality and economic inequality.

Born in Cape Town in 1953, she completed her studies at UCT's Michaelis School of Fine Art in 1975, before attending the Ateliers '63 in Haarlem, Netherlands, for two years. From 1979 to 1980 she studied at the Psychological Institute at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Dumas' distinctive interest in and use of photographic sources in her painting practice has enjoyed sustained critical reception, as has her courage in handling sensitive topics of racial and sexual violence and mortality. Her work consistently explores constructions of identity and the fluid distinctions between the public and the private. Dumas' achievements were capped most recently by her major retrospective exhibition, 'Measuring Your Own Grave', at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Her work is featured in collections in many countries.

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Jonathan Ellis was awarded an honorary doctorate in science. Ellis is one of the pioneers of research at the interface between particle physics, astrophysics, cosmology and quantum gravity.

Born in 1946 in London, Ellis earned his PhD in theoretical particle physics in 1971 from Cambridge University. After postdoctoral positions at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and the California Institute of Technology, he joined the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. He is currently the Clerk Maxwell Professor of Theoretical Physics in King's College, London.

UCT has conferred an honorary doctorate in recognition of Ellis's exceptional and ground-breaking contributions to the understanding of fundamental physics and astrophysics, and for the numerous contributions he has made over the past decade to promote physics in South Africa.

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June 2012

Zakes Mda was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature (DLitt). Mda is a novelist, poet, playwright, painter, composer and filmmaker. He has distinguished himself as a writer, and through his work continues to have a significant impact as a commentator and thought leader.

The many windows to the world that his work offers, the remarkable life journey that he has travelled and the literary benchmarks that he has set, have earned him recognition the world over. This includes being awarded the Commonwealth Book Prize, the Sunday Times Fiction Prize, the M-Net Book Prize and the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award for The Heart of Redness (2003). Most notably The Madonna of Excelsior (2004) was selected one of the top ten South African books published in the decade since the dawn of democracy in 1994.

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David Sanders was awarded an honorary doctorate in medical science. Sanders is an iconic figure in the field of public health, nationally, regionally and internationally. He has pioneered thinking on the implementation of the World Health Organisation's model of primary health care, with its emphasis on equity and health as a right.

His work has contributed to advancing understanding of primary health care as a framework for health and development and to improvements in child health through research, teaching and training, and policy advocacy and service development.

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2011

December 2011

Mary Burton was awarded an honorary doctorate in social science. Burton was involved first in the struggle for human rights in South Africa, then in national reconciliation in the post-apartheid era. She was president of the Black Sash from 1986 to 1990. She also served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a commissioner on the Human Rights Violations Committee, from 1995 to 1998.

Burton served two terms on the UCT Council, including one as deputy chair from 1999 to 2005. In 2003, she received the Order of Luthuli (silver) from President Thabo Mbeki. The following year she received the Western Cape's highest award, the Order of Disa, and the Reconciliation Award, conferred by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.

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Dr David Potter was awarded an honorary doctorate in engineering science. Potter has been hailed as a great inventor and entrepreneur, but also as a philanthropist who has supported higher education in South Africa.

In 2001 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineers. He is a well-known name among UCT's postgraduates for the David and Elaine Potter Fellowships, which he and his wife established through their foundation, giving an opportunity to motivated and academically excellent individuals to use their education for the betterment of South Africa and civil society.

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June 2011

Stella Petersen received an honorary doctorate in education. She completed a BSc in botany and zoology, an MSc in science, a senior teaching diploma and a BEd degree at UCT. Her academic achievements won her a prestigious international educational fellowship to the United States, where she became the first South African to study at Syracuse University in New York, earning a master's degree in education in 1949.

Petersen has been described as a deeply revered and respected community figure, and was renowned for her dedication as a teacher, and the high standards she set her learners.

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Emeritus Professor Martin West was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature, in particular for his role in the university's governance and transformation during a turbulent period of transition.

West retired from UCT in 2008 after serving with distinction for 17 years as a deputy vice-chancellor, and later as vice-principal. He served under four vice-chancellors, and made vital contributions to changing governance at UCT during the first decade of a democratic South Africa.

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2010

December 2010

Watch this video clip featuring brief interviews with each of the recipients.

Born in Durban, Judge Navi Pillay graduated from the University of Natal with a BA in 1963 and an LLB in 1965. She earned a master's law degree in 1982 and a doctorate in juridical science in 1988 from Harvard University. She practised as an attorney from 1967, defending many anti-apartheid activists and trade unionists.

She would become the first woman to open a law practice in Natal, and the first black woman and the first attorney to be appointed as an acting judge of the High Court of South Africa. In 2008 she was named as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

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Baroness Lynda Chalker, a British Conservative politician, was a member of parliament in the United Kingdom from 1974 to 1992. She became a life peer in 1992. As a trustee of the UCT Trust in the United Kingdom, she has supported needy black students.

Chalker founded the Chalker Foundation for Africa, which supports medical knowledge and training in Africa. She is also chairperson of the board of the Medicines for Malaria Venture, founder and chairperson of Africa Matters Limited, and a founder board member of the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust.

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An acclaimed actor, writer and director, Sir Antony Sher was born and raised in South Africa. He moved to London in 1968, studied at the Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982. His performance in the title role of Richard III in 1984 earned him an Olivier Award for best actor.

Sher has penned fiction and non-fiction, as well as a number of plays. He continues to direct and perform at Cape Town's Baxter Theatre Centre, presenting master classes and writing on gay identity. In 2007 he produced the Channel 4 documentary Murder Most Foul on the murder of actor Brett Goldin in Cape Town.

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Janet Suzman boasts a distinguished career as actor and director in theatre, film and television. Born in Johannesburg, she was educated at Kingsmead College and Wits University.

A vocal opponent of apartheid, she moved to England in 1959, studying at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), of which she is now vice-president.

Celebrated in the UK, she maintains her links with South Africa, regularly performing, directing and producing works here, including Othello, The Good Women of Sharkville, The Cherry Orchard and Hamlet. Her most recent South African play, The Dream of the Dog, opened to rave reviews at the Finborough Theatre, London, in April 2010.

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June 2010

Tito Mboweni was awarded an honorary doctorate in economic science. A strong African National Congress (ANC) activist and leader, Mboweni served as the deputy head of the Department of Economic Policy in the party. He was chairperson of the National Executive Committee's Economic Transformation Committee, which co-ordinated the development of the ANC's economic policies.

In 1997, Mboweni was made head of the ANC's Policy Department. In May 1994 he was appointed the Minister of Labour in President Mandela's cabinet, a position he held until July 1998. Mboweni served as governor of the South African Reserve Bank from 1999 to 2009.

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Professor Jerry Coovadia was awarded an honorary degree in medicine. He is a world-renowned expert in child health and disease, and a leader in the struggle for a democratic South Africa. He is both a national and an international figure in paediatric medicine, and a world authority in the field of HIV/AIDS.

He has dedicated himself to the development of research by supervising over 40 postgraduate students, as well as teaching in the medical, nursing and allied health professions for over 20 years.

Coovadia received the Star of South Africa from former President Nelson Mandela for his contribution to democracy.

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Photographer Peter Magubane received an honorary doctorate in literature. Magubane photographed the unfolding story of South Africa's liberation over 50 years. He covered many important political events in the 1950s, including the treason trials and demonstrations against the pass laws.

He documented the Soweto student uprisings from June to August of 1976. Coverage of the uprisings earned him worldwide acclaim and led to international photographic and journalistic awards, including the Luthuli Award and the Order for Meritorious Service from former President Nelson Mandela.

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Victor Ritchie received an honorary degree in education. He played a principled role as an educator and leader who successfully resisted the imposition of racially segregated and inferior education during the apartheid era.

A UCT alumnus he began a teaching career of 33 years at Harold Cressy High School where he and his colleagues promoted principles, values and educational practices that were critical in establishing the school as a 'professional learning centre'. He was formally appointed principal in 1969.Under his leadership, Harold Cressy High School became a premier high school for people of colour, and an outstanding school overall. It also became one of the most important feeder schools to UCT.

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David Lewis was awarded an honorary doctorate in economic science. A unionist and academic, his life's work has focused on serving to uplift the poor and marginalised, addressing social issues and broad-based economic development.

Lewis served as general secretary of the General Workers Union between 1975 and 1985, and then as national organiser of the goods transport section of the Transport and General Workers Union until 1990. He worked as an academic at UCT from 1990 to 2000, teaching and publishing with distinction.

He was a founder and director of the Development Policy Research Unit – a major research unit still in existence at UCT – and a director of the Industrial Strategy Project.

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2009

Emeritus Professor Brian Warner received an honorary doctorate in science. Warner has vast work experience in lunar phenomena and astronomy, and he stands out as one of the most distinguished scientists to have made South Africa his home.

His career has produced a "prodigious" scientific output, with 400 scientific papers and 18 books to his name. At least one, Cataclysmic Variable Stars, is considered definitive in its field.

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Emeritus Professor George Ellis was awarded an honorary doctorate in science. A UCT alumnus, Ellis is one of the most distinguished scholars this country has produced.

In his more than 40 years' work experience, he has produced over 350 articles or chapters in books, and 12 books spanning disciplines as diverse as cosmology, complexity, neural development and the brain, science policy, social development, science and mathematics education, and the relationship between science and religion.

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Professor Gavin Mooney was awarded an honorary doctorate in social science. He is considered to be one of the founding fathers of health economics. He has held the position of Professor of Health Economics at the University of Copenhagen, the University of Sydney and, most recently, Curtin University in Perth.

Mooney has made an exceptional contribution to scholarship and the discipline of health economics both internationally and at the University of Cape Town.

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The late Richard Dudley was awarded an honorary doctorate in education. His involvement with the Teacher's League of South Africa during the apartheid years galled both the authorities and his immediate supervisors.

An alumnus of UCT, Dudley's teaching career at Livingstone High in Cape Town over 39 years is widely recognised as the foundation upon which hundreds of former pupils built success in a wide range of professional and academic fields. By providing an alternative to the curricula of the Coloured Affairs Department, Dudley and his colleagues went well beyond what was required by the syllabus.

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