'Thanks a million!'
Stellenbosch University (SU) has honoured its top donors for their contribution to the continued excellence and relevance of the institution.
Forty donors received the SU Vice-Chancellor’s Award at two functions held in Stellenbosch and Johannesburg in August. The award acknowledged their contributions up to 31 December 2010.
“Thank you very much for your donations. This is an investment in the future of our country and continent. The fact that you have used Stellenbosch University as an instrument to this end is a motion of confidence in us and in the HOPE Project,” Prof Russel Botman, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, said.
The University’s HOPE Project is a university-wide initiative through which major social challenges are being tackled.
The Vice-Chancellor’s Awards were started in 1987. This year’s round was the fourth one. The Vice-Chancellor’s Award goes to individuals who have cumulatively donated more than R1 million and institutions that have donated more than R2 million, and the Vice-Chancellor’s Award: Gold goes to individuals or institutions that have passed the R5 million mark.
Among the donations recognised in this round were more than 1 000 bursaries.
“You have opened the doors of learning to people who would otherwise not have had the opportunity to go to university. Thanks to your magnanimity their lives have been enriched and they have been equipped to help make the world a better place,” Prof Botman said.
In addition to the bursaries, the donors also made generous contributions to various fields of study, institutions and initiatives at SU.
“Thanks a million, and I mean that literally,” Prof Botman said.
“On behalf of South Africa’s 50 million people, and a further 950 million people elsewhere on our continent, I wish to thank you for your support for a university that is serious about using its knowledge base to improve people’s lives.”
The event at Stellenbosch took place at Tokara on 3 August, with Pasella presenter and SU alumna Charlene Lackay (née Truter) as programme director. In Johannesburg, this role was fulfilled by well-known journalist Ruda Landman. She is a former member of the Maties Students’ Representative Council and of the University Council, as well as a former board member of the Stellenbosch Trust. The event up north took place at Court House in Sandown on 17 August.
Speaking on behalf of donors, Mr Brian Molefe, CEO of Transnet, pledged the parastatal’s continued support for SU. He said inequality remained a serious problem in South Africa, and that education was the best way of dealing with the problem.
The recipients received original works of art as tokens of appreciation – linocut prints by Lucas Bambo in the case of the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards, and porcelain mandalas by Christina Bryer in the gold category.
This year was the first time that individuals qualified for the Vice-Chancellor’s Award: Gold. Messrs GT Ferreira and Markus Jooste achieved this distinction.
“I think I have drawn a longer straw in life than some. And I would like to believe that if I give a little of the excesses that I have, I will – in Peyton Conway March’s words – achieve a little ‘happiness, freedom and peace of mind’,” Mr Ferreira said.