Cape Town - Playwright Adam Small and Judge Edwin Cameron are among a group of recipients who will be honoured with honorary doctorates from Stellenbosch University next month.
Every year the university awards honorary degrees to recognise and reward excellence in a variety of fields and to identify these individuals as role models for the university community.
The university said Small was nationally recognised as a beloved and acclaimed poet and playwright, who had used his work to poignantly comment on the destructive apartheid system.
“Through his work Professor Adam Small has shifted the boundaries of South African literature, enhanced the Afrikaans language, sensitively though strongly spoke out about issues others hesitated to address, and became a voice for the voiceless.”
Stellenbosch University alumnus Judge Edwin Cameron would be honoured for “his unstinting professional and personal advocacy for the recognition of every person’s dignity, freedom and equality – foundational values he has helped entrenched in our legal system and beyond”.
“His role in securing the inclusion of sexual orientation as a prohibited ground of discrimination in the Bill of Rights, as well as his advocacy for persons with HIV/Aids, makes him a key player in South African and international law.
Judge Kate O’ Regan will be honoured for her “fine and progressive mind and her commitment to the law, both within and outside the Constitutional Court, which has seen justice prevail for particularly vulnerable sections of society”.
For the first 13 years of the Constitutional Court’s existence she was one of only two female judges and she “left an indelible mark with a range of leading judgments”.
The university said statistician-general Pali Lehohla’s innovative leadership in the field of statistics, and special focus on the concomitant development of human capital, was commendable. He has made his mark as skilled innovator in his field of expertise, both locally and internationally.
Space scientist Dr Japie van Zyl played a leadership role in the successful Curiosity mission to Mars in 2012.
“As a leader and driving force behind many successful space projects, this humble scientist is living proof of what the world can still expect from Africa and Stellenbosch University as an African institution.”
The university said Professor Sampie Terreblanche, “a political economist in the broadest sense”, had made outstanding contributions as a profound observer and analyst of Western socio-economic systems, as an inspiring lecturer and a leading author.
Award-winning psychologist Professor Daniel Kahneman is well known for his research in decision-making and behavioural economy.
With his long-standing collaborator, Amos Tversky, he developed the behavioural economic prospect theory for which he received the Nobel Prize.
All recipients, except for Kahneman, will receive their honorary doctorates next month. Kahneman will receive his in March.
Cape Argus
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