UWC’s Main Hall has officially been renamed in memory of the institution’s former Rector, Professor Jakes Gerwel Hall.
A long-time friend of Prof Gerwel and former Rector of the neighbouring Peninsula Technikon (CPUT), Prof Brian Figaji says UWC should take a lot of pride in this step.
I hope more universities will follow this example. At historically black institutions, there is no real tradition of honouring our own leaders and trailblazers. So this is a very significant example being set by UWC to honour one of its own students who rose to the highest level, both at the university and in civil society.
As a student, lecturer, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, the late Gert Johannes ‘Jakes’ Gerwel’s roots at the institution runs deep.
Gerwel matriculated from Paterson High School in Port Elizabeth, and in 1967 earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from UWC.
He then lectured at the Hewat Teachers’ Training College in Crawford, Cape Town for a short time before receiving a scholarship, in 1971, to study at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).
On his return to South Africa, Gerwel first taught at Grassy Park High School and then returned to UWC as a lecturer.
He became the Rector and Vice-Chancellor in 1987 and served until he was appointed the Director-General in the Office of President Mandela in 1994.
The Executive Director of the Jakes Gerwel Foundation Theo Kemp says Prof Gerwel coined the slogan ‘Home of the Left’ for UWC.
I think that summarised his legacy to a great extent. During a time when the apartheid regime marginalised UWC on all levels – not only academically as a sub-standard university of ‘non-whites’, but also financially – Gerwel was bold enough to transform the university to become the home of the intellectuals, of those who also openly opposed the government’s inhumane politics. He steered the university through troubling times, and although it was sometimes difficult to keep focusing on the academics with all the political turbulence, the university became more and more a leading institution in research.
