Graduation: the end, but also the beginning of a new chapter

Although the smaller of the two annual graduation seasons, this year's June graduation was met with the same pomp and ceremony as its December counterpart. If you missed it, here are all the highlights in one place.

Inspiration

• Active citizenry can change society – Sandile Zungu
  Engaged and active citizens can improve transparency and accountability, build trust and precipitate important reforms in society, philanthropist and businessman Sandile Zungu told graduands at the Faculty of Commerce and Graduate School of Business (GSB) graduation ceremony. Read the story.


• We're in a moment like 1976, says Soudien
  UCT's responsibility as a post-apartheid university was guiding South African thought on whiteness, blackness, femininity, masculinity, violence, want, fracking, sustainable energy, spatial inequality, drug discovery and the rights of ordinary people living under the aegis of traditional law, argued Professor Crain Soudien at the graduation ceremony for the Faculties of Health Sciences and Engineering & the Built Environment. Read the story, read the full speech or watch the video.

Honorary degrees

• Three honorary doctorates kick off June graduation
  Standing ovations marked the start of the June graduation season in the Jameson Hall, when struggle stalwart and law pioneer Ahmed Kathrada, Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela, and Deputy Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Dikgang Moseneke were awarded honorary degrees (Doctor of Laws). Read the story.


• Struggle hero toasts honorary class of 2015
  Despite feeling a bit 'presumptuous' in doing so instead of his non-retired colleagues, it was like a 'disciplined prisoner that still obeys orders' that struggle hero Ahmed Kathrada accepted the task of responding to UCT's vice-chancellor on behalf of himself and his fellow honorary graduates and graduands. Read the story.


• Art and education can dowse flames of xenophobia
  The 2015 mid-year graduation season ended on a high note with two honorary doctorates awarded to pre-eminent scholars concerned with African art and history. Recipients of the UCT Book and Creative Works Awards were also presented with their prizes. Read the story.

Awards

• Award-winning book gives voice to feminism in Islam
  Assoc Prof Sa'diyya Shaikh has won the 2015 UCT Book Award for her exploration of the ideas of a 13th century Sufi mystic, poet and scholar in Sufi Narratives of Intimacy. Her twin interests are Islam and feminism, two themes she artfully weaves together in the book. Read the story.


• Biko biography required skilful balancing
  Assoc Prof Xolela Mangcu received the Meritorious Book Award for his telling of Steve Biko's story in Biko: A Biography. He is not only Biko's biographer; he knew Biko personally as both of them grew up in the township Ginsberg, outside King William's Town in the Eastern Cape. Read the story.


• A child's long walk to ... nowhere, really
  Professor Mark Fleishman of UCT's Department of Drama was awarded this year's Creative Works Award for his long-running production, Every Year, Every Day, I am Walking. The mostly wordless play traces a fleeing child and her mother's trek from an unnamed and violence-riddled Francophone African country, to Cape Town, where the family struggles to make a home. Read the story.


• Mineral law book bags meritorious award
  Professor Hanri Mostert from the Department of Private Law has won the Meritorious Book Award for her monograph Mineral Law: Principles and Policy in Perspective (Juta 2012). Read the story.

Photo essay

• A Family Affair
  June graduation season was noticeable for the many young faces on campus – not so much of the new graduates, but of their children. It was a joyous occasion for family, friends and the extended UCT community. View the photo essay.

  

Videos

• Thuli Madonsela on how a desire to serve is at the heart of integrity

• Dikgang Moseneke on how industry and hope are essential for achieving your goals