Roelof Botha is one of the leading investors produced by South Africa in the era of the internet. He helped with the development of PayPal, a safe and convenient internet payment system, which was subsequently bought by eBay, the well-known internet auction space. He is currently a partner in the venture capital company Sequoia Capital in the USA that recognises and develops the potential of new companies.

John Dugard has contributed significantly to the development of human rights in South African legislation as an internationally respected legal scholar and practitioner. He introduced human rights legislation as a powerful counterweight for the positivist legal culture that characterised the apartheid legal order and played a significant role in the constitutional negotiations that lead to a democratic South Africa. As former dean of the University of the Witwatersrand he was associated with several overseas organisations.

GT Ferreira, an innovative leader in the financial sector, was co-founder of Rand Consolidated Investments (RCI), which later amalgamated with Rand Merchant Bank. Under

TRIBUTES BY THE UNIVERSITY HONORARY DEGREES

In the year under review, the University awarded seven honorary doctorates – to Prof Christopher John Robert Dugard, Dr Gerrit Thomas (GT) Ferreira, Prof Detlev Gustav Kröger, Dr Ruda Landman and Justice Pius Nkonzo Langa in December 2011 and to Drs Roelof Botha and David Arthur Piedt in March 2012.

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Top: In December 2011 honorary doctorates were conferred on (from left to right) Prof Detlev Kröger, Justice Pius Langa, Dr

Ruda Landman, Prof John Dugard and Dr GT Ferreira.

Bottom left: Dr David Piedt, who was honoured with an honorary doctorate in March 2012, congratulated by Prof

Russel Botman, Rector and Vice-Chancellor.

Bottom right: Dr Roelof Botha was awarded an honorary doctorate in absentia in March 2012. The certificate was

handed over to him during the HOPE Week Celebration after he presented a lecture on entrepreneurship titled A view from

Silicon Valley.

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This year Marais achieved what others can only dream of. She won the sought-after Mandela-Rhodes scholarship, passed two master’s degrees with

distinction and also received the Chancellor’s Medal.Her two master’s degrees – an MTh, which is a research degree, and an MDiv, which is a professional degree – were respectively awarded in Systematic Theology and Church Ministry.“I love Theology, so there was no real effort in doing two master’s degrees this year. It is my passion, and the Faculty and students supported me. The Faculty of Theology is really amazing; it feels like a family. My degrees were a family effort,” Marais says.But she is not only clever ; last year she was also a member of the Students’ Representative Council and served in the Academic Affairs Council and also served in the Faculty Board on behalf of the Theological Students’ Committee. She was a spiritual leader in the Hartenbos Christian

CHANCELLOR’S MEDAL

Nadia Marais, who obtained the degrees Master of Theology and Master of Divinity in December 2011, both with distinction, is the University’s winner of the Chancellor’s Medal for the year under review. The Medal is awarded annually to a final-year or postgraduate student for excellent academic achievement.

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Ferreira’s leadership RCI expanded to such an extent that it later formed the FirstRand Group – with Ferreira as chair and considerable shareholder. Under his leadership the Group began a broad-based black economic empowerment approach that was very innovative at the time.

Detlev Kröger, retired professor in mechanical engineering at Stellenbosch University, is regarded as the foremost world expert in air-cooled power station cooling towers, which are essential to dry regions. For every million rand being spent on energy generation in the world, R50 000 is saved because of research done by him and by students who work under his guidance. His research is applied to the largest power stations in the world. The laboratories he has established are unequalled among universities anywhere in the world.

Ruda Landman has contributed extensively to various fields of the public and community life as a versatile achiever. She is widely regarded as doyenne of investigative television journalism in South Africa. She has helped to transform investigative journalism, and especially the role

of women, to an unprecedented level. She embodies the potential of the visual media, if it functions responsibly, to change the world for the better.

Pius Langa, one of the first judges of South Africa’s new Constitutional Court, which he later headed, was a champion for justice and a democratic dispensation. He played an important role in the constitutional negotiations that paved the way for the new South Africa, as well as in processes that brought about the transition to a democratic dispensation. He contributed significantly to the development of a constitutional jurisprudence.

David Piedt was a pillar of strength in the Cape Teachers’ Professional Association and the Unie van Onderwysverenigings van Suid-Afrika during the apartheid years. He believed that good education and teaching would defeat apartheid in the classrooms. As chair of the council of the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK), he took the lead for a greater involvement from the whole Afrikaans community. He served on the Stellenbosch University Council’s Executive Committee.

beach outreach team, served in the choir committee of Canticum Novum, and was chair of the Theological Students’ Committee. In addition to all of this, she still found time to participate in the Maties Leadership Retreat, the Brightest Young Minds summit and the Leadership Institute of the Desmond Tutu Diversity Trust.The Chancellor’s Medal was awarded to her for her excellent academic performance, leadership, enthusiasm, passion and dedication, as well as her involvement in a variety of community projects as a volunteer, tutor and mentor.