Dr Naledi Pandor is conferred with her honorary doctorate by the University of the Western Cape at the Old Mutual Conference Centre in Kirstenbosch
Image: BHEKI RADEBE / IOL
It was a night of glitz, glamour and powerful women as the University of the Western Cape honoured seven trailblazers on Friday, including struggle icon Charlotte Maxeke, former Irish president Mary Robinson and UN investigator Francesca Albanese.
Maxeke was posthumously awarded an honorary doctorate at the ceremony at the Old Mutual Conference Centre in Kirstenbosch, almost 125 years after she became the first black South African woman to earn a university degree.
The other honourees were Advocate Adila Hassim, Professor Emeritus Loyiso Nongxa and the late Mandisa Monakali.
Thulasizwe Makhanya, Maxeke’s great-grandson through her sister Katie, told IOL it was the first time she had received such an honour since 1994.
“We are thrilled that, for the first time since our democracy, this icon who opened doors for women is being honoured by UWC,” Makhanya said.
“This will mean the younger generation will be inspired by this woman, who travelled thousands of kilometres from home to get an education.
"She made a promise when she was very young: ‘I’ll go beyond the mountains, I’ll go beyond the oceans to get an education so that I can come back and teach my people'.
"Indeed, she did that.
“We think this is the first of many steps that will lead to more honours for her.”
Maxeke graduated with a BSc from Wilberforce University in Ohio, founded the Bantu Women's League in 1918, the forerunner of the ANC Women's League, and died at the age of 68.
Advocate Adila Hassim receives her honorary doctorate from the University of the Western Cape at the Old Mutual Conference Centre in Kirstenbosch
Image: BHEKI RADEBE / IOL
UWC rector and vice-chancellor Professor Robert Balfour told the ceremony that the university conferred honorary degrees sparingly.
"Our honorary graduates include figures closely connected to SA's struggle for democracy," he said.
"Among them are Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Albertina Sisulu and Albie Sachs.
"'An honorary degree from this university has therefore long expressed solidarity, as well as inspired admiration."
He said Hassim and Pandor advanced SA's engagement with international law.
"[This while] Robinson and Albanese have kept the world's attention on human rights and accountability,' Balfour said.
"The late Ms Maxeke and Ms Monakali devoted their lives to the education and protection of women and children.
"Professor Emeritus Loyiso Nongxa widened access to the mathematical sciences and to leadership in higher education."
Monakali, the other posthumous recipient, founded Ilitha Labantu in Gugulethu in 1989, one of the first organisations in the Western Cape to counsel abused women and children in townships.
She died of cancer at the age of 64 in 2024.
Pandor, who served as minister of education, higher education, science and technology and international relations across three decades in government, took up the chancellorship of Nelson Mandela University on April 1.
She told IOL she felt she had come back to where she started.
"I feel like I'm back home somewhat. I hope that I will get to have a fuller role in Nelson Mandela University," Pandor said.
"I'm still a new chancellor, but it's a brilliant institution, and of course I've always loved education, and so to work closely with academics and students is a great pleasure."
Speaking at the ceremony, she said UWC’s record was what came to mind when she received the call.
"The moment I received the call, the thought was about the historic character of the University of the Western Cape and its contribution to our struggle for freedom," Pandor said.
"And I thought, wow, what an honour to be associated with an institution that has all these characteristics. I feel very, very privileged, and I was so thrilled to be nominated."
Hassim is an evidence leader at the Madlanga Commission.
She was also part of the legal team that argued SA's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in January 2024, and co-founded the public interest law group Section27.
She said she had been taken by surprise when the university contacted her.
"It's really very special coming from UWC," Hassim said.
"The values of UWC resonate with me, and so it's a very special honour indeed. I'm very thankful."
Charlotte Maxeke's family at the Old Mutual Conference Centre in Kirstenbosch on 28 August 2026, as the University of the Western Cape conferred an honorary doctorate on her almost 125 years after she became the first black South African woman to earn a university degree
Image: BHEKI RADEBE / IOL
Albanese has been the UN Human Rights Council's special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories since 2022 and remains on a US sanctions blacklist. US secretary of state Marco Rubio announced the sanctions in July 2025, saying she had tried to push the International Criminal Court into action against US and Israeli officials and companies.
A Washington district judge granted an injunction against the sanctions in May and the Treasury took her off its blacklist on 20 May. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit then ruled that the sanctions would stay in force while her family's legal challenge ran its course.
Pandor told IOL she was pleased the university had recognised Albanese.
"I think she's done a sterling job in the role of special rapporteur on Palestine," Pandor said.
"I know it's been a very challenging role for her, because of the resistance to the acknowledgement that the Palestinian people do not enjoy freedom, justice or democracy.
"And of course she's had very terrible experiences of sanctions against her, and her family threats and intimidation.
"But even in the face of that, she has remained true to her task."
Robinson was the first woman elected president of Ireland, serving from 1990 to 1997, and was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002.
Nongxa, a mathematician, was vice-chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand from 2003 to 2013. His daughter, Buhle Nongxa, celebrated with the rest of the family as he accepted his degree.
"My dad has always just been my dad, and the best at that by the way, but as I've gotten older and gotten to know him as a person outside of me, as the educator, as the mathematician, as the philanthropist, I could go on and on, I have constantly been inspired and in awe of how he is the best and shows up this way everywhere he goes," she said.
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