Makerere University is to award veteran South African anti-apartheid campaigner, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, an Honorary Doctor of Laws during the 68th graduation ceremony later this month.
The 81-year-old veteran politician and ex-wife to former President Nelson Mandela is being recognised for her contribution towards the fight and eventual elimination of apartheid in South Africa.
Both the University Council and Senate, the top-most academic and administrative organs of the university, have approved the award.
Makerere will hold its 68th graduation ceremony from Tuesday 16th to Friday 19th January 2018, the university authorities have confirmed.
A total of 15,172 students are expected to graduate this year. Of these, 36 will graduate with PhDs, 436 with Masters and 11,300 with bachelor’s degrees and diplomas. At least 3,400 are from Makerere University Business School- MUBS.
Makerere University had wanted to recognise Winnie Mandela in August last year during the Nelson Mandela Commemorative Lecture, but the office of the vice chancellor received information from the South African High Commission in Kampala that she was not able to travel due to ill-health. Instead, it is her granddaughter Zoleka Mandela who attended the event.
Winnie was among the activists who kept the anti-apartheid struggle alive from the time her husband and other political activists were jailed in 1964 and remained incarcerated for nearly three decades. Mandela was among the last to be released in 1990, going on to win the first multi-racial elections in 1994. He and Winnie had, however, separated in 1992 and they officially divorced in 1996.
Story By Uganda Radio Network
