Professor Jonathan Jansen
Prof Jonathan Jansen is a respected South African academic leader, wrote this on Facebook after ANC Struggle Stalwart Ahmed Kathrada’s funeral recently: “Show me another country where the Anglican Archbishop prays at a Muslim funeral; where a white man chairs the proceedings to remember a leader from a black liberation movement; where a sitting president of a developing country is told to step down in a letter from the deceased stalwart of his own party; where the widow of the black man being buried is a white woman who gave her life to the struggle for freedom; and where Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and other faiths come together in a broad swathe of South African humanity to remember a man who fought for all of us.
“Where on and off the stage no one racial or ethnic or religious group dominated the event. “For a moment, just a moment, it felt good to hope again…”
Outspoken ex-Vice Chancellor of the University of the Orange Free State, Professor Jonathan Jansen is a well-known figure on the South African education, current affairs and political landscapes. He obtained his BSc from UWC in the mid-1970s. An internationally renowned expert in education, in 2009 he was the first black Rector and Vice-Chancellor appointed in UFS’s history.