16 Famous Alumni of SA’s Fort Hare as it Turns 100
First called the South African Native College, it opened its doors in Alice, Eastern Cape, in 1916. Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo met at Fort Hare in 1939. In 1960 the government took control of Fort Hare. At its May 2016 graduation ceremony there were 2,845 new graduates, 39 of them PhDs. There were celebrations at the […]
First called the South African Native College, it opened its doors in Alice, Eastern Cape, in 1916. Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo met at Fort Hare in 1939. In 1960 the government took control of Fort Hare. At its May 2016 graduation ceremony there were 2,845 new graduates, 39 of them PhDs.
There were celebrations at the campus today – meant to be addressed by Robert Mugabe, among others – although they were criticised by the Democratic Party, who said the money could rather be spent on education than partying, and marred by protests by students demanding the release of 20 people charged with public violence during the #FeesMustFall protests last year.
16 Famous people who studied at Fort Hare:
1.Nelson Mandela
2. Oliver Tambo
3.Desmond Tutu, former Archbishop of Cape Town and Nobel Prize winner
4. Mangosuthu Buthelezi of the Inkatha Freedom Party
5. Robert Sobukwe of the Pan Africanist Congress,
6. Kenneth Kaunda, former president of Zambia
7. Julius Nyerere, former president of Tanzania
8. Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe
9. Joshua Nkomo, opposition leader, Zimbabwe
10. Seretse Khama, former president of Botswana
11. Chris Hani, slain SA Communist Party chief
12. Dennis Brutus, poet
13. Can Themba, Drum journalist
14. Govan Mbeki, ANC leader and father of Thabo Mbeki
15. Kaiser Matanzima, former leader of Transkei homeland
16. John Hlope, judge president of Western Cape High Court