Harvard programme turns 40
● From family dues and on to celebrating the
40th anniversary of an Ivy League varsity programme that helped to shape South African leaders, among them Reuel Khoza, South African Human Rights Commission chair Bongani Majola and academic Vincent Maphai.
The Harvard South African Fellowship programme was established in 1979 to help South Africans “denied access to advanced education by the apartheid system”.
About 200 fellowships have been awarded to mid-career professionals in fields that include education, law, public health and the arts.
Fellows and friends came together on Friday at the Harvard University Centre for African Studies’ Africa office in Parktown North, Johannesburg.
It was there that I greet fashion entrepreneur
Gavin Rajah, who sits on the Ivy League university’s Africa advisory board, and meet a 2016 alumnus, James Donald, who has been CEO of the nonprofit The Tomorrow Trust.
I sit next to Pick n Pay Clothing’s Hazel Pillay and we are welcomed by Itumeleng Dlamini, the first female black partner at an international law firm.
The advocate, now with the African Union, gives a potted history of the programme. She also recognises the contribution of Jennifer Oppenheimer, the late wife of Jonathan Oppenheimer, who was a significant supporter of the programme.
Next we hear from professor John Mugane, the director of the fellowship programme, and
Emmanuel Akyeampong, the Oppenheimer faculty director of Harvard’s Center for African Studies.
“It is interesting that some of these programmes, either to do with Africa or South Africa, emerged in the context of student complaints or unrest … So sometimes student unrest is not a bad thing,” quipped Akyeampong.
A few rows down from where I am seated I spy Nelson Makamo, who later told the audience about his residency at Harvard’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During a panel discussion with fellowship alumni, in walks the varsity’s vice-provost of international affairs, Mark Elliott, who flew in for the occasion.
Other attendees included a couple who know a lot more about champagne than scholarly pursuits, Pascal Asin, the MD of Moët Hennessy Africa and Middle East, and his always stylish wife, Sabine Thomas.
Mind you, it turns out that the business of popping bottles does have its drawbacks.
While academia traditionally enjoys a long recess over the festive season, Asin spent most of his December in the office.
“We close the books on December 31st,” he explained.