Stellenbosch University (SU) has proudly confirmed the names of the exceptional individuals who will receive honorary doctorates at upcoming graduation ceremonies.  

The recipients are Nobel Laureate and internationally acclaimed author Prof Abdulrazak Gurnah; disaster management expert Colin Deiner; entrepreneur Chris Otto; pioneering social scientist and epidemiologist Dr Olive Shisana; and innovator Dr Tjaart Johannes van der Walt.

The University annually confers honorary doctorates upon extraordinary individuals who have distinguished themselves in their respective fields and made a significant contribution to society.  

These candidates were selected through an extensive governance process with each nomination having been approved by both the Senate and the University’s Council. The latest cohort of honorary doctorates were approved by Council on 29 September. 

Deiner and Otto, along with Prof Salim Abdool Karim whose honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) (Medicine and Health Sciences) award stands over from 2024, will receive their degrees in December while the other recipients will receive theirs at the March 2026 graduation ceremonies.  

“Stellenbosch University is honoured to recognise these outstanding individuals whose work - spanning literature, law and entrepreneurship, disaster risk and engineering innovation, and public health - has made a significant impact. Their achievements lift communities, deepen understanding, and help build a safer, fairer world. In celebrating them, we affirm our mission to advance knowledge in service of society and our ambition to lead from Africa, for Africa and the world,” says Prof Deresh Ramjugernath, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of Stellenbosch University.

More about the recipients receiving their honorary degrees  

Prof Abdulrazak Gurnah: 

Gurnah is an internationally acclaimed writer and literary scholar who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2021. He will be awarded the degree Doctor of Literature (DLitt), honoris causa. Gurnah has a longstanding relationship with SU. He is a Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) Fellow and was in residence at STIAS in 2018 while working on his novel Afterlives. He currently serves on the scientific committee for the Nobel in Africa Symposium in Literature, “Retrieving Pasts, Imagining Futures: Creative Forms in African Writing”, to be held at STIAS in November this year.

Colin Deiner: 

Deiner, the Western Cape provincial government’s Chief Director: Disaster Management and Fire and Rescue Services, is internationally recognised for his extensive expertise in disaster management and response. He will be awarded the degree Doctor of Engineering (DEng), honoris causa. He has led South African search and rescue teams to disaster affected areas across the country and abroad. Deiner also coordinated the drought disaster campaign (Day Zero) in the Western Cape and the non-medical component of the Covid-19 provincial response.

Chris Otto

Otto, an SU alumnus and entrepreneur, will be awarded the degree Doctor of Laws (LLD), honoris causa. He is a co-founder of the PSG Group and Capitec Bank. Otto is also the founding chairman of the Stellenbosch Law Faculty Trust, which assisted with the establishment of the Chair in Social Justice, the Gys Steyn Chair in Financial Regulation Law and the Chair in Urban Law and Sustainability Governance.

Dr Olive Shisana

Shisana, a pioneering social scientist and epidemiologist, will receive the degree Doctor of Science (DSc) (Medicine and Health Sciences), honoris causa. She served as the Director-General in the Department of Health, where she played a central role in the post-apartheid reconstruction of public health. Shisana is the chair of the board of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) – co-founded by SU. Under her tenure, AIMS expanded its reach and reinforced its commitment to women in STEM, innovation and transdisciplinary research. 

Dr Tjaart Johannes van der Walt

Van der Walt will be awarded the degree Doctor of Engineering (DEng), honoris causa. He is regarded as a pioneer of digital banking on the African continent and a thought leader in the ethical application of technology for societal benefit. An SU alumnus, he co-founded TymeGroup, and helped establish TymeBank, South Africa’s first fully digital retail bank. He was also instrumental in launching the TymeCube programme, a collaboration between TymeGroup and SU, that provides high-potential postgraduate students in engineering and actuarial science with mentorship and research opportunities.

Prof Salim Safrudeen Abdool Karim 

Abdool Karim, who is a renowned epidemiologist, will be awarded the degree Doctor of Science (DSc) (Medicine and Health Sciences), honoris causa. During the Covid-19 pandemic he was a leading contributor to the Covid-19 response, providing scientific guidance on genetic mutations in SARS-CoV-2 leading to new variants. Abdool Karim is the Director of the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) and CAPRISA Professor of Global Health at Columbia University, New York. He is also Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.