It is with great shock and sadness to learn this morning of the passing away of one of our most distinguished academics and administrators.
On my own behalf and that of my family, and on behalf of the Higher Education sector, which Jakes served for many years with dedication and absolute distinction, I wish to express our most sincere condolences to the Gerwel family, friends, and colleagues. Indeed his passing away is a loss to the nation as a whole.
Since first coming into contact with Jakes in the mid-80s, I quickly developed, and continued to have immense, respect for his role and contribution to the liberation struggle in our country.
Within the many roles that Jakes played, contributing to changing the lives of the majority of our people for the better, I especially wish to focus on his role as a progressive academic and educationalist. I got to know Jakes when I was a young academic, working with others on a project whose aim was to produce more young Black progressive academics, who were sorely needed in the country at the time. Jakes proved to be a great pillar of strength to us, contributing to our work, refashioning University of the Western Cape (UWC) as the intellectual home of the Left, and motivating us to stay the course. I believe that this is a task which remains unaccomplished, especially in today’s world in which a singular ideology, with all the dangers it poses to mankind, seems to be getting more and more dominant in society.
Jakes will go down in history as one of our most progressive Vice-Chancellors that this country has ever produced, having served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape from 1987 to 1994. As we all know, this was a very difficult period in our country, characterised by heightened repression and brutality by the apartheid regime.
When he became the Vice-Chancellor, he managed to turn that university from what the apartheid regime had intended it to be – one that was meant to further their project of divide and rule, by serving only the coloured the community, with sub-standard qualifications – into a progressive and prestigious institution that served the Black Community as a whole. Contrary to the wishes of the regime, and much to its chagrin, he actively recruited and registered Black African students.
Because of the courageous person that he was, Jakes boldly declared the University of the Western Cape the intellectual home of the left, and actively worked to ensure that the institution lived up to that reputation. This he did at the height of the apartheid repression of the 80s. Most of the transformation that continues to take place at UWC even today, can, in some ways, be traced back to the leadership of Jakes, and the trajectory he set the university on all those many years ago.
While our country has changed a lot since those days, a lot of challenges remain on many fronts, and I believe that the Higher Education sector can still learn a lot of lessons from the vision that Jakes offered the sector, and his contribution within it. Many of the things he fought for remain relevant today, particularly the need to diversify the schools of thought in the sector, and society at large.
Once again I wish to offer sincere condolences to his family.
