There were gasps of disbelief on Saturday at the memorial service for Professor Jakes Gerwel, who died in a Cape Town hospital last Wednesday, when Planning Minister Trevor Manuel announced the passing away of former chief justice Arthur Chaskalson.

In the space of less than four days, South Africa had lost two great intellectuals who had both been influential in establishing our democracy after years of apartheid and colonialism. With them goes not only their contribution, but a part of the collective memory of our society.

Both had served under President Nelson Mandela. Chaskalson became president of the Constitutional Court in 1994 and chief justice in 2001, replacing the late justice Ismail Mahomed.

Gert Johannes Gerwel, simply known as Jakes to everyone with whom he came into contact, was the cirector-general of Mandela’s office and cabinet secretary from 1994.

Gerwel has always been reluctant to speak about his association with Mandela. He could potentially have made millions if he had decided to write his memoirs about the time he worked closer than most people to Mandela.

I approached him for the umpteenth time a few months ago to see whether he would be prepared to speak about his relationship with Mandela for a project I was working on.

His response was very simple: “Ryland, I just don’t do Mandela interviews. I was privileged and sometimes burdened to work for and with a remarkable politician and human being. I have little more than that to say.”

Previous attempts over many years to speak to him about Mandela were greeted with a similar response.

At Saturday’s memorial service, we were all once again reminded of how humble a man Gerwel was, despite having literally dined with kings and presidents.

Speaker after speaker spoke about how he enjoyed the simple things in life, like his god daughter’s mutton curry or a Gatsby (a Cape Flats delicacy made of cheap polony, chips and a French loaf) from one of the local takeaways, to playing cricket with his son in his backyard, to watching soapies with his family.

His son, Hein, spoke about how uncomfortable he was with driving a new German-made car because he did not want to be flashy.

Gerwel’s influence in society was huge. He grew up in the Eastern Cape but became synonymous with the University of the Western Cape, which he developed from being a bush college for coloureds to one of the premier universities in the country.

Driving around the campus on Saturday after the memorial service, one was struck by the progress that has been made on this campus, especially the number of modern facilities including lecture halls and institutes for various academic pursuits.

Under Gerwel’s guidance as vice-chancellor, UWC became known as the intellectual home of the left.

“It was from this platform that he persuaded both faculty and students to be directly involved in the struggle to dismantle apartheid,” said Manuel, who was the programme director at the memorial service.

Among the speakers were Gerwel’s former deputy vice-chancellor, Professor Jaap Durand, the CEO of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, Shaun Johnson, another one of Gerwel’s former deputy vice-chancellors, Njabulo Ndebele (who went on to become vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town), Rhodes University vice-chancellor Professor Saleem Badat, Naspers CEO Koos Bekker and a host of others. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said a prayer at the end of the service while David Kramer did an emotional rendition of one of Gerwel’s favourite songs, So Long Skipskop.

In the audience were several ministers and deputy ministers, as well as Mandela’s wife, Graca Machel, and former president FW de Klerk.

Among the sectors that were represented were cricket, because of Gerwel’s passion and involvement in the game, business because Gerwel served on local and international boards and someone who read some of Gerwel’s favourite poems from Breyten Breytenbach, NP van Wyk Louw and Irish poet Seamus Heany.

Bekker drew loud applause when he said he had searched long and hard for a word to describe someone who was the opposite of a racist, because that is what Gerwel was. However, such a word did not exist in the English language. He finally concluded that one should call that person a “Jakes”.

Joel Netshitenze, who worked with Gerwel in the presidency as head of government communications, spoke about Gerwel’s ability to question and his “inner gaze”.

Everyone who spoke mentioned his commitment to non-racialism and building a more humanitarian society.

At the end of the service, Manuel implored everyone to follow the last words Gerwel said to his family: “You must live in peace.”

No doubts there will be equally great tributes paid to Chaskalson from all sectors of society over the next few days.

My only regret is that we never say these things to people when they are alive.

My hope is that we will learn lessons from the lives of great people such as Gerwel and Chaskalson. Otherwise all their sacrifices and contributions to our society might as well have been in vain.

Source: The New Age

Picture source: Sowetan

Ryland Fisher is the former editor-in-chief of the The New Age. He writes in his personal capacity