The Thinking Masses of South Africa Foundation has proposed to rename the University of the Western Cape in honour of Dr Allan Boesak.
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A formal proposal has been submitted to rename the University of the Western Cape (UWC) as Allan A. Boesak University, in honour of liberation theologian, scholar, and activist Dr Allan Aubrey Boesak, coinciding with his 80th birthday.
The submission, made by The Thinking Masses of South Africa Foundation (TMoSAF), describes Boesak’s decades-long influence on the university as “a sustained, generationally resonant relationship that has influenced the intellectual formation of students, the ethical grounding of faculty, and the moral compass of the institution itself”.
“The University has a historic and unprecedented opportunity: to recognise, while he yet lives, a presence that has indelibly shaped the moral, intellectual, and liberationist contours of South African society,” said President Bishop Dr Clyde Ramalaine, head of TMoSAF.
The proposal highlights Boesak’s impact during the apartheid-era resistance of the 1980s, asserting that his leadership “helped consolidate UWC’s standing as a centre of academic excellence, critical consciousness, and social justice activism”.
Ramalaine says renaming the university would not be a symbolic gesture but a principled recognition of measurable contributions, including intellectual mentorship, ethical leadership, and sustained civic engagement.
“His life embodies praxis in its most authentic sense: scholarship and activism fused to challenge oppression, reimagine justice, and model accountability, values that UWC has championed across decades,” Ramalaine said.
President Bishop Dr Clyde N.S. Ramalaine, head of TMoSAF handed over the formal proposal to rename the University of the Western Cape in honour of Dr Allan Boesak to UWC Vice-Chancellor Professor Robert Balfour.
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The proposal has garnered endorsements from a range of prominent South Africans, including Rev. Dr Lionel Louw, Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane SC, Dr Lindiwe Sisulu, and Dr Iqbal Survé. TMoSAF also announced the launch of a national and global campaign to build support for the initiative.
“The proposal emphasises that renaming the University would not be a symbolic or emotional gesture but a principled, historically grounded recognition of measurable and enduring contributions,” Ramalaine said.
UWC has confirmed it has received a proposal, but this proposal had not yet been considered through its governance structures.
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