Top UN man to deliver address at Jakes Gerwel lecture
THE UN Economic Commission for Africa’s executive secretary, Dr Carlos Lopes, will deliver the keynote address at the second Jakes Gerwel commemorative lecture at UWC tomorrow.
Lopes’s address will explore how Africa can combine its abundant resources with the best of its cultural and intellectual heritage.
Dignitaries from UWC, Stellenbosch University, UCT, Rhodes University and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology will attend the lecture.
Gerwel served as director-general of the Presidency under Nelson Mandela, and held a number of leading academic and business positions until his death in November 2012.
He was UWC’s vice-chancellor and rector between 1987 and 1994.
Last year, the City renamed Vanguard Drive in honour of him.
Lopes was elected to the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, Portugal.
He holds a PhD in history from the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne and Research Master’s from the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.
UWC spokesperson Aiden van den Heever said Lopes had contributed to research on developmental issues.
“He is affiliated with a number of academic networks and has helped establish several non-government organisations and centres for social research, particularly in Africa,” said Van den Heever.
Lopes serves on a number of governing boards and advisories, and editorial committees, including the UN University, the Kofi Annan Foundation and Unesco’s Institutional Institute for Educational Planning.
The university recently honoured democratic South Africa’s first justice minister, the late Dullah Omar.
UWC renamed the Community Law Centre the Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights.
The unveiling followed the annual Dullah Omar Memorial Lecture, which was delivered by Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha a week ago.