by Anel Lewis

Music, dance, ululations and heartfelt tributes marked Stellenbosch University’s stirring celebration of Prof Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, the 2024 winner of the prestigious Templeton Prize.​

Held at the picturesque Webersburg Wine Estate on Wednesday (2 October 2024), the occasion was a fitting and moving conclusion to a series of recent events held in her honour; namely the official handover of the Templeton Prize​ ​in New York on 23 September and the John Templeton Foundation’s celebration at the Homecoming Centre in Cape Town on 1 October.

Gobodo-Madikizela, who holds the South African Research Chair (SARChI) for Violent Histories and Transgenerational Trauma and is the founding director of the Centre for the Study of the Afterlife of Violence and the Reparative Quest​ (AVReQ) at SU, was honoured with a standing ovation from a full room of academic peers, SU’s Rectorate, family and friends, students and other distinguished guests.