The Friday afternoon (9 April 2010) Rhodes University 2010 Graduation ceremony for Commerce graduates surprised lecturers, students and parents alike when Vice-Chancellor Dr Saleem Badat veered off from his graduation ceremony address to offer a public apology for the guest speaker, Dr Rob Davies, the Minister of Trade and Industry.
Dr Badat publicly acknowledged and apologised for Rhodes University’s shameful actions towards Dr Davies by rusticating him following a protest action against for the Rhodes University Council’s refusal to appoint the Reverend Basil Moore to a lectureship position in the theology department. This refusal came after the University Senate had recommended his appointment on two occasions.
Since Moore had been the first president of the anti-apartheid University Christian Movement, the refusal to appoint him was believed to have been politically motivated.
Some students and staff organised a sit-in to protest the decision of Council but the University got the Sheriff of the Supreme Court to serve a court order on them to vacate the building. Thirteen students were rusticated and a Politics lecturer, David Tucker, was dismissed from his post.
After Badat’s apology Dr Davies took to the podium, gracefully and respectfully accepted the apology.
He said it was “a great honour to have been invited in the first instance, to deliver the address at this graduation ceremony. While my departure from Rhodes was not entirely a happy one I am pleased to see that Rhodes has thankfully transformed considerably since then – in terms of its student body, its ethos and in the way that it seeks to position itself in relation to the challenges facing our society.”
Dr Davies went on to say he “has been made to feel at home and is very pleased to be back here in my alma mater participating in one of the most important events of the academic calendar.”
He concluded by congratulating Dr Saleem Badat on his ongoing efforts in directing Rhodes to contribute to the important task of developing and growing South Africa. “I feel privileged to be given the opportunity to welcome such bright minds into a vibrant developing economy that all of us would to see South Africa transform into,” added Dr Davies.
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