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Honorary Degrees

These are academic degrees Wits awards for which the usual requirements are waived. It is awarded honoris causa (Latin: "for the sake of the honour")

More graduation ceremony news here

The year below reflects the date on which the degree was conferred.

2024

Prof Loyiso Nongxa – Doctor of Science

Dr Robert Adam – Doctor of Science

2023

Abdul Minty - DSc
Dr David Fine - DSc
Professor James Sylvester Gates (Jnr) - DSc
Professor Keith Klugman - DSc (Med)
Father Trevor Huddleston (Posthumously) - DLitt

 

2022
2021

Sibongile Khumalo - DMus

 

2020
2019

Brigalia Bam - DLitt (listen to address here)

Mandla Langa - DLitt

Chris van Wyk - (posthumously) DLitt

Wendy Appelbaum - DSc

Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka - DLitt

Dr Stavros Nicolaou - DSc

 

2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2008 - 2010
2006 - 2007
2000 - 2005

2000

Julian Browde, Doctor of Laws
Mercy Makhalemele, Master of Arts
Achim Richter, Doctor of Science
Miklos Rebak, Master of Science
Margaret Marshall, Doctor of Laws
Sydney Kentridge, Doctor of Laws
Chinua Achebe, Doctor of Literature

2001

Bill Venter, Doctor of Engineering
GJ (Jakes) Gerwel, Doctor of Laws
Pauline Lipson, Doctor of Laws
Joel Joffe Doctor of Laws
Aron (Ali) Bacher, Doctor of Laws
Arthur Rubenstein, Doctor of Science in Medicine

2002

Tony Bloom, Doctor of Laws
Sheila Aronstam, Doctor of Laws
Antony Honore, Doctor of Laws
Errol Friedberg, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Lydia Komape-Ngwenya, Master of Arts

2003

Sydney Lipworth, Doctor of Laws
Eric Molobi, Doctor of Laws
David King, Doctor of Science
Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (posthumously), Doctor of Laws
Costa Rallis, Doctor of Science in Engineering
Hoosen Mohamed (Jerry) Coovadia, Doctor of Science
Selma Browde, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Amancio d’Alpoim Miranda (Pancho) Guedes, Doctor of Architecture

2004

John Dugard, Doctor of Laws
Raymond Tucker, Doctor of Laws
Amina Cachalia, Doctor of Laws
Pieter-Dirk Uys, Doctor of Literature
Deane Yates, Doctor of Laws
William Kentridge, Doctor of Literature

2005

Anthony Gubbay, Doctor of Laws
John Chalsty, Doctor of Commerce
Rory Byrne, Doctor of Engineering
Mamphela Ramphele, Doctor of Laws
Trefor Jenkins, Doctor of Medicine

1996 - 1999

1996

Irene Menell, Doctor of Laws
Clive Menell, Doctor of Laws
Bob Hepple, Doctor of Laws
Cecil Skotnes, Doctor of Literature
Ismail J Mohamed, Doctor of Laws
Bert Myburgh, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Raymond (Bill) Hoffenberg, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Mike Rosholt, Doctor of Laws

1997

David Zeffertt, Doctor of Laws
Jack Spence, Doctor of Laws
Christopher Cresswell, Doctor of Science
Desmond Pretorius, Doctor of Science
James Kitching, Doctor of Science
Jacques Pierre Friedrich Sellschop, Doctor of Science
Stephen Anderson, Doctor of Laws
John Hansen, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Anthony Melcher, Doctor of Science in Dentistry
Jack Metz, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Hendrik Koornhof, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Dan Jacobson, Doctor of Literature
Tamsanqa Kambule, Doctor of Science
Ismail Mahomed, Doctor of Laws

1998

Michael Katz, Doctor of Laws
Edith Raidt, Doctor of Literature
Alexander Walker, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Walter Bodmer, Doctor of Science
Herbert Cooke, Doctor of Science
Andrew Huxley, Doctor of Science
Kofi Annan, Doctor of Laws
Robert Charlton, Doctor of Laws
Alan Lipman, Doctor of Architecture

1999

George Bizos, Doctor of Laws
Charles Brain, Doctor of Science
Nthato Motlana, Doctor of Laws
Lawrence Robertson, Doctor of Education
Albertina Sisulu, Doctor of Laws
Walter Sisulu, Doctor of Laws
Lucy Wagstaff, Doctor of Science in Medicine

1990 - 1995

1990

Justice Arthur Chaskalson, Doctor of Laws
Sheena Duncan, Doctor of Laws
Athol Fugard, Doctor of Literature
Thomas Geary, Master of Science
Ellison Kahn, Doctor of Laws
Sir Mark Weinberg, Doctor of Economic Science

1991

Archbishop Denis Hurley, Doctor of Laws
Sir Robin Renwick, Doctor of Laws
Donald Gordon, Doctor of Economic Science
Nelson Mandela, Doctor of Laws
John Barlow, Doctor of Science in Medicine

1992

Justice John Didcott, Doctor of Laws
Mervyn Shear, Doctor of Laws

1993

Edward Pavitt, Doctor of Laws
Zena Stein, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Mervyn Susser, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Doctor of Laws
Michael O'Dowd, Doctor of Laws
Anthony Mathews, Doctor of Laws

1994

Justice Richard Goldstone, Doctor of Laws
Justice Michael Corbett, Doctor of Laws
Lorna Marshall, Doctor of Literature
Gideon Roos, Doctor of Laws
Jane Drew, Doctor of Architecture
Thomas Bothwell, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Phillip Tobias, Doctor of Science

1995

Derek Keys, Doctor of Economic Science
Es'kia Mphahlele, Doctor of Literature
Harry Seftel, Doctor of Laws
Joyce Segerman, Master of Science
Gerrit Marais, Doctor of Science in Engineering
John Brady, Master of Arts

1985 - 1989

1985

Andre Philippus Brink, Doctor of Literature
John Desmond Clark, Doctor of Science
Dennis Arthur Etheredge, Doctor of Laws
Ian Stewart Haggie, Doctor of Laws
Harry Hinsley, Doctor of Literature
William White Howells, Doctor of Science
Alun Rhun Hughes, Master of Science
Cecil Stanley Margo, Doctor of Laws
Herbert Cecil Nicholas, Doctor of Laws
Sherwood Larned Washburn, Doctor of Science

1986

Lionel Abrahams, Doctor of Literature
Jack Caister Bennett, Master of Science
Traugott Wilhelm Gevers, Doctor of Science
Gilbert Herbert, Doctor of Architecture
Ludwig Maurits Lachmann, Doctor of Economic Science
Desmond Clifford Midgley, Doctor of Science in Engineering
Rene Wellek, Doctor of Literature
Phyllida Mary Wentzel, Master of Arts
Joseph Wolpe, Doctor of Science in Medicine

1987

Sydney Cohen, Doctor of Science
Wayne Fredericks, Doctor of Laws
Ellen Kuzwayo, Doctor of Laws
Khabi Mngoma, Doctor of Music
Frank Nabarro, Doctor of Science

1988

Desmond Cole, Doctor of Literature

1989

Hugh Glover Goyns, Master of Science in Medicine
Ian Campbell McRae, Doctor of Engineering
Gerard Sekoto, Doctor of Literature
Niko Stutterheim, Doctor of Laws
Karl Tober, Doctor of Laws
Rex Welsh, Doctor of Laws

1980 - 1985

1980

Johannes Petrus Philippus Benjamin Breytenbach, Doctor of Laws
Richard Edmonds Luyt, Doctor of Laws
John Frederick Vicars Phillips, Doctor of Science
Edna Pauline Plumstead, Doctor of Science
Monica Wilson, Doctor of Literature

1981

John Hemsworth Osborne Day, Doctor of Science
Henry Gluckman, Doctor of Laws
Charles Skeen, Doctor of Laws
Jan Hendrik Steyn, Doctor of Laws
Bentley John Skelton Wimble, Doctor of Commerce

1982

David Allan Bromley, Doctor of Science
Henry Brooke Dyer, Doctor of Science
Walter Greiner, Doctor of Science
Sidney Kark, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Priscilla Kincaid-Smith, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Edward Wilfrid Nassau Mallows, Doctor of Science in Town and Regional Planning
Robert Strange McNamara, Doctor of Laws
Charles Dexter Moak, Doctor of Science
James Fairweather Murray, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Cyril Lincoln Sibusiso Nyembezi, Doctor of Literature
Louis Rive, Doctor of Laws
Herbert Simon Sichel, Doctor of Economic Science
Ernst van Heerden, Doctor of Literature

1983

Leslie Edward Wostall Codd, Doctor of Science
Eric Clifford Halliday, Doctor of Laws
Barend Jacobus Marais, Doctor of Laws
Jabulani Mazibuko, Master of Music
Samuel Mokgethi Motsuenyane, Doctor of Commerce

1984

Frederick Guy Butler, Doctor of Literature
Daniel Jacob (DJ du Plessis, Doctor of Laws
Nadine Gordimer, Doctor of Literature
Aaron Klug, Doctor of Science
Arthur Suzman, Doctor of Laws
Cyril Wyndham, Doctor of Science in Medicine

1985

Andre Brink, Doctor of Literature
John Desmond Clark, Doctor of Science
Dennis Arthur Etheredge, Doctor of Laws
Ian Haggie, Doctor of Laws
Harry Hinsley, Doctor of Literature
William Howells, Doctor of Science
Alun Hughes, Master of Science
Cecil Margo, Doctor of Laws
Herbert Cecil Nicholas, Doctor of Laws
Sherwood Washburn, Doctor of Science

1970s

1970

Arthur Stephen Aiken, Doctor of Laws
Sally Herbert Frankel, Doctor of Science in Economics
Patrick Robert Brian Lewis, Doctor of Laws
William Peter van Leckwijck, Doctor of Science
Quintin Alexander Whyte, Doctor of Laws

1971

Claude Harris Leon, Doctor of Laws
Henry McLorinan McDowell, Doctor of Laws
Jose Veiga Simao, Doctor of Science

1972

Otto Guido Backeberg, Doctor of Laws
Sydney Brenner, Doctor of Science
Clement Martyn Doke, Doctor of Laws
Elisabeth Francoise Eybers, Doctor of Literature
Percy Freer, Doctor of Laws
John Edmund Kerrich, Doctor of Laws
William Gordon McIntosh, Doctor of Architecture
Edgar Mendelssohn, Doctor of Laws
Henry Howard Paine, Doctor of Laws
Mervyn Whitmore Richards, Doctor of Laws
Andrew Henry Roberts, Doctor of Engineering
Moses Myer Suzman, Doctor of Medicine
John Mitchell Watt, Doctor of Laws
John Harold Wellington, Doctor of Laws

1973

Alex Marais Conradie, Doctor of Laws
Hermann Robert Hahlo, Doctor of Laws
Leo Marquard, Doctor of Laws
Anna Elizabeth Prinsloo Scheepers, Doctor of Laws

1974

Cyril Adler, Doctor of Laws
Esther Bessie Adler, Doctor of Philosophy
Margaret Becklake, Doctor of Medicine
Eustace Henry Cluver, Doctor of Laws
Richard Stanley Cooke, Doctor of Laws
Andrew Dickson, Doctor of Commerce
Cythna Lindenberg Letty Forssman, Doctor of Laws
Carl Julius Fuchs, Doctor of Engineering
Laurence Owen Vine Gandar, Doctor of Laws
Harry Sutherland Gear, Doctor of Laws
James Henderson Sutherland Gear, Doctor of Medicine
Muriel Agatha Horrell, Doctor of Philosophy
Desmond Hobart Houghton, Doctor of Laws
Maurice McGregor, Doctor of Medicine
Christin Frederick Beyers Naud‚ Doctor of Laws
William Sage Rapson, Doctor of Science
Maurice Shapiro, Doctor of Laws
Anna Hester Smith, Doctor of Laws
Kenneth Lamont Smith, Doctor of Commerce
William Douglas Wilson, Doctor of Laws

1975
William Bleloch, Doctor of Science in Engineering
John Fleming Brock, Doctor of Laws
Michiel Hendrik de Kock, Doctor of Economic Science
Botha de Meillon, Doctor of Medicine
Adolph Hallis, Doctor of Music
Anton Carlisle Hartman, Doctor of Music
Kenneth Brown Hartshorne, Doctor of Laws
Alan Stewart Paton, Doctor of Laws
Christin van der Merwe Brink, Doctor of Science

1976

Thomas Butland Berry, Doctor of Laws
Frank Rosslyn Bradlow, Doctor of Philosophy
Jan Hendrik Breyer, Doctor of Laws
Lyell Thomas Campbell Pitt, Doctor of Engineering
Robert Allen Dyer, Doctor of Science
Frederick Albert Hossack, Doctor of Laws
Stanley Percival Jackson, Doctor of Laws
Clark Kerr, Doctor of Laws
Jacques Pierre Kriel, Doctor of Engineering
Ezekiel Egbert Tefo Mahabane, Doctor of Laws
Jens Jorgen Pindborg, Doctor of Science in Dentistry
Abraham Johannes Andries Roux, Doctor of Engineering
George Forbes Shepherd, Doctor of Laws
Jean Sinclair, Doctor of Philosophy
Julius Staz, Doctor of Science in Dentistry
Reinhart Ludwig Straszacker, Doctor of Engineering
Helen Suzman, Doctor of Laws
Ieuan Glyn Thomas, Doctor of Laws

1977

Johannes Lodewyk Boshoff, Doctor of Education
Emanuel Percy Bradlow, Doctor of Commerce
Gerald William Gaylord Browne, Doctor of Economic Science
Monte Leo Bryer, Doctor of Architecture
William Montague Cobb, Doctor of Laws
Frans Johannes Cornelius Cronje, Doctor of Laws
Albrecht Johan de Villiers Herholdt, Doctor of Laws
Tobias Herhold Louw, Doctor of Science in Quantity Surveying

1978

Hans Georg Adler, Doctor of Philosophy
Boris Ivan Balinsky, Doctor of Science
Simon Biesheuvel, Doctor of Science
Guerino Renzo Bozzoli, Doctor of Laws
Ren’arquard de Villiers, Doctor of Laws
Ellen Hellmann, Doctor of Laws
Francis George Hill, Doctor of Laws
Jeremiah Edmund Bowden Jennings, Doctor of Science in Engineering
Israel ron Maisels, Doctor of Laws
John Douglas Roberts, Doctor of Engineering
Cecil Thomas Wood, Doctor of Philosophy

1979

Charles Sydney Barlow, Doctor of Laws
Robert Craig, Doctor of Laws
Francis John Hewitt, Doctor of Science
Jan Hendrik Louw, Doctor of Medicine
Hyman Moross, Doctor of Laws
Thomas Chalmers William Robertson, Doctor of Laws
Isc Schapera, Doctor of Laws
Charlotte Searle, Doctor of Laws
Lawrence Herbert Wells, Doctor of Medicine

1960s

1960

Henry Allen Fagan, Doctor of Laws
John Primatt Redcliffe Maud, Doctor of Laws

1961

Francois Petrus Fouch, Doctor of Medicine
Daniel McKinnon Malcolm, Doctor of Philosophy
Calvin Stowe McLean, Doctor of Laws
Oliver Deneys Schreiner, Doctor of Laws

1962

Ernst Heinrich Daniel Arndt, Doctor of Science in Economics
Sir Eric Ashby, Doctor of Laws
Walter Cohen, Doctor of Philosophy

1963

Harry Frederick Oppenheimer, Doctor of Laws
William Godfrey Sutton, Doctor of Laws

1964

Albert van de Sandt Centlivres, Doctor of Laws
Raymond Arthur Dart, Doctor of Science
Ignatius Michael Kok de Villiers, Doctor of Science in Engineering
Sidney Henry Haughton, Doctor of Science
James Arthur Reavell, Master of Science in Engineering

1965

Robert Birley, Doctor of Laws
Henry John Clayden, Doctor of Laws
Leslie Farrer-Brown, Doctor of Laws
Petrus Anton Hendriks, Doctor of Philosophy
Sir Wilfred le Gros Clark, Doctor of Science

1966

Innes Wares Brebner, Doctor of Medicine
William Hofmeyr Craib, Doctor of Medicine
Christian Martin Kruger, Doctor of Engineering
Brian Orpin Porter, Doctor of Laws
Frederick Reines, Doctor of Science
Thomas Price Stratten, Doctor of Laws

1967

William Graham Holford, Doctor of Architecture
Johannes Stephanus Marais, Doctor of Literature
Mary McLarty, Doctor of Laws
Bertha Solomon, Doctor of Laws

1968

Bertrand Leon Bernstein, Doctor of Laws
Edmund Thomas Stanley Brown, Doctor of Engineering
Guy Abercrombie Elliot, Doctor of Medicine
Mary Douglas Leakey, Doctor of Science
Ernst Gideon Malherbe, Doctor of Laws
Derrick Tilton Vail, Doctor of Medicine
Yigael Yadin, Doctor of Science

1969

Richard Austen Butler, Doctor of Laws
Andries Charles Cilliers, Doctor of Laws
Sam Cohen, Doctor of Laws
Percival Robson Kirby, Doctor of Music
Ian Douglas MacCrone, Doctor of Laws
Lillie Marguerite MacKenzie, Doctor of Philosophy
David Ordman, Doctor of Medicine

1950s

1953
Leonard Charles Abrahams, Doctor of Laws
Geoffrey Friel, Doctor of Laws
Ernest Lucas Guest, Doctor of Laws
Godfrey Martin Huggins, Doctor of Laws
Neville Jones, Doctor of Science
Douglas Orme Malcolm, Doctor of Laws
Charles Frederick Leopold Nord, Doctor of Science
Ernest Oppenheimer, Doctor of Laws
Robert Clarkson Tredgold, Doctor of Laws

1954
Killie Campbell, Doctor of Laws
Thomas Frederick Dreyer, Doctor of Science
Percy James Greenway, Doctor of Science
Geoffrey Eastcott Pearse, Doctor of Architecture

1955
Nichols Jacobus de Wet, Doctor of Laws
Frederik Meyer, Doctor of Science in Engineering
Humphrey Rivaz Raikes, Doctor of Science
Charles Theodore te Water, Doctor of Laws

1956
Arthur William Blaxall, Doctor of Philosophy
Leopold Greenberg, Doctor of Laws
Henri Philippe Junod, Doctor of Philosophy

1957
Richard Bein Hagart, Doctor of Laws
Reginald William James, Doctor of Science
Basil Ferdinand Jamieson Schonland, Doctor of Science

1958
Alice Cox, Doctor of Laws
Matthew Robertson Drennan, Doctor of Science
Barend Bartholomeus Keet, Doctor of Literature

1959
Stefan Meiring Naud‚ Doctor of Science

1940s

1942
Robert Vincent Bird, Doctor of Laws
Francis Edgar Kanthack, Doctor of Science in Engineering
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Doctor of Laws

1943
Alexander Logie du Toit, Doctor of Science
Sybella Margaretha Smuts, Doctor of Laws

1944
James Stratford, Doctor of Laws

1945
Neil Macvicar, Doctor of Laws

1946
Edmond Grasset, Doctor of Science
Lord Hailey, Doctor of Literature
Robert Nelson Kotze, Doctor of Laws
George Esslemont Gordon Leith, Doctor of Architecture
Douglas Laing Smit, Doctor of Laws

1947
Joseph Henry Dobson, Doctor of Science in Engineering

1948
William Heneage Ogilvie, Doctor of Laws

1949
Petrus Johann du Toit, Doctor of Science
Richard Feetham, Doctor of Laws
Agnes Winifred Hoernl‚ Doctor of Laws
Ben Lockspeiser, Doctor of Science in Engineering
Edward Mellanby, Doctor of Science in Medicine
Antonio Augusto Esteves Mendes Correia, Doctor of Science
Jaques Millot, Doctor of Science
Sarah Gertrude Millin, Doctor of Literature
Henry Alford Moffat, Doctor of Laws
Alan William Stuart Sichel, Doctor of Laws
Hendrik Johannes van Eck, Doctor of Laws
Eric Walker, Doctor of Literature

1930s

1930
Peter Maltitz Anderson, Doctor of Science in Engineering
Thomas Nicholas Leslie, Doctor of Science
Sidney William Smith, Doctor of Science in Engineering
Samuel John Truscott, Doctor of Science in Engineering
Henry Arthur White, Doctor of Science in Engineering

1931
Francis Horatio Napier, Doctor of Laws
Alexander Jeremiah Orenstein, Doctor of Laws
John David Rheinallt Jones, Master of Arts
George Ritchie Thomson, Doctor of Laws

1932
Nicholas E Brown, Doctor of Science
Chaim Weizmann, Doctor of Laws

1933
Robert Broom, Doctor of Science
James Gray, Doctor of Laws
James Gunson Lawn, Doctor of Science in Engineering
Illtyd Butler Pole-Evans, Doctor of Laws
Diedrich Hermann Westermann, Doctor of Literature

1934
Herbert Baker, Doctor of Laws
Pierre Bovet, Doctor of Literature
William Dalrymple, Doctor of Laws
John Dewey, Doctor of Literature
John Gaspard Gubbins, Doctor of Literature
Louis Leipoldt, Doctor of Literature
Frank Gowyne Alfred Roberts, Doctor of Science in Engineering

1935
Bernard Price, Doctor of Science in Engineering
James Stevenson-Hamilton, Doctor of Laws
Arnold Theiler, Doctor of Science

1936
William Thomas Frederick Davies, Doctor of Laws
Lord Hewart of Bury, Doctor of Laws
Henry John Hofmeyr, Doctor of Laws
John Orr, Doctor of Laws

1937
The Earl of Clarendon, Doctor of Laws
The Countess of Clarendon, Doctor of Laws
Harry Edwin Wood, Doctor of Science
Robert Burns Young, Doctor of Laws

1938
William King Gregory, Doctor of Science
Milo Hellman, Doctor of Science
Ernest George Jansen, Doctor of Laws
Arthur William Rogers, Doctor of Science

1939
Lawrence Crawford, Doctor of Laws
John Gilbert Kotze, Doctor of Laws
Robert Warden Lee, Doctor of Laws
James Rose-Innes, Doctor of Laws
Henry Ernst Sigerist, Doctor of Literature
Maria Wilman, Doctor of Laws

1920s

1922
Theodore Reunert, Doctor of Literature
Jan Christiaan Smuts, Doctor of Laws

1924
William Cullen, Doctor of Laws

1925
Edward Albert, Prince of Wales, Doctor of Laws
Charles Porter, Doctor of Laws

1926
Samuel Evans, Doctor of Laws

1927
John Carruthers Beattie, Doctor of Laws
Jacob de Villiers, Doctor of Laws
Wilfred Watkins Pitchford, Doctor of Laws

1928
David Draper, Doctor of Science
James Barry Munnik Hertzog, Doctor of Laws

1929
Alexander Aiken, Doctor of Laws
The Earl of Athlone, Doctor of Laws
Arthur Stanley Eddington, Doctor of Science
John Scott Haldane, Doctor of Science in Engineering
Thomas Henry Holland, Doctor of Science in Engineering
Gustav Adolf Frederick Molengraaff, Doctor of Science
John Linton Myers, Doctor of Literature
Charles Parsons, Doctor of Science in Engineering
D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, Doctor of Science

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