University of Fort Hare Notable Alumni

University of Fort Hare Notable Alumni

University of Fort Hare Notable Alumni

University of Fort Hare Alumini

The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution of higher education for black Africans from 1916 to 1959. It offered a Western-style academic education to students from across sub-Saharan Africa, creating a black African elite. Fort Hare alumni were part of many subsequent independence movements and governments of newly independent African countries.
In 1959, the university was subsumed by the apartheid system, but it is now part of South Africa’s post-apartheid public higher education system. It is known for its notable alumni, which include several heads of state and Nobel prize winners

Notable Alumni:

Name DoB – DoD Notes
Z. K. Matthews 1901 – 1968 Lectured at Fort Hare from 1936 to 1959
Archibald Campbell Jordan 30 October 1906–1968 Novelist, pioneer of African studies
Govan Mbeki 9 July 1910 – 30 August 2001 South African politician
Yusuf Lule 1912 – 21 January 1985 Interim president of Uganda 1979
Cedric Phatudi 27 May 1912 – 7 October 1987 Former Chief Minister of Lebowa 1972–1987
Kaiser Matanzima 15 June 1915 – 15 June 2003 President of bantustan Transkei
Mary Malahlela 2 May 1916 – 8 May 1981 First female black doctor in South Africa
Oliver Tambo 27 October 1917 – 24 April 1993 African National Congress activist, expelled while doing his second degree
Nelson Mandela 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013 Former President of South Africa; expelled and later attended the University of the Witwatersrand but did not graduate
Lionel Ngakane 17 July 1920 – 26 November 2003 South African film maker
Seretse Khama 1 July 1921 – 13 July 1980 First President of Botswana
Julius Nyerere 19 July 1922 – 14 October 1999 First President of Tanzania
Herbert Chitepo 15 June 1923 – 18 March 1975 ZANU leader
Robert Sobukwe 1924 – 27 February 1978 Founder of the Pan Africanist Congress
Robert Mugabe 21 February 1924 – Former President of Zimbabwe, attended 1949–1951
Kenneth Kaunda 28 April 1924 – First President of Zambia
Allan Hendrickse 22 October 1927 – 16 March 2005 Politician, preacher, and teacher
Mangosuthu Buthelezi 27 August 1928 – Leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party, never graduated but transferred to University of Natal. Leader of KwaZulu Bantustan in apartheid South Africa
Leepile Moshweu Taunyane 14 December 1928 – 30 October 2013 Life President of Premier Soccer League, President of the South African Professional Educators Union
Desmond Tutu 7 October 1931 – Archbishop Emeritus, South African peace activist, Chaplain at Fort Hare in 1960
Frank Mdlalose 29 November 1931 – First Premier of KwaZulu-Natal
Ivy Matsepe-Casaburriaa 18 September 1937 – 6 April 2009 Minister of Communications, South Africa
Manto Tshabalala-Msimang 9 October 1940 – 16 December 2009 Minister of Health of South Africa
Chris Hani 28 June 1942 – 10 April 1993 Leader of the South African Communist Party – Expelled, later graduated at Rhodes University.
Wiseman Nkuhlu 5 February 1944 – economic advisor to former President Thabo Mbeki, Head of NEPAD
Makhenkesi Arnold Stofile 27 December 1944 – 15 August 2016 former Minister of Sport of South Africa
Sam Nolutshungu 15 April 1945 – 12 August 1997 South African scholar
Nyameko Barney Pityana 7 August 1945 – lawyer and theologian, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of South Africa
Bulelani Ngcuka 2 May 1954 – South Africa’s former Director of Public Prosecutions
Loyiso Nongxa 1954- Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand
Joseph Diescho 1955 – Namibian novelist
John Hlophe 1 January 1959 – Judge President of the Cape Provincial Division of the High Court

Charles Mugane Njonjo 1920-, former Kenyan Attorney General and Minister for Constitutional Affairs
Munyua Waiyaki former Kenyan Minister for Foreign Affairs

Contact Us/Address:

Alice Campus
     Address: Ring Road, Alice, 5700
     Phone: 040 602 2011
Bhisho Campus
     Address: Independance Avenue, Bhisho, King Williams Town
     Phone: 040 608 3407
East London
    Address: 50 Church Street
     Phone: 043 704 7000