In academia, Old Rhodian
Max Theiler was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research in virology in 1951.
Notable alumni: general •
Matthew Muir – Artist •
Beth Diane Armstrong – Sculptor •
Diane Awerbuck – Writer •
Norman Bailey – Opera singer •
Nick Binedell – Founding director of the
Gordon Institute of Business Science of the
University of Pretoria •
Troy Blacklaws – Novelist •
Alex Boraine – Politician; academic; co-founder of IDASA (
Institute for Democracy in South Africa) and the
International Center for Transitional Justice •
Sir Rupert Bromley, 10th Bt. – Business executive •
Guy Butler – Poet •
Efemia Chela – writer •
Tafadzwa Chitokwindo – Zimbabwe
Sevens rugby player •
Nan Cross –
Anti-conscription and
anti-apartheid activist •
Achmat Dangor – Writer •
Embeth Davidtz – Actress •
Rob Davies – Minister of trade and industry of South Africa •
Mick Davis – Businessman, chief executive of
Xstrata •
Geoffrey de Jager – Philanthropist and industrialist; founder of
Rand Merchant Bank •
K. Sello Duiker – Novelist and screenwriter •
Sir Michael Edwardes – Business executive •
Robin Esrock – Travel Writer •
Allan Gray – Investor and philanthropist •
Mluleki George – ANC MP and former prisoner on Robben Island •
Igle Gledhill – Physicist •
Chris Hani – Former leader of the
South African Communist Party and chief of staff of
Umkhonto we Sizwe •
Michael Harmel - Journalist and activist •
Errol Harris – Philosopher •
Trevor Hastie – Statistician •
Peter Hinchliff – Anglican priest and academic •
Humphry Knipe – Adult film writer/director •
Herbert Kretzmer –
Fleet Street journalist and lyricist of
inter alia the musical Les Misérables •
Alice Krige – Actress •
Margaret Legum – Economist and anti-apartheid activist •
Frances Margaret Leighton – Botanist •
Kai Lossgott – Interdisciplinary artist •
Mbuyiseli Madlanga – South African Constitutional Court judge •
Mandla Mandela – Chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council and grandson of Nelson Mandela •
The Hon Justice Lex Mpati – Judge President of the
Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa and current chancellor of Rhodes University •
Patrick Mynhardt – Actor •
Siphesihle Ndaba – Actress •
Marguerite Poland – Writer •
Ian Roberts – Actor •
Michael Roberts – Historian •
Kathleen Satchwell – Judge •
Sir Basil Schonland – Scientist •
Barry Smith – Musician •
Ian Smith – Former Prime Minister of
Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe) •
Wilbur Smith – Novelist •
William Smith – Television science and mathematics personality •
Kaneez Surka – Artist, actor and comedian •
Robert V. Taylor – Former
dean of
St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle •
Phumzile van Damme – MP and Shadow Communications Minister •
Max Theiler – Virologist,
Nobel Prize winner (1951) •
Micheen Thornycroft –
Zimbabwe Olympic rower •
Kit Vaughan – Emeritus professor of
biomedical engineering at
UCT •
David Webster – Social anthropologist and anti-apartheid activist •
Andrew Whitfield - South African politician, former deputy minister, and Member of Parliament •
Mark Winkler – Author •
Timothy Woods – Former head of
Gresham's School, England •
Dana Wynter – Actress • Simphiwe Tshabalala – Standard Bank CEO
Notable alumni: journalists, media celebrities in South Africa One of the most well-known departments on the Rhodes campus is the university's school of Journalism and Media Studies, through which many of South Africa's most notable media celebrities have passed. There are also an especially high number of radio celebrities who graduated at Rhodes – many of them having spent time with the university's campus radio station
Rhodes Music Radio. •
Matthew Buckland – Media-owner and entrepreneur •
Steve Linde (born 1960) – newspaperman •
Anand Naidoo – Anchor and correspondent for
Al Jazeera English based in Washington DC; previously with
CNN •
Jeremy Mansfield – Radio host, television presenter, comedian •
Karyn Maughan – Legal journalist •
Eusebius McKaiser – Social activist, author, radio show host •
Haru Mutasa – Correspondent for Al Jazeera International •
Zaa Nkweta – Former
Carte Blanche presenter •
Verashni Pillay –
Mail & Guardian editor-in-chief •
Toby Shapshak – Journalist and African technology thought leader •
Barry Streek – Political journalist and anti-apartheid activist • Rob Vember –
5FM DJ
Notable staff •
Thomas Alty – physicist; Principal and Vice Chancellor of the university •
Margaret Ballinger – Political activist; taught in the history department •
André Brink – Writer •
Andrew Buckland – Performer and playwright •
Julian Cobbing – Professor of African history; wrote an influential and controversial theory on the nature of the
Mfecane •
Ward Jones – Professor of philosophy •
Don Maclennan – Professor of English and notable poet •
Catriona Ida Macleod, head of the psychology department • Obie Oberholzer – Photographer •
D. C. S. Oosthuizen – Philosopher, Christian, critic of apartheid •
Selmar Schonland – Botanist •
J. L. B. Smith – Ichthyologist; first to identify a taxidermied fish as a
coelacanth, a fish previously thought to be extinct •
H. W. van der Merwe – Founder of the
Centre for Intergroup Studies,
University of Cape Town •
Etienne van Heerden – Writer •
Arthur Matthews (mathematician), founding professor at the university •
Graham Glover - Author, Associate professor, editor of the
South African Law Journal ==Name controversy==