Tribute to late former UWC Arts Dean and anti-apartheid stalwart The University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) former Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Emeritus Professor Jannie Malan – a peacemaker, an ardent cyclist, and a strident opponent of t…

Former Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Emeritus Professor Jannie Malan. Image: Supplied

The University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) former Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Emeritus Professor Jannie Malan – a peacemaker, an ardent cyclist, and a strident opponent of the racist apartheid system – has passed away. Prof Malan was 93.

His son, Dr Daniel Malan, while visiting Cape Town with a group of MBA students from Trinity College Dublin, said academia played a big role in his father’s life, retiring only at the age of 90, having spent a few decades teaching and leading at UWC.

According to a biography for one of his research papers, Prof Malan spent most of his school and university years in Stellenbosch, his hometown where he was born in 1931. In the 1950s, he recognised apartheid as evil and worked to cross its divides, working as a minister of religion in black and coloured churches in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape, while also teaching Maths and Science in high schools. 

“His academic side has always been part of what I will remember, but he was also a family man. He loved nature. I remember that we used to go on hiking trips in the Drakensberg and he loved camping. He loved cycling, of course. That’s one of the things that he did his whole life and also what he was famous for at UWC,” said Dr Malan. 

“We lived in Franschhoek and he would take the car to Klapmuts, then the train to Bellville and the bicycle to UWC and he did that for probably 20 years, every day.”

In his very first year at UWC in 1973, Professor Malan joined the progressive and non-racial Staff Association, which existed alongside a conservative, all-white Staff Association, and began taking part, with colleagues and students, in the anti-apartheid Struggle. He also served the open Staff Association as secretary, and later as chairperson, for several years.

“He was a lovely guy. He really committed his whole life to social justice and was very much involved. Also, I remember as a kid at the time, you know, in those difficult years of the 1970s, when I was young and he started at UWC, he gave us a very strong sense of justice and a moral compass. He was very committed and encouraged us all to make our own decisions, to think critically,” said Dr Malan.

Professor Malan left UWC in 1993 to work as a senior researcher at the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), where he focused on education towards justice and peace, culture and diversity-friendliness, mutual understanding, and conflict resolution wisdom from Africa.

His children have planned a memorial service for 16 July 2025 at 11am at the Dutch Reformed Church La Rochelle, Meerlust Street, Bellville. The service can also be followed online at https://www.youtube.com/live/nVXUTVOxHBQ.