Elinor Sisulu to Receive Honorary PhD from the University of Pretoria Department of Human Sciences

We are pleased to share the news that Elinor Sisulu will receive an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Pretoria. Sisulu is an eminent human rights activist, author, researcher, and academic scholar. Her research is focused on development studies and the economic status of women, civil society, human rights and state institutions. She is a leading supporter of the role of culture and the humanities in South Africa, and in the country of her birth, Zimbabwe. She received the Noma Award for Publishing in Africa for Walter and Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime, the biography of her in-laws, Walter and Albertina Sisulu. She is a strong advocate for programs to promote the development of a love of reading and advanced literacy in children.  Elinor Sisulu has been an outstanding public intellectual and leader her entire adult life and for these reasons it is understandable why the University of Pretoria has chosen to honor her with their highest recognition.

Elinor Sisulu is also a friend to South Africa Partners. She often represents her family for the Albertina Sisulu Leadership Programme in Health (ASELPH), a partnership among the University of Fort Hare, University of Pretoria, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and South Africa Partners, in collaboration with the South African National Department of Health to strengthen the South African health care system. She and her husband, Max Sisulu, were our honored guests and speakers at last June’s Nelson Mandela centenary celebration at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum. She and Max reminded us of Mandela’s uniting leadership and reflected on his relevance today for the next generation of leaders who are carrying his vision forward. 

South Africa Partners congratulates Elinor Sisulu on her wonderful accomplishment! She has dedicated her life to bettering her country and community through research, activism, and authorship. Her honorary degree from the University of Pretoria is well deserved.