Thumbs up for Univen award to Thomas Chauke

Two other universities have given the University of Venda the thumbs up for awarding an honorary degree to Xitsonga music icon Thomas Hasani Chauke. They are the University of Limpopo and the University of South Africa. Both universities said they were beaten by the University of Venda, while they were busy with processes to honour him. Chauke had a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Xitsonga conferred on him last Friday. Speaking at Saselamani Stadium during celebrations for the musician on Saturday, the Director of Research at the University of South Africa, Prof Tinyiko Maluleke, said that for someone who grew up in Soweto and spoke a language allegedly regarded as non-national, Chauke's music has been inspiring to him. "Four years ago, Dr Daniel Ndobe, who said he was representing a group of other people, approached me and talked about the appeal that Unisa should also honour the musician because of his promotion of the Xitsonga language and I requested him to provide weighty submission," he said. He said the delay was caused by the fact that Unisa honoured not more than one person per year and at present was busy with the logistics to honour former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. Prof Nxalati Golele, a Xitsonga language specialist, also praised the musician for his language usage and said it was "spot on". She said her university, the University of Limpopo, was the first to come up with the idea, but there were delays in the implementation. Prof Albert Makgopa, of the MER Mathivha Centre for African Languages, Arts and Culture at Univen, said the university was proud to have honoured him, because it was in line with its mandate of developing communities within the Southern African Development communities. Chauke said he had hated school, but since he had talent, he worked hard to succeed. "Talent without hard work is nothing as you will not go anywhere," he said.