It's ''a miracle'' and ''truly what the new South Africa is all about.''
So said media icon Oprah Winfrey when the teary talk show host of The Oprah Winfrey Show (SABC3, weekdays, 17:30) received an honourary doctorate's degree in education from the University of the Free State (UFS) and spoke about the transformation taking place at the tersiary institution that's been plagued with racial scandals the past few years and known as a hotbed for troubled race relations [full disclosure: The place is my alma mater. I studied there for 6 years and attained my degrees there].
The event in the Callie Human Hall was attended by 4 500 students and citizens in Bloemfontein. Oprah Winfrey was praised for her contribution towards education in South Africa. It's her first honourary doctorate's degree awarded to her outside America. She praised the tertiary institution that was plagued by racial scandals for being serious about transformation. She left shortly afterwards.
''What has happened here at Free State in terms of racial reconciliation, of peace, of harmony, of one heart understanding and opening itself to another heart is nothing short of a miracle. It is truly what the new South Africa is all about,'' Oprah Winfrey said.
In bestowing her the honourary degree - the 152th awarded by the UFS - a passage drew cheers when read: that Winfrey has ''truly become a South African. She did so because she believed that there was important work to be done here, and she wanted to be part of what Nelson Mandela and others had begun." Previous recipients of honorary degrees from the UFS include anti-apartheid icons Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Oprah Winfrey and the American first lady Michelle Obama who was also in South Africa this week, had dinner together on Tuesday in Johannesburg.
