"The passing of Mr Aaron Cupido can be compared to a library that burnt down – sadly, insights and knowledge of a bygone area and also a bridge between us and that time disappear with it."
With these words, Dr Jerome Slamat, Executive Manager: Rectorate, paid tribute to the late Mr Aaron Cupido (98), one of Stellenbosch's oldest residents and respected educator and community leader. Cupido passed away last week.
Dr Slamat represented Stellenbosch University (SU) at the funeral in the Rynse Church on Die Braak on Saturday (15 August 2015).
"In this university town, he did not have the title of professor or doctor, but everyone who met him (also professors and doctors) immediately knew that they were dealing with a person of immense wisdom," Dr Slamat said.
"Today Stellenbosch University pays homage to a remarkable resident of Stellenbosch and also acknowledges the extraordinary and talented Stellenbosch family he descended from. We express our gratitude to his family for sharing him with so many others and us."
Dr Slamat added that Prof Chris Brink, a former SU Rector, referred to Cupido as a "walking encyclopaedia" and that Prof Hermann Giliomee penned Cupido's words as the title of his book Nog altyd hier gewees: Die storie van ʼn Stellenbosse gemeenskap (2007). He also mentioned that the previous SU Rector, the late Prof Russel Botman, held Mr Cupido in high esteem.
As one of the residents who were forcefully removed from the Vlakte ̶ as the area close to the town centre of Stellenbosch was known in the 20th Century ̶ during Apartheid, Mr Cupido attended the launch of the Memory Room at SU in 2013. This contemporary exhibition space, which depicts the suppressed history of the people of Die Vlakte and the Battle of Andringa Street, is widely seen a gesture of reconciliation between SU and the town's coloured community.
- Click here to read Dr Slamat's complete tribute.
