User:Srpillay/Community of Mandela Rhodes Scholars

Community of Mandela Rhodes Scholars (CMRS)

About the CMRS
The Community of Mandela Rhodes Scholars comprises current and past recipients of the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship. The Mandela Rhodes Foundation (MRF) chooses applicants based on the four guiding principles of the organisation: Leadership, Education, Entrepreneurship and Reconciliation. The purpose of the MRF is to build exceptional leadership capacity in Africa.

Mandela: the patron
The patron of the MRF is South African anti-Apartheid struggle hero Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. He was South Africa's first democratically elected president, who took office in 1994, after the country's first multi-racial presidential elections since the fall of Apartheid in the late 1980s.

The Mandela-Rhodes Scholarship forms part of an historic agreement between the Rhodes Trust who administer the Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation that operates in South Africa. The nature of the agreement is seen as an historical gesture of reconciliation, through the pairing of Mandela's name with Cecil John Rhodes. The former is a Noble Peace Prize laurette, who crusaded policies of non-racism and the eventual downfall of Apartheid, while history has painted Rhodes as a racist colonialist who exploited Africa's resources for his own benefit. However, the four principles of the MRF are seen as a combination of four qualities that best embody both people. Mandela himself has noted, that "the bringing together of these two names represents a symbolic movement in the closing of the historic circle; drawing together the legacy of reconciliation and leadership and that of entrepreneurship and education"

Beyond an alumni body
The CMRS is registered as a non-profit organisation under South African law, but comprises members from across Sub-Saharan Africa. Each member has been a recipient of the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship, which were first awarded in 2005. There are currently 122 recipients who have automatically become members of the CMRS.

Although the CMRS is foremost an alumni organisation of past and present Mandela-Rhodes Scholars, it is also an extensive network of African-born young leaders who have committed themselves to creating positive change on the African continent.

Selection of Scholars
The largest cohort of Scholars has been chosen in 2010, with 29 new Scholars being named. Their countries of birth span the African continent, but eligibility for the scholarship requires them to be studying at a South African university for a post-graduate degree. There are no quotas for selection based on gender, race, country of origin, university, or field of study. The Scholars must go through a selection process that includes a panel interview at their university, academic references, a written essay, submission of a Curriculum Vitae and academic records, and a panel interview with the South African Trustees of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation.

Origins
The 2006 cohort of Scholars put in place a task-team to explore the possibility of creating a sustainable vehicle within which to house the collective aspirations of the Mandela Rhodes Scholars as a "community". The primary motivation for the establishment of such a body was two-pronged: firstly, to ensure a platform through which Scholars could sustain and establish connections with each other; and secondly, to create a platform to support the initiatives of Scholars and like-minded individuals to extend and realize the principles of educational excellence, reconciliation, social entrepreneurship and ethical leadership through innovative projects and initiatives.

As part of its realization of the importance of the establishment of such a body, the Mandela Rhodes Foundation funded a short-term full-time position for one of the Scholars - the then-Chairperson of the task-team, Janet Jobson, to do the groundwork of establishing the CMRS. The inaugural Central Coordinating Committee for the CMRS was elected in May 2007, and the CMRS continued its development under the leadership of Tristan Gorgens and Julia Cloete. In 2007-2008 Buhle Zuma took over as Chairperson, followed by Anton Botha for the 2009-2010 period. This Central Coordinating Committee comprises about eight Scholars, elected at an annual general meeting by other Scholars, who work voluntarily to ensure that the objectives of the CMRS are being met.