FROM ANOTHER ANGLE

A Man of faith, hope and love

Prof Nico Koopman, professor in Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology and director of the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology, is a long-time colleague and friend of the rector. Matieland asked him to give us a more intimate look on the man behind the title.
I first met Russel Botman at the University of the Western Cape – this man who has made faith the foundation of his life.
Russel was a senior student when I started studying theology. As a student and later as a young minister he was our role-model. We could always knock on the door of the rectory in Wynberg, where he had his parish, if we needed advice. We – his brother Deon, a classmate of mine and member of the Student Council, and I – often did exactly that if Deon wanted to ask his brother for advice about the way ahead. Those were the days of difficult and exciting student and national politics – and fantastic afro hairstyles!
Something I noticed from the start about Russel is that he doesn’t belong to himself – and this he reiterated in his inaugural speech. Russel belongs to God and to his fellow man. He belongs to the people of South Africa, people of different religions as well as secular convictions; people of different ethnic, socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.
Russel moves comfortably among this diversity of people. And it is this diversity of people that has shaped him; that has become a safe, secure environment in which he flourishes.
But he has had his share of suffering and pain. The suffering he experienced in his life, like the death of his first wife, Lizzie, taught him about the relativity of life and that nothing should be regarded as absolute. Take things seriously, but know your human limitations. Our utmost is, at best, temporary.
All this has given him the exceptional ability to remain calm when things reach boiling point. That’s when you will see his characteristic smile. He can defuse the most explosive debates with a fine sense of humour and grace.
I am sometimes stunned by this calm. I remember in 1991, we shared a room in Mamelodi during a heated convocation of the then NG Mission Church and the NG Church of Africa. Russel served on the executive and was at the heart of the conflict and tension. One evening I still wanted to talk about the day’s events; the tension was keeping me awake, but he was already peacefully in dreamland. The next day he was able to face the challenges with new energy!
Russel is par excellence a man of hope. As theologian and church leader he has been working on this theme for years. He publishes and speaks locally and internationally on hope in the context of globalisation which, apart from some positive outcomes, also leads to the exclusion and impoverishment of millions of people across the world – especially in Africa. His work on these themes is highly regarded, also in theological circles.
I was therefore not surprised to hear Russel speak of a pedagogy of hope in his inaugural address. Stellenbosch must become a place of hope, a place where, as he says, the farm worker’s daughter is able to cherish the same dreams as the farmer’s son.
But Russel also has vision. An exceptional ability to see into the future. On those days I call him a public hermeneutist. The task of a hermeneutist is to proactively read the signs of the times, to interpret, to distinguish, to identify priorities, to make sense of the things around us – especially in rapidly changing local and global contexts – and to proactively formulate suitable responses. I believe Russel also has the gift to lead the University in a visionary manner.
Russel is also a man of love. First comes his wife, Beryl, and their children. But he loves all people, even those with whom he has fundamental differences.
His love also manifests in his ability to picture himself in your shoes. That enables him to truly think, feel, dream and work with others.
However, love to him is not just about pleasant feelings. He knows that love is made real through various forms of justice, therefore he serves the cause of justice in South Africa. And it’s astounding how he can unmask the wrongful in a loving manner, in a way that doesn’t stigmatise, demonise and disempower people, but that respects their dignity and gives them the energy to rectify the situation.
The inhabitants of Stellenbosch and the students at Stellenbosch University are privileged to have Russel Botman as rector! He is the right man, at the right time, in the right place. 

Light of his life
At Prof Russel’s side is Mrs Beryl Botman, an education specialist who, among other things, works part-time at the Department of Education’s Quality Assurance Directorate in the Division for Whole-school Evaluation. Beryl loves spending time with her family and enjoys South African stories and poetry. She is also a jazz fan, and serves on the board of the Bell Valley Initiative, a community initiative to combat HIV/Aids in the Helderberg area.

The Botman family
His family is the most important and most favourite people in his life, says Prof Russel. Hayman is a computer technologist at the Foschini Group, Lizelle is a student in film production, Ilse is a BSc (Forestry) student in her fourth year and a resident of Lydia, and Roxanne is a learner at Rhenish Girl’s High in Stellenbosch.