Queen of talk Oprah Winfrey received an honorary doctorate from the University of the Free State on Friday.
An emotional Winfrey accepted the doctorate on the Bloemfontein campus of the university after a hug from rector Jonathan Jansen in Bloemfontein.
Huge cheers broke out during the dignified academic ceremony when UFS Chancellor Khotso Mokhele told Winfrey: “You are now a Kovsie [slang used for students of the university].”
She was greeted with cheers, with Mokhele telling her she was now “Doctor Queen of Tears” — referring to the content of her talk shows, which often moved people to tears.
Winfrey invited the four ladies and the man who appeared in the Reitz video — which led to a national outcry against racism — to share the stage with her for a short while.
The video made by four students showed the four women cleaners and a man on their hands and knees eating food that had apparently been urinated on by a white student.
The students have since apologised and were forgiven by the women.
Winfrey told the workers what they did was “a move in the direction of an open heart space, being able to say I forgive you.”
She called them the heroes of the “Vry-Staad”.
She said what happened at the university after the Reitz incident was “amazing”.
“What happened at the institution in terms of racial reconciliation was nothing short of a miracle.”
She congratulated the university, the community and Jansen, telling them that they showed the world that “we are more alike than different”.
After the academic programme, Winfrey returned to the stage in an orange skirt and pink blouse to talk to the audience and take questions from students.
“I just came 8Â 000 miles to say to you thank you Vrystaad. I’m here to share the moment with you.”
She spoke for over an hour — on how she put her talk shows together, using videos of women who inspired her in life.
She shared her story of growing up in poverty and how she became “a self-made woman”.
Winfrey told the crowd that the university aroused her interest after she read an article by Jansen on not accepting mediocrity.
The university buzzed with excitement as Winfrey arrived for her cap ceremony.
Fans braved arctic weather, queuing in long lines at Callie Human Hall within Bloemfontein Campus. The hall seats 4Â 500 people.
Social networking site Twitter updated by the minute with tweets from local media on the day’s proceedings. A reporter at Bloemfontein airport tweeted that those inside the hall found a Kovsies water bottle and a muffin on their seats.
Tickets for students to attend the event were taken up within hours of the announcement, and public tickets were sold out on the same day. — Sapa