FORMER President Nelson Mandela’s wife Graa Machel has declined an invitation by the cash-strapped University of Fort Hare to take up its chancellorship, forcing the postponement by more than a month of a special graduation ceremony that had been planned for next week. Machel was the only candidate selected by Fort Hare to succeed liberation struggle veteran Govan Mbeki, father of President Thabo Mbeki, who is retiring due to advancing age. Fort Hare spokesman Mbeko Mnyatheli says the graduation ceremony has been put on hold until October 22. Machel will instead take up the chancellorship of the University of Cape Town.