This list of the notable alumni of the University of Cape Town is divided into the six faculties of the university: Commerce, Humanities, Sciences, Health Sciences, Engineering, and Law.
Commerce
Geordin Hill-Lewis studied commerce at the University of Cape TownRaymond Ackerman, businessman, who purchased the Pick n Pay supermarket group from its founder; philanthropist
Roelof Botha, grandson of Pik Botha; began his career as an actuary and became a venture capitalist
David Lewis-Williams, professor emeritus of Cognitive Archaeology at the University of the Witwatersrand specialising in Upper-Palaeolithic and Bushmen rock art
Gwen Lister, South African-born Namibian journalist; anti-apartheid activist; founder of The Namibian
Stanley Skewes, number theorist most famous in popular mathematics for his bound for the point of changeover in magnitude between the number of primes up to a certain number and an important approximation of this, which was for many years the largest finite number ever legitimately used in a research paper
Louis Vogelpoel, cardiologist and one of the founding members of the Cardiac Clinic at Groote Schuur Hospital as well as a highly regarded horticultural scholar and researcher
Carolyn Williamson, virologist and microbiologist, professor of medical virology
Heather Zar, paediatric pulmonologist and Chair Department of Paediatrics
Professor Reg Austin, founding Dean of the Faculty of Law at University of Zimbabwe; Zimbabwean academic who served the Commonwealth Secretariat as Director of Legal and Constitutional Affairs from 1993 to 1998. He had previously been Dean of the Law Faculty at the University of Zimbabwe (1982-92) and Chief Electoral Officer of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (1992-93).
Sheila Camerer, South African politician; former Deputy Minister of Justice; long-serving Member of Parliament of the main opposition the Democratic Alliance; ambassador to Bulgaria; completed a Bachelor of Law degree at UCT in 1964
Beric John Croome, Advocate of the High Court of South Africa; Chartered Accountant CA (SA); taxpayers' rights pioneer; completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree (1980), Certificate in the Theory of Accountancy (1981) and a PhD (Commercial Law) (2008) at UCT[14]
Ezra Davids, Chair of Bowmans and leading mergers & acquisitions expert, named as South African DealMaker of the Year for 2009.
Jeffrey Jowell, was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG) for "services to human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe".
Fana Mokoena, South African politician and actor, member of the National Assembly of South Africa and a delegate to the National Council of Provinces
Dullah Omar, South African anti-apartheid activist; lawyer; Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa; minister in the South African cabinet from 1994 until his death
Kate O'Regan, former Constitutional Court of South Africa judge
Judge Taswell Papier, Judge of the Western Cape High Court* Albie Sachs, Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa
Kate Savage, formerly Judge of the South African Labour Appeal Court, appointed to South Africa's Constitutional Court in April 2026.
James Selfe, long-serving Member of Parliament with the Democratic Alliance; chairperson of the party's federal council; holds a master's degree from UCT
Donald Woods, South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist
Dianna Yach, anti-apartheid activist in the 80s and 90s, now Chair of the Mauerberger Foundation Fund, South Africa.
