Centre clears confusion over Gerwel

Professor Jakes Gerwel was in a critical condition in hospital last night after earlier reports that the Rhodes University chancellor and Media24 chairman had died.

It was confirmed that he was being treated at the Kuils River Hospital, in Cape Town.

Gerwel's family confirmed through the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory that the 66-year-old was alive - putting an end to the confusion that followed a News24 report.

The story was quickly removed from the News24 website with an apology "for any distress it may have caused".

Bizarrely, even Naspers chairman Ton Vosloo confirmed Gerwel's death to Talk Radio 702.

But a statement from the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory quashed the rumours.

". The Gerwel family would like it to be known that, [though] Professor Gerwel is in a critical condition following heart surgery in Cape Town, the reports of his death are untrue," it said.