Former Grahamstown Citizen of the Year Michael Whisson is to receive a prestigious award from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, of which he is a long-standing member.
Former Grahamstown Citizen of the Year Michael Whisson is to receive a prestigious award from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, of which he is a long-standing member.
The Order of Simon of Cyrene is awarded by the Archbishop of Cape Town to lay Anglicans for distinguished service.
The name “Simon of Cyrene” comes from the first named African Christian who, according to the gospel account, was pressed into service to carry the cross of Christ on the road to Calvary.
The Bishop of Grahamstown, Ebenezer Ntlali, will confer the Order on Whisson on the Archbishop's behalf on Sunday 8 December at a service of choral evensong at 7pm in the Cathedral.
Whisson was born in the UK in 1937.
He has been an Anglican all his life, and has always played an active part in the church in England, Kenya and in South Africa.
Since arriving in Grahamstown in 1978, his involvement at the Cathedral included 29 years serving on the Parish Council – 10 years of which he was a Church warden – and 17 years editing the monthly magazine, The Spire.
He has been a lay minister throughout his time here, and is a challenging and thoughtful preacher.
His ministry at Fort England continues to this day.
Whisson is also a retired anthropology Professor.
As an anthropologist he was never content to observe conditions without feeling an urge to reach out to the people he studied. He met these groups at their point of need, exposing injustice while proposing ethically appropriate remedies.
His research work included two studies of labour conditions at the Ford Motor Company in Port Elizabeth; labour relations and development opportunities at the Magwa Tea Corporation in Transkei; the impact of forced removals on the people of Glenmore (where he helped organise a feeding scheme and a basket-making business) and Tsweletswele; and a number of evaluations (for funders) of pre-school educational projects in Ciskei, Port Elizabeth, Soweto and the Free State.
Having been a fearless and vocal opponent of apartheid, he was part of the Grahamstown Transitional Local Council which was elected in 1995.
Then for 17 years he was an energetic member of the Makana Local Municipal Council, in effect, leader of the opposition.
At Rhodes University he served on the Senate and University Council, and as Dean of Arts.
He has been a member of the Council of the College of the Transfiguration, and has represented his parish and diocese at numerous Synods of the church.
Widely respected in the community, Whisson was chosen as Grahamstown's Citizen of the Year in 2009.
