Neil Aggett, the labour and anti-apartheid activist who died in police detention in 1982, did not allow his white skin to stop him from joining the predominantly black trade unions during apartheid.
Neil Aggett, the labour and anti-apartheid activist who died in police detention in 1982, did not allow his white skin to stop him from joining the predominantly black trade unions during apartheid.
“With us, we know our struggle was non-racial struggle,” said Sipho Kubheka, a director at the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department, “The question of colour is no longer there, when we are all in the trenches.” He praised Aggett’s contribution towards liberation of South Africa, adding, “to the young ones here tonight, we [union activists]still have the energy to continue, so make use of us.”
On Wednesday 2 April, Kubheka joined an audience of around 100 Rhodes University staff and students, several Kingswood College students and staff and members of the public that attended the first annual Public Lecture in honour of Aggett.
A lively, 30-minute discussion followed the keynote address by Beverley Naidoo, author of Death of an Idealist: In Search Neil Aggett.
Morality and education were two of the key points raised in the discussion.
Gavin Anderson, managing director of the Seriti Institute said: “For Neil and I, as young white males at that stage, if we were to be worthy citizens of this country, we had to question every truth handed down to us.”
Anderson remembered Aggett as being a thorough reader and learner who encouraged his colleagues to read Marxist classics which eventually became a guide for the union activists.
Director of the Rhodes University Institute of Social and Economic Research, Professor Robert van Niekerk, talked about the relevance of Naidoo’s book for South Africans.
“The book illustrates accountability of trade union activists and also the lack of accountability in the case of Neil Aggett’s torture.
"In the post-apartheid era there doesn’t seem to be a strong sense of commitment from our government to dealing with cases of deep injustice," van Niekerk said.
The event was hosted by the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit (NALSU) and the Research Office at Rhodes University.
