Internationally renowned intellectual and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State Jonathan Jansen will deliver the 9th Neil Aggett Memorial Lecture at Kingswood College on 23 September.
Internationally renowned intellectual and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State Jonathan Jansen will deliver the 9th Neil Aggett Memorial Lecture at Kingswood College on 23 September.
Jansen, who is also President of the South African Institute of Race Relations, joins a list of distinguished speakers asked to address the theme “Standing up against injustice”, in honour of Aggett, the former Kingswood student and anti-apartheid activist who was found hanged in his cell in 1982.
Jansen is in his second five-year term as Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State. He took it up in 2009, when racial tension was at its highest following the infamous Reitz Four video which polarised students into clear racial camps.
His handling of the situation earned him wide admiration. From humble beginnings in the conflict-torn Cape Flats, Jansen graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of the Western Cape and completed his teaching qualifications through Unisa. He obtained his masters from Cornell University and his doctorate from Stanford University, both in the US.
He is internationally regarded as one of the top researchers in the field of education and has received numerous awards for his contributions to tolerance, democracy and human rights.
His book Knowledge in the Blood: Confronting Race and the Apartheid Past was listed as one of the best books of 2009 by the American Libraries Association. His new book, Schools that Work, uses video-documentaries to capture what happens inside disadvantaged schools which nevertheless produce the best results in physical science and mathematics in South Africa. He is also a columnist for The Times and Die Burger.
In 2013, he was awarded the Education Africa Lifetime Achiever Award in New York and the Spendlove Award from the University of California for his contributions to human rights. Initiated by Kingswood history teacher Rob Charlton, the lecture series is held in memory of the sacrifices Aggett made for justice.
Previous speakers have been Rob Davies, Minister of Trade and Industry and former Kingswood pupil, former Rhodes Vice-Chancellor Saleem Badat, Peter Vale, Professor of Humanities at the University of Johannesburg, Liz Floyd, who was Neil Aggett’s partner for many years and who was also in detention at the time of his death, Rev Barney Pityana, Rector of the College of Transfiguration and Jay Naidoo, former minister responsible for South Africa’s Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) in Nelson Mandela’s Cabinet.
Aggett attended Kingswood from 1964 to 1970. After matriculating with a first class pass, he studied medicine at UCT and did his internship at Umtata General Hospital before going on to work at Tembisa and Baragwanath hospitals. During this time he became increasingly concerned with the hardships endured by black South Africans under the apartheid regime and abandoned his medical career to become involved in the black trade union movement.
He was detained for “interrogation” by the Security Police in 1981 and was found hanging in his cell at John Vorster Square on 5 February 1982.
The words of his brother Michael Aggett captured the poignancy of his death: “No charges were ever laid against him…. He was 28 years old.”
The annual Neil Aggett Award for 'individual service above self' will be presented to a Kingswood pupil at the lecture at 10.15am on Tuesday 23 September in the Kingswood Chapel.
The lecture is open to the public, but booking is essential. Call Elmarie Retief at 046 603 6605 or email e.retief@kingswoodcollege.com.
