As was announced back in May, former anti-apartheid activist and Constitutional Court Judge, Justice Albie Sachs will give the Neil Aggett Memorial Lecture 2015 on Monday (13 July) at 10.15am at the Kingswood College Chapel.
As was announced back in May, former anti-apartheid activist and Constitutional Court Judge, Justice Albie Sachs will give the Neil Aggett Memorial Lecture 2015 on Monday (13 July) at 10.15am at the Kingswood College Chapel.
Well known internationally for his human rights activism, Justice Albie Sachs is a veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle, having spent years in exile, first in England and later in Mozambique.
It was here that a car bomb planted by South Africa security agents almost killed him, and he lost an arm and the sight in one eye from the blast.
His career in human rights activism started at the age of seventeen, when as a second year law student at the University of Cape Town, he took part in the Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign.
Three years later he attended the Congress of the People at Kliptown where the Freedom Charter was adopted. He started practice as an advocate at the Cape Bar aged 21.
The bulk of his work involved defending people charged under racist statutes and repressive security laws.
Many faced the death sentence. He himself was raided by the security police, subjected to banning orders restricting his movement and eventually placed in solitary confinement without trial for two prolonged spells of detention.
During the 1980s working closely with Oliver Tambo, leader of the ANC in exile, he helped draft the organization's Code of Conduct, as well as its statutes.
After recovering from the bomb he devoted himself full-time to preparations for a new democratic Constitution for South Africa.
In 1990 he returned home and as a member of the Constitutional Committee and the National Executive of the ANC took an active part in the negotiations which led to South Africa becoming a constitutional democracy.
After the first democratic election in 1994 he was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to serve on the newly established Constitutional Court.
In addition to his work on the Court, he has travelled to many countries sharing South African experience in healing divided societies.
He has also been engaged in the sphere of art and architecture, and played an active role in the development of the Constitutional Court building and its art collection on the site of the Old Fort Prison in Johannesburg On returning to South Africa in 1990, he played a role as a member of the Constitutional Committee and the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANC, in the negotiations which led to South Africa becoming a constitutional democracy.
After the first democratic election in 1994, he was appointed by then President Nelson Mandela to serve on the newly established Constitutional Court.
As a constitutional court judge, Justice Sachs was the chief architect of the post-apartheid constitution of 1996, and participated in many landmark rulings, including declaring capital punishment a violation of the right to life, making it unconstitutional to prevent gay and lesbian people from marrying and o backed Aids campaigners in 2002, by insisting that the government had a duty to provide HIV-positive pregnant women with drugs to reduce the risk of transmission to their newborn babies.
In addition to his legal work, he has travelled to many countries sharing his experiences, in order to help heal divided societies.
He has also been engaged in the sphere of art and architecture, and was involved with the development of the Constitutional Court building and its art collection (located on the site of the Old Fort Prison in Johannesburg).
Sachs has also authored several books, including The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs (1966), which was published in Britain when he was a banned writer in South Africa.
This book was later adapted by David Edgar as an RSC play in 1979, which is now a classic of prison memoirs.
Stephanie on Trial followed his second detention, and The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter (1990) traced his triumphant convalescence after the bombing.
He also wrote a book with Indres Naidoo, entitled Island in Chains.
In 1991 he received the Alan Paton Award for Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter.
Judge Sachs has received 22 honourary doctorates from universities around the world and countless awards to honour his dedication to human rights activities and reconciliation.
He is also on the board of the National Arts Festival, is in town and is involved in three events at the festival.
On Friday was at 5.30pm, he is involved in the panel discussion 'Satire the most sane and rational response?' at Eden Grove Blue.
On Saturday was at 12 noon, also at Eden Grove Blue, he'll be giving a talk entitled, 'Getting the Last Laugh on Cecil John Roads'.
Then today on Sunday at 10am in the same venue, there'll be a screening of 'Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa', a documentary about his life.
He will be there to introduce the film. Kingswood College holds the Neil Aggett Memorial Lecture annually to commemorate Dr Aggett who attended Kingswood from 1964 to 1970.
After matriculating with a first class pass, he studied medicine at UCT, graduating in1976.
He did his internship at the Umtata General Hospital in the Transkei in 1977 and then moved on to work at Tembisa Hospital and later at Baragwanath Hospital.
During this time he became increasingly concerned with the hardships endured by black South Africans under the apartheid regime.
He abandoned his promising medical career and became involved in the black trade union movement, especially with the Transvaal branch of the Food and Canning Workers Union.
He supported himself by doing night shifts in the casualty ward at Baragwanath.
He was detained for “interrogation” by the Security Police in late 1981 and was found hanging in his cell at John Vorster Square on 5 February 1982.
The words of his brother Dr Michael Aggett capture the poignancy of his death: “No charges were ever laid against him…. he was 28 years old".
The annual Neil Aggett Award will be presented to a Kingswood pupil at the lecture.
The award was a gift to Kingswood College from the Old Kingswoodian members of the matric class of 1970, of which Neil Aggett was a member.
Its aim is to foster a spirit of 'individual service above self' in the pupils of Kingswood and pays tribute to the recipient's true commitment to a wider social responsibility within the College, as well as to the greater community of Grahamstown and South Africa.
This year's is the ninth Neil Aggett Lecture. Anyone interested in attending can contact Elmarie Retief on 046 –603 6605 or email e.retief@kingswoodcollege.com.
