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Alan Paton Lecture

The Alan Paton Lecture is held annually at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Pietermaritzburg campus. It is co-presented by the Alan Paton Centre and the Liberal Democratic Association (LDA).  It was sponsored by the LDA and UKZN from 1994 to 2000, and  by the standard Bank Foundation from 2001 to 2003. Sponsorship for 2005 – 2007 is kindly being provided by the Natal Society Foundation Trust.

The purpose of the Lecture is to commemorate Alan Paton’s life,and to discuss topics in which he was most involved during his lifetime.These topics include liberalism, the struggle against apartheid, prison reform for juvenile offenders, The South African political situation, literary, educational and environmental issues

The following lectures have been given over the past 10 years:

1994Randolph Vigne : Namibian democracy: a liberal Legacy 
1995Peter Brown : Alan Paton: the man and the politician
1996Raymond Hoffenberg : Dilemmas of principle 
1997Gopalkrishna Gandhi : Simply not done: an enquiry into inner and outer restraint 
1998Helen Suzman : Alan Paton, liberalism and the New South Africa
1999Justice Pius Langa : Strengthening democracy
2000Donald Woods : A salute to Liberal values
2002Archbishop Tutu : Celebrate the beloved country. 
2003Colin Gardner Paton’s literary life Peter Brown Alan Paton’s Political life in the Liberal Party of South Africa Jonathan Paton:  Alan Paton: a celebration of his life 
2004Trevor Ncube Zimbabwe: Lessons for South Africa
2005Geoff Budlender Transforming the judiciary: the politics of the judiciary in a democratic South Africa 
2006Pumla Goboda-Madikizela    The Zuma saga and the problem of moral leadership
2007Raenette Taljaard  What Liberalism offers South Africa today 
2008John Dugard       Liberalism, Human Rights and Foreign Policy 
2009Peter Alexander  The Examined Life: Alan Paton as autobiographer
2010Peter Alegi  Soccer and Human Rights: Chief Luthuli, Alan Paton, Dennis Brutus and the 2010 World Cup
2011Verne Harris Madiba, Memory and the Work of Justice
2012 Professor Mbongeni Malaba    “Could you not write otherwise?”: The Political Dimension of Alan Paton’s Poetry
2013 Professor Archie Dick   Our common readers and our common reading cultures
2014 Sarah Nuttall  Reflections on Mndela and Gandhi 
2015 Ann Skelton   Vakasha: Alan Paton and Justice of Child offenders
2016  Dr. Imatiaz Ismail Sooliman  Human Rights and Humanitarianism
2017 Dr Graham Dominy  
2018 Prof. Gerhard Mare  Imagining the measure of “enough”opening a debate from below 

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