Curators: Rucera Seethal and Niren Tolsi

Production Assistant: Shenka Naidoo

Photo credit: Paul Botes - After Marikana Project

Niren Tolsi (Moderator) is an award-winning South African journalist, writer and curator based in Cape Town. He is the recipient of the Ruth First Fellowship and his journalism awards include the 2009 South African Journalist of the Year (Feature category) and the 2016 South African Arts Journalist of the Year.

He is currently interested in transitioning investigative journalism into new multi-media spaces including installations and exhibitions. He is especially interested in the transformative effects of art, inclusion and repair, on survivors of intergenerational violence and trauma. His major work is the ongoing “slow journalism” project, After Marikana, with photographer Paul Botes. In 2022 he directed and co-curated the Marikana, Ten Years On exhibition and public engagement programme at the National Arts Festival. A pop-up version of this exhibition with accompanying art-making workshops has travelled to communities affected by mining and state violence. In 2016 he and the late Peter McKenzie (Durban Centre of Photography) worked on ‘The Con-Struction Cartel’ investigation and exhibition supported by the Goethe Institute and the Taco Kuiper Foundation.

He was one of the founders of The Con, a now defunct long-form and literary magazine produced in Johannesburg from 2014-2017. His areas of journalistic interest include Constitutional Law and the politics of the judiciary, the rise of Jacob Zuma, environmental crisis and authoritarianism; social justice; urban politics; fine arts; jazz music; Test cricket and the politics of food.

Albie Sachs is an activist , writer and former judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa (1994 – 2009). He began practising as an advocate at the Cape Bar at the age of 21, defending people charged under the racial statutes and security laws of apartheid. After two spells of being detained in solitary confinement without trial, first for five months, then for three months, he went into exile in England, where he completed a PhD at Sussex University.

In 1988, he lost his right arm and his sight in one eye when a bomb was placed in his car by South African security agents in Maputo, Mozambique. After the bombing, he devoted himself to the preparations for a new democratic constitution for South Africa. When he returned home from exile, he served as a member of the Constitutional Committee and the National Executive of the African National Congress until the first democratic elections in 1994. While serving on the Constitutional Court, he was instrumental in creating the Constitutional Court’s Artwork Collection.

After his term on the Court came to an end, he has remained active in his retirement working to promote restorative justice, gender equality and constitutional democracy. He travels around the world to many countries sharing South African experiences that might help heal divided societies.

Currently, he is a Board member of the Constitution Hill Trust, which promotes constitutionalism and the rule of law. He is a trustee of the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation, and founder and trustee of the Albie Sachs Trust for Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law (ASCAROL). ASCAROL is in the process of developing a curated conspectus of the love, life, law, literature and laughter of Albie Sachs.

He is the author of several books, including The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs, Justice in South Africa, Sexism and the Law, Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter and The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law. His latest books are We, the People: Insights of an activist judge (2016) and Oliver Tambo’s Dream (2017). In 2022 he was the first recipient of the Award called The Albie from the Amal and George Clooney Foundation for Justice for people who fight against odds for Justice.

Nyasha Mboti is the founder of the new field of Apartheid Studies (AS) which utilises, elaborates, and develops the notion of “apartheid” as a theoretical framework and paradigm for the systematic study of the persistence of harm, injustice, and oppression. His book on the subject, Apartheid Studies: A Manifesto, was published in 2023 by Africa World Press. He is Associate Professor and Head of Department of Communication Science at the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein.

Franny Rabkin is the legal reporter at the Sunday Times and the editor of Advocate, the journal of the General Council of the Bar. A journalist for over 15 years, she has previously worked at the Mail & Guardian and Business Day and has also had bylines in the UK's Financial Times and Guardian newspapers. Prior to becoming a journalist, she practised as an attorney at Bowman Gilfillan Attorneys in Johannesburg and clerked at the Constitutional Court for former Chief Justice Pius Langa, at the time deputy chief justice. She obtained her BA and LLB degrees at the University of Cape Town and her Journalism Honours at Wits University. Her reporting focuses on constitutional litigation, the judiciary and litigation impacting on democracy, the political landscape and the rule of law. She is interested in the history of the law and of justice in South Africa.

Carole Umulinga Karemera holds a Bachelor in Drama and Music from The Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Mons (Belgium) and a diploma in Cultural leadership from the African Arts institute (South Africa). She is the co-founder and executive Director of Ishyo, one of the most dynamic women-led arts organisations based in Kigali, involved in advocacy, capacity building, cultural policy, creation, production and promotion of the creative sector in Rwanda. She is a member of the Executive Committee of Assitej International (international Association for theatre and performing arts for young audiences). She also served as board member of African World Heritage Fund, of the Rwanda Academy of Culture and Heritage and is the former Deputy Secretary General of the Arterial Network. 

For the past 30 years, she has performed in internationally acclaimed theatre, dance and film productions such as “Battlefield” directed by Peter Brook, "Rwanda 94" & “Anathema” directed by Jacques Delcuvellerie, “Scratching the inner fields” by Wim Vandekeybus, "Sometimes in April" directed by Raoul Peck, "Sound of sand" directed by Marion Hansel, “We call it love” by Felwine Sarr & "Jaz"by Koffi Kwahulé directed by Denis Mpunga, "Blind spot" by Hassiba Halabi, etc. She is an arts manager, an activist supporting freedom of creative expression in Africa. She is the producer of Kina Festival (International performing arts festival for young audience), Home sweet home festival, and co-producer of Kuya Kwetu Festival and Rwanda International literature. Her current artistic works focus on ecology and participatory arts, social justice issues, arts for young audiences and memory in/of public spaces.