Media Advisory

28 July 2012

ANC Centenary Conference - 18/19 August.

“When Hope and History Rhyme” - a conference at Victoria University on how New Zealand helped end apartheid – part of an international series of events to mark the centenary of the African National Congress.

Major figures from the history of New Zealand’s fight against apartheid in South Africa are coming to Wellington to speak at the forthcoming ANC Centenary Conference at Victoria University.

M.A Stofile, now South Africa’s ambassador to Germany, is the principal speaker. Mr Stofile visited New Zealand several times during the controversy over sporting contacts with apartheid South Africa, and was a key contact for the anti-apartheid movement over many years. (Mr Stofile initiated the apology to Maori rugby players for their exclusion from All Black tours to South Africa.)

Two other speakers from Africa are New Zealand Anglican priests who were both targeted in assassination attempts but survived. Bishop John Osmers and Fr Michael Lapsley have spent their lives in southern Africa, continuing their pastoral work originally stimulated by their deep opposition to racism.

Fr Lapsley is director of a trauma healing centre in Cape Town, while Bishop Osmers assists the Anglican church in Lusaka, Zambia. Both men were sent letter bombs while working with the ANC in frontline states, with Fr Osmers losing one hand in 1979, and Fr Lapsley both, along with other serious injuries, as late as 1990.

Organised as a contribution to mark the centenary of the African National Congress, the conference will be moderated by Trevor Richards, the original chairperson and chief activist of HART, Halt All Racist Tours.

Sue Ryall, convenor of the organising committee, says the conference will be a unique opportunity to remember and explore a vital period in New Zealand’s recent history.

“It’s much more than a nostalgic journey down memory lane. We have people contributing from many viewpoints –political and cultural commentators, as well as the activists who led campaigns. The conference will be a living archive of a critical period which saw New Zealand split in two over the apartheid issue, in particular the contact with apartheid sport. The conflict also caused many New Zealanders to reflect deeply on our own racial and cultural issues and has been influential in the development of our politics since.”

Local contributors to the conference include Peter Harris, Pat Hohepa, Ripeka Evans, Mike Law, Margaret Hayward, Russell Marshall, Ted Thomas, Geoff Chapple, Rosslyn Noonan and Jock Phillips. New Zealand sportspeople who made a stand on the issue will also speak – All Blacks Bob Burgess and Graham Mourie, and athlete Anne Hare.

To register for the conference email catts2011@gmail.com

ENDS

© Scoop Media