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David Joseph Webster | |
---|---|
![]() Mosaic, David Webster Park | |
Born | David Joseph Webster 1 December 1944 |
Died | 1 May 1989 44) Troyeville, Johannesburg, South Africa | (aged
Cause of death | Murder (assassination) |
Resting place | West Park cemetery, Johannesburg |
Nationality | South African |
Alma mater | University of the Witwatersrand |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Social anthropologist |
Institutions | Rhodes University University of the Witwatersrand |
Notable students | Johnny Clegg Bruce Fordyce |
David Webster (1 December 1944 – 1 May 1989) was a South African academic and anti-apartheid activist. He worked as an anthropologist at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was a senior lecturer at the time of his assassination.
Webster was a founding member of the Detainees' Parents' Support Committee (DPSC) in 1981, a founder member of the Five Freedoms Forum, and a committed comrade in the United Democratic Front. Webster was also an active member of the Orlando Pirates supporters' club and he assisted in the mobilisation and organisation of South African musicians during the Struggle in the 1980s.
He was a long-term ethnographic researcher and his work near Kosi Bay on the Mozambican border resulted in a number of peer-reviewed academic publications.
Webster was assassinated by apartheid security forces outside his home on 1 May 1989.
David Joseph Webster was born in 1944 in Northern Rhodesia, where his father worked as a miner in the Copperbelt. He studied at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, where he was involved in student politics. [1]
In 1970, Webster started teaching anthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). His doctorate had been written on a traditional topic of anthropology (kinship), but it was focused on a politically explosive field, namely migrant workers from Mozambique. In 1976, he taught for two years with Peter Worsley at the University of Manchester.
Webster was active in the political anti-apartheid movement, especially in the 1980s for the Detainees' Parents' Support Committee, an organisation advocating the release of political detainees held without trial in South Africa. [1]
His brother Eddie Webster, was a sociologist in Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, Wits. [2] [3]
Webster was shot dead outside his house at 13 Eleanor Street in Troyeville, Johannesburg, by assassins in the employ of the Civil Cooperation Bureau, a clandestine agency of the apartheid state. [4] Thousands of people attended Webster's funeral service at St Mary's Cathedral, Johannesburg. [5]
The hit squad was paid R40,000 (at the time, equivalent to about US$8,000) for his murder. Ferdi Barnard, the man who pulled the trigger on the shotgun used, was later tried and found guilty in 1998; he was sentenced to two life terms plus 63 years for a number of crimes, including the murder of Webster. [6] Barnard was released from prison on 2 April 2019, after his parole was approved by Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha in March 2019. [7] Although Barnard was released, his life sentence was not commuted. Therefore, he will serve the remainder of his sentence in the community, and be monitored by the Community Corrections Office. [8]
Dr Webster was an active member of the Orlando Pirates supporters' club. Members of the supporters' club formed a guard of honour around his coffin at his funeral.
The house in Troyeville where Webster lived with his partner Maggie Friedman has been declared a heritage site. On the site of his assassination outside David Webster House there is a mosaic that includes the words "Assassinated here for his fight against apartheid. Lived for justice, peace and friendship". [9] A nearby park in Clarence Street (previously called Bloemenhof Park) was renamed the David Webster Park on the 20th anniversary of his death. [1] There is also a mosaic in the park by Jacob Ramaboya from the Spaza Gallery which commemorates his life.
In 1992, the University of the Witwatersrand named a new Hall of Residence Webster's honour. The David Webster Hall of Residence is now home to about 400 Wits University students.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, also known as Winnie Mandela, was a South African anti-apartheid activist and the second wife of Nelson Mandela. She served as a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 2003, and from 2009 until her death, and was a deputy minister of arts and culture from 1994 to 1996. A member of the African National Congress (ANC) political party, she served on the ANC's National Executive Committee and headed its Women's League. Madikizela-Mandela was known to her supporters as the "Mother of the Nation".
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The university has its roots in the mining industry, as do Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand in general. Founded in 1896 as the South African School of Mines in Kimberley, it is the third oldest South African university in continuous operation.
Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe OMSG was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and founding member of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), serving as the first president of the organization.
Neil Aggett was a Kenyan and South African doctor and trade union organiser who was killed, while in detention, by the Security Branch of the Apartheid South African Police Service after being held for 70 days without trial.
The Witwatersrand Gold Rush was a gold rush that began in 1886 and led to the establishment of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was a part of the Mineral Revolution.
Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada OMSG, sometimes known by the nickname "Kathy", was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist.
Valli Moosa is Deputy Chairperson of the Presidential Climate Commission and Chairperson of the Constitution Hill trust. He was born in Johannesburg and is a veteran of the South African freedom struggle. Valli worked closely with Nelson Mandela during the settlement talks, served as negotiator for the ANC, and participated in drafting the South African Constitution. He served in President Mandela's cabinet as Minister of Constitutional Development, and in President Mbeki's government as Environment Minister. Valli joined the corporate sector in 2004 and currently serves on the board of Sappi Ltd. He has previously served on the boards of Anglo Platinum, Eskom and Sanlam. Valli served as a facilitator in the global climate change negotiations for a number of years. He previously served as President of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as Chairman of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and as Chairman of WWF(SA).
Bertrams is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is a small suburb found on the eastern edge of the Johannesburg central business district (CBD), tucked between the suburbs of New Doornfontein and Lorentzville, with Troyeville to the south. It is located in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.
The National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) was an important force for liberalism and later radicalism in South African student anti-apartheid politics. Its mottos included non-racialism and non-sexism.
The South African Civil Cooperation Bureau (CCB), was a government-sponsored death squad, during the apartheid era. The CCB, operated under the authority of Defence Minister General Magnus Malan. The Truth and Reconciliation Committee pronounced the CCB guilty of numerous killings, and suspected more killings.
Internal resistance to apartheid in South Africa originated from several independent sectors of South African society and took forms ranging from social movements and passive resistance to guerrilla warfare. Mass action against the ruling National Party (NP) government, coupled with South Africa's growing international isolation and economic sanctions, were instrumental in leading to negotiations to end apartheid, which began formally in 1990 and ended with South Africa's first multiracial elections under a universal franchise in 1994.
Ari Sitas is a South African sociologist, writer, dramatist and civic activist.
Amina CachaliaOLB was a South African anti-Apartheid activist, women's rights activist, and politician. She was a longtime friend and ally of former President Nelson Mandela.
Cedric Nunn is a South African photographer and educator.
Louis Marius Schoon was a white anti-apartheid activist of Afrikaner descent. Marius died from lung cancer, after a long call from Nelson Mandela, thanking him for his sacrifice against the struggle.
The David Webster House is at 13 Eleanor Street in Troyeville and it is important not only because this is where the anti-apartheid activist David Webster lived but it is also where he was killed by a government assassin. The house is still in private ownership but it is decorated to commemorate his life.
Mary Malahlela-Xakana was the first Black woman to register as a medical doctor in South Africa. She was also a founding member of the Young Women’s Christian Association.
Maxwell Sakhela Buhlungu is a South African sociology professor and university administrator. He is the current vice chancellor of University of Fort Hare and the former dean of humanities at University of Cape Town. Buhlungu's work focuses on the labour and other social movements. He has also taught at the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Johannesburg, and the University of Pretoria. At Fort Hare, his efforts to combat corruption lead to threats that culminated in a January 2023 assassination attempt that killed his bodyguard. Before academia, Buhlungu worked as a teacher and was the assistant general secretary of the Paper, Printing and Allied Workers' Union.
Eddie Roux was a Transvaal Colony-born botanist, academic, writer, member of the South African Communist Party and anti-apartheid activist.
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