Nyameko Barney Pityana FKC GCOB (born 7 August 1945) is a

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

lawyer and theologian in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He is an exponent of Black theology.

Biography

Pityana was born in

Uitenhage Uitenhage ( ; ), officially renamed Kariega, is a South African town in the Eastern Cape Province. It is well known for the Volkswagen factory located there, which is the biggest car factory on the African continent. Along with the city of Port El ...

and attended the

University of Fort Hare The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution of higher education for Africans from 1916 to 1959 when it offered a Western-style academic education to students from across sub ...

. He was one of the founding members of the

South African Students' Organisation The South African Students' Organisation (SASO) was a body of black South African university students who resisted apartheid through non-violent political action. The organisation was formed in 1969 under the leadership of Steve Biko and Barney ...

of the

Black Consciousness Movement The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Afri ...

with

Steve Biko Bantu Stephen Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known ...

and Harry Ranwedzi Nenwekhulu. He was also a member of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

Youth League, and was suspended for challenging the authority of the

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

teachers and the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

principles of "Bantu education". Pityana received a degree from the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

in 1976 but was barred from practicing law in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

by the

government. He was banned by the apartheid government from public activity. Pityana went into exile in 1978, studying theology at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

and training for the ministry

Ripon College Cuddesdon Ripon College Cuddesdon is a Church of England theological college in Cuddesdon, a village outside Oxford, England. The College trains men and women for ministry in the Church of England: stipendiary, non-stipendiary, local ordained and lay min ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. Thereafter he served as an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

curate in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

and as a vicar in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. From 1988 to 1992 he was Director of the Programme to Combat Racism at the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

in Geneva. Pityana returned to South Africa in 1993, following the end of apartheid. He continued working in theology and human rights, completing a PhD in Religious Studies at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

in 1995. He was appointed a member of the

South African Human Rights Commission The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was inaugurated in October 1995 as an independent chapter nine institution. It draws its mandate from the South African Constitution by way of the Human Rights Commission Act of 1994. Commissioner ...

in 1995, and served as chairman of the commission from 1995 to 2001. He also served on the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights at the

Organisation of African Unity The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; french: Organisation de l'unité africaine, OUA) was an intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 32 signatory governments. One of the main heads for OAU's ...

in 1997. Professor Pityana became Vice-Chancellor and Principal for the

in 2001 and held the position for nine years. In 2008 following the resignation of former President

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...

as a President of

, Prof Pityana and other former prominent

ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

members formed a rival party to the

called Congress of the People. Those former ANC members and leaders included Allan Aubrey Boesak, Mosiuoa Gerard Patrick Lekota,

Smuts Ngonyama Lulama Smuts Ngonyama (born 22 August 1952) is a South African ambassador previously to Spain and currently to Japan, and a former head of communications for the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa. He was born in Uitenhage, attended s ...

William Mothipa Madisha William Mothipa Madisha is a South African trade unionist and politician. Madisha is the former President of both the Congress of South African Trade Unions (from 1999 to 2008) and the South African Democratic Teachers Union (from 1996 to 2008). ...

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (; born 3 November 1955), South African Government Information. is a South African politician and former United Nations official, who served as the Executive Director of UN Women with the rank of Under-Secretary-General ...

and many others who worked for the formation of

COPE The cope (known in Latin as ''pluviale'' 'rain coat' or ''cappa'' 'cape') is a liturgical vestment, more precisely a long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colours, litu ...

secretly. Up to date, Prof Barney Pityana has not announced his return to the

instead the cabinet that is led by

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician who is currently serving as the fifth democratically elected president of South Africa. Formerly an anti-apartheid activist, trade union leader, and ...

appointed him at age 76 to chair the National Lotteries Commission. He was the rector of the

College of the Transfiguration The College of the Transfiguration in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, is the only provincial residential college of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, offering a contextual approach to theology studies. The college opened in 1993, following the amal ...

(Anglican) in

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

(from 2011 until 2014), He is the President of Convocation of the

Awards

His work in human rights has been widely recognised, and in December 2002, he was awarded an Honourable Mention of the 2002

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Prize for Human Rights Education.

Current politics

He is founder of Congress of the People in 2008 and he has never made an announcement to leave it or join another political organisation. He is known to be a vocal critic of the former ANC leadership under Jacob Zuma, called for the resignation of Zuma, and has links with grassroots movements opposed to the ANC.

References

External links

University of South Africa profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pityana, Barney 1945 births Living people People from Uitenhage Xhosa people 21st-century South African Anglican priests 20th-century South African lawyers Alumni of King's College London Fellows of King's College London University of Fort Hare alumni Members of the Academy of Science of South Africa Order of the Baobab University of Cape Town alumni

Biography

Awards

Current politics

See also

References

External links