James Randolph Vigne FSA (1928 – 19 June 2016) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. He was an influential member of the

Liberal Party of South Africa The Liberal Party of South Africa was a South African political party from 1953 to 1968. Founding The party was founded on 9 May 1953 at a meeting of the South African Liberal Association in Cape Town. Essentially it grew out of a belief that ...

, a founding member of the National Committee for Liberation, and the founder of the

African Resistance Movement The African Resistance Movement (ARM) was a militant anti-apartheid resistance movement, which operated in South Africa during the early and mid-1960s. It was founded in 1960, as the National Committee of Liberation (NCL), by members of South Af ...

(ARM).

Biography

Vigne was born in 1928 in

Kimberley, Northern Cape Kimberley is the capital and largest city of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due to it ...

, attended primary school 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 ...

and did his high schooling at St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown, where he enjoyed a spell as head boy at the age of 13 in 1941. That same year he joined the

Van Riebeeck Society Historical Publications Southern Africa (HiPSA) is a South African text publication society which publishes or republishes primary sources relating to southern African history. It was founded in 1918 as the Van Riebeeck Society for the Publicati ...

. He did his higher education at

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

, after which he returned to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

and served as English editor at the publisher Maskew Miller until 1964. Vigne was

banned A ban is a formal or informal prohibition of something. Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some bans in commerce are referred to as embargoes. ''Ban'' is also used as a verb similar in meaning ...

for five years in 1963 under the

Suppression of Communism Act The Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 (Act No. 44 of 1950), renamed the Internal Security Act in 1976, was legislation of the national government in apartheid South Africa which formally banned the Communist Party of South Africa and proscribed ...

, for his activities in

Transkei Transkei (, meaning ''the area beyond he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei ( xh, iRiphabliki yeTranskei), was an unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa from 1976 to 1994. It was, along with Ciskei, a Ban ...

in organising opposition to the Transkei

Bantustan A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now N ...

. He went into exile in Britain in 1964, where he founded the Namibia Support Committee. For a period he was a member of the

Pan Africanist Congress The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (known as the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC)) is a South African national liberation Pan-Africanist movement that is now a political party. It was founded by an Africanist group, led by Robert Sobukwe, that ...

. He wrote widely on South Africa and Namibian politics and history. He served as a director of the French Hospital for some thirty years and was its treasurer for ten. Vigne died in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

, England, on 19 June 2016.

Published works

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Honours and awards

In April 2010 Vigne was awarded the

Order of Luthuli The Order of Luthuli is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003, and is granted by the President (government title), president of South Africa, for contributions to South Africa in the following fields: (i) the struggle for ...

in Silver for "his contribution to the struggle for a democratic, free and non-racial South Africa".

Notes and references

Sources

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External links

Profile on SA History Online
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vigne, James Randolph 1928 births 2016 deaths Alumni of St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown South African political philosophers Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Liberal Party of South Africa politicians Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Members of the Order of Luthuli