The opening address at the 2010 Rhodes Graduation Ceremony on Thursday, 8 April will be given by Peter Harris, award-winning author of “In A Different Time”, a book that deals with the inside story of the Delmas trial.
The graduation ceremonies take place at the 1820 Settlers Monument from Thursday 8 April to Saturday 10 April. This year’s graduation also includes addresses by Rob Davies, Minister of Trade and Industry, Abdullah Ibrahim, Marlene Dumas, Justice Kathleen Satchwell and Gordon Cragg - each selected for the unique contribution they have made in their field of expertise, and to society in general.
Harris will speak on Thursday evening directly after the Rhodes Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor’s addresses in the Guy Butler Auditorium, at the Monument as a precursor to the Faculty of Humanities graduation ceremony.
Harris was the defence attorney for the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Delmas Four - Jabu Masina, Ting Ting Masang, Neo Potsane and Joseph Makhura - who were sentenced to death in 1989 for high treason. They infiltrated South Africa as an experienced and highly trained MK cell under direct orders of the late Chris Hani.
The trial started on 1 February 1989 but the death sentences were set aside. The four were released in 1991 and were granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in 1998.
Harris’ book has received critical acclaim, not only because of its riveting account of how events unfolded as he attempted to keep his clients off death row, but also for the personal insights he gives into the lives of four ordinary men and what drove them to take up arms against the oppressive regime of the day. Harris is concerned that people should have a shared understanding of South Africa’s past and wrote the book in part to shed light on that period in South Africa’s history.
Harris did his schooling at Michaelhouse and studied Law at Rhodes University in the ‘70s. He also had a stint at Warwick University in the UK. After practising law for 15 years at Cheadle, Thompson and Haysom, he was seconded to the National Peace Accord in the early 1990s, after which he headed up the Monitoring Directorate of the Independent Electoral Commission for the historic 1994 elections in South Africa.
Considered something of an expert on democracy and elections, especially electoral operations, Harris has done international consulting for the United Nations in a number of countries, including Mexico and Haiti, and was Programme Director at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance in Sweden for two years.
On his return to South Africa, Harris co-founded and became Managing Director of the Resolve Group Management Consultancy in 1999, with a focus on providing advisory services and legal, strategic, business and operational planning and implementation work for governments, parastatals and corporates. He is currently Executive Chairman of the Resolve Group and continues to serve as an operations consultant for the UN.