Barney Pityana

Professor Barney Pityana

Nyameko Barney Pityana FKC (born 7 August 1945) is a human rights lawyer and theologian in South Africa. He is an exponent of Black theology.^[1]

Pityana was born in Uitenhage and attended the University of Fort Hare. He was one of the founding members of the South African Students' Organisation of the Black Consciousness Movement with Steve Biko.^[2] He was also a member of the African National Congress Youth League,^{[citation needed]} and was suspended for challenging the authority of the Afrikaans teachers and the apartheid principles of "Bantu education".^{[citation needed]}

Pityana received a degree from the University of South Africa in 1976 but was barred from practicing law in Port Elizabeth by the apartheid government.^{[citation needed]} He was banned by the apartheid government from public activity.^{[citation needed]} Pityana went into exile in 1978, studying theology at King's College London and training for the ministry Ripon College Cuddesdon in Oxford.^[3] Thereafter he served as an Anglican curate in Milton Keynes and as a vicar in Birmingham.^[3] From 1988 to 1992 he was Director of the Programme to Combat Racism at the World Council of Churches in Geneva.^[3]

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 in 1995.^[3] He was appointed a member of the South African Human Rights Commission in 1995, and served as chairman of the commission from 1995 to 2001.^[3] He also served on the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights at the Organisation of African Unity in 1997.

His work in human rights has been widely recognised, and in December 2002, he was awarded an Honourable Mention of the 2002 UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education.^[4]

Professor Pityana became Vice-Chancellor and Principal for the University of South Africa in 2001.

He is a vocal critic of the present ANC leadership under Jacob Zuma.

References

1. ^ Pityana, Barney. "Black Theology and the struggle for liberation." Index on Censorship. October 1983. Web. 26 Jul. 2010.
2. ^ "ABRIDGED RESUME: Nyameko Barney Pityana". All-Africa Ministers' Conference on Open Learning and Distance Education. http://www.africaodl.org/conference/cv%20pityana.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-02. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Nyameko Barney Pityana's Biography". International Council for Open and Distance Education. http://www.icde.org/oslo/icde.nsf/id/345FB02BDACDD00CC12573D70040402F?OpenDocument. Retrieved 2008-11-02. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "Academia Mexicana de Derechos Humanos wins 2002 UNESCO Human Rights Education Prize". UNESCO. http://www.unesco.org/bpi/eng/unescopress/2002/02-92e.shtml. Retrieved 2008-11-02. 

External links

• University of South Africa profile

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Name	Pityana, Barney
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Date of birth	1945-08-07
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