Hamilton appointed to the board of the Nelson Mandela Foundation

Carolyn Hamilton, NRF Research Chair in Archive & Public Culture at UCT, has been appointed as a Trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. 

When asked by the Foundation on the occasion of her appointment what role she would play on the Board, Hamilton commented: ‘As a trustee I will need to make contributions in the area of my particular expertise, the role of the archive in public life. What social and political roles have the memory and archive of Madiba played in public life up until now, and what role should or could they play going forward? Who mobilises the memory and archive of Madiba, and with what purposes and effects? These are the kinds of questions I have spent a lifetime researching, and the area in which my Research Chair is located. They are of central importance to the Foundation which bears special responsibilities in relation to the legacy of Madiba.’

Hamilton joins fellow trustees Professor Njabulo Ndebele, an APC research associate and Chair of the Board of Trustees; Nelson Mandela’s friend and former prison comrade, Ahmed Kathrada; trade unionist and former Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe; Tokyo Sexwale, released from Robben Island at the same time as Nelson Mandela in 1990, and founder of Global Watch, an organisation working to eliminate racism in sport; businessman and finance expert Sello Moloko; long-standing activist citizen Dr Mamphela Ramphele; leading businesswoman Dr Futhi Mtoba; social campaigner Irene Menell; corporate affairs expert Maya Makanjee; and media specialist and committed outreach activist Nikiwe Bikitsha.