Public Lecture Commemorates Renowned Author, Alan Paton

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Renowned author Alan Paton had been a passionate reformer in the field of justice for children, Director of the Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria, Professor Ann Skelton, revealed during the 22^nd Alan Paton Lecture which she delivered at the Colin Webb Hall on UKZN’s Pietermaritzburg campus.

This lecture, hosted by UKZN’S Alan Paton Centre and Struggle Archives, has been given since 1994, to commemorate Paton’s life and to discuss topics which Paton was most involved in during his lifetime.

Skelton, who has worked as a human rights lawyer in South Africa for 25 years specialising in children’s rights, is also an established researcher, and has published extensively in the fields of child law, family law, constitutional law, criminal justice and restorative justice.

Skelton said it was a great honour to be invited to deliver the Alan Paton Lecture, and a pleasure to be back in her home town of Pietermaritzburg and Alma Mater, UKZN.

Her lecture, titled: "Vakasha: Alan Paton and Justice for Child Offenders", reflected on a side of Paton which was not well known.  She said although Paton was renowned for his writing, a part of him less public was that he was also a passionate reformer in the field of justice for children.

Skelton spoke of Paton becoming the principal at Diepkloof Reformatory School in 1935 where he experimented with other forms of punishment besides retributive and deterrent. He explored the ideas of reformatory punishment, which replaces the word punishment with treatment. Skelton spoke of Paton introducing controversial progressive reforms, including a system where boys at the school were encouraged to take personal responsibility and they were granted rewards and graduated freedom. Some of the changes he made included policy for open dormitories, work permits and home visitations. Boys were initially housed in closed dormitories and once they had proven themselves trustworthy they would be transferred to open dormitories within the compound.

Skelton spoke to a unique attribute of Paton’s approach, whereby he had placed importance on public ritual and ceremony. A ritual, referred to as ‘Vakasha’ meaning ‘to go for a walk’, entailed a boy receiving a shirt with a pocket covered with a piece of green cloth, called a ‘Vakasha badge’. This was a confirmation of the gradual freedom a boy had received.

Skelton had noted that in 1946, Paton went on an international tour to look at reformatory schools in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway and the United States. And it was during this tour that he penned his famous book Cry the Beloved Country.

Skelton said in her concluding remarks that Paton played a vital role in bringing about justice for children, a vision which was before its time, as he had focused on each child as an individual. She noted that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child guides the modern approach to children’s rights, which advocates treating child offenders in a manner that promotes a child’s sense of dignity and worth. Its desired aim is to rehabilitate and re-integrate children as opposed to retribution. An aim she said Paton knew well of as he had practised ‘Ubuntu’.

Merusha Naidoo