‘Dumps and Dead Miners’ - South African Constitutionalism

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‘Dumps and Dead Miners’ – South African Constitutionalism

Feat. Tshepo Madlingozi 30th March 2026 1h 8m

Discussion with Prof Tshepo Madlingozi on the legacies of colonialism and Apartheid as we approach the 30th anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the adoption of the Constitution of South Africa, signed by President Mandela in 1996. Madlingozi speaks of his childhood lived in the midst of environmental racism and racist capitalism as his father toiled in the mines, and his family contended with separations and living next to a ‘shit dump’ where effluent from white suburbs was disposed. We consider how world-destroying aspects of colonialism have survived in the supposedly post-apartheid era. Madlingozi explains what it would mean to reconstitute a society and nation in the context of decolonisation?

BIO: Prof Tshepo Madlingozi is a Human Rights Commissioner in South Africa (leading on anti-racism, education, and equality); and Extraordinary Professor, Centre for Social Justice, Stellenbosch University.

He held academic posts at the University of Pretoria, and was Director of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) at Wits University. He holds multiple degrees in law, including a PhD from Birkbeck, University of London. For thirteen years (2005-2018) he worked with and for Khulumani Support Group, a 120000-strong social movement of victims and survivors of Apartheid as National Advocacy Coordinator and later the Chairperson.