7th Annual Social Justice Lecture

The Annual Social Justice Lecture (“SJ Lecture”) is hosted by Professor Thuli Madonsela, in her capacity as the Director of the Centre for Social Justice (“CSJ”) at Stellenbosch University. The annual lecture is arranged in commemoration of World Social Justice Day, annually observed on 20 February.The Lecture is part of

various activities of the CSJ and the extensive Social Justice M-Plan (Musa-Plan for Social Justice), launched in 2018.

The Musa-Plan is a social justice accelerator programme that aims to catalyse the process of ending poverty and equalising life opportunities by 2030 as envisaged in the National Development Plan (NDP) read with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The idea of the Lecture is to spotlight social justice as a global challenge and catalyse efforts to transform societies to become more socially just by becoming places where there is equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms for all.

The 2026 SJ Lecture will be delivered by Rt Hon. Baroness Amos LG CH. Baroness Valerie Amos has been the Master of University College Oxford since September 2020. Prior to this she was the Director of SOAS, University of London. She has consistently sustained an interest in, and commitment to, issues of equality and social justice. Baroness Amos’ career has spanned local and national government in the UK as well as global leadership in her role as Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs at the United Nations. She served as UK High Commissioner to Australia and between 1994 and 1998 worked extensively in South Africa.