Randolph Vigne

James Randolph Vigne FSA (1928 – 19 June 2016) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. He was an influential member of the Liberal Party of South Africa,[1][2] a founding member of the National Committee for Liberation, and the founder of the African Resistance Movement (ARM).[3]

Randolph Vigne
Born1928
Kimberley, Northern Cape
Died19 June 2016(2016-06-19) (aged 87–88)
Canterbury, England
Other namesJames Randolph Vigne
Occupationanti-apartheid activist
Notable work
Liberals Against Apartheid
AwardsOrder of Luthuli

Biography

Vigne was born in 1928 in Kimberley, Northern Cape, attended primary school in Port Elizabeth and did his high schooling at St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown, where he enjoyed a spell as head boy at the age of 13 in 1941. That same year he joined the Van Riebeeck Society. He did his higher education at Wadham College, Oxford, after which he returned to Cape Town and served as English editor at the publisher Maskew Miller until 1964.

Vigne was banned for five years in 1963 under the Suppression of Communism Act, for his activities in Transkei in organising opposition to the Transkei Bantustan. He went into exile in Britain in 1964, where he founded the Namibia Support Committee. For a period he was a member of the Pan Africanist Congress. He wrote widely on South Africa and Namibian politics and history.[4]

He served as a director of the French Hospital for some thirty years and was its treasurer for ten.[5]

Vigne died in Canterbury, England, on 19 June 2016.[6][7]

Published works
  • Bessie Head (1991). Randolph Vigne (ed.). A Gesture of Belonging: Letters from Bessie Head, 1965–1979. SA Writers. ISBN 978-0-435-08059-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Elder, Arlene A.; Abrahams, Cecil; Vigne, Randolph (1993). "Bessie Head: New Considerations, Continuing Questions". Callaloo. 16 (1): 277. doi:10.2307/2931833. ISSN 0161-2492. JSTOR 2931833.
  • Vigne, Randolph (1997). Liberals Against Apartheid: A History of the Liberal Party of South Africa, 1953–68. MacMillan. ISBN 978-0-312-17738-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Vigne, Randolph (1998). "South Africa's First Published Work of Literature and its Author, Pierre Simond". South African Historical Journal. 39 (1): 3–16. doi:10.1080/02582479808671326. ISSN 0258-2473.
  • Vigne, Randolph (2007). "SWAPO of Namibia: A movement in exile". Third World Quarterly. 9 (1): 85–107. doi:10.1080/01436598708419963. ISSN 0143-6597.
  • Murdoch, Tessa; Vigne, Randolph (2009). The French Hospital in England:Its Huguenot History and Collections (1st ed.). Cambridge: John Adamson. ISBN 978-0-9524322-7-2. Retrieved 22 July 2016.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Vigne, Randolph (2011). "Lady Russell's Cup, 1703". The Antiquaries Journal. 76: 258–262. doi:10.1017/S0003581500047570. ISSN 0003-5815.
  • Vigne, Randolph (2012). Thomas Pringle: South African Pioneer, Poet and Abolitionist. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84701-052-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)[8]

Honours and awards

In April 2010 Vigne was awarded the Order of Luthuli in Silver for "his contribution to the struggle for a democratic, free and non-racial South Africa".[9][10]

Notes and references
  1. Lipton, Merle (2000). "White Liberals, 'the Left' and the New Africanist Elite in South Africa". International Affairs. 76 (2): 333–343. doi:10.1111/1468-2346.00138. ISSN 0020-5850.
  2. Lodge, Tom (2007). "The Cape Town troubles, March‐April 1960". Journal of Southern African Studies. 4 (2): 216–239. doi:10.1080/03057077808707986. ISSN 0305-7070.
  3. Driver & Sampson 1980, p. 153.
  4. Swanepoel 2007, p. 99.
  5. Murdoch & Vigne 2009, p. Dust jacket.
  6. Nienaber, Malherbe (23 June 2016). "Aktivis Randolph Vigne (87) oorlede" [Activist Randolph Vigne (87) passed away]. Netwerk24 (in Afrikaans). Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  7. Kisting, Denver. "Struggle hero Vigne dies". The Namibian. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  8. "New: Randolph Vigne's Biography of the "Father of South African Poetry", Thomas Pringle". UCT Press @ Sunday Times Books LIVE. 3 December 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  9. "James Randolph Vigne". thepresidency.gov.za. Archived from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  10. "National Orders awards April 2010". South African Government. Retrieved 23 June 2016.

Sources
  • Profile on SA History Online
  • Letter to Prof. Z. K. Matthews regarding Prof. Monica Wilson and the papers Prof. Matthews had left behind after the 1961 T. B. Davie Memorial Lecture in Cape Town, 24 August 1961, hdl:10500/6758
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