Verwoerd talks reconciliation at UJ, on Mandela Day

In celebration of Mandela’s dedication to transformation, the Transformation Unit at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) hosted Alistair Little and Wilhelm Verwoed, grandson of apartheid architect Hendrick Verwoerd, on Thursday, 18 July 2013 as part of the “Open Conversations” lecture series.

Little, a former loyalist political prisoner from an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) background who was imprisoned at the age of 17, serving almost thirteen years in prison, is an experienced reconciliation worker in Northern Ireland, Ireland, the Balkans, the Middle East, and South Africa.

The two reconciliation workers engaged and celebrated “Reconciliation”; not only as a Mandela legacy, but also as an effective means of transformation and nation building. They both believe that in order to reconcile and form a better society where everyone can live in peace, we have to connect on a human level and cultivate the aspects of humanity over time​​