1. Nyameko Barney Pityana FKC GCOB was born on 7 August 1945 and is a human rights lawyer and theologian in South Africa.
16 Facts About Barney Pityana
1. 2.
Barney Pityana was one of the founding members of the South African Students' Organisation of the Black Consciousness Movement with Steve Biko and Harry Ranwedzi Nenwekhulu.
3.
Barney Pityana was a member of the African National Congress Youth League, and was suspended for challenging the authority of the Afrikaans teachers and the apartheid principles of "Bantu education".
4.
Barney Pityana received a degree from the University of South Africa in 1976 but was barred from practicing law in Port Elizabeth by the apartheid government.
5.
Barney Pityana was banned by the apartheid government from public activity.
6.
Barney Pityana went into exile in 1978, studying theology at King's College London and training for the ministry Ripon College Cuddesdon in Oxford.
7.
Barney Pityana returned to South Africa in 1993, following the end of apartheid.
8.
Barney Pityana continued working in theology and human rights, completing a PhD in Religious Studies at the University of Cape Town in 1995.
9.
Barney Pityana was appointed a member of the South African Human Rights Commission in 1995, and served as chairman of the commission from 1995 to 2001.
10.
Barney Pityana served on the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights at the Organisation of African Unity in 1997.
11.
Professor Barney Pityana became Vice-Chancellor and Principal for the University of South Africa in 2001 and held the position for nine years.
12.
Up to date, Prof Barney Pityana has not announced his return to the African National Congress instead the cabinet that is led by Cyril Ramaphosa appointed him at age 76 to chair the National Lotteries Commission.
13.
Barney Pityana was the rector of the College of the Transfiguration in Grahamstown,.
14.
Barney Pityana is the President of Convocation of the University of Cape Town.
15.
Barney Pityana is founder of Congress of the People in 2008 and he has never made an announcement to leave it or join another political organisation.
16.
Barney Pityana is known to be a vocal critic of the former ANC leadership under Jacob Zuma, called for the resignation of Zuma, and has links with grassroots movements opposed to the ANC.