Date: Thursday, 15 October 2026

Venue: Kramer Law Building, Middle Campus, Rondebosch

Time: 5.30pm for 6pm, the lecture will be followed by refreshments

Francis Wilson, founding Director of SALDRU and DataFirst, was one of South Africa's leading economic researchers. His work, driven by a strong social conscience, highlighted the hardship and poverty created by the migrant labour system and the mining industry. He spearheaded the first nationally representative survey of South Africa and was a committed advocate for open data.

SALDRU and DataFirst are delighted to invite you to this year's Francis Wilson Memorial Lecture. We are happy to announce that the 4th annual Francis Wilson Memorial Lecture will be presented by Professor Sakhela Buhlungu, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Fort Hare.

Previously he was Dean of Humanities at the University of Cape Town and Deputy Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Pretoria.

He is the author of A Paradox of Victory: Unions and the democratic transformation of South Africa (2010, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press) and editor of COSATU's Contested Legacy: South African Trade Unions in the second decade of democracy (2012, HSRC Press & Brill, with Malehoko Tshoaedi) and Trade Unions and Democracy: COSATU Workers' Political Attitudes in South Africa (2006, HSRC Press).

You are invited to register for this in-person event using this LINK or scanning the QR code. 

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