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A case study of aspects of the political life of Advocate Benjamin Magson Kies (1917 - 1979) and of "The Torch" newspaper with which he was closely connected, showing how the criminal justice system in South Africa was employed in an attempt to silence political and ideological opposition to the apartheid regime

Charles van Onselen( 1) writes that in his biography of Nongoloza Mathebula "we , can ,see ..... the story of one man's search for justice within the context of the most important labour repressive institutions that developed during the South African industrial revolution. He states that he has prov...

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Main Author: Cavernelis, Dennis Burt
Other Authors: Rose-Innes, Laurie
Format: Thesis
Language:English
English
Published: Centre for Law and Society 2026
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access_status_str Open Access
author Cavernelis, Dennis Burt
author2 Rose-Innes, Laurie
author_browse Cavernelis, Dennis Burt
Rose-Innes, Laurie
author_facet Rose-Innes, Laurie
Cavernelis, Dennis Burt
author_sort Cavernelis, Dennis Burt
collection Thesis
description Charles van Onselen( 1) writes that in his biography of Nongoloza Mathebula "we , can ,see ..... the story of one man's search for justice within the context of the most important labour repressive institutions that developed during the South African industrial revolution. He states that he has provided a local illustration of the assertion by C Wright Mills that: "the biographies of men and women, the kinds of individuals they variously become, cannot be understood without reference to the historical structures in which the miliEH,IX of their everyday life are organised." (2) . This paper is in some respects both biographical and historical. B M Kies was a leading figure in the Anti-CAD (Coloured Affairs Department) Movement, The Teachers' League of South Africa and the Non-European Unity Movement, sectors of the liberatory movement in South Africa. His involvement in the liberatory struggle began in his student days in the late 193Os and continued up to the time of his death at the end of the 1970s. This paper is not a political biography of BM Kies, but the story of his life (which has yet to be written) may also accurately be described as "the story of one man's search for justice". The focus of this study will be on the contact which B M Kies had with the criminal justice foe system and the broader legal system in South Africa from 1948, when the Nationalist government with its platform of apartheid policies came to power, to 1963 when that government's repressive measures to enforce its apartheid policies reached new heights. A number of reported Supreme Court decisions will be considered. These decisions, all relate to cases in which B M Kies was either directly or indirectly involved as a result of his political activities .
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language English
eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:47:51.910Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
publishDateSort 2026
publisher Centre for Law and Society
publisherStr Centre for Law and Society
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42871 A case study of aspects of the political life of Advocate Benjamin Magson Kies (1917 - 1979) and of "The Torch" newspaper with which he was closely connected, showing how the criminal justice system in South Africa was employed in an attempt to silence political and ideological opposition to the apartheid regime Cavernelis, Dennis Burt Rose-Innes, Laurie Benjamin Magson Kies The Torch newspaper criminal justice system South Africa Charles van Onselen( 1) writes that in his biography of Nongoloza Mathebula "we , can ,see ..... the story of one man's search for justice within the context of the most important labour repressive institutions that developed during the South African industrial revolution. He states that he has provided a local illustration of the assertion by C Wright Mills that: "the biographies of men and women, the kinds of individuals they variously become, cannot be understood without reference to the historical structures in which the miliEH,IX of their everyday life are organised." (2) . This paper is in some respects both biographical and historical. B M Kies was a leading figure in the Anti-CAD (Coloured Affairs Department) Movement, The Teachers' League of South Africa and the Non-European Unity Movement, sectors of the liberatory movement in South Africa. His involvement in the liberatory struggle began in his student days in the late 193Os and continued up to the time of his death at the end of the 1970s. This paper is not a political biography of BM Kies, but the story of his life (which has yet to be written) may also accurately be described as "the story of one man's search for justice". The focus of this study will be on the contact which B M Kies had with the criminal justice foe system and the broader legal system in South Africa from 1948, when the Nationalist government with its platform of apartheid policies came to power, to 1963 when that government's repressive measures to enforce its apartheid policies reached new heights. A number of reported Supreme Court decisions will be considered. These decisions, all relate to cases in which B M Kies was either directly or indirectly involved as a result of his political activities . 2026-02-20T08:25:25Z 2026-02-20T08:25:25Z 1993 2026-02-20T08:15:46Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters LLM http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42871 en eng application/pdf Centre for Law and Society Faculty of Law University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Benjamin Magson Kies
The Torch
newspaper
criminal justice system
South Africa
Cavernelis, Dennis Burt
A case study of aspects of the political life of Advocate Benjamin Magson Kies (1917 - 1979) and of "The Torch" newspaper with which he was closely connected, showing how the criminal justice system in South Africa was employed in an attempt to silence political and ideological opposition to the apartheid regime
thesis_degree_str Master's
title A case study of aspects of the political life of Advocate Benjamin Magson Kies (1917 - 1979) and of "The Torch" newspaper with which he was closely connected, showing how the criminal justice system in South Africa was employed in an attempt to silence political and ideological opposition to the apartheid regime
title_full A case study of aspects of the political life of Advocate Benjamin Magson Kies (1917 - 1979) and of "The Torch" newspaper with which he was closely connected, showing how the criminal justice system in South Africa was employed in an attempt to silence political and ideological opposition to the apartheid regime
title_fullStr A case study of aspects of the political life of Advocate Benjamin Magson Kies (1917 - 1979) and of "The Torch" newspaper with which he was closely connected, showing how the criminal justice system in South Africa was employed in an attempt to silence political and ideological opposition to the apartheid regime
title_full_unstemmed A case study of aspects of the political life of Advocate Benjamin Magson Kies (1917 - 1979) and of "The Torch" newspaper with which he was closely connected, showing how the criminal justice system in South Africa was employed in an attempt to silence political and ideological opposition to the apartheid regime
title_short A case study of aspects of the political life of Advocate Benjamin Magson Kies (1917 - 1979) and of "The Torch" newspaper with which he was closely connected, showing how the criminal justice system in South Africa was employed in an attempt to silence political and ideological opposition to the apartheid regime
title_sort case study of aspects of the political life of advocate benjamin magson kies 1917 1979 and of the torch newspaper with which he was closely connected showing how the criminal justice system in south africa was employed in an attempt to silence political and ideological opposition to the apartheid regime
topic Benjamin Magson Kies
The Torch
newspaper
criminal justice system
South Africa
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42871
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