Prof Ben Turok leaves the Old Assembly Chambers at Parliament in Cape Town following an ANC caucus meeting after taking a stance against the Protection of State Information Bill.
Image: Photo: Matthew Jordaan
The University of the Western Cape (UWC) used the 100th edition of New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy to honour the life and legacy of Prof Ben Turok.
Held at the Centre for Humanities Research in Woodstock, academics, editors, and political figures collectively came together to reflect on both the journal’s 25-year history and the values associated with Turok, who died in 2019.
Turok, a veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle and former ANC Member of Parliament, was remembered as a political thinker who consistently resisted the separation of ideas from lived experience.
In South African politics, one of the clearest examples of tension between principle and party loyalty emerged during the debate on the Protection of State Information Bill, widely known as the Secrecy Bill.
The Secrecy Bill itself was highly controversial, as it would give the state wider powers to classify information as secret and restrict access to it.
Turok announced that he was in opposition to the bill.
Former ANC MP and anti-apartheid activist Professor Ben Turok.
Image: Tracey Adams
Within the ANC, unity is not just encouraged, it is expected. Once a position is taken, MPs are typically required to support it in Parliament. Going against this on a major bill is therefore not seen as ordinary disagreement, but as a rare and serious departure from party discipline.
Turok’s decision stood out because it was made in full view, in Parliament, on a major piece of legislation, and against the position of his own party. He did not stay silent or step aside. He actively opposed the bill while remaining within the ANC caucus.
He was concerned that broad secrecy provisions would narrow democratic oversight, limit access to information, and weaken the public's ability to hold institutions accountable.
Chairperson of the Institute for African Alternatives (IFAA) Board and former President Kgalema Motlanthe reflected on Turok’s wider legacy, describing him as part of a generation that merged intellectual work with political struggle.
UWC Rector and Vice Chancellor Robert Balfour drew attention to the role of universities in this context. He argued that their value lies not only in what they produce, but in how they take part in public life.
Platforms like New Agenda, he suggested, make that participation visible. They connect academic work to broader social questions without reducing either.
There was also an acknowledgement that the journal’s future had once been uncertain.
After Turok died in 2019, its continuation was not guaranteed. Amiena Bayat noted that it lived on because individuals chose to sustain it, recognising that it filled a space that would otherwise be left open.
Ari Sitas described publications of this kind as places where ideas are tested rather than settled, where dominant assumptions can be challenged. The journal does not simply record debate. It takes part in it.
A thoughtful statesman of conviction, Prof. Ben Turok is remembered for his principled stand on democracy, accountability, and parliamentary integrity at UWC's 100th edition of New Agenda: South African Journal of Social and Economic Policy
Image: David Ritchie
Across these reflections, a consistent image of Turok emerged, Self-styled in the sense that he did not fit easily into political or academic categories, and did not seem concerned with doing so.
The journal continues in that mould, carrying forward not only his name but the habits of attention he brought to it.
