Community Peace Building & Peace Efforts within the Global South | Dr. Webster Zambara
We sat down and had a chat with Dr. Webster Zambara, a Johan Galtung scholar, about his journey to achieve meaningful participation in peace building efforts.
After nearly two decades of peace work, Dr. Zambara has amassed a wealth of knowledge and according to him, if he were to sit in an office with this knowledge then it would be a useless education.
With this in mind, he has worked tirelessly to practically utilise and share the knowledge with a key interest in peace building at community level.
The key takeaway?
- Be passionate.
- It’s about a calling to the work of peace and transitional justice.
- Have the urge to use the knowledge and skills that you have and also to pass it on.
- Create space for others. You cannot be everywhere all the time.
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On 3 September 2026, Professor Helen Scanlon and Yasmin Sooka participated in the inaugural Nokuthula Simelane Memorial Lecture, hosted by the Nokuthula Simelane Foundation, alongside Amahle-Imvelo Jaxa.
![[Left to right, at the back]: Lee Sungju, Asemahle Tshoni, Anastasia Solomons, Sesetu Holomisa, A/Professor Helen Scanlon, Mirjam Ellemers, Stephanie Wild. [Left to right sitting]: Dr Gertrude Fester, Dr Saghar Shahidi-Birjandian, Professor Phil Clark](https://atjc.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Launch-of-Dr-Saghar-Shahidi-Birjandian-PhD.-Shahidi-Birjandians-co-edited-volume-3.jpeg)
ATJRC’s Professor Helen Scanlon and the Department of Politics at the University of Cape Town hosted a seminar on 9 September 2026, marking the launch of Dr Saghar Shahidi-Birjandian, PhD. Shahidi-Birjandian’s co-edited volume, Intergenerational Survivors of Genocide and Mass Atrocities: Lived Experiences of Knowledge Providers.
In May 2025, the South African Department of Sports, Arts and Culture released the Draft National Policy Framework for Heritage Memorialisation for public comment. The Draft Policy Framework presents heritage as a tool of fostering nation-building, social cohesion and national development. It presents National Legacy Projects as an instrument for transforming South Africa's heritage landscape.
Publications & Archive
Gender Apartheid and the Crimes against Humanity Convention Negotiations: Solidarity, History and the Politics of Naming
Negotiations toward a new Crimes Against Humanity Convention have renewed debate about how international law should address systemic gender-based oppression.
Managing Memory or Confronting the Past? A Response to South Africa’s Draft National Policy Framework for Heritage Memorialisation
The South African government has released a Draft National Policy Framework for Heritage Memorialisation intended to guide how heritage and memory practices are governed nationally.
