West End Primary School honours Athol Williams by renaming its library after him
|Published
West End Primary School SGB chairperson Faiza Gasant and Mavis Williams. Picture: Supplied
Cape Town - West End Primary School in Lentegeur, Mitchells Plain, has renamed its library in honour of ethics advocate, philosopher and poet Athol Williams.
The Athol Williams Library was unveiled on Thursday, with Williams’ mother Mavis present for the momentous occasion and to receive a copy of the plaque which read: “In gratitude for his support to our school by donating reading books and inspiring the love of reading in our learners through Read to Rise; and in recognition of his academic achievements and commitment to social justice in our country.”
Williams, through Read to Rise, the youth and literacy organisation he founded, has delivered 120 classroom programmes at the school, and invested R500 000 in the form of more than 5 000 new story books and mini-libraries in the past nine years.
Classroom programmes take place at all 47 primary schools in Mitchells Plain and community libraries across the Cape Flats. Williams said they’ve distributed in excess of a quarter of a million new story books to children in the area.
“I was told late last year and was deeply moved by it. We have a tendency to only acknowledge people after they die, so this was extra special. It inspires me to keep serving South Africa and the children on the Cape Flats,” Williams said.
West End Primary School was also the venue for the first Cape Flats Book Festival, spearheaded by Williams and organised by Read to Rise.
Williams is the only person in the world with five Master’s degrees from five of the world’s top universities – Harvard University, University of Oxford, London School of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and London Business School.
“I achieved all of this, plus an engineering degree from Wits, but did all my schooling in Mitchells Plain – no private school, no tutors,” Williams said.
Last year, the school made it into the Top 10 in the World’s Best School Prize for Overcoming Adversity.
Principal Clive Arries said: “Renaming the library to Mr Athol Williams was just a natural process because he has given so much to our community. He is also an ex-resident of Mitchell’s Plain and a local hero for so many of us.
“Being renowned around the world for his expertise and ethical values make us proud of him and by doing so, it also sends him a message that ‘he is not alone, as he is one of us’.”
Arries said Read to Rise has enabled thousands of pupils to receive their first book.
Williams founded the Institute of Social and Corporate Ethics, campaigning against corruption. His testimony at the Zondo Commission led him into exile in 2021, when the government could not provide protection.