The Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality and CUT hosted the inaugural Bram Fischer Memorial Lecture on 23 April 2014. The memorial lecture coincided with the birth of Bram Fischer on 23 April 1908, the 20 years of democracy and 10 years of CUT as a second-generation university.  

Bram Fischer is counted among a few men and women of his race in this country who fought for the freedom, justice and non-racialism that all South Africans enjoy today. A  staunch Afrikaner, he was described as a dedicated freedom fighter, an activist and a lawyer who was brave enough to abandon and reject his own Afrikaner heritage in the fight for freedom. During the lecture, Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor said: “Bram Fischer struggled with conflicts and contradictions of Apartheid South Africa, and was brave enough to abandon and reject his own Afrikaner heritage. He was a courageous man who challenged his own people because he believed what they did was morally wrong. As an Afrikaner whose conscience forced him to reject his own heritage and be ostracised by his own people, he showed a level of courage and sacrifice that was in a class by itself. He was condemned as a traitor by most Afrikaners, but highly admired in Black communities”.   

Minister Pandor with David Makhoali, SRC President at CUT.