On 21 March 2026, ahead of Human Rights Day, St John's College was honoured to welcome Leanne Manas as the guest speaker at the 8th Hugh Lewin Human Rights Memorial Lecture. One of South Africa's most trusted and respected broadcasters, she has anchored the SABC's flagship morning programme, Morning Live, since 2004, becoming a familiar and steady presence in the lives of millions of South Africans through moments of national celebration and national grief alike. Beyond the studio, she serves as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and was awarded the French National Order of Merit for her contribution to journalism and her humanitarian work across the continent.
The lecture remembers and celebrates the life of Hugh Lewin (Nash 1958), Old Johannian, journalist, author and anti-apartheid activist, who bore witness to injustice and spoke truth to power at great personal cost. It is a lecture that calls us, each year, to reflect on what human rights truly mean, not as abstract ideals, but as lived responsibilities. Since its inception in 2019, it has drawn some of South Africa's most compelling voices: Judge Edwin Cameron, Dr John Kani, Professor Pikita Ntuli, The Revd Dr Vincentia Kgabe, Lindiwe Hani, Dr Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh (Nash 2006) and Wandile Mthiyane.
Leanne addressed our students with characteristic warmth and depth, and what she had to say about the cost of silence and what this country asks of the generation now coming of age resonated long after she left the podium. Below is an extract from her address, in her own words.
"Some of the greatest men are not the loudest. They are the most grounded. The most thoughtful. The most reliable. The most disciplined. The most principled. The men who know how to stand firm without becoming cruel. The men who know how to listen. The men who protect rather than bully. The men who understand that leadership is service.
And this matters especially in South Africa.
Because this country does not only need clever men. It does not only need wealthy men. It does not only need ambitious men. It needs decent men. Men of conscience. Men who can think for themselves. Men who can tell the difference between popularity and principle. Men who do what is right when it would be easier to do what is safe. Men who know that freedom is fragile and truth matters. Men who understand that human rights are not only about what you claim for yourself, but about what you recognise in others.
If you want to protect South Africa, do not only ask what you can take from it. Ask what values you are willing to defend inside it.
Protect truth. Protect dignity. Protect those with less power. Protect the idea that this country belongs to all of us.
Because protecting a home is not only about locking the gate at night. It is also about protecting the truth that keeps that home free.
You are inheriting a complicated country and a noisy world. But do not think your generation is worse off than every generation before it. The world has always known war, fear and uncertainty. The difference is that your generation sees it all in real time.
In the past, people waited for the next morning's newspaper, the next radio bulletin or the eight o'clock news. Now you can watch rockets and drones exploding live on your phone. You can see human suffering unfold between messages, music and memes. That can make the world feel overwhelming. So keep it in context.
This is not the first generation to face hard times. But it may be the first expected to process so much of it instantly and constantly. That is why you need depth. That is why you need steadiness. That is why you must not let noise do your thinking for you.
Choose substance over performance. Choose discipline over instant gratification. Choose courage over comfort. Choose dignity over cruelty. Choose role models who make you better, not just louder.
South Africa does not need perfection from you. It needs character. It needs conscience. It needs young men who can stay human in a world that is constantly trying to harden them.
We all have a home called South Africa. The question is: what kind of men will help protect it?" — Leanne Manas, 8th Hugh Lewin Human Rights Memorial Lecture, St John's College, 21 March 2026
