The library at West End Primary in Lentegeur is honouring Athol Williams by adopting his name.
On Thursday 26 January, the school officially renamed its library during a ceremony attended by Athol’s mother, Mavis, and brothers Roscoe and Nicholas.
“(Athol) never attended the school, but the reason the school chose to rename its library is because of the phenomenal work he does through the NPO Read to Rise in Rocklands where 100 000 children have benefited from his books. He was also the whistle-blower at the Zondo Commission who had to flee the country due to life threats,” says Roscoe, his youngest brother and programme manager at Read to Rise for Mitchell’s Plain.
Read to Rise is committed to promoting youth literacy in schools in South Africa’s under-resourced communities. As the name indicates, the NPO firmly believes that children need to read to rise in their personal development and contribution to society.
Athol is the founder of the Institute of Social & Corporate Ethics which works to foster ethical practice, currently focused on South Africa, where he was an ardent campaigner against corporate corruption. After blowing the whistle on state capture and corruption in 2019, Athol went into exile in 2021 over safety concerns.
He is currently based at Oxford University in the United Kingdom (UK) where he holds part-time appointments at Blavatnik School of Government, St Catherine’s College and the Porter Diplomacy Centre, Hertford College.
His research interests are in the areas of political philosophy, philosophy of business and philosophy of being. His philosophy of being is partially reflected in The Book of Eden and Pushing Boulders, as well as his six books of poetry.
Early indications of his philosophy of business are evident in his academic work on corporate ethics as well as his recent book on corporate corruption, Deep Collusion.
Athol received his business education at the MIT Sloan School of Management and London Business School, after an initial education in engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand. He trained as a philosopher at Harvard University, the London School of Economics and Oxford University. He holds six degrees from these universities and is completing a seventh (DPhil in Political Theory).
He worked in the business for over 20 years in the United States of America (USA), the UK and South Africa in management consulting, financial services and mining. He founded business and social ventures in South Africa including Read to Rise, an award-winning youth literacy NPO.
Athol has authored 18 books and had over 100 poems and two short stories published in literary journals and anthologies worldwide.
He is a regular speaker at literary, public, corporate and academic events and a frequent contributor to the media. He is also the recipient of numerous literary, academic and social development awards.
