AWARD-WINNING JOURNALIST JEREMY GORDIN JOINS WITS
Jeremy Gordin, the 2007 Mondi Shanduka South African Journalist of the Year, joins the Investigative Journalism Workshop's Justice Project at Wits University. He will be running the Project along with renowned journalist, Jacques Paauw, who becomes an Honorary Fellow of the programme. Gordin joined Wits on 1 August 2009.
"I am really looking forward to getting my teeth into this project," says Gordin. "They say that those who can, do, and that those who can't, teach. But I'll be trying to make certain that there is as much doing as teaching."
The Wits Justice Project investigates the plight of those locked up in South Africa's prisons. High crime levels means the fate of prisoners is not high on the public agenda. While the presumption of innocence is one of the fundamental principles of justice in a democratic society, it is widely assumed that prisoners, whether sentenced or not, are behind bars for a reason. For many, however, this is not the case.
In partnership with the Wits Law Clinic, the Legal Resource Centre, the Open Democracy Advice Centre, the Julia Mashele Trust and the US Innocence Project, the Wits Justice project investigates the individual cases of wrongly convicted and awaiting trial prisoners.
"This project is a very exciting experimentation in working with journalism students to investigate and expose injustices and to have Jeremy lead it - with his vast experience and reputation - is a major boon," adds Prof. Anton Harber, Head of Wits Journalism.