“Mr X” awarded an Honorary Doctorate

Anti-apartheid veteran, Bill Frankel (OBE) has told graduates from the Wits Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management to use the words of the Freedom Charter as a guide for their future.

Calling it their “call to action”, Frankel, who received an Honorary Doctorate in Law, urged graduates to live by the values of fairness, justice and compassion and to build a just, equal and democratic South Africa.

“Our country will never be prosperous or free until all our people live in brotherhood enjoying equal rights and opportunities,” he said, quoting from the Charter’s 1955 preamble. “The challenge is to ensure the fulfilment of the pledge. This is now in your hands.”

Frankel, a South African-born lawyer and human rights activist, was honoured for his decades of underground and public work supporting the fight against apartheid and helping to build South Africa’s post-1994 democracy.

He is best known for his role as the secret legal advisor to the International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF), which channelled money from around the world into apartheid South Africa to fund the legal defence of political activists and support their families. For 25 years, Frankel worked under the pseudonym “Mr X” — even his law firm partners and family did not know of his role.

“We secretly moved, in today’s value, literally billions of Rand into South Africa to fund 99% of all political trials and support the families of the detainees,” he said. This included funding the legal costs for President Nelson Mandela’s treason trial.

The Dean of the Faculty, Professor Jason Cohen, read out the citation for Frankel’s honorary degree, describing his legal work, anti-apartheid activism and later philanthropy as having made a “profound contribution to the betterment of South Africa”.

After the end of apartheid, Frankel shifted his focus to strengthening democracy through education and civil society. He has chaired the Claude Leon Foundation for over 30 years, helping to fund nearly 500 postdoctoral research fellowships at South African universities. He also played a founding role in the Wits Foundation UK, which raises funds to support the university.

Frankel told the graduates their future careers should be about more than just building wealth.

“Yes, build reasonably comfortable lives,” he said. “But do not forget those less fortunate, the deep inequalities that scar our society.”

He closed by reminding the audience of the seven values at the heart of South Africa’s Constitution: democracy, equality, reconciliation, diversity, responsibility, respect and freedom.

“Live your lives with compassion, humanity, and integrity,” he said. “I believe in you. This is your call to action.”