2012 Sydney Peace Prize winner
Senator Sekai Holland - Courageous Zimbabwean politician
Senator Mrs. Sekai Holland Co Minister for Reconciliation Healing and Integration in the Cabinet of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was selected to be the recipient of the 2012 Sydney Peace Prize.
The Sydney Peace Prize jury’s citation reads:
"Sekai Holland: for a lifetime of outstanding courage in campaigning for human rights and democracy, for challenging violence in all its forms and for giving such astute and brave leadership for the empowerment of women."
Professor Stuart Rees, Chair of the Sydney Peace Foundation said, "In addition to her work for the education of rural women and her founding of Australia’s anti Apartheid movement fifty years ago, Sekai Holland has been a significant leader of non violent, democracy campaigns, and is a key figure in her country’s national dialogue on how to heal the deep wounds of social conflict."
In response Senator Holland commented, ‘This award comes as a wonderful surprise but one which is so encouraging. I accept on behalf of the brave women I have worked with for so many years and for my colleagues in our present Organ for National Healing Reconciliation and Integration. I also acknowledge the long term support and friendship which I have received from Australian Aboriginal campaigners for human rights and for peace with justice.’
Sekai Holland gave the City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture in the Sydney Town Hall on Wednesday November 7th and received the 2012 Peace Prize ($50,000 and a trophy crafted by the artist in glass Brian Hirst) in a Gala Ceremony at MacLaurin Hall, University of Sydney, on November 8th.
In the Media
Sydney Peace Prize Lecture, ABC Big Ideas, 26th November 2012
Segment on The Project, Channel 10, 8th November 2012
Peace prize winner condemns NSW Taser use, 8th November 2012, Tahmina Ansari for ABC News, & Yahoo 7 News
Sekai Holland to receive Sydney Peace Prize 2012, 7th November 2012, ABC 702 (radio interview with Linda Mottram)
Sekai Holland: a model for non-violent change World News Australia Radio, SBS, 4 November 2012 (radio)
Survivor on a mission of peace, Sydney Morning Herald – News Review, Deborah Snow, November 3, 2012
Sekai Holland’s Australian story, ABC’s The Drum, 30 October 2012 (online article by Dr Meredith Burgmann)
Forgiveness and Reconciliation, ABC’s Q&A, 29 October 2012 (55 min video – panel discussion)
Zimbabwe’s Sekai Holland shares vision for peace, SBS World News, 29 October 2012 (video 8min)
Our Torture was a Victory, Sydney Morning Herald – Good Weekend, 6 October 2012 (newspaper article by Nikki Barrowclough)
Sekai’s Journey, SBS Dateline, 2 October 2012 (video 13 min with Yaara Bou Melhem)
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s great healer, ABC’s The Drum, 25th May 2012 (online article by Stuart Rees)
‘A Time of Heroes’, The Global Mail, 1 May 2012 (online article by Gordon Weiss)
Sydney Peace Prize: Sekai Holland, Radio National Breakfast, 1 May 2012 (radio)