Neil Aggett

Neil Aggett
Neil Aggett Charcoal on Paper by Dr.Amitabh Mitra
Born	Neil Aggett 6 October 1953 Nanyuki, Kenya
Died	5 February 1982(1982-02-05) (aged 28)
Nationality	South African
Occupation	medical doctor
Known for	Anti-apartheid activism

Neil Aggett (6 October 1953, Nanyuki – 5 February 1982) was a white South African medical doctor and trade union organiser who died whilst in detention after being arrested by the South African Security Police.

Aggett was born in Nanyuki, Kenya, and his family moved to South Africa in 1964, where he attended Kingswood College (South Africa) in Grahamstown from 1964 to 1970, and later the University of Cape Town, where he completed a medical degree in 1976.

Aggett worked as a physician in Black hospitals (under apartheid hospitals were segregated) in Umtata, Tembisa and later at Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, working in Casualty and learning to speak basic Zulu. He was appointed an unpaid organiser of the Transvaal Food and Canning Workers' Union, and helped to organise the workers at Fatti’s and Moni’s in Isando, at a critical time when the company faced a growing boycott campaign for having unfairly dismissed workers at its factory in Bellville, Western Cape. He worked as a doctor on Wednesday nights and Friday nights so he could continue with his union work.

He was undeterred by being harassed by the security forces. Following a historic gathering in Langa near Cape Town, in August 1981, of unions that had been fiercely divided, he was entrusted with building a Transvaal Solidarity Committee.

He was detained with his partner Dr Elizabeth Floyd by the security police on 27 November 1981. His death on 5 February 1982, after 70 days of detention without trial, marked the 51st death in detention. He was 28 years old. He was the first white person to die in detention since 1963.

According to the South African Security Police, Aggett committed suicide while held at the John Vorster Square police station, by hanging himself.