Tribute to Sam Moyo, former President of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa

The ASC is saddened by the news that Professor Sam Moyo, former President of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) passed away on 22 November. Professor Moyo had a car accident in New Delhi, India, where he was attending a conference on labour questions in the Global South. ASC director Ton Dietz worked closely with Professor Moyo in the 1990s and wrote a tribute to commemorate him: 

Last week I received the devastating news that Sam Moyo had died in a car accident in New Delhi, while attending a conference on labour issues at Jawaharlal Nehru University. I last met Sam when he was President of CODESRIA, at one of its recent conferences. But I knew and admired him since 1991. We were a team studying the impact of Dutch-funded NGOs in Zimbabwe, and together with colleagues we studied three NGOs. Particularly impressive was the research visit we made to Bulawayo, that had barely recovered from a terrible civil war in the 1980s, and where we met truly couragious civic leaders of the Organisation of Rural Associations for Progress. And while in Harare, Sam would introduce me to the beer halls and local music. He was passionate and radical about the 'land question', and he insisted that Africans had a right to reclaim their land. I remember that I once invited him for a keynote lecture at CERES, and that the debate he triggered was 'rough'. While Sam was a gentle and humorous person, who was very flexible in his personal life. I still fondly remember a hilarious situation in Harare after an evening of fun, when he could not enter his house because the keys were inside (I was his guest). The only thing he had was a telephone number of a Finnish volunteer (with very white hair) whom he had briefly met in the morning. He phoned her in the early night with the question if the two of us could sleep in her house. We could. Sam, you died much too early and I will remember you as an old friend and an African Giant. 

Ton Dietz

Publications by Prof. Sam Moyo in the ASC Library.