About this site

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

Sonn, Franklin

Click here for list of interviews

Sonn was born in 1939 in the Vosburg district of Victoria West and raised in Queenstown and Cape Town. He studied at the Hewat College of Education, Unisa and UWC.

He is an educationalist and civil rights campaigner (he was arrested for helping to lead a protest march in 1989.)

Sonn served as rector of the (Cape) Peninsula Technikon from 1978 – 1994; as head of the Cape Teachers' Professional Association from 1978-1991; as vice-chairman of the Urban Foundation; and on the De Lange Inquiry into Education; as a member of the SABC board; and as chairman of the National Education and Training Forum.

He was appointed ambassador to Washington, USA, in 1995.

Sources: Joyce, Peter. A Concise Dictionary of South African Biography (1999). Francolin : Cape Town.

Eds. Harber, Anton and Ludman, B: A – Z of South African Politics 1994: The Essential Handbook. Penguin Books.

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. Return to theThis resource is hosted by the site.