Au cours d’une cérémonie qui s’est tenue à Prétoria le 25 avril 2019 son Excellence  Cyril Ranaphosa, Président de la République d’Afrique du Sud, a remis à M. Ralph Coeckelberghs, l’ordre des « Companions of OR Tambo in Silver » décerné a notre collègue Mme Paulette Pierson-Mathy, retenue en Belgique.

Mme Pierson Mathy est chargée de cours honoraire de la
Faculté de droit et de la Faculté des Sciences sociales politiques et économiques où elle enseigna le droit international (1972-1997). Elle était en même temps maître de recherches au Centre de droit international (où elle fut un temps secrétaire de La Revue belge de droit international ) ainsi qu’au Centre des Etudes Africaines de l’Institut de Sociologie où elle exerçait sa principale activité

Le texte accompagnant le diplôme mentionne notamment ce qui suit :

Pierson-Mathy is a prolific author of original reports and publications providing deep insights into the realities of apartheid, and the struggle for liberation in Africa . She has written about the United Nations’s action against apartheid, the legality of national liberation struggles, new forms of a revolutionary struggle, the application of war legislation and humanitarian principles in guerilla operations, the birth of African Nations after national wars of liberation.
…..
Fighting for the restoration of peace and respect for the right to self-determination for oppressed peoples through writing was not enough for her ; she made a point of visiting these areas in person despite the dangers to herself.
In addition to organising several international conferences on Namibia’s statute, she also organised several sessions of the international Commission of Enquiry into apartheid crimes. She presided on several missions of legal experts in frontline states destabilised by South African politics.
….
The reports of this missions published by the UN are testament to the courage, sense of rectitude and humanity. Due to her tireless efforts she has met with many leaders of the liberation struggle in Southern Africa, most of them eminent intellectuals such as Agostino Neto, the first President of Angola, Mario de Andrade, Marcelino dos Santos, Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, Oliver Tambo, the then President of ANC, Sam Nujoma of Namibial and Vasco Cabral of Guinea Bissau. »

Walking stick of the order