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Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

Psychologist and academic

By South African Index Editorial Desk · Published

Portrait of Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela.
Photograph: Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela · Source · CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized and converted to WebP for this site.

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela is a South African psychologist and professor whose work examines trauma, forgiveness and the aftermath of political violence. She directs AVReQ at Stellenbosch University, received the 2024 Templeton Prize, and was awarded the Order of the Baobab in Bronze in 2026. [1][2][3]

Biography

Gobodo-Madikizela was born in Langa in 1955. The Templeton Prize biography records that she studied psychology at the University of Fort Hare, completed a master’s degree in clinical psychology at Rhodes University and later earned a PhD in psychology from the University of Cape Town. [2]

During South Africa’s transition to democracy she served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Human Rights Violations Committee and chaired that committee in the Western Cape office. Her later scholarship drew on encounters during the TRC and developed research themes around perpetrators, victims, remorse, forgiveness, trauma and social repair. [2][1]

At Stellenbosch University she holds the South African Research Chair in Violent Histories and Transgenerational Trauma and directs the Centre for the Study of the Afterlife of Violence and the Reparative Quest. Her book A Human Being Died That Night grew out of interviews with former security-police commander Eugene de Kock and received the Alan Paton Prize in South Africa. [1][2]

Gobodo-Madikizela received the Templeton Prize in 2024. In 2026 The Presidency awarded her the Order of the Baobab in Bronze, citing her work on social cohesion, conflict resolution and the psychology of forgiveness. [2][3]

Key contributions

Developed a body of scholarship on trauma, remorse, forgiveness and reparative approaches to societies emerging from political violence. [1][2]

Served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and later built research programmes on violent histories and transgenerational trauma. [2][1]

Career timeline

  1. Served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Human Rights Violations Committee. [2]

  2. Published A Human Being Died That Night. [2]

  3. Received the Templeton Prize. [2]

  4. Received the Order of the Baobab in Bronze. [3]

Sources

  1. Stellenbosch University AVReQ, Prof. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-24. ↩
  2. Templeton Prize, Dr. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela Receives 2024 Templeton Prize, 2024-06-04. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-24. ↩
  3. The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa, The Presidency announces recipients of National Orders, 2026-05-14. Original source. Accessed 2026-09-24. ↩