tx, ch (thanks, christof)

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:03][music] [music] >> After my dad died, I had to go through his inbox.

[00:00:15]You see, there's a lot of admin to settle in the state.

[00:00:18]>> [music] >> And I noticed a few things.

[00:00:22]How many emails he sent every day.

[00:00:26]How he sometimes liked to type in all lowercase.

[00:00:30]And how he would often sign off with just TX, CH. [music] Thanks, Kristoff.

[00:00:39]So, some of it was admin. [music] But two emails just stuck with me.

[00:00:49]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> These were the emails sent after he passed. [music] People reaching out to someone they knew wouldn't [music] reply.

[00:01:31]Maybe this video is mine.

[00:01:36]>> [music] [music] >> There's something about using your hands to make [music] sense of things.

[00:02:05]When I was two, my dad filmed me trying to fit puzzle pieces together.

[00:02:10]Now I'm the one holding the camera.

[00:02:13]Trying to piece him together. [music] Photo by photo.

[00:02:17]Frame by frame.

[00:02:38]>> [music] [crying and snorts] >> My dad started [music] rowing during his military service.

[00:02:57]He didn't believe in the system, so [music] rowing became his way out.

[00:03:01]Tennis meant building a court.

[00:03:04]Boxing meant they'd find [music] you a ring.

[00:03:06]But rowing.

[00:03:08]Rowing meant leaving the base.

[00:03:11]Even the apartheid army couldn't build a river.

[00:03:15]So, he picked up a paddle.

[00:03:17]>> [music] >> And made the most of a bad situation.

[00:03:26]>> [music] [music] >> Looking at these photos from his 20s, [music] I can't help but wonder if I inherited that hunger for adventure.

[00:03:45]He traveled [music] widely.

[00:03:47]Often off the beaten track.

[00:03:49]He was always with his guitar.

[00:03:52]I brought my camera.

[00:03:55]Different tools, same instinct.

[00:03:58]A way to seek meaning, to hold on to it, >> [music] >> and to share it with others.

[00:04:26]In time, he found someone extraordinary, [music] beautiful, artistic, honest, and true.

[00:04:33]>> [music] >> Together, they began to paddle.

[00:04:37]Sometimes in rhythm, sometimes against the [music] current, but they kept going.

[00:04:52]Their marriage lasted over three decades, and from it, we arrived.

[00:04:57]Three kids, a full house.

[00:05:29]He was a scholar.

[00:05:30]Yale, Wits, Pretoria, a Fulbright, a Humboldt, Harvard fellow.

[00:05:38]He taught at Oxford, UP, and beyond.

[00:05:41]He co-founded institutions, built curriculums, mentored deeply.

[00:05:46]But more than that, he listened. He really listened.

[00:05:50]And, he had a way [music] of finding the middle ground even when it felt out of reach.

[00:05:56]>> [music] [music] >> Some of Africa's leading judges [music] were invited to Harare to hear students arguing the case for human rights.

[00:06:18]Before the hearings begin, [music] let's talk to the principal mover behind the event, Professor Christo Heyns. Sir Edmund Hillary said that he had to [music] climb Mount Everest because it was there. I think we felt that we had to do this because it was not there, because something like this never existed before.

[00:06:33]Um, of course, [music] some people say we were doing it because we were not all there, and and that it wouldn't be possible to do something like that. But, we were very pleasantly surprised [music] by the responses we got from different universities.

[00:06:48]>> [music] [music] [music] >> When his father died, he was about 36, the same age [music] I am now.

[00:07:37]I just remember we were listening to Pink Floyd on repeat.

[00:07:41]>> [music] >> Professor Haynes died instantly when he was shot in the back of the head at his father's home.

[00:07:55]His father, Johan Heyns, stood up against the apartheid from the pulpit.

[00:08:00]Mine, Christoff, stood up against injustice in universities [music] and in the UN halls.

[00:08:08]Different cloth, same courage.

[00:09:21]>> [music] >> I'm Christoff Heyns. I'm Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Pretoria [music] and a Professor of Human Rights Law. Used to be the Director of the Center of Human Rights at the same university, and I'll be teaching on the African [music] regional human rights system.

[00:09:44]And we understand as well that the plane, the airplane of Christof Heyns, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, [music] summary, or arbitrary executions has just landed. The United Nations investigation [music] has found gross human rights abuses in Burundi and has asked for an urgent investigation. Let's speak to Christof Heyns, who is [music] one of the contributors of the report.

[00:10:05]He joins me live from Johannesburg.

[00:10:07]Christof, many thanks for joining us today. Yes, so the investigation took place in the first half of this year.

[00:10:13]We're just presenting our report now. In [music] the case of Saudi Arabia, the the the the method of execution as well, >> [music] >> uh are issues of of of of of great concern. The the public executions, uh hanging of people in public squares, and so forth.

[00:10:27]In addition to everything else that is wrong, that that part of the of the the method in which it's done, >> [music] >> um I I think is is is something which in its on its own raises grave concerns about dignity and cruel inhuman treatment. The report deals with the issue of demonstrations um and the use of force during demonstrations by the by the police. Well, I think the the starting point is the mandate is about protection of the right to life, and I think in in many ways um the use of drones uh challenge this. My focus is on the right to life, ways to protect [music] the right to life, and also if there are potential violations, to ensure that there's accountability. He never made much of his titles.

[00:11:07]He cared about the work. He believed in showing up, listening, and bearing witness. I report once a year to the General Assembly. Uh previous years I've had reports on things such as drones and also report to the Human Rights Council [music] uh on autonomous weapons and safety of journalists and those sort of things. I now invite the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, Mr. Christof Heyns, to report to the committee. Mr. Heyns, you have the floor.

[00:11:36]Thank you, chairperson. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, in this report to the seventh 70th General Assembly, I've addressed two subject areas. Firstly, the role of forensic science in the protection of the right to life and investigations in general.

[00:11:50]And secondly, the protection of foreign for foreign nationals facing the death penalty. The European Union would like to thank the Special Rapporteur for the latest report to the General Assembly and the taking of the committee today.

[00:12:02]We would like to thank you.

[00:12:10]>> [music] [music] >> It gives one a sense of [music] of what could be of of of what we in in this region [music] can also reach. It's It also gives one close contact with with students with their bright-eyed idealism. So, in that sense, it does convey a sense of optimism.

[00:12:42]Not of what we were of and what we are at the moment of but of what we could be.

[00:12:59]Years later, >> [music] >> just a few months before he passed, I filmed him playing a Pink Floyd song.

[00:13:07]It was part of this video for the Human Rights [music] Committee.

[00:13:11]He looked straight into my camera and he sang.

[00:13:15]How I wish how I wish you were here.

[00:13:22]We're just two lost souls swimming Living [music] bowl, year after >> [singing] >> year.

[00:13:31]Running over the same old fear.

[00:13:35]But I will find the same old >> [singing] >> fear.

[00:13:41]Wish you were here.

[00:13:43]>> [music] >> Here's your plastic film lens. Yeah, got it.

[00:13:52]Where do you want to come in here?

[00:13:59]But >> [music] >> the bosses found me So this is what they said. [music] Leave it.

[00:14:12]So good.

[00:14:14]So sweet and crystal now.

[00:14:17]Um, or [music] just met owns met with papa and mama They made it count in that time.

[00:14:25]So I think as a owner Yeah. [music] You would obviously love to receive you now.

[00:14:33]And then living that is the voice you would have get to appreciate >> [music] >> then it's almost as if means Hello work. Leave it in the tight with the knee. [music] So what Yeah, but they are playing with us. So it's almost ready. Leave that in the dirt tight.

[00:14:54]>> [music] >> Um What we are going to reciprocate with me that a kid now Um I'm the funny. Um So what you know I can do that when I get to know that is me.

[00:15:06]But um who knows?

[00:15:11]the stone in But So >> [music] >> cameras deal here so that Papa owns after name of killers and now You would fight you with footage. Find home all is I need. The first time I find it. So I could make it come and die.

[00:15:28]>> [music] >> He won't read this.

[00:15:32]But I'm still writing it.

[00:15:35]For him.

[00:15:36]For us.

[00:15:38]For the [snorts] boys who carry his name.

[00:15:41]And carry him forward.

[00:15:52]There's some things that stay unanswered. And maybe that's okay. Not everything needs a reply.

[00:15:59]Just a trace.

[00:16:00]A name passed down.

[00:16:02]A soul.

[00:16:04]A memory.

[00:16:18]>> [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [music] [singing and music] [singing and music]