speak! is you and me
speak! consists of a group of people who care about all animals and about our planet. If you would like to 'speak' to us, with us or for us, we would love to hear from you. Please contact anneke@speaksa.co.za.
About Us
Our speak! team
These are some of the team members who are acting as coordinators
or supporters of current projects and campaigns.
Anneke Malan is passionate about people, environment and animals – and restoring the harmony between them.
An editor, translator and writer by profession, she also describes herself as vegan ('Because that is the only lifestyle that makes any sense, the only one that can save our planet and its species').
In addition to her involvement with speak! SA, she is also one of the founders and the current chairperson of NCat (the National Cat Action Taskforce).
She lives in Johannesburg with her husband Daniel, two dogs and four cats, and also cares for 'about a hundred' street cats.
​
Daniel Malan is a full-time artist, part-time cook and sometime film editor who lives with his wife Anneke and their 6 animal companions (2 dogs and 4 cats) in Johannesburg.
Veganism (a mindful lifestyle) is his 'religion', since he believes passionately that it is the solution to the ills affecting animals (including people) and environment today.
He is committed to raising awareness of the plight of the billions of animals in the farming industry, and of the threats inherent in the worldwide culture of consumerism.
He also believes that serious truths can be instilled mostly by lighter means, therefore acts as coordinator of all speak! street theatre activities.
​
Stephen Marcus Finn, who is an academic and writer, has campaigned over the years for the rights of women, blacks, gays and non-smokers (not necessarily at the same time). He turned his attention to animal rights several years ago, with his focus being predominantly on farm animals.
His children’s novel, The Story of Humphrey the Hereford, stresses the cruelty and horror that cattle go through on farms and on the way to abattoirs; however, as the narrator is a brilliant crow, there is a certain amount of humour and lightness as well.
​
His main area of research at present is religion and animal rights. As a musician, art lover, novelist and dramatist, he’s also investigating the interface between those creative forms and the depiction of animals.
​
After having been conciliatory for 35 years about his views, ideology and practices regarding animal rights, he has become much more assertive, even aggressive; so he’s not somebody to cross when it comes to the treatment of farm animals in particular.
Anne van Vliet learned about the cruelty inflicted on animals within the fur industry and in vivisection laboratories more than 30 years ago, and since then she has been a passionate advocate for the rights of animals to live their lives free from suffering, fear and pain.
She headed up the Johannesburg branch of Beauty Without Cruelty for almost 20 years. Anne has also been a foster mother for puppies and dogs and offered a temporary refuge to 20 dogs over a 2-year period. All her fosters went on to caring, forever homes afterwards.
As a Christian, Anne advocates for animals and the environment within the church. Another of Anne’s passions is mentoring younger people in their personal and business lives. She also assists the jobless to find work whenever possible.
​
Gill Bourne is a teacher who has a sensitivity towards Special Needs children and teens. Whilst she has always had a love of animals, she started her humanitarian journey later in life. It took several tragic and life-changing events to open her eyes and lead her on this path.
She has a deep concern for our planet, the environment and the animals. Her involvement with speak!, Fur Free, Spaniels In Need and various other organisations is mostly rewarding, but often heartbreaking too.
Her sincere thanks and appreciation are extended to all the wonderful people she has met along the way, and for all that they have taught her thus far.
She prays every day for each and every living being to be safe and free from abuse, neglect, torture and suffering: she tries always to 'listen with her heart'.
Tricia Davis feels passionately about the plight animals find themselves in as a result of human abuse, and she strives to spread awareness and to give nature a voice. She believes that in so doing and by becoming involved in promoting animal rights, she forms part of a process affecting change in peoples’ attitudes towards animals and creating a healthier environment for all.
She also believes that all beings, human and non-human, have the right to be respected and to be free from suffering and abuse. She is vegan and promotes a vegan lifestyle for the sake of the animals and the planet.
One of her favourite quotes is the call from Sea Shephard: 'What would you do if you weren’t afraid?'.
She is the founder and director of the animal rights organisation No More Suffering, an executive member of Fur Free SA, and an onshore volunteer for Sea Shepherd, in which capacity she has visited Taiji, Japan as a Cove Guardian.
She has 5 'kids': 3 lively cats (Mickey Knox and rescues Pushkin and Katya), a tarantula, Kiara, and a rat, Bean.
Jan-Harm de Villiers is a legal philosopher and senior lecturer in the School of Law at the University of South Africa. He holds BComm (Law) (cum laude) LLB (cum laude) LLM (Jurisprudence) (cum laude) degrees and is currently in the process of completing a multidisciplinary Ph.D. in law and philosophy at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
He specialises in animal rights theory and he primarily works at the intersection of critical legal studies, animal ethics and continental philosophy.
He has published several articles and presented papers at conferences and seminars in this field, both nationally and internationally.
He is also a member of reform committees and working groups on issues pertaining to animal liberation.
Cathy Box has been an animal lover since childhood, and has always had a soft spot in particular for birds and chickens. She was involved with horses from the age of 9 until her 20s, and grew up with a number of rescued bull terriers from the time that she was a toddler.
​
She first started to become cognisant of the cruelty behind farming practices in 2000, and began to boycott organisations such as KFC and McDonalds. In later years she became far more aware of all the atrocities that mankind commits towards animals, such as circuses, vivisection, dolphin shows, bear bile farming and puppy mills. She became vegan in 2011, something that she wishes she had done when she was still young.
​
Since then, she has been involved in a number of different projects for 269 Life, Compassion in World Farming SA, Ban Animal Trading, Chickens as Pets not Food – Chicken Rescue and Rehabilitation, and Speak. She also played an integral role in getting glue traps removed from all Dis-Chem pharmacies and having foie gras removed from Spar.
​
She is firm believer in “be the change that you wish to see in the world” and is passionate about making a difference and leaving the world a better place for all animals. Her dream is to see the abolition of factory farming, where the world’s greatest atrocities take place. Her hope is that with enough public pressure, legislation will be changed to provide animals with appropriate rights that allow them to live happy lives, free from cruelty and pain.
​
She lives with a Senegal parrot who’s been her loving companion for 16 years, but she hopes to one day have a large property where she can take in rescued battery hens and provide them with happy lives."
​
Clairwyn van der Merwe is a latecomer to animal rights. She became a vegetarian in November 2011 and a vegan a year later after a series of small but significant incidents that convinced her animals have as much right to life and happiness as humans. She believes fervently that people and nations will only make peace with each other when we learn to live in harmony with all other beings and the environment.
​
Farm animals, especially pigs and chickens, whom she considers the most abused and neglected animals, are close to her heart, and she would love to see people stop thinking of pigs, cows, chickens, sheep, ducks, geese and so on as 'food'.
​
Based in Pretoria, Clairwyn is a self-employed writer and editor. She loves trees and hates litter, faithfully recycling glass, paper, plastic and cans. Her household consists of one grown-up child, Jamie, two beloved dogs, Dude and Loute, and a magnificently haughty cat, Jewel.
​
Mireille Lenferna has always been passionate about animals.
After becoming vegan a few years ago and learning about the suffering inflicted on animals, the planet and our health through our consumption of animal products, she wanted to do more to promote animal rights. She has since been involved with various animal rights groups and recently also joined speak!.
She believes wholeheartedly that peace and harmony begin on our plates.
​
