A Life for Africa The Story of Bram Fischer

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ALIFE rFOR *OR FRIC AFRICA

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A LIFE FOR APIUCA AIrnlCA LIFA FOR

A FOR AFRICA A LIFE FOR The Story of of Bram Fischer NAOMI MITCHISON NAOMI

London MERLIN MERLIN PRESS

M~rlin kfdrlin

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Prill Li.,ildd Lin-dted Prøss

I'll'ZI\OY SQ.UAlUI, LONDON w,L PITMY SQUAIXX, LONDØN W.

© J1973 973

COPVRX01,1T OC OOP\'RIOHT

BY DY NAOMI NA0h11 lIm'OlUSON 1,11T01-1180N

PAINT.1l 11'1' PRtNT)$D IN M OIUlAT ORD-AT BIUTAIN DRITAM BY

Clarkø, Doblø & Br#ndon Olark" Doblll (if Br,n"oll Ltd. ,PILYMOUTti LYWOI;l1'tl

Nation To the Afrikaner Afrikaner Nation hook I dedicate this book On one of the noblest of her sons

Oontents Cont en ts 1. AniîKANEIOM A~'iUKANrlRDOM ANI) AND Tim.~ nm ArRicA.Ns AFRIOANll I.

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Afrikanerdorn Afrikanerdom and the Africans

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HERE WAS a great gra.'lS plain, scarcely broken by wAs a great gramss plain, scarcely broken by hills, but with little roc.ky rocky outcrops OtlW'OPS randomnly randomly here . and there, tufted with wild bushes. Here one might find small aid rock rabbits, or even amall game, snakes snakes and lizards lizards and even leopard waiting to spring on beast or man. Most of the a leopard lions lioIlB which would pull down and eat a full-grc)wn full-grown ox had had been killed off, but you could could never be sure. When the rains cane was plenty came the grass grew, waving waving and rippling. There W!Ill plenty thl\ oxen, but for buck buck and zebra, of grazing, not only for the the hrutebeeste and wild(:heeste and danc dancdti moving herds ()f of hartebeeste wildebeeste arid farmers' grass, but good goocl ing antelopes, all busily eating the farmers though, it was dry for months eating themselves. Most years, though. mOlltils on came from deep wells; everything depended depended 011 end. Water crulle on the Orange l~ree Free 011 having water, water. If the rains rai.!ls were good tIle State prospered, the maize grew high, the nicalie prospered, mail,c high. the meruie cobs spirits and prailJed praised the de Lord swelled; everyone was Wall in good spirit, Lord mercies. for his mercil'.il. rain the die mai:te maize plants died died But in a bad year with little 1'ail1 back; there was only millet m.il1ct and beans beans and Ita few water water melons, The fat went off the oxen fmcl and their libs iibs showed. melons. Calving was poor. And the katnrll, kaffirs, too, looked dtin thin anel and tired; them; they lired I there was no getting hard work out of thrm; almost forgot to sing. ing. fari hnd had a kraal kraat of kaflirs per For every farm knffil'll on it, remains pel'-

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A Life for for Africa A/rica with the guns, or wanciel'cr.l wanderers f!'Onl from coming of the white men Witll other tribes, speaking speaking a difft~rent different language, though thl~ the men ien command words in Afrikaans. The at least had learnt the c.ommand kaffirs lived in a duster cluster of thatched thatched huts, bm but the tie farm itself, the white man's home, would crouch shade of a crouch under the ~hacl(\ few trees, one storeyed, small windowed, in Ita straggle of garden. Lately, started planting the AusWt.lian Australian Lately, people had stmted gum-trees, which grew quickly and gav(: gave good, straight farm lay the great plain timber. All round the fann plain and on 011 the far horizons a few trees, or maybe a windmill, until edge of faJ: you got near to Bloemfontein, and there would bee the shar) Calvinist spires of the Dutch squat, simple roofs or sharp Dutdl Reformed nervil blne, blue, Reformed Churches, pointing up into the hot mCl'dless and stores along the tile high above the single storey houses ami wide streets, where where men might dd(~ thdr horses :It calle ride their at ease between between the slow, eight-span eight-spar ox wagons. They were proud men, Afrikaners, Afrikaners, desccndants, rome, elf descendants, sonme, of the first Dutch families to settle at the Cape, 01' or (1f of the voortrekkers voortrekkers who built up the independent Boer Republics and whose Transvaal Transvaal neighbours, allied allied with the Orange Free Staters, had held the British army at bay through thnJugh the grim war year.l years at the beginning of the twentieth twentieth century, only fifteen thousand Boers Doers against agail'llIt a quarter of a million indeed I The Iact fact tbat that the British English: matter matter for pride indeed! had won in the end and made a generous peace, partly because their own LiI)cJ'ub, Liberals, did not outout because of pressure from tbeir weigh the the eoncon thc deaths deaths of Boer women, women and children in tht: that I Riding into Bloemfontein Bloemfontein you centration camps, camps. Ah, that! could not but see the monmllent monument to those dead, faithful Afrikaners all, and hate Brithsh who had dc)!\c8uch done such Afrikaners Ilate of the Briti.,h things to the family, woke in Miyou again. NorI" were the lignIn. No

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Afrikansrdom and tlte Africans Africalls and the Afrikanerdorn farmers entirely happy about the discovery of gold and diamonds diamonds on the Reef; the first diamonds had been found 1884 in 1867 and the gold fields were opened opened up between betwe~n 1884 and 1887. 1887. The British South Africa Company Compamy WI\S was founded in 1888 and Rhodes Rbodes Ctlrne enomlOUS c,ne to power with his enornious drcan whicll which was not the dl'call'l dream of the Afrikaners, imperial drerun and in his wake not only British but other aliens, whose whost~ God was somewhat differently considered {mm from their God. Yet on the whole they had acquiesced acquiesced in the imm(msdy imnensely conciliatory legislative union of South Africa under the British Crown. There was much to be gained from it, gained frolll including bigher higher standards of living and education education and generation. In many wider possibilities for the coming generation. households English would be spoken as a second language and English books would be read. And yet-and yetyN--and yet-were th(lUsanc.t~ The Fischer Fischer farm was large; there wcre thousands of acres of crops back that ws crops and pasture. A hundred years bn('k wa.~ the way of it; but now !l.Cn'{ land, especially near neal' Bloemfontein, would have had :Ilmd."wllc mndst ne was getting scarcer. The farm w()uld brick-built barns IUld and stores and out-buildings, rThere and brick-built out-buildings. 'X'here would have been flowers in the garden, behind the fence bave g*trden, also the charmcharn of prickly pear, straggling roses perhaps, but Illso rain, ma.rigolcL~\ marigolds, ing bright annuals that come up with the rain, zinnias, nasturtiums and the African dal,sir.q daisies that open for zinllia..~, the sun. The house would have none of the ardlitccIU architectural 1'111 uncoipr,,unking beauty of the Cape houses; it would be an ul1c:omprml1ising wooden stoep stoop for ~hltde shade and and. stretch of plain rooms behind a wO(Jdc.1l furniture might night be plain, phiron, shelter. But inside, although the fUl'Ilitul'c there would be books, Dutch, English and pcrhltpa perhap It a few in the new language, Afrikaans, which was beginning eo to which WM literature. There wO\lld would be china and !lilver, silver, the develop a literat\lre. 15 15

A Life for Africa means for music at home. There The.re would be lamps in tllee evening evening and candles to go to bed by. Abram--Bran, as he Here Here there were five children, first Abram-Dram, he was always called-then called-then Paul and then sister Ada, and two two P. younger brothers, Gustav and Peter. Their father, J. p, Fischer, was a Judge President of the Orange Free State, following on from his own father Abram, after aCtIll' whom the tile gramlfathcr, himsclf himself eldest grandson was called, called. This grandfather, East India descended, far back, from an official of the Dutch Enst T. President M. T, Company, had been principal adviser to Pl'c:;id~nt State. He lie had Steyn, the last President of the Orange Orange Free State, been the chief delegate of a three-member three-menmber team which went and arouwt() try (md am uSt~ interest to Europe during the Boer War to was ]
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for AII'iea Airica A Life tor convened in Johannesburg, to Johannesburg. But the accused objected to

irregularities and the court upheld the objeclio!l.~, Was this objections. Wns irregularities Bram's advice? Yutar, howevcl', was not INting go and tht: the letting however, accused were re-an'ested in open court and the 11ew trial, aid new re-arrested Joh'annesbuig this time on charges of sedition, took place in Johannesburg coniing general 1948, in the atmosphere of ita coming on May 3rd, Srd, 194'8, a election. Yutar now went all·out Communin lUI all-out against COlllmuTlL~m election. such, with the type of allegation which was common in the IvIlieved U.S.A. during the days of MacCarthy Ilnd and is still bdicvccl t1ie stupider conservatives conservatives allover world. The Thl judgl.'S, judge, all over the world, by the There was still a fine however, quashed the indictment. Th~J'e legal tradition in South Africa. Yet all this helped the Nationalist party in their electoral win, which was, all the same, attributed 7ran, aler, attributed by the 7'rausva[er, Verwoerd, to Divine Pro then under the editorship of Dr. VCl'Wo(~.l'd, Proover Afrikanerdom". vidence "which has always watched OVe! vidence "which Afl'ikl\m~l'dom··. This was of course COLlrse the God of the Old Testament, the less into line jealous jealous tribal God. The New New Testament fell lr.'l!l line with widl Afrikanerdom. Afrikanerdom. Smutt, who The election result was aII terrible terrible blow to Smutll, him tlbe and with !lim died two years years later, later. Hofmeyr Hoimeyr died, toxo, too, Md tllc liberal liberal possibilities possibilities of African African education. education. Diepkloof, the open openhad managed Alan Paton gated reform school in which which Alan Pilton mllTlaged eitizen, now conscious dtize!l.'I, to make his young delinquents delinquents into consciolls now plenty to institution. Paton, with pl('llly again became became a penal imtitution. away, to write and himself be penaized write about, came came ~\way, penll.lil.ed It is curious as some, so fiercely not for writing, although although $Orne. ill curtou3 police or does and to consider consider what docs aml what does not annoy polite politician. politician. Bram Bram wa was now I10W on the Central Central Committee CoOmmittcc of the Qijn. Gommunist munist Party, Party. He wrote Wl'Ote in 1940 1948 to C. K. Allen, Allen, his hill old old 58 58

The Closed Door Door Warden and friend at Rhodes House, telling him this Ulis and giving his reasons. It is is a cheerful letter, in which he gaUy gaily suggests S\lggests that iliat he is probably the only old Rhodes scholat· scholar in certainly never voted any this proud position. Allen, who cc.rtainly !lnything but true blue Conservative, Conservative, was deeply shocked shucked at Brain's political Bram's political position, btlt affectionate letter, but wrote all an affectionate case he wore begging him not to work too hard at law in ca.'ie himself out before before his sixties. The new South African Government meant hard-line apartheid, with people lik.c ap!l1'theid, VCl'woerd, Schocman like Verwoerd, Schoeman (who had stopped the training of African African ex-service men as building workers), Diederich and of course Hertzog and Malan, with workers), Havenga's anti-British anti.British Afrikaner party. In a sense they tlley represented at romantic Afrikanerdom, Afrikancrdom, aa. Volk; but it was as Germany, no place for the lower middle-class as Hitler's Gel'many, aristocrats by birth and education education and courage; no place fol' for a Fischer. Fischel'. So there was Malan riding the two horses of a black peril and a red peril. This government government was going to deal with both, both. Yet le he was was' to have a gadfly after him him;: Sam Kahn, special roll all as one of the the solitary Communist, elected on a speciltl African representatives. But the Suppression Coni. Suppression of C>ommunism, Act went through in 1950, one of the Government's munism early achievements, was unseated. So WIlli was his achievements, and he W(IS elected elected successor, SUCCCSSOI', Brian Bunting. So in turn tum. was Ray Alexander; Alexander; she was forcibly removed by the Ix)lice police even before she could enter the House and, though she recovered Huuse recovered damages never take seat. damages for the assault she could neyt~r tllke her seat, Even white Labour was WIIS out of the 1948 coalition. But they kept their pl'ivileges privileges by going thol'tlughly thoroughly racist, Yet racist. Yel position, For aIi century they, too, were in Iia difficult position. century Euro Euro59

Life, for for A/rica Africa A Life pean workers maintain their workers had struggled to build up and lna.intain standards largdy tlrnlllgh through the Unions. Many hac! had standard.~ of living, largely been through dump in the early thirties. They, had throtlgh the slump Th\~y, too, hac! hungry and despairing. Tht~y They had fought against diludilu. been hunglY tion, including dilution by women workers, who could be less. One gap in solidarity all might be lo.~t. lost. They paid Jess. solidarity and ~\Il Chnmb(:r of Mines Mhws or tht~ understood well that the Chamber the Railway Board would like to break break their solidarity by training blacks to step into their shoes. And they were not going to have it. shoved back into They were not going to let themselves be shovt:d the pit they had worked themselves out of. Inflation Infl;\tion went live, but in 19'19 1949 on. The unskilled workers could barely livc, the Government excluded nral Africans from school feeding Government excluded mral fe~ding But schemes, which could never have been expensive. {~xpensivr.. But themselves". Or die, liberals "Africans should look after themselves", die. The liber:l!s were immensely disturbed; Com disturbed; bodies like the Torch Torch Commando supported the rights of non-whites, but they wNere were not really prepared was prepared to collaborate and be inter-racial. inter-rada!' It WilH too late for their kind of protest. protCl>t. Now banning orders on Communists organizations such Communists in organizations as trade unions began began to come through. But anyone who held similar views-that view&-that is, who who believed in racial equality liberty-was almOllt almost equally at risk. Being ·'Liberali.l"Libernais and liberty-was tic" was almost as bad as being Communist, and this meant meant that the genuine liberals among the various libcral movemove, vario\L~ libeml meats, had to thitlk think hard and decide where they stood, stmd, what ments, help. risks they felt able to take, and how they could best hdp. General of idl'mity identity General misery and insecurity insecurity and the loss loll.~ oJ when men left the moral security of the tribe, unprogreive Impl't)gl't~l!Sh'c as it might be, made people behave badly. badly. Grtlclmilly Gradually it African could tl'ust trust IUtolitel', amther, came to the point where no A£rica.n 60

The Closed Door even in his immediate family, not to be a police informer. There were nasty racial riots, between Africans lind and Indians, busine.s often started by the undoubted undoubted fact that Indian btl~ine.'lS­ segregation against Africans, while making men did practice segregation money out of them. thern, Naturally it might be only a few in the community but they could spoil relations all round. and OWI\ own There was also the point that Indians could buy ,md There exeept in a few places urban land, while Africans could not, except like Sophiatown (but see Chapter 5). Some Indians were shacks on their land to Africans looking for work, at letting sllacks dis emel cruel rents. Yet many other Indians passionately disapproved. They formed themselves themselves into the N.I.C. (Natal approved. co-operated increasingly with the Indian Congress) which co-operated Indian COllgress) A.N.C. The Indian money-makers l>rt~ak away money-makers tended to break Organization. conservative Natal Indian Indian Ol'ganizatic)l1. and form the conservative There There were wcre splits splil;~ in the freedom movement, but the young leaders leaders who were coming to the fore in the African Youth League were moving in the direction of a Black Power feeling, feeling. though their methods needed sorting out. on themnselves Boycotts tended to turn 011 themselves and help the oppres oppresapartheid which by now had made sors. The enemy was apartheid under a Bantu itself a philosophy including revived tribalism und('J' Banlu dissidents practice somewhere to which authority, in practice audlOrity, dissic\cntli could rAluld banished, be banished. aother, enforcing One Act followed another, cl1forcillg segregation, or, like like Amendment Immorality Amendment Mixed Marriages Act and the Immorality the ML'(ed colour and causing untold Act, outlawing sex because of skin colollr marriages. of existing misery in the break-up break-up exL~ting marriages. The PopulatiOn Population and colour IUld Registration Registration Act of 1950 classified clas.~i1ied people on skin ,:olour asgertion of ancestry; this, too, caused great misery, the as.!{:l'tioll Afrikaner population especially especially as at least a million of the Afrlkant'J' popUlation 61

A Life for for Africa had a coloured ancestor a few gcneration.~ generations back, pt~haps perhaps the present ones knew it even two centuries ago, whether the unexpectedly or not, and if the two genes met, colour was unexpectedly innocent child. But tlle the and devastatingly inherited by an ilmoccnt Suppression of Communism Act was the only one which was strictly political. Communism was to become a crime in itself without any other offence being committed; committed; MacCarthy MacCarU1Y that far, nor would the American people re,ally really never went tllat But the aim: aim : to get have allowed allowed him and his like to do so. Hut get rid of Communism, put the police supporters ilnd and pollee onto its itll supporters deprive them of civic rights, was the same. And the clefini· defini tion of "Communism" was so wide that it covered almost all "Communism" covered aimost 1I11 political action aimed against the State. There was to be no legal appeal from the power of the GC)vCl'llmcnt. Government. Tile Central Committee of the Communist party, includ· includ The ing Kotane, Andrews Andre'ws and Bunting, Hunting, Kahn, Dadoo, Dad()(), La Guma and others, as well as Dram Brain FL~cher, Fischer, met to try and decide what to do. The The police police had seized s('.ized lists lL~t.~ of mUlles. WlllI it what names. Was possible to chllnge change from legal legal to illegal work? work? They were wcre not not the kind of people people who were used to that. They decided decided to dissolve the Party, although, as they said iill their final although, a.~ declaration: "Communism cannot declaration: "Communism Cllnllot be destroyed destroyed as long as society is divided into two worlds: rich and poor, oppressor oppremr and oppressed." oppressed." Dr. Moroka, great-grandson great-grandson of the the Rolong R(l\ong Chief who had sheltered sheltered the voortrekker voortrekker leader, Potgieter, in 1836, and now one of the A.N.C. leaders, called all tlle aU Africans Africans to join join in a national day of protest and mourning mourning on June 26th, 2(itlt, for the murder of democracy. Later Later it was to become become Ita day of of resistance. Perhaps, for Africans, Africans, itit matched matched December l)e(:ember 16th, Dingaan's Dingaan's Day, when when the whites whitr.s went went on, on,l generation generation 62 62

The Closed Glosed Door defeat commemorating their defeat after generation, boasting and commemorating splendidly on the road of the Zulu armies which set them so splendidly to baaskap. Yet, whatever is in tlle resistance becomes become.j the heart, resistance more and more difficult. Remember Remember that any person person convicted convicted of breaking any law by way of protest could be sentenced to a fine fme of up to 9300, £300, three years' imprisonment and ten lashes, while, for them, the penalties were even leaders convicted of inciting them, years later; it heavier. This was under a law passed three Y(!arB and women after year brave men still remains, remains. But year WOll'len have been found ready to defy this law. While you read this someone is certainly suffering suffering this punishment.

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Communist Party was now illegal, that Communist Party was now illegal, that organiza was not allowed to kill the spirit or even the ol'g:mimtion. A man man like Brnm wns not going to let don. A Brain J?ischer Fischer was out of doing what he deeply felt was the himself be scared Otlt the Much right thing. Nor were his colleagues, colleagues, black and white. 11'rllch later on, at his trial, Bram was to say: "My attraction to the BraID lI.'ty: "~I)' Communist Party was a matter of persoal observation." personal observation." He had watched other parties waver, wavc!', compromising with the somehow things would tUl'!l turn whites in power, hoping that somc:how out differently, which they never did. lie He went on: "The "The stood Communist Party had already for two decades stood unconditionally for political rightll rights for nonnon avowedly and tlI1conditionally members were, save for atl handful ha ndful of whites and its white membt~rs courageous indivlduals"·-How individuals"-How like Bl'um Bram to rcienIIxer courageous remember theni thrm as weUI-"the well 1 "the only whites who showed complete disrtgard complei:C di~rrliard fellow for the hatred which this attitude attracted from their fellow Africans. These •.. . . were whitrs whites who (Ould could have white South Africans, privileges open taken full advantage of all the privilegt~s ()p~n to them because prepared to because of their colour colour. ... . . . They were not pl'cpal'cdto flourish on the deprivations deprivations suffcl'ed suffered by others." others," But meanwhile, at the beginning of the fifties, fiftifUl, ther, lh~l't were painful ont the constant and paine ul quarrels between the partics pm'lics Utt the Left. The A.N, A.N.C. programmie of action. action. C. had decided decided on I\.a progrlUllnlc The Youth League leaders had been furious with the Ckm leaders bee.n Communists; at first Sisulu and Mandela munists i I\t MlIlldeia found it difficult to 64 64 LTOUGH TE THOUGH THE

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Fear Fear co-operate with whites or trust them entirely. But Kotanc Kotane patient and helpful. In view of the increasing increasing was immensely patient police violence and total lack of sympathy from anybody in tie the Government, they decided that they must co-opcratc, ill co-operate, bringing in the Indian Indhm Congress Congress as well. well, At this point the much-respected Matthews was President of of much-respected Professor Z. K. Matthews the Cape Congress. By now he had been in the A.N.C. for ten years, but was one of these awkward people who always cxtrcmely truthful, which of course means try to be extremely mcans "if" "if" and "but"-hings "but"-things which which don't always help immediate immediate action. later Yet it was this meticulous truthfulness which made him, latt:1' trial, His wife, on, such a devastating witness at tht the Treason trial. Bokwe, was with Freda Bokwc, with him all the time, his sons sometimes a step ahead. And he had a new friend, a quiet, solid man, a Chief, whose name wa was Lutuli. But it it was not yet a name to echo round the world; he was a man who, like so many "uncivilized" Africans, Africans, hated violence, pl'cferring preferring to talk "uncivilized" hated violence, talk things out, and steadily helping tht\ the smaIl small Zulu group which which had called him to the Chieftainship, Chieftainship, for his community community was one of those which which usually elected their Chief, Chid, He, like others, was been many othel'S, was a devout Christian, and must have been deeply disturbed by the Afrikaner Afrikaner image of the all-white deeply disturbed God. Among those with a very different Christian image diffcrc:nt Chl'isti;Ul was Canon Calata, an Anglican priest, who happened happened to be black, an A.N.C. stalwart. farm. Another new name at this time was that of a farm Sibande, perhaps the same same kind of slow slowworker, Gert Sibandc, moving, quiet, but utterly forceful man as those who, a century and a half earlier, had been condemned condemned Co to Cralllltrans.. earlier, had portation portation for life in the Tolpuddle Tolpudclle trials in southern England. labourerm What he laid bare was the condition of the farm labourers a

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A Life for Alricl! Africa of Bethal, a respectable respectable Boer community which had got its blacks well and truly into a slate, slavelY. The floggings state, of slavery. chainings and deaths deads had been kept well hidden within and chaininga within the community until first the Guardian (whose xevelations revelatio s unfulfilled, of an examining brought the promise, tmfulfillcd, examining Commis· Conmis afterwards Drum, the African picture paper, then sion) and aftcrw(tl'ds at its height, heIght, sent a reporter in, in. Other newspapers, genuinely horrified, followed up, up. Conditions were WC1'e actually nltt~l'ccl. altered. During the whole of the following twenty years, tone SOllle at Press, especially the BaIrd Rand Daily Daily least of the South African Prc'IS, Mail, although Mail, followed the best practices of free journalism, joul'llalism, although and in the last few years they have been increasingly harried ancl censored. Now, in the early fiftk~, fifties, there was increasing organi·l.ution organization of resistance. But there was little money zoney and people like Mandcla and Oliver Tamoo, Mandela Taminx, bright y()ung young law)'(~I1i, lawyers, found the material conditions of this work constantly material conditic)tls (:ollstanlly putting puttinr. way, They could not lmvel travel comfortably obstacles in their way. or find hotels; telephones were not always accessible non acccs.~ibh: to mmwhites. on all the time and now Chid Chief whit(>.8. But protests went all stroagly into Lutuli moved like a Chief, strungly intc) action, actioll, but hut always speaking non-violent terms. terms, They had meetings IIlldr.r under speaking in nOll"violent the black, green and gold flag which n:H'allt. meant Afrka; Africa; they sang songs which went to the heart: Nkosi ,Iikllicl'i sikelel'i "{rica, Africa, to tune : Mayibuye oddly oddlly to the tune a sad, powerful hymn tunc: lpower were of Clementine. And the whites in positions of power too afraid to grant them any single thing. They sent Matthews to America tIl to put thdl' their ca.~~ came to the left he said: United Nations, Nations. At the meeting before he h~ Idt hr. !laid: "Fighting for fl'ccdom freedom.,.••. U!a is a very painful prrocew." For "Fighting 1)l·tlC(~'ItI." Fur how many this was so 1I Many women wcre were flI'W now tf,lking taking p"trt, part,

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women like Lilian Lilian Ngoyi, deeply concerned Ngoyi, who felt so deeply concerned about the plight plight of tIll al African children, that she had to her own sick daughter. But Mociimo, vlodimo, the decide to leave hel' God of Llltuli tile others, decreed that her child should Lutuli and tie should live. Many meetings began with prayer, as they did in Great Great Britain a hundred years ago and in Arkansas in 1934·. 1934. One blow came Lutuli was told that he came after another. Llltuli must either resign his Chieftainship Chieftainship or give up Congress. It lie was, to give isishard for a conscientious and able Chief, as he up people. lip all the help and leadership he can provide for his pe.ople. But for Lutuli there was no choice. He refused to do either, Government, but was deprived of his Chieftainship Chieftainship by the Governnumt, which of course conrse did not care in the least that he had been democratically .C. went ahead with their democratically elected. The A.N A.N.C. Defiance Campaign, a deliberate breaking of the apartheid the ceremonial passes. Tlwn~ There laws; this included til(: tcremonial burning of pmlscs. African P(!()Pltl'~ People's was a joint Planning Council, Council, including the Africnn Organization (Coloured) and the Indian Congress with such such Organization representatives as Dr. Dr, Dadoo. Dadoo, They knew Gandhian representatives kn~v the Glllldhian techniques of non-violence. non-violence. But would they be effective resistance wave was the here? Part of oC this well-organized well-organized resistallce non-violence of going into "whites "whites only" simple non·violence only" entrances entrances of hotels or street street cars or railway trains. This meant arrest, often sometimles flogging. The oftcn violent, jail sentences and sometil'l.les police were always quite ready to shoot. In fact the Defiance Defiam:e Campaign was almost the last attempt at organized organized and dedicated non·violent non-violent action by still patient Africans. An An immense amount of organization orgllnization was put into it and, nml, of course, courlge from the volunteers. coursc, great courage Next, some !iOn 500 people were named Communists, Illllned as C()Jmn\lnL~tli. although all were or had been Party members; Mollie Mollie nlthough not an

67

Life for Africa A Lie AfriCa Fischer these, They were debarred fronl fron public Fischel' was one of these. And more and and life, but many of them still went on working. Alld dedicated whites Patrick whit('.~ joined in: among them l'alrick more dedicated Duncan, lame but brave as fire on a hillside, son of the former Governor-General Africa, Romantic British Brit'if Governor-General of South Africa. Conservatives disapproved somewlmt somewhat of the cause, but could could only Jove love and admire the rebel. Another most important important ally, especially in the sense that he could influence tie the outout Trevor Huddteston, side world, was Father Father Treval' Huddleston, and another Anglican, Hannah Stanton. Hannah In early December the leaders of the A.N.C. defiers, several of the including Dr. Moroka, Sisulu, Mandela and se,veral Indian leaders, were on trial under the Suppression of ComCom munism Act. Unhappily, Dr. Moroka did not like the panel of lawyers engaged by the others, which included COlmer former Communist Party members, and engag~d engaged another counsel. He insisted on declaring that he was totally again5t aginst CoOmCom munism: not that it helped him, as all the ddendants defendants were munillm: imprisonment, although the sentenced to nine months' jmprisonm~nt, Judge, Mr. Justice Rumpff, said that the charge had "noth"noth This ing to do with Communism as it is commonly known", known". Tht~ A.N.". Unmeant choosing a new President Presid«,,nt for the A.N.C. Un Chief---tutuli. doubtedly it would be, and was, the Chief--·Lutuli. Meanwhile, Bram and Mollie had three children. children, Ruth, Ilse and Paul, who was born with an incurable illness. They lise always hoped that some new cure might appear, appenr, but no. she wa.~ was more realistic perhaps lIhe Mollie fought for his health; perhaps ie and than Brain, Bram, who always half hoped that, somehow, Bomehuw, he his son would who had by would live and work together. Bram, whu increasingly lIOught sought after now taken Silk, was becoming an inereuingly mining IflWj law; counsel. He was an expert on company company and milling 68

Fear Fear he wrote in learned journals. Insurance news Insurance companies, newspapers ~md him. One of his most and big business all wanted him, papels intercsting 1960, was an Arbitration Arbitration undel' under interesting cases, around 1960, Schreiner. It was a claim from an insurance company t~ompany engaged following from the Kariba Kariba flooding; they had engaged counsel from England. Bram appeared for the Rhodesian Rhode.~ian Bran appeared earnings went Power Board, and won the arbitration. His earnings pm'tly to the needs of his political political comrades comrades and partly for partly Johannes pleasantest part of Johanneshis household in Oaklands, the plcasantest burg, with the beautiful rooms and garden garden and swimming swimming where people of all colours knew that at last they were pool, whcre Thcre was a covered-in pergola where where pcople people at home. There cailm and atmosphere of calm stayed to supper and ate in an atmosphere gracious gracious hospitality. Mollie managed to grow all sorts of rare and lovely plants and shrubs; it was one of her talents. And, because hc he and Mollie Mollie were so totally devoted, so utterly honest, honcst, people who had compromised, compromised, as so many well-meaning whites have done in South Africa, well-meaning Afdca, found that Bran and his family. Brain was their conscience. Dram Bram One repressive measure after another followed. Under declare a state the Public Safety S~\fcty Act the Government could declare over. of emergency. emergency. Then the police and army could take ovcr, 1961, In the 1953 elections, elections, and again in those of 1958 and 1961, the Nationalists Nationalists increased increased their votes and their seats, at the which, howhow the mainly English United Party, whkh, expense of expense which ever, had hived off a Progressive Progressive wing, a liberal party which tried to fight against a host of injustices, and had just one opp×o Suzman, the only genuine oppoM.P., the admirable lI·f.P., admirable Helen Hc.len Suwan, sition member. In III the Nationalist leadership, ieadenhip, Malan, the respectable Calvinist, who had been holding unswerving, unswerving, respectable holding was succeeded after his eightieth birthday, power until powel' WlUI succeeded by 69

A Life for Africa Strijdom, who was much more of a Nazi type, aggressive and Stl'ijdom, lind are the kind of lenders leaders who llre are thrown uncultured. These arc tlll"OWll up by a nation which is afraid, afraid. For the Afrlkam:l's Afrikaners were afraid, and deeply clt!t:ply afraid, afraid. Cor for their own identity, identity. The Mixed Mardages Marriages Act and the Immorality Act which had both be(~n been widened to exclude Coloun:cL~, Coloureds, however light-skinned, were breaking marriages. howev(:r bl'¢:aking up happy marriage!. Reservation of Separate These and the RCSClvation Sep;ll't1tc Amenities Act were the signs of a frightened people. people, Let us al!iO also remember remeniber tlmt that it was probably South African African pressure on the Unit~d United KingKing dorm dom which led to the banishment of S('rct:;e Seretw, Kluuna Khama and his English wife, who, not so very much latcl', later, were to b(: be PrcsiPr 0i dent and First Lady of an inderH:lldc!lt Botswana. independent country, Botswana. none of this could be effective in keeping Yet Ilone ke(~Jll!lg an active acth'c A.N.(. and and intelligent intelHgent people permanently permanently down. down, The A.N.C. organizations were perpetually protesting, p~rpt~!Ul\J1y perpetually pl'OtcHting, perpetually other organizations being arrested and questioned, and this questionil1g questioning wus wits; Sonie of thenr getting increasingly nasty, even for the whites. SOllie Iht'm hutt some oire fdt Mf.t were frightened and yet managed to go on, nn, btl desperate whites had desperate enough to try anything. The .iberal Libl'l'al whitl's though othl~l'li others w(~n' were afraid most to lose and a few risked it all, th()lIgh to go too far. It is very difficult not to c()nlpl'omist~ P\~l'~ compromise or ttl to per.. suade oneself that one's work is, is, in in tIle the long nm, run, more slIade important and may do more good than joining in prtst; important thlm joinUl!! :\a pl'lllest, this may indeed be correct. YI!t Yet Branl Brarn Fischel' Fischer had everyevery thing to lose: home and a young family, a Cllft'Ct' career which which took him on to being a Q.(J. Q.C and which would sIIH'lj" .1nn',ly, in time, take him on to being·--·say··-a being,,--- say-a Judge of tlH: the SUl)rt'me Supreme Court: that is if the South African Sup\'{~m(\ Supreme Court (lourt ('(mld cnuld uncorrupted by politics, politics. YeJ!, Yes, he could look at his fut ure stay uncorl'upted hi~ future was not afraid. lIot afmit!. and put it into the balance. And he WII.'

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Fear Fear No doubt this was partly long-sightedness. !ong.sightcdnl''ss. He knew that, ifif he and otl,ers, mem others, many of them ex-Communist Party memo bel'S, did not act in the right way, things would be that much bers, IVone in the end, not only for the Africans but also for the worse Afrikaners. By By continuing with racialism and I'cpressi also dangemus. robbery and violence. And again again it is almost impossible impossible to see or speak to an African (\3 as a friend without hr
A Life for for Africa the higher pollce police morality, to bare his in the interests of tile is noble white penis in mixed company II But perhaps, after Politics can be proved: all, he had made the whole thing up? Polities sex, not. Yet do not let us be unfair. There i,s some suspicion suspicion that when Ludi himself WM was found in a compromising compromising situation with an Indian lady, it was not merely being done in tlle the interests of the job. It might have been a very handy hlUldy way for his superiors to put pressure 011 on him. lixn. All this came cane out a year later when the d()s.~iel· dossier WM was comcom plete, when the network of spying and intimidation had whj!n been neatly neatly tied together, and on September September 23rd, 1964, 1964, Brain Fischer with his old friend Eli Weinberg Bram Weinberg were arrested arrested and charged charged under the Suppression of Communism Act. They were remanded until mid-November, when they were accused who were arrested rather later, to join twelve other accuscd werc arrestee! some of them quite young, y.otIng, others in their forties or fifties. fiftim, Schernbruker, Nonnan Their names were Ivan SchermbmckC'J', Normlln Levy, Jean Barsel, Mollie Nfollie t)le, .Jean Middleton, Ester and Hyniie Hynlie Barnel, lk1ylt", Paul Trewhela, Duncan, AllllC Anne NichoL'lOu, NichoLson, Kon Paul Trewhela, Florence Duncan, Konstantinos Gazides, Lewis Baker and S)11via Sylvia Neame. Neame. Brain Dram had got his visa for the U.K. the week before and and had to be in London for the Privy the Privy Council case case within within tlJe next few days. He had originnlly originally been brie.fce! briefed in this e.ase case nine years before, and had it all in his head. He Htl applied applied urgently Afrikaner and urgently for bail, declaring declaring that he was Willi an Afdkaner would not leave his country becaus belief COllOon because his htl political bdtd flicted with those of the Government, Government. The police police opposed opposed as strongly strollgly as I\!l possible, poSllible, saying thts thL~ was aII dangerous man who might escape. Presunably dangerous ClIcapc. Pr('~umably by by now llOW they they had all Ludi's treatheries treacheries fully to hand. hanel. Brmt Bl'liID in in the witness witness box box explained explained with some some Indignation indignation that tllllt his 126 126

The Next Striko Strike TIle eighteenth, century and family came to South Africa in the eighteenth century Ilnd on, has his tele happens--he Is is harassed, now what happen&-he Illtra$.~ed, spied all, telephone tapped, he is watched and worried by the Special Branch and this has been going on for fifteen years year III All of tl'e world. this was reported in the rollin main newspapers newspapers oI the world, While the argument went on and the reporters watched watched and and other surmised, the London Times noted and reported othc.r vario\ls arrests, trials and sentences on black and white in various not, There parts of the country. Some were w~J'e open, some not. There: were, for instance, the secret trials at remote Somerset East, in the Cape, going all on during the next few months: montls - no public, there wa.q was a careful splitting no newspaper reports. In III these th~re charges so that membership of the A.N.C. (a banned harmed of charges organization), organization), also showed that the accused was guilty of .attending attending meetings, distributing leaflets or collecting money. offences, each carrying its own These were all separate oifcnc(!s, sentence. random, Dozens of Africans were picked up almost at rand'lI for a CommunL~t Communist take-(lVm" take-over, how inevitably the acctmtse hl)w th~ ltcnl!ic"(l believed encouraged violence and destruction, believed in and encouraged c!{\1!lruction.

T

rIICAS. CASR HE E

132

The Whole Illtolcrable TIle IntolerableSystem submitted that this type of evidence was Although it was submittpd irrelevant, it had its effect. There were bound to be fairly heavy sentences sentences coming up. Perhaps now we should try to catch up with what else dse had been happening up to 1964 in the Nationalist (iovemGovern ment's attempt to ensure ment'a ensure that their bit of the world was exactly as they would like it to be, above all safe and virtually virtually unchanging, since they felt they had come to rest rest after many troubles on the rock of their own Covenant. Covenllnt. In a way, one might think that they would be in some solm: sympathy with the Zionists, who also felt they had come to sympathy thc al50 rest, since for both peoples, peoples, the unhappy truth was that their their final resting place was already occupied. occupied. And again, both both the Afrikaners and the Jews Jewa in Israel felt in their bones that they were in il1 some way special-Chosen P(~ople. Both People. Both invoked the same Book-the Book-the Old Testamcfit,-,-mld Testament .- and the same same per ecuted but had been been exclusive God. Both had been bl~en persecuted steadfast in their beliefs. beliefs, Should they not have fdt felt for one steadfast Afri another? But this was not so. On the contrary, the ACricaners were steadily and consistently anti-Semite; one has caners anti-Semite; ha.~ to blame somebody, and for some at least Ica.~t of their discomforts discomforts unfairnesses, one couldn't blame the blacks or even the or unfahnesses, English. It was awkward later on, to to awkward for the Nationalists, NI\tionnlist'l, lat(';r know which side to favour in the Six-Day war, since the Six-Day w!\.!'\ llinc(: Egyptians, Palestinians non Palestinian.~ and so on were wcr(~ undoubtedly nonwhite. world was changing changing and thi.~ thi iNis All round them the worl'l still, In the newly rather terrifying terrifying if one wants want, to stay still. independent African states, there were almost always independent statt'..\l, olmost troubles, considers that the lrou bles, sometimes civil war. When one cmlllidel'li confortned to rmalities, boundaries of these states slates t:oll{onned t{) no ethnic realiliell, 133 ISS

A Life for for Africa but were whatever the colomal colonial powers had managed to to that two f'lf or acquire or bargain for among themselves, so thlLt three nations with different languages and culture levels might find themselves enclosed together, with power always gathered up in a centre on which one of them tended to to over-represented, this was not to be wondered at. Nor be over-represented, must we forget that, for many of them, independence il\dependelle(~ tumed turned worked for, for, since the out not to be quite what they had work(~d economic strings were being pulled by the same old investors. economic investors. But in general general among the Euro-American Euro-American public and t''spe. espe. cially in SQuth South Africa and Rhodesia, anything dally (\llything which went exaggerated. All the emotive wrong was seized on and exaggerated. words, loot, rape, blood, were publicly and privlItely privately used to justify further fears and further oppression, opprsion, even when whell considerable amount of ititwas due to lllt'n:tmm'jes, nercenaries, usually a considerable white. But Europe and America changing, too. rInn the Amcdca were changing. U.S.A. irtead U.S.A, the MacCarthy MacCarthy madness madness had subsided, but ir~~t[~ad the colour struggle struggle was beginning and and spread elsewhere el~ewht'I'e whenever whenever the economic econ()mic situation made it acceptible. acceptlble. It i.,is terrible when you know terrible whe.n kn()\1' your opponent opponent a long way off off because he is black--or capitalist because black--cJr white. Cominunist C(lmmunist and capitnli:st can't identify matter can rich and Ixoor identify at once, nor for that malleI' poor and Catholic, meeting always do so. An Ulster Ulster Protestant Pl'otrslant Ilnd on neutral neutral ground, ground, may mlly not realize rcaii7.(! for aIl long time that dUll they are enemies--perhllpll enemies -perhaps too late, after Ilft!!l' they have h:lI'r got to t1l like one another. another, But ifyou distance of But if y()U can cM see the distluwe t)! aII thrown stone.-worse, bullet? stonc·-wOl'SC, a b\l11ct? And South Africa AfriclI. had hnd become become the tlu: centre cetlU'e of it, radiating mdinting hate and anger, which were picked up and hate lind anger, whid! were lIud magnified. magnlfit'd. Ordinary Ordinllry "moderates" "moderatlUl" in other other countries countries began to feel that that 134 134

The Whole Intolerable IntoleralJle System because of South Africall citibecause African oppression, oppresion, their own black cii zens were Yet werc beginning beginning to be more active and dangerous. Yet investments' opportunities grew and action was always investments' opportunities delayed or side-tracked. One curious thing was that the delayed Nationalist Government Government prided itself on bdng being Conservative. Conservative, although in many other countric's governcountries Conservative Conservative govern ments insisted that they were rcally really progrclISive progressive and, in fact, in some spheres, often were somewhat somewhat more st} Labour so than tham Labxur or so-called socialist governments. Thill This was p-tly of partly course to do with the massive Dutch Reformed Church influence; influence; the Rock of Ages pref prefers era not to be moved. What had th(~y they been doing to consolidate their COllcon servatism? They kept a steady advantl1gc advantage in the over ov(~r­ with. the deeply n!actionary reactionary small represented rural areas with famer voters. But evcn even in the towns their fmmcr thdr oppoments, opponC!nts, the United Dnited Party, were almost if not quite as racialist as they were, but affirmed afflirmed it in a more English way. There WIIS was alho allltl Broederbond; the year before, before, 1963, 1963, the Rev. lkyern Beyem the Broedcrbondj Southern Naude, Director of the Christian Institute of Smlthc!1'fI lifelong member Africa, who had himself been an I\.n almost Iifeltmg membrr of his deep perper of the Broederbond, Broedel'bond, had resigned re.~igtled because oI concern (hat "the Broederbond, contrary til to the sonal COllCel'll that "the Ilroccit'rboncl, cOlltrary (ht' Christ to further Scriptures, wants us to use the Church of Ch.r.iilt its own interests". was deeply concerned bccause of (llC the interelJts". He wa., com:c,mc,'d beC:llUliC whole apartheid especially !lOme %omeof the recent apartheid concept, conce.pt, espedaUy ren'nt Acts Arl:i which had in his opinkm opinion violated the Chdsti!tn Christian (:om:epts concepts of which llI1d of neighbourly [ove, love, jusdce ncighboudy justi(:e and mercy. His coUeague, colleague, Dr. Geyser, who had be~ll been convicted convicted of of heresy to apartheid, thollgh though thin this hel'esy because of his hill oppxosition opposititmt{) had subsequently been set Il.'lide, ttside, said of t.he the polit.icallcltCiet'S politica leadeli of the Broedet'bolld Broederbond that lhey they were making the Church, Chureb, 138 135

A Life for for Africa which isis the bride of Christ, the servant girl of politics, There discussion and a commission WlIB was was much turmoil and discussion. appointed to hold secret investigations. It came out with a report exonerating the Brocderbond Broederbond of anything except except and anti-Communism, anti-Communism, but this did I\()t not lead respectability lind this wn.~ was :la body b)dy which to any lessening of the certainty certainty that thi.l miost leading Afl'lkllncr Afrikaner Nationali~ts Nationalists;i its chairman chiairman included most also the chairman chairman of the Board of Oovemors Governors of the South is al~o Broadcasting Corporation; it stands for the polic.y policy of of African Broadcasting South Africa for the Afrikaners, in all sphcrr.s. spheres. It tIe('rns seems leaning1 likely, tlough though not proven, that it has sympathetic sympathetic leanings Mosley had towards various kinds of neo-Nazi nco..N;lzi movements. l\Josiey been over, not for the fi1'st first time, in 19(i4 b(~('n received received 1964 and been Broederlxnd ill in high political platel'llUluuvcly. They indefinitely und!~r under the ninety. realized that thllt they could he be held inddinitrly ninety-

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A H o/lOur A Malter Matter of Honour

in many ways much worse than day conditions conditions which were ill when those of an ordinary ordinary prisoner, prisoner. What do children think when out both their parents parents are arc in jail and one of them could get out at once if only she would say something? something? Can courage and pride go on sustaining them? been very Some did speak, including people who had be(m close to Branl Perhaps only a little, but enough enough Brain politically. Perhaps to put the Branch on the right track. Can one tie Special Branch con since pitying implies a superior concondemn or even pity, sinee Perhaps some dition? It was simply too much for them, them. Pedmps was people felt that the whole thing had collapsed and it WM with no use going on. Everyone has a breaking breaking point. But witll some it remains a secret.

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12 12 explain II must therefore explain 15 charges charges against Bram Bran Fischer under the Sabotage Act, the Suppression Communism Suppression of ('.ommunism Act and for various charges incurred whilst he was WM licence under a false "Mr. Black", Black", such as getting a driving Ikem:e name. His children children and relations were in the first row of the public gallery. There diplomatic observers and a fnll frill There were werc diplomatic. Press representation. All heard him plead "not guilty". He ie Pr