grudges against you.’ I walked away. So we made up. I didn’t want any tension between us. Although I lost my temper I immediately realised that, no, I was unfair to her. She’s a very sincere comrade, she should be entitled to criticise the way I behaved in anything where I made a mistake. But we made it up. I really respected Ruth and when subsequently I went underground she was one of my contacts.
18. FROM A CONVERSATION WITH AHMED KATHRADA
Gee whiz. I think we should describe, you see, what banning means…you are just prevented from attending gatherings and confined to a magisterial district. That was the first time, you know, I was banned, under the Riotous Assemblies Act in December 1952…I was prohibited from attending public gatherings, and then I was confined to the magisterial district of Johannesburg. Now, it was a new experience in so far as I was concerned and the fact that I couldn’t go beyond Johannesburg was, of course, something that affected me a great deal. But there was no shunning by people because not everybody in the first place knew when he met you that you are a banned person. The only case in which I came across this was, there used to be a chap called Benjamin Joseph, an attorney, where Harry Mokoena worked. One day…I was coming down Fox Street and he was coming towards me and as I approached he says, [ whispering ] ‘Nelson, don’t talk to me. Please just pass. Don’t talk to me.’ That was the only case I know.
19. FROM HIS UNPUBLISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MANUSCRIPT WRITTEN IN PRISON
Confined to Johannesburg for a whole two years and with the pressure of both my legal and political work weighing heavily on me, I was suffocated from claustrophobia and anxious for a bit of fresh air. Fourteen years of crammed life in South Africa’s largest city had not killed the peasant in me and once again I was keen to see that ever beckoning open veld and the blue mountains, the green grass and bushes, the rolling hills, rich valleys, the rapid streams as they sped across the escarpment into the insatiable sea.
20. FROM HIS UNPUBLISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MANUSCRIPT WRITTEN IN PRISON
Duma Nokwe and others gathered at home one night to see me off. 21 The young and promising barrister was in his usual jovial mood and as the evening lengthened he became more lucid and loquacious and kept us roaring with laughter. Occasionally he would burst into song – Russian and Chinese – at the same time gesticulating zealously as if conducting an imaginary choir. We sat up until about midnight and as they were leaving the house my daughter Makaziwe, then two years old, awoke and asked me if she could come along with me. Although I had been confined to Johannesburg, pressure of work had allowed me little time to spend with the family and I was well aware of the longing that would eat away their insides as I drifted further and further from them on my way to the Transkei. For some seconds a sense of guilt persecuted me and the excitement about the journey evaporated. I kissed her and put her to bed and, as she dozed away, I was off.
‘…Home is home even for those who aspire to serve wider interests and who have established their home of choice in distant regions. The happy lift that seized me as I drove into York Road, the main street, is beyond measure.’
.....................................................................................
Excerpt from his unpublished autobiographical manuscript written in prison .
1. FROM HIS UNPUBLISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MANUSCRIPT WRITTEN IN PRISON
In the evening of the third I reached Mthatha, my home town. 1 Home is home even for those who aspire to serve wider interests and who have established their home of choice in distant regions. The happy lift that seized me as I drove into York Road, the main street, is beyond measure. I had been away for the long stretch of 13 years and although there were no fatted calves and festooned trees to welcome me I
18. FROM A CONVERSATION WITH AHMED KATHRADA
Gee whiz. I think we should describe, you see, what banning means…you are just prevented from attending gatherings and confined to a magisterial district. That was the first time, you know, I was banned, under the Riotous Assemblies Act in December 1952…I was prohibited from attending public gatherings, and then I was confined to the magisterial district of Johannesburg. Now, it was a new experience in so far as I was concerned and the fact that I couldn’t go beyond Johannesburg was, of course, something that affected me a great deal. But there was no shunning by people because not everybody in the first place knew when he met you that you are a banned person. The only case in which I came across this was, there used to be a chap called Benjamin Joseph, an attorney, where Harry Mokoena worked. One day…I was coming down Fox Street and he was coming towards me and as I approached he says, [ whispering ] ‘Nelson, don’t talk to me. Please just pass. Don’t talk to me.’ That was the only case I know.
19. FROM HIS UNPUBLISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MANUSCRIPT WRITTEN IN PRISON
Confined to Johannesburg for a whole two years and with the pressure of both my legal and political work weighing heavily on me, I was suffocated from claustrophobia and anxious for a bit of fresh air. Fourteen years of crammed life in South Africa’s largest city had not killed the peasant in me and once again I was keen to see that ever beckoning open veld and the blue mountains, the green grass and bushes, the rolling hills, rich valleys, the rapid streams as they sped across the escarpment into the insatiable sea.
20. FROM HIS UNPUBLISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MANUSCRIPT WRITTEN IN PRISON
Duma Nokwe and others gathered at home one night to see me off. 21 The young and promising barrister was in his usual jovial mood and as the evening lengthened he became more lucid and loquacious and kept us roaring with laughter. Occasionally he would burst into song – Russian and Chinese – at the same time gesticulating zealously as if conducting an imaginary choir. We sat up until about midnight and as they were leaving the house my daughter Makaziwe, then two years old, awoke and asked me if she could come along with me. Although I had been confined to Johannesburg, pressure of work had allowed me little time to spend with the family and I was well aware of the longing that would eat away their insides as I drifted further and further from them on my way to the Transkei. For some seconds a sense of guilt persecuted me and the excitement about the journey evaporated. I kissed her and put her to bed and, as she dozed away, I was off.
‘…Home is home even for those who aspire to serve wider interests and who have established their home of choice in distant regions. The happy lift that seized me as I drove into York Road, the main street, is beyond measure.’
.....................................................................................
Excerpt from his unpublished autobiographical manuscript written in prison .
1. FROM HIS UNPUBLISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MANUSCRIPT WRITTEN IN PRISON
In the evening of the third I reached Mthatha, my home town. 1 Home is home even for those who aspire to serve wider interests and who have established their home of choice in distant regions. The happy lift that seized me as I drove into York Road, the main street, is beyond measure. I had been away for the long stretch of 13 years and although there were no fatted calves and festooned trees to welcome me I
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