An MK commander discusses Joe Slovo: How the former MK commander, who died this month, once replied to the daughter of the SACP leader
In April and May 1996, an important discussion took place in the letters columns of the London Review of Books, in response to a review in the LRB by RW Johnson of the posthumous memoir by the late SACP leader, Joe Slovo, The Unfinished Autobiography (Ravan Press, Johannesburg, 1995/Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1996).
Important historical information was provided in the LRB by the late David Kitson, who died in Johannesburg on 9 November, aged 91, and who had served a 20-year sentence in Pretoria Local and Central prisons as a member of the second High Command of Umkhonto we Sizwe following the arrests at Lilliesleaf Farm in Rivonia in July 1963.
In the letter below, published in the LRB on 23 May 1996 , Kitson - then living with his wife Norma in Harare - provides firsthand information about Joe Slovo's departure from South Africa in 1963 before the Rivonia arrests, and about his and Norma's suspension from the ANC in London following his release from prison and arrival in Britain in 1984.
The suspensions of David and Norma Kitson followed Norma Kitson's refusal to dissolve the very successful non-stop picket on South Africa House in Trafalgar Square in London , calling for the release of Nelson Mandela and all South African political prisoners, and David Kitson's refusal to denounce his wife.
Stating that he and his wife had been "prevented from playing our part in the new South Africa" despite the urgings of Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, Kitson's letter raises the question of the methodology of dealing with dissent of the leadership of the ANC in exile - even in the case of such a senior commander, who had spent 20 years in prison.
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London Review of Books (Vol. 18 No. 10) 23 May 1996
From David Kitson
On the question of Joe Slovo's departure from South Africa in 1963, Gillian Slovo writes (Letters, LRB, 18 April) that her father wanted to leave the country to procure weapons and training for Umkhonto we Sizwe. But there were top cadres assigned to this task and already in place. Joe had to convince the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party - which had issued a directive that no member should leave the country - that his own departure was essential. His protégé, Patrick Tembu [Abel Patrick Mthembu, who had received military training in China and was later assassinated by MK - Ed], had been detained and was talking to the secret police and Joe feared he would be arrested. Some members of the Committee thoroughly disapproved of his intention to leave, but he left in spite of this.
Gillian Slovo is wrong that a meeting of ANC members in London decided on the suspensions of Norma and myself. What happened was that Solly Smith, the chief representative of the ANC in London , later a self-confessed agent of the Boers, sent me a letter in November 1984 - a few months after my release from prison and my arrival in Britain - saying that he had suspended me from the ANC in consultation with the Regional Political Committee. There was no mention of any meeting. My wife, Norma Kitson, also received such a letter. This method of suspension was in violation of the ANC Constitution, for we were given no opportunity to defend ourselves. Indeed, all our attempts to communicate with ANC officials in London were in vain.
But a week or so later M.B. Yengwe [MB Yengwa], the chairman of the RPC and a former member of the ANC Executive Committee who was living in London , asked to meet us. He spent an evening with us and Steven, our son, in our house. He told us that if Norma and I made statements denouncing the City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, our suspensions from the ANC would be ended. He also said to me that if I toed the line, I would be free to take up my post on the staff of Ruskin College , which would then be funded by my union, TASS. This implied joint action between Ken Gill, then General Secretary of TASS, and the SACP/ANC. We rejected this political blackmail. Shortly afterwards, M.B. Yengwe resigned his chairmanship of the RPC and Francis Meli, like Smith a spy for the Boers, took his place.
TASS was obliged to start funding my post in December 1984. It took them 18 months to end the funding at their annual conference, attended by Smith and Meli as fraternal delegates from the ANC. Ruskin College was appalled and issued a press statement saying that this violated academic freedom. They made me their first emeritus fellow. In the face of constant harassment by the Boer agents, a fight-back started, with many sympathisers from Ruskin College , TASS branches, branches of the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the labour movement generally, to try and get my funding back.
Alfred Nzo, then General Secretary of the ANC, dragged his feet until Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu emerged from jail in 1990 and insisted on our reinstatement. Despite this, we were never reincorporated and have been prevented from playing our part in the new South Africa . In 1993 it was agreed in discussions between the MSF, the successor union to TASS, and the ANC that I had been victimised. The ANC wrote to the MSF that they ‘were determined that action would be taken after [the elections] to deal suitably with those who had suffered in the liberation struggle'. So far I have received no compensation for the loss of my job.
The withdrawal of income was a standard technique within the liberation movement for bringing people to heel.
David Kitson
Harare , Zimbabwe
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