Remember Ruth First: journalist, academic and political activist assassinated by the apartheid state

Ruth First came into my consciousness as an an activist scholar and Marxist in 1977. She had collaborated with Govan Mbeki, Oginga Odinga (Kenyan freedom fighter – later banned) and Ronald Segal. She was assassinated by the apartheid state by the spy and murderer Craig Williamson on 17 August 1982 by a letter-bomb. First was the editor and a journalist on The Guardian who together with Gert Sibande exposed the cruel exploitation on the Bethal potato farms. In exile, First was known as an independent Marxist who often differed with the Stalinist positions of the South African Communist Party. In her book Power in Africa (also published as The Barrel of a Gun: he politics of coups d’etat in Africa), First analysed and condemned corrupt post-independence African leaders “who spoke of poverty but rioted in luxury”. She was one of the first scholars to analyse the role of US, British and French military powers in African coups without excusing the leaders.

Ruth First broke one of the most important taboos in revolutionary politics — the fact that an activist who is detained and placed in solitary confinement can break down. She recorded her detention in 1963 as a part of the crackdown that led to the Rivonia Trial in the book 117 Days. Her description of the relationship of a detainee to their bed is a classic account that is almost universal for people in solitary confinement.

For the first fifty-six days of my detention in solitary I changed from a mainly vertical to a mainly horizontal creature. A black iron bedstead became my world. It was too cold to sit, so I lay extended on the bed, trying to measure the hours, the days and the weeks, yet pretending to myself I was not. …

…the bed was my privacy, my retreat, and could be my secret life. On the bed I felt in control of the cell. I did not need to survey it. I could ignore it, and concentrate on making myself comfortable. I would sleep, as long as I liked, without fear of interruption. I would think, without diversion. I would wait to see what happened from the comfort of my bed.

Ruth First suffered, broke down and rebuilt her spirit and activism. On 17 August 1982 during a brief spell at the University of Western Cape, Jonathan de Vries led a protest against her murder by the apartheid state. Her daughters Gillian and Shawn, her late husband Joe Slovo experienced their greatest loss and the liebration movement lost a leader. Ruth First will always be remembered for her courage, tenacity, humour, rigorous activist intellect while her assassins Craig Williamson and his henchman Roger Raven will be remembered as cowardly murderers who took her life and the lives of many of her comrades.

Source: Writing Rights: Zackie Achmat

Amnesty granted to Craig Williams and Roger Raven - Ruth First's killers

Close relatives of murdered anti-apartheid activists Ruth First and Jeanette and Katryn Schoon have expressed outrage at the granting of amnesty to the assassins, apartheid spy Craig Williamson and his subordinate Roger Raven.

Williamson, a former security police major, and Raven also received amnesty yesterday for conspiring to kill Joe Slovo, First's husband and then leader of the African National Congress military wing, uMkhonto weSizwe. They were also granted amnesty for transporting improvised explosive devices, interception of mail and possession of explosives.

George Bizos, the Slovo family's lawyer, said yesterday night that, although he respected the ruling by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee, he was saddened by the decision. "It was an unexpected decision. I am saddened by it. I think that, in the case of Ruth First and the Schoon mother and child, their murders were completely unnecessary in the way they chose to kill them by way of letter bombs."

Sherry McLean, widow of Marius Schoon, whom she married after the bombing murder of his first wife Jeanette and their daughter Katryn on June 28, 1984 in Lubango, Angola, said Williamson would never be forgiven for the killings. McLean said her husband, who died last year after testifying in the amnesty application, had made it clear Williamson would never be forgiven. "On a human level it's a difficult task to deal with when Williamson was responsible for the murders of a wife, a mother and daughter and sister," she said. ANC general secretary Kgalema Motlanthe said it was regrettable that the TRC had deemed it fit to grant amnesty to Williamson and Raven.

The amnesty committee said it was satisfied Williamson had told the truth and the killings were politically motivated. "I have not seen the whole (TRC) report, but we have to accept the committee has satisfied itself with that requirement," Motlanthe said. His sentiments were echoed by former environment and tourism minister Pallo Jordan, who was with First when she was killed in Maputo in 1982. However, he said: "We have to live with its (the TRC's) findings."

At the time of their deaths, Jeanette Schoon and First were lecturing at universities in Luanda and Maputo. They were active ANC supporters. The actions were meant to destabilise, demoralise and disadvantage the ANC, the applicants said. Ex-spies Willem Schoon (no relation) and John McPherson were also granted amnesty for the attempted murder of Marius Schoon and Joe Slovo in 1982 and 1984, and for the Lusaka bombing.

Source: Daily Dispatch

Ruth First: Williamson given amnesty

Former apartheid spies Craig Williamson and Roger Raven have received amnesty for the 1982 murder of African National Congress activist Ruth First in Maputo. They also received amnesty for conspiring to kill Joe Slovo, First's husband and then leader of the ANC military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's amnesty committee granted them amnesty at a hearing in Pretoria on Thursday, TRC spokesman Phila Ngqumba said. Williamson and Raven also received amnesty for the murder of Jeanette and Katryn Schoon at Lubango in Angola on June 28, 1984. Williamson was a major in the security police and Raven was his subordinate. The two men got permission from the then minister of police, through their superior Brigadier Piet Goosen, to launch cross-border attacks that included the bombing of the ANC's London headquarters, they said in their submissions to the TRC. They were also granted amnesty for transporting improvised explosive devices, interception of mail and possession of explosives. Both these applications were opposed by the Slovo and Schoon families.

Jeannette Schoon and Ruth First were at the time of their deaths lecturing at universities in Luanda and Maputo. They were active ANC supporters. The actions were meant to destabilise, demoralise and disadvantage the ANC, the applicants said.

Ex-spies Willem Schoon (no relation) and John McPherson were also granted amnesty for their roles in the attempted murder of Marius Schoon and Joe Slovo in 1982 and 1984, and for the Lusaka bombing. The bomb was built into a briefcase and placed at the gates of the ANC offices in Lusaka by police agents. It exploded and caused minimal damage - no deaths or injuries were reported. The intention had been that the bomb should be left at Slovo's office.

Two other security police operatives, Kobus Klopper and Johann Tait, were also granted amnesty for killing four alleged arms smugglers at Komatipoort. The smugglers were carrying weapons intended for the military wings of ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress.

Another security police operative, Michael Bellingan, was refused amnesty for murdering his wife Janine on September 20, 1991, and for the theft of cheques intended for the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa). As part of normal security police operations at the time, the mail of certain organisations, including Numsa, was intercepted. In the course of these operations during 1988 and 1989 a number of cheques drawn in favour of Numsa were intercepted. Bellingan told the committee he had discovered that his wife was not happy with his work as a security policeman and she was about to leak confidential information to the ANC. He said he decided to kill her because she was a security risk. The committee, in refusing Bellingan amnesty, said it was not satisfied that he had made full disclosure or that the murder constituted an act associated with a political objective.

Source: IoL