Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Kasrils’s letters to late wife describe exile in Angolan camp
“A MARVELLOUS rave-up.” This is how former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils described a baseball game on the birthday of Nelson Mandela in 1978. At the time, Kasrils was in exile in a camp in Angola.
These details are contained in a two-page letter the ANC cadre and former intelligence minister penned to his late wife Eleanor on July 25 that year. The letter and other rare documents were given to Wits University last week.
They tell of Kasrils’s role in the Struggle, and experience of South Africa’s transition to democracy.
Kasrils begins the letter: “Dear El, the postman arrived this afternoon with a lovely letter from you and the boys, together with news briefings and cuttings. The latter were extremely interesting but as I’ve mentioned before, don’t bother about the briefings as these are too costly to send. We get them here after a while. The letters are really enjoyable, so full of news and good cheer.”
At the time, the founding member of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) had joined a large group of comrades engaged in underground work for the ANC in the southern African region. Further in his letter, Kasrils humourously engages his wife and warns her that he is not quite the “youthful” fellow he once was.
“Your sports club sounds great and I’m sure that the exercise is doing you a lot of good, but be warned, I’m becoming a dab hand with the ping-pong bat.
“Last week I had my debut on the football field. Played for a full 90 minutes against 18 year olds, and my body has been groaning in total revolt ever since.
“The baseball game on 18 July (Mandela’s birthday) was a marvellous rave-up. We played with Mp’s chums to commemorate the event,” he says.
Kasrils reminds Eleanor that although they have festive occasions, such as dinners and music concerts, and often listen to the Jimmy Cliff and Bob Dylan tapes she sends him, life in the camp is full of hard work.
“One is extremely busy,” he tells her, adding that work continues from early morning until 11pm. Sunday was his only day off and he would relax in the evenings.
“Sunday morning I do my washing (yuk! yuk!) and also wash the floor of my room (yuk! yuk!) and later I do my ironing (yuk! yuk! again),” he says.
Kasrils tells his wife that the tapes she sends him have given his comrades the impression that he is big in the music scene, adding that she shouldn’t be shy to send more.
Kasrils warns Eleanor that he is aware that she received a phone call from Luanda spreading rumours about him, and urges her not to believe a word of it.
Mentioning his two sons later, he says: “The photographs of the boys have really helped me fill a gap in my life. They’re lovely pictures and I would love to receive more. Andrew looks so handsome and Christopher has the cheekiest face possible. I just break into a smile every time I look at those pictures.”
Kasrils pens another brief letter to his wife telling her about the party the night before.
“Dearest El, it was quite a do. If I was totally sober I would say it was an extremely moving occasion. I was hoping to include the letters for the boys but will do so next week. Please tell them I loved receiving their letters and getting all their news.”
He signs off the letter: “Lots of love and kisses, your one and only RK.”
The two anti-apartheid activists were married for 45 years, until Eleanor’s death in 2009. Upon her death Mandela paid tribute to her work, referring to her as a “genteel and elegant Scottish woman”.
Meanwhile, a 1963 newspaper clipping from the Tanganyika Standard newspaper in Dar es Salaam was also handed to Wits from Kasrils’s material.
It reported that Eleanor had been subjected to torture by local authorities in South Africa, saying she was sent to a mental hospital for six days after being detained by police.
She planned her escape from the Fort Napier Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, by faking a mental condition. She then fled to Tanzania.