Tales from Dystopia II: Enemies of the State
A few years ago a shortlived South African newspaper, This Day, published a list of Enemies of the Apartheid State.
The South African archives had discovered and catalogued some of the files that the government kept on people they regarded as enemies of the state. This Day published the list in several successive issues, and I kept them for reference.
A couple of years later I went to the archives and asked for my own file. I was enemy of the state number 1658. I looked through it and began making notes on it, then decided it was too much, and asked for the whole thing to be photocopied, which cost R160, and bought two ring binder files to keep it in. A friend of mine, John Aitchison, also got a copy of his file, and we compared notes. The files give a fascinating insight into the way in which the apartheid government regarded its opponents, and different perceptions of reality. It was interesting to see how much of the information was accurate, and how much inaccurate, and the language that they used, and the thought processes of the bureaucrats dwelling in that Kafkaesque world.
The Security Police (sometimes called the Special Branch, Security Branch or just the SB) kept files on most known opponents of the apartheid regime, but these are not those files. I suspect that most of the SB files were shredded in the run-up to the first democratic elections in 1994. The files that survived are those of the Department of Justice, and consist of correspondence between the Department of Justice and other bodies (mostly the SB) on the people on whom the files were kept, and they consist mainly of reports from the SB to the Minister of Justice, and requests from the SB that people be banned.
Department of Justice files on enemies of the state
Recently I looked at the pile of fading newspapers containing the lists, and thought I would type them into a database. They were in roughly alphabetical order in the newspapers, but some people I knew had been banned seemed to be missing. Now I have finished the typing. I’ve tagged the people on the list that I knew, however slightly, and also added notes about organisations that they belonged to, where I had that information.
After finishing the typing, I realised that quite a lot were missing from the lists. Perhaps the typesetters at This Day found it too boring a task, and skipped some. There are 5051 files, but the references go up to 8418, so several files are missing.
It looks as though the files began to be kept with the passing of the Supression of Communism Act in 1950, because most of the low numbered files are those of communists.
Andrews, W.H 3 Bunting, B.P 4 Carneson, Fred 7 Dadoo, Y.M. (Dr) 15 du Plessis, Daniel Johannes 10 Fischer, Abram 17 Harmel, Michael 9 Kahn, Sam 5 Kotane, M. 2 La Guma, J. 6 Mofutsanyana, E.T 12 Roberts, William John Sydney 20 Slovo, J 19 Watts, H. (Berstein, H.) 18 Wolfson, Israel 13
Then, presumably around the mid-1950s, ANC members began to be added to the list, including the accused in the Treason Trial (1956-1960). Here are some known ANC members from various periods, in numerical order by file reference.
Gwala, Themba Harry Gwala, Harry Temba 53 Mbeki, Govan A. 785 Mandela, Nelson R.D. 929 Sisulu, Walter Ulliot Max 980 Nokwe, Philemon Pearce Duma 981 Kasrils, Ronald 1032 Hani Martin Tembisile Hani, Chris 1132 Sisulu, Albertina 1297 Mandela, Winnie 1501 Mda, Ashby Peter 1574 Gawe, Stephen Pandul @ Popsie 1698 Mbeki, Thabo 3115 Gqirana, Mongameli @ Mobbs 3340 Motlanthe, Petrus Pat Kgalema 3547 Maharaj, Sathyandranath Ragunanan Maharaj, Mac 3694 Sparg, Marion M 7794
Somewhat surprisingly, some prominent ANC leaders, such as Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo and Jacob Zuma, do not appear in the list at all. Perhaps This Day skipped them in typing the list, or their files were lost. Some who were in exile, like Thabo Mbeki, may only have been added much later than they would otherwise have been. But there are many ANC leaders in the 900-1100 range. The bureaucrats also got the spelling of some names wrong (Walter Sisulu’s middle name, for example). In the early files, where most of the people were Communists, they frequently used initials rather than names. the @ sign seems to mean “alias”.
In the early 1960s, liberals began to be added to the list in increasing numbers. Here are some known liberals who were on the list. They are also in numerical order, which is roughly the order in which they were banned. Those in the 1200-2000 range would have been roughly in the period 1962-1968. Those in the 3000 or above range were probably included for activities after the Liberal Party had been forced to disband in 1968:
Isacowitz, J.L. 129 Attwell, E.L 150 O'Dowd, A.P 210 Mfaxa, Stanford @ Rantyisi 673 Duncan, Patrick 1026 Evans, David Llyn 1039 Mohammed, Ebrahim Vally 1094 Vigne, James Randolp 1110 Ngubane, Jordan Kush 1122 Msimang, Henry Selby 1220 Bhengu, Hyacinth 1230 Goodfellow, Clements Francis 1254 Mdingi, Maqashe Leonard 1270 Mngadi, Thamsanqa Elliot @ Elias 1381 Daniels, Edward Joseph 1384 Harber, Eric Stanchell 1405 Brown, Peter McKenzie 1444 Aitchison, John Jaques William 1486 Magani, Mashamra Christopher @ Shabalala 1487 Ndhlovu, Michael Temba @ John @ Mike Ndlovu 1495 Bromberger, Norman 1507 Craighead, David Hepburn 1534 Hain, Adelaine Florence 1540 Hain, Walter Vannet 1541 Hjul, Peter Donald 1553 Mnguni, Mlungu Enock 1589 Hill, Charles Kenneth 1606 Van den Berg, Frans Ignatius Maritz 1625 Brookes, Edgar Harry 1634 Hill, Jean Farre nee Ballantyne 1636 Hayes, Stephen Thromp Wynn Hayes, Stephen Tromp Wynn 1658 Hayman, Ruth Woodburn (Lazar) 1664 Morkill, Heather Mary 1699 Friday, Iris M. 1891 Corrigall, Mary Ernestine Gwendoline 1940 Hain, Peter 2808 de Keller, David Guy 2828 Kuper, Leo 2850 Wentzel, E.M. 3012 Koka, Kgalushi Drake 3175
Again, there are some known omissions. Among the Liberals who were definitely banned, but whose names are not on the list, are Selby Msimang and Mike Ndlovu (Update: I added them from an online list).
What about Christian opposition to apartheid? Well, there were undoubtedly many Christians on the list. The following are some of those I knew to be clergy of various Christian denominations. There are probably many more that I didn’t know or know about. Again, they are in numerical order, which is roughly the order in which the government got annoyed with them.
Blaxall, Arthur Williams 1078 Aitchison, John Jaques William 1486 Calata, James Arthur 1567 Reeves, Ambrose 1572 Brookes, Edgar Harry 1634 Hayes, Stephen Thromp Wynn Hayes, Stephen Tromp Wynn 1658 Magoba, Stanley Mmutlayane 2062 Ntlabati, Gladstone Mxolisio 2294 Beyers Naude, C.F 2568 Robertson, Robert J.D. 2659 Collins, Collin 2862 Crowther, Clarance Edward 2901 Mercer, Robert (Eerw) 2926 Desmond, Patrick Anthony Desmond, Cosmas 2980 Moore, Basil Scott 3027 Winter, Colin O'Brien 3131 Kemeeta, Zephania Kameeta, Zephania 3353 Uanivi, Hiskia Ndojoza 3371 Hendrikse, Helenard Joe @ Alan 3821 Russell, David Patrick Hamilton 4893 Kotze, Theodore 4949 Moselane, Tebogo G 5175 Tutu, Desmond 5862 Boesak, Allan / Allen 6658 Xundu, Mcebisi 7462 Brittion, Susan B 7519
So there it is. The Lord encouraged Elijah by telling him that there were at least 7000 in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal, and so it was in South Africa too. At the time their names were known only to God and the Department of Justice, but now it can be told.
But I did know some of them, and here are the ones I knew and had met face to face. Some I knew quite well, and others I have only met once or twice, often at church meetings or conferences, but most of them are people I’m glad to have known. Perhaps the fact that I knew so many of them proves the thesis of the little grey men in the government offices that there was indeed a sinister conspiracy against the government, a concerted effort, a master plan for the total onslaught against White Western Civilisation, for which South Africa was the last bastion of defence. This time they are in alphabetical order.
Aitchison, John Jaques William 1486 Bastomsky, Saul James 1556 Beyers Naude, C.F 2568 Bhengu, Hyacinth 1230 Blaxall, Arthur Williams 1078 Boesak, Allan / Allen 6658 Brittion, Susan B 7519 Brookes, Edgar Harry 1634 Brown, Peter McKenzie 1444 Buthelezi, Manas @ Malaria 3220 Camay, Phiroshaw 7124 Collins, Collin 2862 Corrigall, Mary Ernestine Gwendoline 1940 Curtis, Jeanette Eva 3382 Curtis, Neville Wilson 3014 de Beer, Cedric 6452 de Beer, David Edmund 3059 Desmond, Patrick Anthony Desmond, Cosmas 2980 Dunn, Timothy Terence 3015 Ernst, David 2634 Friday, Iris M. 1891 Gawe, Stephen Pandul @ Popsie 1698 Hemson, David Christopher Law @ Dave 3248 Hendrikse, Helenard Joe @ Alan 3821 Hill, Charles Kenneth 1606 Hill, Jean Farre nee Ballantyne 1636 Josie, Mervyn Jayaprakash 2210 Kemeeta, Zephania Kameeta, Zephania 3353 Khoapa, Bennie 3211 Kleinschmidt, Horst Gerhard Herman 3341 Kotze, Theodore 4949 Lebenya, Sechaba Noel 2999 Magani, Mashamra Christopher @ Shabalala 1487 Mngadi, Thamsanqa Elliot @ Elias 1381 Mnguni, Mlungu Enock 1589 Moore, Basil Scott 3027 Morkill, Heather Mary 1699 Msimang, Henry Selby 1220 Ndhlovu, Michael Temba @ John @ Mike Ndlovu 1495 Ntwasa, Sabelo Stanley @ Sabela Nywada 3030 Reeves, Ambrose 1572 Robertson, Robert J.D. 2659 Russell, David Patrick Hamilton 4893 Simkins, Charles 3794 Tutu, Desmond 5862 Uanivi, Hiskia Ndojoza 3371 Van Wyk, Frederick Johannes 5022 Webb, Colin de Berri 1928 Winter, Colin O'Brien 3131 Xundu, Mcebisi 7462
We were told by the government that we were at war, and these were the people they were fighting against. I’m glad to have known some of them. And some of them are no longer with us; may their memory be eternal.
______________________
Tales from Dystopia is a series of posts I am doing at irregular intervals, with memories of the apartheid era. Some of my fellow South African bloggers said that we should not forget what happened in our past, so that we can learn the lessons of history. So these posts are my contribution to that.
Trackbacks
- Eight things about me « Khanya
- More Hannan cousins – Badcock Walters & Reddick « Hayes & Greene family history
- Becoming Orthodox: the actual theological problem « Khanya
- Tales from Dystopia XVI: The SB | Khanya
- Blessed are the crazy: Mental illness and the Christian faith | Khanya
- Old friends met or remembered | Notes from underground
Khanya 
Hi Steve,
Great insights.
I love the word Kafkaesque. Where did you pick it up?
Kafkaesque?
I can’t think where I first heard it. I know I’m not the only one to use it.
Steve,
There is another list available at SAHA — http://www.saha.org.za/about.htm?about/security.htm — though I’m not certain how this differs from the list published in *This Day*. Maybe more comprehensive as it has over 8000 names on it (81 pages, ~100 names/pg).
Thanks very much, Gus. I checked, and it does seem to be the complete list — Selby Msimang, who was missing from the This Day list is there, as is Mike Ndlovu. Interestingly enough, it too doesn’t seem to be in complete alphabetical order.
I downloaded it to my laptop computer, which was stolen, and now I can’t find it. Is it still lurking online somewhere?
I think it’s here now, as SAHA must have updated all there links http://www.saha.org.za/about_saha/freedom_of_information_programme/apartheid_era_security_files.htm
Cheers
Derek
Fantastic post Steve … thanks
Thanks Steve. I shall pass your message on to other interested people.
Very interesting to see this and of course it triggers all sorts of memories and “I wonder why ??? are not on the list?” So important not to forget where we have come from especially in the face of so much despondency about South Africa.
Thanks David for passing it on. Of course again mourning Neville and Jenny …
remember
remember Rob Roberston and his band of parishioners that slept on the pavements to resist people being evicted from their homes & businesses in Vrededorp.
also his stand against the
awb who hung dead cats at his door and other dreadfell things.
r
Thanks Cathy, I’ve updated the lists — Rob Robertson was on it, and he and his wife and daughter visited us in Windhoek long ago.
Just another note thanking you for publishing these pieces of the realities of that time, which I followed — not attentively at all, of course — from afar.
Cheerful note for the day: Many of us knew, back in the 50s, that apartheid could only end in monstrous bloodshed. It’s good to be dead wrong now and then, and I still have the front page of the local (San Francisco) paper from the day after the election (the real one, you know).
And special thanks for getting yourself on the list and helping to make fools of us pessimists who thought we were realists.
Thank you for compiling these names. I checked for the name Stanley Nqubeni April or Stanley Nqabeni April or Stanley Ngubeni April from the 1960s onward. Can anyone help or is there a source to search?
Here you are: April, Nqubeni Stanley No 1919
Can you tell us anything more? In my list I’m trying to add brief biographical notes, like what organisations the person was active in — political parties, churches etc.
From Transkei Ngubeni Stanley April was Langa in Cape Town in 1960, was central in PAC-Poqo history, captured in Willowvale, tortured with Mbhashe Bridge murder suspects at Mthatha, sentenced in Gcuwa to 3 years and 3 years in Malmesbury in 1963, served on Robben Island 1963-1966, banned in Victor Verster and North End in P. E. Skipped to Botswana 1972, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Holland, US, Canada 1980. Never found my court trial records, my prison records or security records 1960-1966 and 1970 onward.
You will probably find the file with that reference number quite illuminating. It is not the full file kept by the SB — just what they saw fit to tell the Minister of Justice — but interesting all the same.
Thanks Steve!
Just reading their names feels like paying tribute, to those still living and those who have moved on ….
And some of the names bring back memories, though of course I didn’t know half as many of these fine people as you did.
Interesting that Charles Simkins was on their list, though never banned (to my knowledge anyway. Was he, perhaps, after returning from Oxford Universtity and perhaps after my departure to Canada?)
Neville Curtis, eh? NUSAS. I remember getting into a big argument with him, asserting that SASO and the Black Consciousness Movement were not promoting racism …
Speaking of which, I don’t see BCM names: Steve Biko, Barney Pityana, and more who were banned around the same time you were in ’72. Nor Mamphela Ramphele.
Donald Woods
Desmond Tutu
Toni,
I think Charles Simpkins was banned for a while. I didn’t know any of the BCM people apart of Bennie Khoapa — much of that happened when I was out of the country, either in the UK or Namibia, or after I was banned. I visited Bennie Khoapa in his Black Community Programmes office a couple of times after I was banned (probably was breaking my ban to do so) and I met Barney Pityana once there, but I’ve seen him more since he has been principal of Unisa, but he and Desmond Tutu are there under the clergy section.
Good day.Perhaps you can assist me in obtaining that list published by This Day in December 2003 as I was one of those on the list.
Kind Regards
Your number was 7627. You can ask to see it at the archives in Pretoria, and you can get a photocopy of it, if you like.
I want a letter to send to Ngubeni ka-Nkophe.
A roll of honour.
Thanks Steve. This was very interesting.
Good evening Steve:
Not sure if you are still managing your blog, but I will add my voice to thanking you for keeping the narration of South African history and dialogue open. I see that you met my dad Bennie Khoapa at some point in your visits to UMlazi Durban. An area I find does not get discussed is the role of families of the individuals who were banned. I think there has been a misguided perception that their lives were easy or privileged. I have had many occasions where I have been told how privileged I have been to have lived in the US. The discussion around the trauma and going into exile made then and still continue to plague some people who at very young ages had to live once their parent/parents were banned is an untold story. At times it feels like that story is uncomfortable for people to hear cos they feel you are wining or if you had the experience, you feel you don’t have the voice or relevance in sharing. I still struggle with many things that happened during those days, but I will say Thanks to my parents for having been strong and pretty much defiant in their response to my father’s banning order. To find normalcy in the face of that with young children, I don’t know how they stayed above water. Maybe that is what I need to spend my time saying from the top of my lungs as a child from that era with that history: Thank you to my parents and siblings for helping to keep us as a unit despite the challenges. In turn Thanks to those who supported the South Africa diaspora who were landless and homeless for many years.
Finally, Thanks to you Steve and those who keep the wind beneath your wings to start such a webpage and keeping the narrative going.
Best Regards;
Mamsie Khoapa
Mamsie,
Thanks very much for your comments, which add to the story that I hope more will tell. I visited your dad a few times at his office at the Beatrix Street Congregational Church, from which he ran the Black Community Programmes. Then I was banned, and could not go there any more. Fifteen months later he was banned too, and we were not allowed to communicate at all.
When I was first banned, I stayed with the Gilley family. Larry Gilley was a Congregational minister, and had his office in the same building as your dad, we we kept in touch indirectly. I wasn’t married at that stage, so it did not affect my family much, but I was lucky to have the Gilley family, who were very supportive. But your dad would have lo9st his job as well when he was banned, and that would have made things much more difficult for all of you.
Maybe you should tell your story more fully, perhaps in your own blog. The further those days recede into the past, the more vague and distorted the picture people have of that time becomes. Keep well!
I feel like you are reading my dad’s mind. I have been after him to write “his story” especially as we seem to be struggling with leadership and a political face in South Africa. He always turns it around and says…”You guys..(meaning my sisters especially) should write about your experiences..you have lots to say” . As you cam imagine its a back and forth…My take is that I objectify the experience as it was a survival mode…and I think that pretty much has become a way of life. It takes people’s comments that I revisit that and even wonder which world does one inhabit and how to unlock these experiences without sounding…..well anyway…its something to think about and maybe one of these days will action. Until then, I will find pleasure in reading your blog and seeing what else people are sharing. Maybe that will assist in unlocking the mind and feel like sharing the experience is worthwhile. I do believe without realizing we are products of keeping information safe in our minds and hearts—a default state of being from the past huh….
You are lucky you had a family during those times and yes it was a struggle from the bit I remember. Thank God I was too young to know the gravity of what had happened..we just assumed “dad was working closer to home cos he had too many meetings and we were not seeing him much…” It was about two years down the road when the “system” used to visit the house at night or be stationed outside the house that a different reality was finally brought to light. Interesting even thinking about it…All I can say we had lots of parties…every weekend. Turns out they were to hide the fact that people from BCP and BCM were meeting in the middle of it all.
Well I shall leave it at that for now….I will revisit the “sharing of experiences and dialogue”….
All the best….
Mamsie
Hi Steve.
I’m trying to find out more about my dad, the late Sechaba Noel Lebenya.
I see from your article that you had met him in the past.
I was hoping that I could somehow get into contact with you, regarding finding out more about his life and the role he played in our history as he passed away when a was quite young
Hi Steve!
Fascinating to read this post. In the late 80’s My phone was tapped by the Security police, I had “visits” where they searched the house, and I was often followed when I came from Church meetings. When I asked the one policeman one day why they are wasting their time like this, I was answered that I was in the wrong church – “Boesak’s Church!” I was a minister in the then NG Sendingkerk.
Regarding the shredding of files – I had a classmate that I becane suspicious of, as he was. Minister in Namibia and I was outside George, but I got a random visit from him. During the visit he started inquiring about some of my fellow ministers. It was suspicious because he seemed to know about them. Many years later, another classmate told me that this guys brother was in the ‘churches branch’ of the security police. I was also told that on the day FW de Klerk announced the unbanning of the ANC in 1990 they started shredding files….
Hi Steve.
I’m trying to find out more about my dad, the late Sechaba Noel Lebenya.
I see from your article that you had met him in the past.
I was hoping that I could somehow get into contact with you, regarding finding out more about his life and the role he played in our history as he passed away when a was quite young
Hi Steve.
I’m trying to find out more about my dad, the late Sechaba Noel Lebenya.
I see from your article that you had met him in the past.
I was hoping that I could somehow get into contact with you, regarding finding out more about his life and the role he played in our history as he passed away when a was quite young