PART FOUR

WORKERS OF THE WORLD

Chapter 14 - Manchester and home news
Chapter 15 - SACTU in London
Chapter 16 - International solidarity 1: The British isles and beyond
Chapter 17 - International solidarity 2: The Canadian connection
Chapter 18 - SACTU, from beginning to end

Chapter 14

Manchester and home news

By now Joyce had separated from her husband and I was able to stay with her and her family - her mother and her three children, Pat, Bob and Helen - and make my home in Manchester. I have seen Helen grow up from babyhood, and she is like another daughter to me.

Joyce was working, of course, and we decided that I needed to find work too. This was not difficult through Communist Party contacts, as most of the big engineering factories had leading communist shop stewards at the time.

We went to the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) to meet Harry Smith, secretary of Stockport Trades Council, who was convenor of the Joint Shop Stewards' Committee at a place called Oil Well Company (OWECO).

He arranged for me to be interviewed by personnel, who said they would take me on if the joint shop stewards agreed. I was mystified, but the stewards explained that the factory was a "closed shop", and only employed people who were union members: if I wanted to work there, I would have to join the union.

Of course that was exactly what I wanted to do, so the stewards informed management that they agreed, and I was taken on as a labourer, sweeping the factory. I was very impressed by the strength of the unions!

I should explain there was a joint Shop Stewards' Committee because the workers in the factory were members of many unions - engineering, general, woodworkers, technicians and clericaL "One Industry, One Union" had not, and still has not, reached England.

It was interesting for me to be a shop floor worker once more, this time in a fully unionised factory.

Work started at 7.00am, we had a 30 minute lunch break at 12.30pm and we finished at 4.00pm, Monday to Friday. It was about eight kilometres from where we lived, and I used to cycle to work. Perhaps I should explain for South African readers that for about four months of the year I cycled each way in darkness or near darkness, as well as often in the wet and cold, for winter days are short in England. One morning I skidded on the ice and fell off, but fortunately was not badly hurt.

I was impressed by some of the facilities at the factory. We had drinks machines on the shop floor which we could use at any time, and there was a works canteen. There was a medical room with a full-time nurse to deal with minor injuries and sickness, and there were strong safety regulations. To make sure that the safety regulations were applied, each part of the factory elected safety representatives, required to inspect and report on what they found.

Over the years, the struggles of organised British workers had led to Acts of Parliament which brought these facilities to workplaces. It seems the Conservative drive to return to 'Victorian values" includes reversing these gains where they can.

Oil Well Company was making drilling equipment for the North Sea oilfields. While I was there the firm was taken over by a big American company and, to my amazement, they started shipping the machines to Texas before delivering them to Scotland.

As a sweeper I moved around the factory, which gave me the chance to talk to other workers and find out what they were thinking, about world affairs, the union and other things. I discovered that ordinary British workers were strong trade unionists, but I thought they were politically backward. They were prepared to defend Britain's invasion of Suez and other imperialist adventures, and lacked solidarity with other workers. Industrially they were strong, but politically they were weak. It seemed to me they were easily taken in by the capitalist press, even when it came to trade union affairs.

Good people lost elections because of newspaper campaigns against them. When the government imposed postal ballots for trade union elections, many were apathetic and I had to press them to vote in their own elections.

They were big jokers and I was called a shit stirrer. One joke was that the bosses would send me home by boat - a boat with holes drilled in it, so that I would not even reach South Africa!

I found that in some ways workers lived double lives. At the factory there was a rough and tumble of language and behaviour, which was different from how they spoke and behaved at home. I soon learned factory language, but sometimes forgot to leave it at the factory gate! I also found I spoke better English than many of my workmates, who said things like "pass them spanners".

I enjoyed the period of sweeping, talking and joking. It was good for me, as a black South African with my slave mentality and labouring job, to find that I could give a lead to backward white workers, most of them skilled engineers. Everyone was interested in what I had to say: at lunchtime they would ask about South Africa. Some had relatives who had gone to work in South Africa, but had returned disgusted at how black workers were treated.

Occasionally the factory looked for people keen to learn semi-skilled jobs. I put my name down to learn to drive a crane and was taken on. I was taught and supervised by a crane driver for two weeks, and then my skills were tested by the foreman and I passed.

Later I put myself forward to be a "slinger", responsible for placing chains around heavy machinery so that the crane could pick it up and move it. It was regarded as a dangerous and tricky job. The machinery must not swing or millions of pounds worth of damage could be done and many people injured.

Again, I passed the test, and was then a semi-skilled worker. Soon afterwards I asked to learn to operate a machine, and within two weeks I could pass that test. This lead to a protest - this was a "skilled job", and the skilled workers were not happy that I should be allowed to do it without going to college and serving my time as an apprentice.

The joint shop stewards discussed the matter and decided unanimously that as I was not allowed to be an apprentice when I was younger in South Africa, an exception should be made and I should be allowed to short circuit the usual route. The workers accepted this ruling and I started to do the skilled job.

Overall, it was good to be working at OWECO. The convenor, Harry Smith, and chairman of the joint shop stewards' committee, Charlie Rogers, were very good to me, and I admired and respected their leadership. They had established a strong trade union organisation and a good relationship with the employers.

The only major industrial conflict while I was there was a strike which lasted half a day. It happened when the troublesome old heating boiler finally broke down over one cold weekend in winter. On Monday morning the factory was icy cold and we refused to work on the shop floor - we went to the canteen, which was warm, and had a meeting. The managers came and apologised and reported that temporary heating was being brought in at once and a new boiler would be installed the following weekend. The supervisor in charge of the boiler room was sacked for not reporting previous difficulties with the boiler.

In other ways, too, my time in Manchester was relatively happy and peaceful. It was the first time ever I had lived a normal life at home and work. We even had some holiday trips, to the sea or walking in the hills. I discovered I was getting a little too old to sleep under canvas, particularly in a cooler climate!

Joyce was active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), which had a branch in Manchester, as it did in most British towns. We often went to marches and meetings together, as well as pickets against the sale of South African goods.

I remember one amazing evening when we were part of an AAM group which gate crashed an event organised by the South African Embassy, with the aim of recruiting workers to go to South Africa. It was held in a posh hotel, and included a film show of the delights of life in South Africa. The film showed the scenery, sunshine, swimming pools and shopping malls - and all the people in the film were white, as if it were a European country. At the very end there was a brief shot of a gold mine, and there were blacks at last! That must be where all the Africans were - underground!

It so happened that not many members of the public were there: most of the audience was AAM, but those present were left in no doubt that the picture they were being shown was very misleading indeed.

Family Affairs

I succeeded in getting more news of my family. The first breakthrough came in early 1973. Two young Manchester friends, Dave and Merryn Cooke, had accepted teaching post at Madiba Secondary School, at Mahalapye in Botswana. They had taught in Zambia for two years, and were very interested in Africa.

They were active in anti apartheid moves and supported the boycotts, but because I asked them to help me they agreed to see my family in South Africa during their first school holiday. They had an old white Landrover and drove it from Mahalapye down into South Africa and across to the Eastern Cape, to stay with my brother and his wife, where my children were. When they returned to Botswana they sent us photographs and detailed reports of how everyone was. Dave and Merryn helped in other ways later, when I was travelling to Africa for SACTU.

There was further news in 1976 when another anti-apartheid activist, a South African doctor called Eugenie Cheesman, had to break the boycott to visit her ailing mother. She too was able to visit and report on my family.

In 1980 more friends, Debbie Parkin and Mick Pritchard, were in Cape Town. They sought out Oscar Mpetha, who took them to see Priscilla Mngeni and my youngest daughter, Shula. They gave Shula a letter from me, establishing contact between us for the first time.

Some of what I learned from the early contacts was very traumatic, confirming the worst rumours that I had heard.

My dear mother had passed away in my absence. My mother, Maggie Sibeko (Maduna), had been no ordinary woman. She was widowed while still young and had to work very hard all her life. She was a Christian, had been to school herself, and was determined that all four of her children would get an education.

Maduna was also a leading woman in our village, in the church and in social and welfare matters. She was respected by all, and we always felt we had something to live up to. She was a fighter, with a sharp tongue and quick temper, and she resisted some of the bad old traditions of male domination. She brought us up strictly, and none of us would think of disobeying her. In her family there was to be no drinking, no smoking and no harassing of women. These are rules which have stuck with me.

I was very sad when I heard of her death. She had died not knowing whether I was alive or dead, and I had not been able to say goodbye to her.

The news about my wife Letitia was also upsetting. As I have explained, at first she was reluctant to join me in Cape Town, but when she came she adapted quickly and learned how to survive. She had been religious and non-political: just an ordinary village girl. I had worked on her, because I was sure that if she remained too religious and non-political we could not last long together. In the struggle there were many difficulties and sacrifices which someone not involved would find hard to accept. She responded well, encouraged me and assisted me in times of trouble.

She had found me already mixed up in politics. Whites, coloured and Indians often visited my place and she had to entertain these sophisticated comrades. She did it well.

Sometimes at the end of the month I would arrive home with only a quarter of my supposed wages, all that the impoverished unions could pay, enough to pay the rent only. She was forced to work all the time, even when pregnant, doing washing and ironing for young white people in nearby flats.

If I were arrested she would often be ignorant of my whereabouts for two or three days. Then I was away for nearly a year, in Johannesburg for the Treason Trial, and she had survived that. When I was discharged from the Treason Trial at the end of 1957 I found the children all healthy and Letty employed in a dairy shop as a forelady. She had saved £100, which was a miracle to me because, although I was careful with money -some would even say mean - I had never been able to save a penny.

Letty had become politically involved too. She had joined the ANC, the Women's League and the Women's Federation. She was very active, and was among the women who went to the Union Building in Pretoria to protest against passes for women. In 196I she had joined the Communist Party.

We never had peace together, and she had borne the brunt of rearing our four children. I had regarded her as strong and self reliant, but now I think she must have depended on me more than I realised.

After I left the country she had been harassed and detained, and then expelled from Cape Town. She had gone underground, changed her name and returned. The children remained in the Eastern Cape, as we had agreed, the girls at her home and the boys with my mother.

After my mother died my brother Temba and his wife Sybil had taken over responsibility for the boys and moved them to Alice. Eventually they had gone to Letitia's family and offered to take the girls too. This was because there were good schools at Lovedale, where Temba lived and worked, and they were concerned that the girls should be educated. Letitia's brothers had agreed with this. Letitia had by then given birth to another child, Spokasi, who was not mine. Temba took her too, so she could go to school.

Letitia had been opposed to these moves, and when she heard that the Sibeko's had taken the three girls she broke off all contact, and never wrote or visited them.

From what Temba had heard, Letty's new partner had died. She had found another and had several more children, most of whom died in infancy. Life must have been tough for her as the apartheid regime tightened its grip, and she seems to have dropped out of politics. My brother eventually traced her in Cape Town and found her running a shebeen - illegal pub - in poor health. She died soon afterwards.

Later, when I got home, no one could tell me how or when she died, nor where she was buried. In spite of searching for records at the municipal office and hunting for the grave, I still do not really know what happened to her.

My elder sister Tsiki had been widowed, and was still living in Kwezana. My younger sister Nombulelo had had a difficult time. Her marriage had broken up and she was teaching, struggling to bring up her three children.

My brother Temba, who had been the administrator of the seminary at Lovedale, had decided to go for further training and had become a minister himself. He and Sybil had four children: Nosipho, Thabo, Nozizwe and Tembakazi. In addition they had taken on Letitia's and my four children, and Spokasi.

Later they also took Shula, my youngest daughter, for a while. You can imagine the financial and practical burdens this must have placed on them. In addition, they were harassed and Temba was arrested because of me, and later because of the political activities of Vuyo and Thabo, both of whom eventually left the country illegally. Temba was also victimised by the police because of his own stands against the corrupt regime of the Ciskei. At one time his church was burned down in suspicious circumstances.

We were able to give some financial help to them over the years. Joyce had been sending money since about 1969, and later we organised some funds through sympathetic non-governmental organisations, including towards rebuilding the church. But we know we can never repay them for the troubles and pressures they suffered by caring for my family.

And what of my children? We could see from the first photos that they were well fed and well cared for, and all at school, which was good news. But gradually we came to realise they had all been deeply affected by the traumas and disruptions experienced in their short lives, at vulnerable stages of their development.

The effects on my children began while I was still at home. The house was often raided and ransacked, with their father roughly carted away by police. They never knew when they would see me. Sometimes I was away for months. Then they were split up and left by their parents with grandparents, then moved again to their uncle and aunt whom they were told to call father and mother.

For security reasons I was never mentioned in their new home and they never heard from their mother. They must have wondered why they were abandoned. Perhaps they were not even sure who they were.

I know now that they felt the absence of their parents very deeply, and I think this cast a shadow over them. As I will describe later, some problems remain even today.

Our children, as well as ourselves, paid a high price for freedom.

The pull of the trade unions

Although I felt I had been squeezed out of the ANC and MK by some leaders, I could never be anything except ANC, and both Joyce and I knew that being in Manchester was only an interlude. I was an active member of my union, the AEU, and found interest in and support for South African workers among engineering union activists, including Harry Smith in Stockport and Stan Cole in Manchester.

I remember in particular John Broome of the Union of Construction, Allied and Technical Trade (UCATT) and John Forrester of the Technical Administration and Supervisory Section (TASS) of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers, and the local trades councils as well. I realised there was a lot of potential for mobilising the support of working people for our liberation struggle.

I kept in touch with some of our people in London, in particular with John Gaetsewe, the general secretary of the South African Congress of Trade Union now based there, and gradually found myself more involved in trade union solidarity work. John started asking me to speak for SACTU all over the north of England, and eventually further afield. It became difficult to combine working in the factory with the growing demands of SACTU, so John asked me to work with him for as long as the ANC did not give me a mission.

I agreed. This brought to an end my normal life in Manchester. After three peaceful years I was back to full-time political work, and this time I was to be a migrant worker too.

Chapter 15

SACTU in London

John Gaetsewe was the last general secretary of the South African Congress of Trade Unions elected at home. After he had been imprisoned for illegally leaving the country on a trade union mission, and later subjected to house arrest to prevent him participating in trade union activities, the movement decided to send him out of the country.

He went to the German Democratic Republic to develop his trade union skills and study trade unionism in socialist countries. While there he made contact with Phyllis Altman, former assistant general secretary of SACTU, who was in London after leaving South Africa because of harassment.

She invited John to England, and they realised that because of the links between Britain and South Africa, there was work to be done with British trade unions. Phyllis organised funding and John began operating from a small flat, which was both his home and his office.

The work progressed and the demand for speakers grew until he asked me to join him. I travelled to London every Monday morning, at first staying with John and then later having my own small flat, and returned home on Friday evenings - a three hour journey. This was to continue for most of the time until I returned to South Africa in 1990.

Soon the demand for speakers was more than John and I could cope with, and we called for help from other former SACTU activists in England. It was obvious we needed to put things on a more formal footing, especially when SACTU leaders in Africa decided that London should be the operational centre for the western world. We needed to draw together comrades who would speak for SACTU, to discuss and agree what we should be putting forward to the trade union movements.

The group of old SACTU comrades who met up with John and me included Phyllis Altman and Ronnie Press, both SACTU executive members at home, James Phillips, Steven Tobias and others.

There were three important points to be made whenever we spoke for SACTU. The first was that although SACTU was affiliated to the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), which now had most of its members in eastern bloc countries, our association with WFTU dated back to when it was the only world trade union centre. We were not aligned with anyone, communist or anti-communist: we were looking for support from the whole world labour movement.

Secondly, we were organising solidarity for all South African trade unions which opposed apartheid, whether they were communist, anti-communist or whatever.

The third point was that the exiled SACTU structure was a messenger for our people: in contact with home, and putting forward the policies and demands of workers at home.

Later we felt we needed written material, to enhance the impact of our speakers. We involved young people who had recently arrived from South Africa, Rob Peterson and his wife Paula Ensor, in producing pamphlets. We then became more ambitious and decided to revive the SACTU newspaper, Workers Unity. Everything we produced for international use we also sent home, so that the SACTU line inside and outside could be fully co-ordinated.

Unfortunately the Petersons did not last long, as Rob tried to hijack our paper for extreme left views. We found out he was asking his friend Martin Legassick to rewrite the editorial each time after it had already been approved. This was unacceptable so we asked him to leave. Paula went too, leaving us without administrative support. We were sorry to lose her. Luckily we found another young South African, Ilva Mackay, a student who left South Africa in 1976 and who worked for AAM. She was keen to join us, and remained with SACTU as long as it was in London.

We outgrew John Gaetsewe's flat so we found an office near the Angel tube station. Later, when I had taken over running the office, we moved again, to Archway.

We were able to pay for offices and allowances for people working there because of financial support we were receiving from the Swedish government through SIDA, a Swedish non-government organisation, from International Defence and Aid, and later from a Dutch non-governmental organisation. Because of this backing, we were able to send other money we raised from the trade union movement and from all the other non-governmental organisations back to trade unions in South Africa when they needed it.

The SACTU London office was busy, disciplined and well organised - some of our people were excellent administrators. It was also a happy place, where we all pulled together. At lunchtime we took turns to go out and buy food and prepare it, and as we ate we updated each other on what was happening in the office, what news anyone had from home and so on.

At any one time there were about eight people working there full-time, plus part-timers. We divided the work into sections.

A major function was to address meetings, and Ilva Mackay was responsible for this section at first. Every request for a speaker had to be responded to promptly and an appropriate person sent for that particular meeting. A report back had to be collected from the speaker afterwards. Ilva was followed by Poppie Nokwe.

The finance department was also important. It was headed up by Eddie Ramsdale, an accountant who was totally reliable and strict with money - like Moses Kotane in that respect. He was outspoken and not afraid to confront people, however important, if he disagreed with them. He was a staunch defender of the independence of the trade union movement, and when he died in London SACTU lost a great comrade. Sikhumbuso Majeke (Xolile) then took over responsibility for the finance department.

Big money went through our accounts. Nearly all the outside funds sent underground to South African unions came from our office, raised by us and sent home under conditions of high security. Our reliability was well known. Donors knew that their instructions would be followed exactly, and every penny accounted for. We never had any complaints about our financial affairs.

We also had an internal department, for contact with home. Our policy was that, if possible, everyone arriving from South Africa should be met at the airport and briefed by us, before they went wherever they were going. We also liked them to spend a few days with us before they returned, so we could keep up to date with developments in South Africa. Mark Sweet was in charge of this section.

Quite a lot of South African trade unionists visited us. Many had been brought to the United Kingdom by the English Trade Union Council (TUC) for seminars at their college, which was near our office at Archway. The TUC never informed us when people were coming, or consulted us on what was needed, but this was not a problem. We had many friends among the college staff and visiting lecturers, so knew what was going on. Some lecturers would come to us beforehand to discuss what they should be saying, and other staff would let us know exactly who was coming and when.

One comrade in particular kept us well informed; George Cartwright, a former seaman who had helped our struggle in other ways when at sea, who worked on the reception desk. We were able to arrange for all South African unionists who stayed at the college to come to our offices in the evening after their seminars had finished, so we could brief each other.

As our underground contacts at home increased, we felt it would be better for security if the most sensitive aspects of the internal work were known to only a few people. This would only be possible if it took place away from the office and a very good young friend of SACTU, Lyndel Stein, helped us do this.

Lyndel grew up in Britain but was South African by birth and wanted to contribute to the struggle. She let us use her flat in the basement of her father's house, and eventually moved out altogether and left it to us. She and her father, Sylvester Stein, also helped us by compiling an enormous list of progressive South Africans and others scattered all over the world, to whom Lyndel wrote for money for SACTU. This brought in thousands of pounds.

The SACTU education department was responsible for promoting more visits to the United Kingdom by South African trade unions. They persuaded friendly unions to set up seminars in the colleges which most of them have, and to invite and pay for people to take part in them. Tanya Abrahamse led this section.

The last section was propaganda, for home and international use. Ilva took over the portfolio, doing both the administration and writing the material.

When SACTU was well established in all these areas, I was invited to join an ANC sub-committee concerned with underground work at home, which I later chaired. Other members were Wally Serote, Aziz Pahad and Poloko Nkobi, who was secretary.

Looking back I realise what a lot of good people contributed to the success of the London office. Among others who worked full-time with us were Godfrey Mokate, Molly Marcus, Neo Ntsane, Maria Nobrega, Colin Belton, Carol Trelawny, Nombeko Mafu, Lyn Masetla, Daphne Nqose, Matthew Olifant - now general secretary of the Construction Workers' Union - and Janet Love.

Janet is rather a sore point with us. We lent this excellent woman to the Lusaka SACTU office to help them improve their organisation and from there she was hijacked by MK, who knew a good person when they saw one. We never saw her again. Her SACTU experience, however, stood her in good stead. She became one of the support staff at Codesa and a member of South Africa's first democratically elected Parliament.

Some people went on to study while continuing to help us when they could, as did other students, including my daughter Shula and Sipho Pityana. Ronnie Press joined us full-time in 1987 when he retired from his college teaching job. You could always rely on him to put his views across forcibly, and sometimes we clashed, but he worked staunchly for SACTU.

Daphne Nqose had been Daphne Zwane - one of the first brave women to leave South Africa to join MK - before she married Wilson (Zola Nqose). Later she moved to London to study, and stayed on because of her children. Sadly, she died young of cancer, before she could go home. Her two children are now back in Cape Town with their father.

With such a strong office we were able to contribute on many fronts.

Our initial remit was "the western world", which meant we had to cover Western Europe first. This we did, sending speakers and representatives all over the British Isles, the rest of Western Europe and Scandinavia. We also created links with trade unions and non-governmental organisations further afield in New Zealand, Australia and North America, the United States and, particularly, Canada. Later SACTU established offices in some of these places, or the ANC did and SACTU was able to work through them.

In addition, our office seemed to be the outside centre as far as South African trade unions were concerned. It was easier for them to communicate with and visit London than Lusaka, even though we were so far away. As a result we were in touch with all the progressive unions at home, and sometimes we even brought together leaders of large unions who were previously unknown to each other. We were respected for our efforts. Lusaka learned a lot from us and later, when travel to Zambia from South Africa became easier, they started to do the same thing.

There was a South African visitor who came to see us regularly, at least every month. He was MB Yengwa. Yengwa had been a close associate of Chief Albert Luthuli, and took over ANC leadership in Natal when Luthuli was banished. He was also harassed and persecuted and eventually left for Swaziland.

Yengwa shared Luthuli's view that trade unions were important and that the ANC, without union support, would be like a man trying to walk with only one leg. Luthuli encouraged all ANC people to join a union, and always found time to open SACTU conferences.

When we knew Yengwa in London he was already an old man and had suffered a stroke, but his interest and commitment were as great as ever and we were very encouraged by his visits. He is dead now, and we are still waiting for KwaZulu-Natal to produce people of same stature to replace the Luthuli and Yengwa generation.

We had a surprise visit from another South African one day. He was Julian Bahula, a well known musician - still performing in the United Kingdom and South Africa - who offered to raise funds for us. Of course we accepted and he took full responsibility for a successful night at the 100 Club in Oxford Street, London, with all of the takings going to SACTU. Other musicians also raised money for us, including the British group UB40 and Maxi Priest.

A different sort of social event raised more than £1000 for SACTU. When I turned 60 in 1988, Joyce and my friends in Manchester organised a party. Instead of presents, everyone who came was asked to match my years and give £60 - or whatever they could afford - for SACTU funds.

Most of us in the office - except Ilva, who totally refused - spoke at meetings up and down the British Isles, but I probably did more travelling than anyone else. We all had a few setbacks and many heart warming and encouraging experiences, which perhaps someone else will document in full one day. Here I can relate only a small proportion of my experiences in international trade union solidarity work.

Chapter 16

International solidarity 1: The British Isles and beyond

Although we were based in England, and had a great deal of support from English workers and their unions, the English Trade Union Council tended to be cool to SACTU and never invited us to send fraternal delegates to their annual congresses. We attended them just the same!

The Anti-Apartheid Trade Union Committee always organised fringe meetings where we spoke, and sometimes - particularly in Chris Childs's time - they put money towards our expenses.

In addition various unions, particularly TASS and the Fire Brigades' Union (FBU), used to invite us to join their delegates, providing us with accommodation and food. When they had delegation dinners they would introduce us to delegates and sometimes ask us to say a few words. In this way we were able to lobby effectively, including lobbying fraternal delegates from all over the world.

The reason we were not included among the TUC's fraternal delegates was that they were invited by its international department, notoriously staffed by non-elected officers who seemed to have more in common with the foreign office than with working people.

Their excuse was that we were not affiliated to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) which, as its name suggests, was anti-communist and anti the World Federation of Trade Unions, to which we were affiliated.

Later some of the constituent unions put up good resolutions about SACTU which were carried by congress. They urged the TUC to work with us, but the council officers continued to do little. These resolutions, though, made it easier for progressive unions to join in setting up a British Trade Union-SACTU Liaison Group. Eddie Ramsdale took the lead in this from our side, and the group was able to push forward the work among affiliates.

Partly in response to the blockages set up by the TUC, IMU and other anti-communist international trade union centres, SACTU developed a policy of pairing unions: for example promoting links between railway unions in Britain and South Africa. This was a very worthwhile policy. We found people understood much more clearly what apartheid meant when they learned about the lives of people like themselves in South Africa.We met many British union leaders at the Irish TUC congress, where we were fraternal delegates, and at the Scottish TUC, and found many of them friendly and helpful. We were often invited to their annual conferences, and they responded whenever they could if we asked for help.

One of the unions we were closest to was TASS, led by Ken Gill. We were always invited to speak at their conferences, and they gave us a lot of financial and other help. Ken was a strong supporter of SACTU policies in TUC debates and was widely respected by most other union leaders. He introduced us to many of his colleagues, always a good start, and all in all TASS was the bedrock of SACTU's work among British trade unions. When TASS merged with another union, the new Managerial, Scientific and Financial Union (MSF) carried on the good work.

The Firebrigades' Union was second only to TASS in supporting us. We were always at their national conferences and often at regional meetings and seminars. They even printed our newspaper, Workers Unity, each month without charge.

I think our first contact with the National Association of Local Government Officers (NALGO, now part of UNISON, the Public Service union) occurred when John Gaetsewe met John McFadden at the Scottish TUC. He invited SACTU to NALGO's London headquarters to address their international department.

When Gaetsewe and I went we found several leaders of the union in the audience, including Rita Donachy, then vice president and later president, and Ralph Gayton, the European Community Executive Committee member who chaired the international committee. We were warmly welcomed and offered support. This was very fortunate, because their offices were near ours, and they allowed us to use their facilities, including meeting rooms, telephones and fax machines.

NALGO was affiliated to Public Service International (PSI) and their support for SACTU and direct pairing was not liked by PSI. The argument was that if there were to be any relationships with South African unions they should be via PSI, not via SACTU, and certainly not directly union to union. NALGO were loyal members of PSI but would not be moved on this. McFadden and Gayton, both workers who were elected not full-time officers, felt strongly that they wanted to be personally in touch with South African workers.

Later we organised the South African Municipal Workers' Union to invite NALGO to send a delegation to their conference, which they did. John McFadden was one, Ralph Gayton another, together with Jan Stockwell of the international department. They produced a booklet about their visit afterwards. While in South Africa they also carried out other important missions for SACTU. This was the first time progressive trade unionists had done this for us, and other trade unionists followed later. All of them were taking big risks in helping our struggle.

When Jimmy Knapp became general secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR), doors were opened to international solidarity with South African railway workers. It was a time when they were desperately in need of support. There was an upsurge in trade union activity on the railways, as elsewhere, and the regime was responding by murdering striking workers, and arresting and sentencing others to death.

We suggested that NUR invite South African Railway and Harbour Workers' Union leaders to Britain, which they did. General secretary Sello Ntai and president justice Langa came at NUR's expense to talk to the leadership and address meetings.

It was agreed that money would be collected from the British union's members for SARHWU, and that NUR centrally would give £2 000 a month for at least six months. SARHWU leaders invited Jimmy Knapp to visit them in return, which he later did. NUR also persuaded the West German Railway Union to help. They paid for a SARHWU delegation to attend an International Railway Conference.

We had little response from Britain's biggest union, the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) until Ron Todd was elected general secretary. Then there was a dramatic change, and TGWU opened up to SACTU.

They invited us to their conferences, national and regional, and gave us financial and political support. Ron Todd himself went to South Africa and met South African trade union leaders, where he promised TGWU's direct support for our struggle, without delays imposed by the TUC or ICFTU. Ron was always available if we needed to see him, and as far as SACTU was concerned, he was one of the great trade union leaders of Britain.

The National Union of Seamen (NUS) came across SACTU by accident, but once he met us the union's general secretary Jim Slater was very helpful. He let us use NUS meeting rooms, introduced us to other British unions and - perhaps best of all -introduced us to the Danish Seamens' Union, who were wonderful people.Our treasurer, Eddie Ramsdale, was a member of the Association of Scientific, Technology and Managerial Staff (ASTMS), and through his network we got a lot of grassroots support. Large sums of money were raised, and the good work continued after the merger into MSF.

The National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) under Rodney Bickerstaffe supported us both politically and financially. They were particularly active in training and paid for people to attend seminars they organised in Britain. Later they sent officers out to Zambia to lead seminars for people from home.

The General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trade Union (GMBATU), led by John Edmonds, invited us to their conferences and to address seminars at their college, in Manchester. They even paid us to do it!

Ken Gill introduced us to the National Communications Union (NCU) and we immediately suggested they invite the South African Post Office and Telecommunications Workers' Association (POTWA) to send their leaders over for a seminar and to attend their conference. The National Union of Furniture Trade Operatives (NUFTO) similarly agreed to bring their opposite numbers from South Africa for a meeting and seminars.

We discussed with Anthony D Dubbins of the National Graphical Association (NGA) and his committee the fact that the whites only South African Typographical Union was still a member of the Print International Secretariat (PIS). They immediately decided to put to their conference a call for the union's expulsion, and this was passed and taken to the international body. As a result they were expelled. Later NGA helped us again by providing computer training for some of our comrades.

This roll of honour is incomplete. There were many other unions which supported our struggle: indeed there were few which did not. I have mentioned only some - those with which I worked and found particularly active on behalf of South African working people.

The many good comrades in the British trade union movement made up for the lack of enthusiasm from the TUC. We received enormous amounts of moral and practical support, and more. One of the things I miss in retirement is their friendship.

There is more to the British Isles than England!

Although most English unions cover Scotland too, there is a separate Scottish TUC, and we were invited to address their congress every year. The Scottish leaders, particularly Jimmy Miller and Campbell Christie, gave us every support. They issued a circular to all affiliates asking them to collect money for SACTU and encouraged them to invite us to address their individual conferences, which many did. They also encouraged their English counterparts to co-operate with us.

Visits to the Scottish TUC were always enjoyable and productive, although at first I had difficulty with some of the accents and felt I needed an interpreter. This never stopped me appreciating their sympathy and understanding for us.

There was a very effective Anti-Apartheid Movement in the Irish Republic which had good links with the trade union movement. Because of their efforts SACTU was invited to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions every year. I was always the one who went, and I stayed with Kadar and Louise Asmal in Dublin. Kadar was dean of the faculty of law at Trinity College, and I am sure it was his and Lousie's efforts which built up the Irish AAM.

The first thing which struck me was that workers from all parts of Ireland, including the six counties that make up Northern Ireland, were present and discussing their common problems. They were way ahead of the politicians in this. They were strongly against apartheid. On one memorable visit I was called to a demonstration in Dublin to support shop workers who had been sacked by their employer, the big supermarket store Dunnes, because they refused to handle and sell South African products.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions also helped our struggle by arranging and supporting training in technical skills in the Republic of Ireland for many of our exiles.

My observation was that where there was a strong anti-apartheid movement, as in Dublin, Glasgow and many other towns, interest in South Africa grew. We found unions and other organisations such as local authorities taking up our issues and supporting our campaigns for boycotts, sanctions and so on.

We were unhappy with what the British government did to protect and bolster the apartheid regime, with Margaret Thatcher referring to our freedom fighters as terrorists. But at least we were allowed to work from London, which was very valuable to us. We were even given police protection once, when South African activists abroad were being bombed and assassinated by the regime's agents.

Whatever the shortcomings of their government, the people of the British Isles and their organisations gave us tremendous support and, because of their international links, helped us find support elsewhere. We had many true friends in the British Isles in our hour of need.

Our involvement across the English Channel was less than in the British Isles, but we had significant and substantial help from many countries, and I visited a number of them.

For example, SACTU was invited to Italy to take part in their May Day demonstrations, which united all three Italian union centres. I went twice to May Day in Milan, as well as to a trade union seminar by the Italian lakes.

We were also very close to one of the French centres, the Confederation Generale des Travailleurs (CGT). We met each year at the WFTU conference, and they always invited us to their annual conference. Although our communication was handicapped somewhat by language barriers, I felt they supported our struggle unreservedly.

There was one incident which demonstrated their support, which I shall never forget. South African coal had been imported by France in defiance of sanctions and CGT called for action. Oil was poured on the coal dumps and they were set alight. CGT firemen had been advised in advance that there was no need to respond quickly to the calls, and all the coal was burned out. CGT was also a reliable source of financial support.

In Belgium and the Netherlands most of our support came from outside the trade union movement. In fact we never made contact with the Belgian unions, but we did enjoy support from two non-governmental organisations which gave us big money for our underground work at home.

The Anti Apartheid Movement in Holland was very strong and this influenced the Trade Union Centre (FNV) to be friendly to us - until they discovered that SACTU was an affiliate of WFTU. Their trade union structure was very centralised, and once FNV was against we were unable to approach individual unions. Fortunately the AAM had leading trade unionists among its members, who were able to get us invited to some o the unions' conferences. I went to speak to the public sector, dockers, railway and food unions.

In Holland there were also two non-governmental organisations which gave money to both SACTU and the ANC. At their suggestion, 10 percent of the money covered administrative costs and the rest went straight to underground structures at home. There seemed to be no support for their distant relatives, the Afrikaners, among the. Dutch people.

In Scandinavia the response was mixed. We had contact with some of the Danish unions, in particular the Seamens Union. The Danish government had a strong sanctions policy and the Seamens' Union kept a very close watch on Danish shipping lines to see they observed the sanctions.

When they discovered a company breaking sanctions by transporting South African goods, the unions took them to court. They also checked on South African boats going elsewhere in Europe, and when they found black crew members being paid lower wages than white crew, they contacted dockers in Sweden and England to tell them not to unload until crews were paid, regardless of colour. The ship's owners were forced to pay up before they could offload.

Eventually SACTU opened an office in Denmark at the invitation of the trade unions and at their expense, to make consultation easier.

I visited Finland once, and also found the leaders of trade unions there very warm and supportive to our struggle. They gave us money for underground work back home. While I was in Helsinki I met a number of South Africans living there, working for the World Peace Council.

By contrast, the Swedish Trade Union Centre (LO-TCO) was lukewarm to SACTU. This was surprising because Sweden was generally against apartheid and SIDA, a government funded NGO, gave our movement a lot of money to support organisations in exile. They knew it was essential for us to have strong offices, and were the major source of finance for the SACTU office in London right up until the time it closed.

At one stage the remit of the London office extended beyond Europe as far as New Zealand and Australia - literally the other side of the world.

We had met people from the New Zealand Seamens' Union (NZSU) at WFTU meetings and later, when their president was visiting his counterpart in London, he said he wanted to see us. This was how we first met Jim Slater of NUS. The New Zealand comrade came to our office, and invited us to send a representative to his union's forthcoming annual conference in Auckland.

John Gaetsewe had been to New Zealand some years before, but this time it was decided I should go. I flew via California and had all the confusion of crossing the dateline but, luckily, long plane journeys do not bother me. When I arrived at Auckland, the NZSU president was there to meet me, together with Ken Douglas, general secretary of the New Zealand Trade Union Congress. They took me to a hotel near to the hall where the NZSU Conference was taking place, and left me to rest before I was collected for dinner and to meet other trade union leaders.

The next day, when I looked out of the hotel window, I noticed that the climate seemed like South Africa's, with a heavy dew which glistened in the morning sun. After breakfast I was taken to the conference to give my fraternal greetings, and then moved on. First I went to the TUC office to pay a courtesy call. It was obvious they needed a broad explanation of what was going on in South Africa, not restricted to trade union affairs. In any case trade union issues cannot be discussed in isolation from broader issues.

The New Zealand TUC had sent a circular to all affiliates saying I was going to be in the country, and that they should welcome me with open arms. Many affiliates had responded and an itinerary been drawn up for me to go to both islands. Because my time was limited, some unions had organised joint meetings. For example, there was one meeting on the South Island to which all unions were invited.

The Transport Union took responsibility for transporting me, handing me over from region to region. I was carried by the organisers, in their cars, all of which had car phones. When I asked how unions in such a small country could afford this, I was told that almost all workers were required to be trade union members and that subscriptions were collected by stop orders, so that the unions had enough funds.

My job in New Zealand was not difficult. Most New Zealanders seemed to be against apartheid and wanted to know what they could do to help. Subsequently the Trade Union Centre sent SACTU money every year, and their leaders played a big part in the expulsion of the South African government, employers and white unions from the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

While I was moving round New Zealand addressing meetings and enjoying the beauty of the country, the Trade Union Centre I was talking to Australians, suggesting they invite me before I returned to Britain. This was arranged, and after a week in New Zealand I flew to Sydney for three days.

Behind my invitation to go to Australia were the Building, Construction and Engineering Union, led by John Boating, and the Seamens' Union, both affiliates of WFTU. They organised a joint meeting, and I found they knew something about South Africa from their WFTU experiences. They gave me a very warm welcome, but time was limited and I could do little except talk to my hosts and admire the beautiful city of Sydney.

An outcome of the two visits was that a demand arose for a permanent South African presence in that part of the world. As a result, the ANC later opened an office in Sydney.

We also reached across the Atlantic Ocean to North America. From its foundations in 1954, SACTU had been in contact with the United Electrical Union, which then included both Canadian and American workers. John Gaetsewe and others had been to some of their meetings in Canada.

In 1977 we were invited to send a delegate to their convention, to be held in New York, and it was proposed that I go.

I agreed reluctantly, because we were generally suspicious of America and Americans. We knew how the Central Intelligence Agency had tried to undermine and divide progressive and trade union organisations all over the world, and we had seen some of this in South Africa. It was reported that the first meeting of the people who broke away from the ANC to form the PAC was held in the United, States Information Office.

The convention I attended was held in a posh hotel and lasted a week. I kept thinking it must be costing the union a fortune, and of course they had paid my fare on top of that. Why this amazed me was because in South Africa, we had never dreamed of having a meeting on this scale. We were used to church halls or crummy township halls, with delegates accommodated by local people. We met only at weekends so delegates did not miss work, or they would lose wages and probably get sacked.

When I got home, of course, I found that South African trade unions had adopted the American way of doing things. Anyway, how they ran their conference was not my business. I had gone to speak to delegates about South Africa, and that was what I did. As I did so, the attitude I had arrived with began to change.

I found some delegates were open communists, and there were black Americans who understood the need for international solidarity with the oppressed people of the world. For most black Americans, in fact, whatever your political opinions, if you are African they support you in calling for independence and opposing American interference in your struggle.

My welcome was very warm, and all the delegates showed that they hated apartheid. What I found as I talked informally with them helped me to reformulate my approach to addressing the conference. My speech went down very well, and the trip turned out to be the first of a number of successful visits to American unions.

After the convention I was invited by different delegates to address their local regions, which I did. I went to California for three days, where I spoke at meetings of the Longshoremen's Union as well as the Electrical Union, and then moved on to Ohio. There I spoke to workers' meetings and was asked to take a class in a local high school to talk about South Africa. The children were very excited about this.

Next I moved to Chicago, a divided city, one part black and one part white. The national centre, the American Federation of Labour-Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO) was having a convention there and somehow it was quickly arranged that I should address that conference, regardless of agenda or standing orders!

This was the work of the Black Coalition and they organised my introduction in style. I walked to the platform accompanied by a guard of honour of 10 black trade unionists, five on each side. plus the chair of the Black Coalition, who introduced me. The introduction was long and flattering, not just of me but also of the struggle of the oppressed people of South Africa. I followed giving short greetings, and again I was very well received.

While in Chicago I was taken around factories, and I saw what seemed like super exploitation - one man in charge of three machines, moving between them all the time. Similarly I saw very long goods trains, with one man driving three engines.

At another factory there was a strike in progress. with pickets at the gate. Scabs arrived in cars. got out and took guns from their pockets and threatened to shoot anyone who tried to stop them going in. I would not have been surprised to see such things in South Africa, but this was supposed to be "the land of the free,"

Before I left Chicago I was invited to a service in Jesse Jackson's church. I was not keen, because I am not a churchgoer, but when I went I found much more than a church service and enjoyed it. In particular I was pleased by the political addresses and the beautiful singing. I noticed that the ministers who were preparing were women, but that the people in charge were men - the usual thing.

From Chicago I moved back to New York, touching Boston. All the time I had been in the United States I had been guarded, handed on from one group of guards to the next as I moved from state to state. They said this was because once I had appeared on a platform I was a potential target. just like home!

In many ways, the America I saw reminded me of South Africa with its racism and violence. By the end of my two week visit I was convinced that some Americans were very good people, and like the progressive people of South Africa, were fighting a hard battle. Those who declared themselves to be communist were certainly brave.

The assumption that I had arrived with, that all Americans were CIA agents, was clearly wrong.

Probably I was the first South African trade unionist who had visited unions in America, and I was lucky to have met the cream of the trade union movement in the UEU all over the United States, and the unions' Black Caucus. Because of their strength I was able to address the national convention of the AFL-CIO.

It seems I struck a spark, particularly with the black caucuses, and later the ANC was able to set up two offices, in New York and Washington.

The American unions mobilised to exert effective pressure on American companies with interests in South Africa, demanding that they observe codes of practice or disinvest. Some of the economic pressures which weakened the apartheid regime came from American companies under heavy pressure from their own unions and black organisations in the United States.

Later visits I made to American unions confirmed my early views that they included some good allies. I made many friends there and won great support - moral and financial - for SACTU.

Chapter 17

International solidarity 2: The Canadian connection

The United Electrical Union organised workers in both the United States and Canada. At their convention in New York the Canadian region had pressed me to extend my visit and go up to Canada. I was not able to do that, but I promised I would come later

In 1978, before I was able to fulfil that promise I learned more about what was happening in Canada from two young anti-apartheid activists who visited our London office. They arrived with a letter of introduction from George and Vera Poonen, two old trade unionist friends and comrades who had been forced into exile and had later joined their children in Canada.

The two visitors, Brenda Wall and Ken Luckhardt, were not Canadian by origin. Brenda was an Australian who had gone to Edmonton to do post graduate studies, and Ken was an American by birth. He had left his homeland to become a PhD student in Canada because he was not prepared to fight America's war in Vietnam. They had both been involved in anti-apartheid activity in Edmonton since 1976, when there had been a big campaign against a visiting South African cricket team. In the course of the campaign several people, including themselves, had spent a night in jail.

After that they linked up on joint ANC-SACTU work across Canada with James Stewart and the Poonens, covering Edmonton and the rest of Alberta. They had been researching Canadian-South African connections, and had decided they wanted to forsake their academic studies and concentrate on South African trade union issues. This was what they had come to talk to us about.

It was agreed that they would work for us, and eventually we asked them to do something John Gaetsewe had been keen on for some time. This was nothing less than writing a history of SACTU.

The two young internationalists were keen to take on the task, but felt they needed an editorial committee comprising SACTU leaders. A sub-committee was set up to do this, including Phyllis Altman, John Gaetsewe, Moses Mabhida and Eli Wienberg. Ronnie Press and I joined the group, and we all looked at the draft material as it was produced.

Phyllis Altman was a key person in making it possible for the history to be written. She had been assistant general secretary of SACTU, responsible for administration, and in effect was the senior full-time officer. General secretary Leshe Masina and president Leon Levy both held full-time jobs in their own unions.

Phyllis had made sure that copies of all important SACTU papers had been sent abroad, so she was the one person who knew where they were to be found. They had been dispersed all over the world, some to the British TUC, some to America and some to the UEU in Canada.

Of course the major holders of our complete records were the South African police, who had regularly collected all SACTU's papers - but we decided against asking them!

Perhaps now that the police are accountable to the people it might be possible to obtain access to all our papers - if they were not among those destroyed by the authorities in a panic just before the election.

Ken and Brenda worked with us in Africa and in London until 1980, when they finished writing SACTU's history. The book, Organise or Starve, was published the same year. It was a tremendous achievement, but only one of many contributions they made to our struggle. They sacrificed their careers and gave part of their lives to support us, and I hope that our movement will never forget them, and the many others like them. Knowing them was yet another factor strengthening my belief that the non-racial policies of the ANC are correct.

I eventually reached Canada in 1979, at the invitation of the World Council of Labour. There had already been considerable support for SACTU and the ANC in Canada, in Toronto particularly, where the Poonens were active and John Gaetsewe had visited before.

It was my first visit. The conference was in Montreal, and I had a shock soon after arriving. I asked a bystander the way and he ignored me completely. As I looked puzzled someone else said:

"He doesn't understand you at all."

I was astounded. I said:

"Am I lost? Am I not in Canada?"

The answer was:

"No, you are in Quebe0'

At last I understood. However, when I heard Quebecois talking it did not sound like proper French to me, not that I speak French. I remarked on this once, saying their French sounded to me as if it had an American accent, but they did not like that at all. As we were talking a French woman arrived, and when she spoke I said:

"That's it, that's the French I know!"

Everyone laughed and the French women confirmed what I had said: that the Canadian French accent was very different.

Of course, I understand the importance language and culture have for people, so I had every sympathy for the Quebecois. But I have worries about narrow nationalism, which can be very destructive, as Eugene Terreblanche and Buthelezi have shown in South Africa and as is so obvious in parts of Europe today.

If the ANC can realise the vision of a rainbow nation, with a mixture of different people with their own culture enriching one nation, perhaps we can be a model for other parts of the world.

One of the other speakers at the World Council of Labour conference was a man called Andrew Kailembo from the ICFTU Africa Desk. When he spoke of South Africa he made the mistake of referring to Buthelezi as a "national leader". This did not surprise me, as ICFTU did not really understand the South African situation nor support our struggle, but it did annoy me. When it was my turn to speak I felt I had to reply.

I explained that Buthelezi was born one of the many chiefs of the Zulus. He had been picked by the South African regime to be chief minister of the KwaZulu homeland, and was paid by them. This was not how the people of South Africa acquired "national leaders".

In the past a Zulu chief, Albert Luthuli, had become a national leader. He had resigned from being a chief, and been democratically elected president general of the ANC. The conference understood my point and applauded my speech.

As I wrote earlier, although the ICFTU claimed to be opposed to apartheid, it generally took a hostile attitude to SACTU. It was an organisation dominated by cold war ideas and opposed to any organisation linked with the WFTU.

Unfortunately the ICFTU was influential with a number of national trade union centres and was able to hamper SACTU's work in some respects. I have already mentioned their influence on the international department of the British TUC, and in Holland, and much the same applied in Canada. Like their counterparts in London, some of the officers in the Canadian Labour Council's (CLC's) international department seemed to have a foreign office rather than a trade union point of view.

When Canadian trade unions pressed for support to be given to South African workers, they chose to ignore SACTU and said they would go directly to individual South African trade unions. Because of this some of the delegations they sent were made to look foolish when they arrived in South Africa, as often the first question they were asked was:

"Do you know SACTU?"

When they admitted they did not, they were not welcome. Some even had to go up to Zambia to SACTU headquarters for their blessing before local unions would talk to them.

In spite of these lessons, the CLC persisted in trying to sideline SACTU in Canada, and to prevent Canadian unions from giving us their support. In particular two CLC men, Paul Purritt - who was once involved in anti-apartheid work - and John Harker, turned out to be very unhelpful.

Purritt alleged that funds collected did not reach South Africa, implying the money was misused by SACTU.

The CLC tried hard to prevent union activists from meeting visiting trade unionists from South Africa, keeping their whereabouts secret and literally never leaving them alone. As in London these efforts usually failed because of "union sabotage" and the keenness of the visitors to meet friends. For years there continued to be rows between CLC officials and SACTU on these issues, in spite of growing evidence that CLC was wrong.

I remember one particular meeting in London, Ontario, when I was appealing for money for the SACTU strike fund. The CLC representative urged that, instead, money should go to the CLC's solidarity fund. I commented that delegates could decide to do that, or then again they could wrap it in a plastic bag and throw it in the sea. In both cases it might eventually reach South Africa, although perhaps not until after we were free. If they really wanted to help, neither of these ways was good enough.

The meeting decided to give the money through SACTU.

One of the groups able to testify that SACTU money reached South Africa was Development and Peace, a Quebec Catholic non-governmental organisation. On my first visit to Canada I was invited to address a seminar which they had convened because I was in Montreal for the World Council of Labour conference.

The organisation wanted to contribute financially to South African trade unions, particularly to those working underground. I was able to assure them that we had ways of getting money to the underground machinery and that they, as a church group, would be able to send people to sister churches in South Africa and then that money reaching the targets.

They did this later, and went to see our people, who made them very welcome and confirmed that the money had arrived. Madeline Buusquet, one of their leaders who went to South Africa, passed through our London office on the way there and back, and was able to help us by reporting on their experiences in South Africa.

Before leaving Canada I went to Toronto to introduce myself to some of the leaders of Canadian unions, including the Auto Workers', Communication Workers', Post Office Workers', UE and the Public Employees' unions. That was all I had time for on my first visit.

That visit convinced me that Canadian trade unionists had a great interest in the struggles of South African workers, so SACTU decided that something had to be done to combat the CLC obstruction. We asked Ken and Brenda, who were about to return to Canada, to work on establishing a SACTU office. They agreed and went to Toronto to seek financial and other support from progressive trade unions.

This seemed to us to be a gigantic task, but they made rapid progress. The first success was persuading the post office union to give SACTU two offices and the use of a meeting hall, for nothing.

The next task was to find money for administration. That again was soon solved. Ken and Brenda made agreements with various unions to run seminars for their members on South Africa, South African trade unions and SACTU. In return the unions agreed to pay, and the money agreed upon enabled Ken and Brenda to give up their other jobs and work full-time in the office. To guide the work of the office, a SACTU solidarity committee was set up, chaired by George Poonen. The other members were union representatives, one being Jane Armstrong of the Airline Staffs' Association who was deeply committed to our struggle.

The first responsibility of the Canadian SACTU office had to be to do the education work which the trade unions paid for. The demand for seminars and educational programmes grew until Ken and Brenda had difficulty meeting all the requests. Fortunately at this point they met Ken Traynor, a young man who had just completed a stint with a non-governmental organisation in Southern Africa, and he agreed to join them. His strength was in research, and he played a major role in producing material for seminars and for the sanctions campaigns.

A valuable source of information for the seminars were the visiting South African trade unionists brought over from home from time to time by the CLC. Because of the SACTU office's close links with the unions, CLC's secrecy usually broke down and a lot was learned from these comrades. As well as using the information for seminars, they also fed it back to the London SACTU office, which was very useful for us.

The solidarity committee did work other than the educational seminars. Through Vancouver dockers they documented the movement of goods and played a role in the North American sanctions campaigns. They were also able to document the move of a multinational firm, SKF, from Canada to Port Elizabeth, drawing the attention of Canadian workers to the threat posed to workers everywhere by apartheid's cheap labour.

The committee called for a week of action against apartheid in 1986, and many unions responded. For example, telephone workers would not connect calls to South Africa, postal workers would not handle letters, dockers would not unload cargoes and shop workers kept South African wine at the back of the shelves.

Most of all, the solidarity committee succeeded in raising large sums of money, mostly from unions, for the strike fund. Some unions undertook to make regular donations. For example, the Ontario Public Service Employees' Union pledged $5 000 a year for as long as it was needed. Postal workers, with the support of their leader jean Claude Parrot, and auto workers, where we had the support of Bob White and Pat Clancy, were also regular contributors. Overall more than a quarter of a million dollars was raised for our struggle

Many SACTU people were invited to Canada during the 1980s, including John Gaetsewe, Sipho Pityana, Thozamile Makheta, Temba Nxumalo, Khisa Dlamini, Colin Belton and Thozamile Botha. Some, like Botha, had recently come out of South Africa and could describe the uses to which strike fund money had been put, and how valuable it was to South African unions.

From the early 1980s until the 1990s, when SACTU closed down, I was in charge of the London SACTU office and for much of that time we covered North America. I was a frequent visitor to Canada, to the conventions of different unions and sometimes to meet South African trade unionists who had been invited there. Probably the union I visited most was the Auto Workers' Union, and I had the honour of speaking at their founding convention in 1985, when they separated from the American Auto Workers' Union.

On one of my Canadian visits I went to Vancouver, on the west coast. I was amazed to find I had to fly for four hours from Toronto to get there - Canada is a vast country. I arrived at the weekend and was taken to a house at the edge of the forest. The host warned that there may be bears about, but said they were not dangerous except when they had cubs. I did not see any near the house but next morning when we walked in the forest we saw footprints, and then an actual bear. It did not seem bothered about us.

On Monday we drove north, crossing a large river by pontoon. On the other side were iron mines, which I was told were owned by Harry Oppenheimer. The workers were living in men only compounds in very poor conditions, just as bad as South Africa. The workers, of course, were what I thought of as North American Indians, now known as First Nation Canadians.

There were many occasions in Canada which were memorable for me, and other people still talk about a couple of them. Some were to do with my habit of speaking out frankly, often saying what other people are thinking.

One example was in the early 1980s when I was addressing the Ontario Federation of Labour in the boardroom at their headquarters. It was a very posh place with an enormous table, and people sitting around in pecking order. I was there to receive money they were giving to SACTU. I thanked them and probably should have stopped there, but could not resist adding:

"I am not very comfortable in fancy buildings like this - at home I would have to go in such a place by the back door. And when I look at this table, I can't help thinking you could afford to give us more!"

What I said seemed to delight some of them. Later I learned that the money spent on furnishing the headquarters had attracted considerable criticism from affiliates!

On another occasion I was invited to address a postal workers' May Day event in Ottawa. It was probably not a good idea, because speeches and socials do not mix easily. The hall was packed, with a busy bar, and people did not want to be quiet and listen. AI Campbell and Madeline Parent from the Confederation of Canadian Unions had spoken first and did not succeed in holding the attention of the hall. After I had been introduced by the chair I took the microphone and said loudly:

"I will not speak until you respect me and our struggle."

I repeated this several times and eventually all was quiet, and I was able to speak.

Always, when I travelled through other parts of the world, my priority was to return to England, which had become my home, as soon as I could. Canada was the only other place in which I felt relaxed, and on one occasion I had a bit of a holiday there. Ken and Brenda took me out into the countryside. We went from Toronto by train on a slow narrow gauge railway, like those in South Africa. We went to the area where forests of maple trees were tapped for their syrup. It was the first time I had seen trees being milked. Tubes ran from every tree in the forest, carrying the syrup to a central point where it was boiled and put in jars for sale.

Later SACTU appointed a North American representative and London's involvement with Canada ended. From then on they, like us, reported directly to headquarters in Lusaka. I understand that things changed considerably after that, but I have no firsthand knowledge of it.

In 1994, after my retirement, Joyce and I visited Toronto to see old friends and to say a personal thank you for all the help we had from Canadians. We had a wonderful time with my old comrades, and were invited to the retirement party of Pat Clancy, national officer of the Canadian Auto Workers, who had done so much for SACTU. We sat with him at the top table.

Ken and Brenda organised a party in my honour, too, and we were made very welcome everywhere we went. I had many good friends among the leading unionists in Canada, and many of them are still my friends. Some of them are now leaders of CLC, and if SACTU were still there I am sure CLC would be very keen to have close links. I hope COSATU will be able to; build on that.

My experiences of international trade union solidarity work taught me a lot. I learned that it was very worthwhile for the liberation movement to send representatives around the world to explain the justice of our struggle. I was received with interest, sympathy and support almost everywhere I went, all over Europe and Australia, New Zealand and North America.

Trade unionists and other progressive people really acted on the belief that "an injury to one is an injury to all". They behaved like true comrades, like brothers and sisters to the people of South Africa.

Chapter 18

SACTU from beginning to end

The trade union movement has played a very important role in my life, starting from when I first came across the Food and Canning Workers' Union office in Cape Town. I was involved before the South African Congress of Trade Unions was formed and, apart from my years in MK, was active in SACTU throughout its existence.

Books have already been written about SACTU, and I am sure others will be in the future, as more records become available. I have no records to refer to, but I was there for many of the key events, and the story of my life involves more aspects of SACTU's history as I experienced it than I have described up to this point. I am going to turn to these now.

SACTU came about because of the imposition of apartheid in the trade union movement. When the National Party government passed laws to de-register unions with mixed membership the existing trade union organisation, the Trades and Labour Council, responded willingly.

It expelled Africans from their conference, which was unacceptable to some unions with multiracial membership. The Food and Canning Workers' Union, the Textile Industrial Union, the Laundry and Dyeing Workers' Union, and the Canvas and Rope Workers' Union were among those who walked out, and immediately convened a meeting to prepare a conference of their own.

At the "alternative" conference, which I attended in March 1954, SACTU was formed. Two organisational principles were agreed. One was that SACTU's long term aim would be for one national trade union centre in South Africa. The second was that there should be industrial unions, one union for each industry. This was seen as important because of the difficulties in organising general unions, crossing many industries, which had led to the collapse of Clement Kadalie's Industrial and Commercial Union.

The conference also passed resolutions defying government policy. One committed the unions to organising workers regardless of race, colour or creed. Another expressed solidarity with all workers of the world. The third important resolution was that SACTU saw no difference between industrial and political struggles, and therefore could ally itself to the congress movement. The conference also demanded a minimum living wage for workers, and this led to the first major organising campaign, the Pound a Day campaign.

These policies were, of course, seen by the government as threatening revolution by challenging the basis of apartheid. The government made it clear that it intended to eliminate African trade unionism and SACTU. The minister of labour said he intended to bleed African unions to death - there would be no recognition, no negotiations and no agreement with them at all.

The government may have succeeded in preventing SACTU from growing into a mass organisation, but they could never destroy it.

The question has often been raised as to whether SACTU's strategy of uncompromising alignment with political organisations was correct, or whether it played into the hands of the regime, giving them a ready made weapon with which to beat the trade union movement. My view, and I think most Africans share this, is that the two struggles - industrial and political - were one and the same. No significant workers' victories could be won while apartheid existed.

The mistake we may have made in the Western Cape was in the way we applied that strategy. All the top trade union leaders were also the top ANC leaders, and many were top SACP leaders too. This made it easy for the authorities to harass and persecute all SACTU leaders, even though SACTU itself was never banned.

If some people had given priority commitment to trade unions, while still members of other organisations, unions might have been less disrupted when the ANC was banned. Nor would the situation have reached the point it did by the mid-1960s, when virtually all union leadership was underground, in prison or had been sent out of the country by the ANC.

I think there might have been important other benefits too. Discussions about policies and tactics might have been more productive, with more ideas and a wider perspective, if we had not all been peas in one pod.

The problem of conflicts of priorities arose again in exile, as we shall see - and could continue into the new era, I believe, unless union leaders remain close to, but separate from, ANC leadership.

When I left the country, from 1963 until 1971, I was fully involved in MK, but after that I found myself back with SACTU. Others in exile were involved all along. Comrades Wilton Mkwayi and Moses Mabhida had been sent to Prague to work with the World Federation of Trade Unions, followed by Mark Shope. JB Marks, Dan Tloome, Ray, Alexander, Eureka Malika, James Stewart, John Gaetsewe, Phyllis Altman, Vera and George Poonen and others all struggled to keep SACTU alive from whichever part of the world they found themselves.

In the early 1970s, as more of us got together outside, it was obvious we had to set up structures to discuss what approaches we could use in the fight for proper trade unionism in South Africa. By this time SACTU's internal structure had been forced underground entirely, and the only way its voice could be heard was by setting up an external organisation.

Different groups of congress activists were meeting in Tanzania, Zambia and Botswana, all making contacts at home and trying to take forward their work. It was decided that these efforts should be pulled together and co-ordinated. A meeting was organised in Maputo, with people from all of the groups, including myself, as well as people from home. The main agenda item was the strategy and tactics of the internal and international struggles.

The decisions confirmed the approach to international solidarity work that we had adopted in the Western European office in London. They endorsed our efforts to enlist the moral and practical support of trade unions and other non-governmental organisations in the western world for the struggle of South African workers.

The question of the relationship between SACTU and the liberation movement arose again. The meeting, of course, supported the alliance between SACTU and the ANC, but it was affirmed that the independence of SACTU was very important and that it was not the 1abour wing of ANC".

The meeting boosted morale and increased work levels. John Gaetsewe was confirmed as still being general secretary, the post to which he had been elected at the last SACTU conference in South Africa.

Unfortunately the only leading woman at that meeting, one of the underground delegation, Jabu Nzima, was killed by a bomb while in Swaziland on the way home. Another comrade, Eric Mtshali, was in the same house at the time but luckily escaped.

In the months following SACTU's Maputo conference, more and more unionists were forced to leave the country, and we decided to hold an annual delegates' conference externally, but including underground activists, to elect officers.

After one of these conferences, in 1982, I stayed on in Maputo to see some other people expected from home. While there OR Tambo arrived, on his way to the funerals of 42 ANC people who had been murdered by commandos in Maseru, Lesotho. He instructed me to accompany him, first taking me to the ANC store to fit me out with a suit - he had found me in jeans as usual.

We boarded a "Lesotho Airliner" which carried about six passengers. It flew low over South Africa, casting a visible shadow on the ground, and it struck me that we could easily have been intercepted and shot down. This plane and route were used often by ANC people - I don't know why the enemy did not take the opportunity to cause an "accident".

In Maseru we saw the carnage the commandos had caused. They had shot up everything, furniture and fittings as well as people, who of course included locals. The Lesotho government had allocated a special place in Sputana graveyard for our martyrs to be buried, and it was said that when South Africa was free, their bodies should be taken to rest in their homeland.

King Moshoeshoe II and prime minister Jonathan Leboa both spoke at the funeral, as did ANC representatives and others. I spoke on behalf of SACTU.

For me the episode symbolised a closeness between the leaders and people of Lesotho and the South African struggle. I am convinced this was unacceptable to the South African regime, and caused them to instigate the coup which overthrew the Leboa government soon afterwards.

It was the first of several visits I made to Lesotho. The later ones were to meet trade unionists from home and the SACTU committee which was established there. Tony Yengeni and Kingdom (Khaya Myoli) were part of that committee. Among those who came to see us were Zoli Malindi, Thozamile Botha, Denis Nyeli and Mildred Lesiya. Chris Hani and Lambert Moloi were working for the ANC in Lesotho by then, and they arranged places for me to stay on my visits.

In spite of the improvements resulting from holding annual conferences, organisational problems remained. The president, chairman and administrator were working in Dar-es-Salaam, while the general secretary continued to work from London. Eventually we decided that all office bearers must be together in headquarters which would be in Lusaka, where the ANC was then based.

This of course meant that people had to be uprooted. I was elected treasurer and had to go to Zambia for my term of office. A committee comprising other workers ran the London office while I was away.

I was in Lusaka from July 1982 and was away from my home and Joyce. For more than a year I stayed with various people in Lusaka, including Phil Norushe, who was also working in the SACTU office.

I concentrated on reorganising the finances and bringing aboard young people able to eventually take over responsibility for finances. I also took the opportunity to try to improve contacts with the Western Cape, which seemed to have been receiving little attention and no financial help.

To do this I went down to Gaberone to meet up with some Cape people, including Wilson Sidina, a young trade unionist who was part of the SACTU underground structure.

In Gaberone I stayed with one of the founders of modem trade unionism in South Africa, Dan Tloome. He had been elected vice president at the 1941 founding conference of the Council of Non-European Trade Unions, the predecessor of SACTU. He was an accountant by training, and although an ANC and SACP member, always gave priority to union issues.

When forced to leave South Africa he went only as far as Botswana, and from there kept in contact with unionists at home and facilitated meetings between internal and external SACTU people. He lived to be able to go home in 1990, an unsung hero. He died soon after, happy I am sure, to see that what he had spent his life fighting for was beginning to happen.

John Gaetsewe did not accept that office bearers should be in Zambia. When he left London he went not to Lusaka but to Botswana, where his wife and family were. I went with others to Francistown to try to persuade him to come to headquarters. While we were there he agreed, but he never came.

Sadly, after a lifetime serving the people he had fallen prey to corruption. His interest was not just in his family. SACTU owned property in Francistown, which was rented out. The rent money was intended to be sent to South Africa to support underground union work. The properties were in the name of Gaetsewe and two others, and apparently he was able to change this with the help of a lawyer, Jama Mbeki, who subsequently disappeared. When John's name alone was there. he started selling off the houses and spending the money.

SACTU made feeble efforts to set this straight and regain control of the money and the remaining property. I was one of those sent to Botswana to try to persuade John to go to headquarters in Lusaka for discussions. He went, but apparently the discussions were fruitless. He was also drinking heavily at the time, and the money was supporting his drinking habit. When he died later, his will left the remaining houses to his wife. After his death SACTU still tried to get something back. A lawyer reached an agreement with John's wife on a compromise settlement, but it was never followed up. She died a few months later and I was sent to try to pursue the matter again with his son. I found John's wife had left everything to her daughter, and it was clear nothing further could be done.

In judging John Gaetsewe's overall contribution we have to remember not only this episode in his old age, but also the importance of his work, particularly during his years in exile. In my view he enabled SACTU to play a credible role internationally because he jealously guarded SACTU's independence from political structures.

I suspect that what he saw when in Eastern Europe, where trade unions were subservient to the ruling parties, made him aware of the need for independent organisations to defend workers' interests. I know that he refused an offer to be co-opted to the national executive of the ANC, and he refused to let SACTU move into the ANC's offices in London.

Independence was worth the cost of our rent, in John's view. He was a loyal member of the ANC, but he believed it was his duty as general secretary of SACTU to give priority to congress commitments. I remember once he refused an invitation to accompany OR Tambo on a visit to the German Democratic Republic because it conflicted with SACTU commitments.

After John Gaetsewe's refusal to go to Lusaka, John Nkadimeng was elected general secretary. Nkadimeng had a long history of service to the trade union movement in South Africa and was universally liked. His weakness was he could never say no to a political assignment.

He had become SACTU's top leader while also a member of the ANC national executive, and secretary of the revolutionary council as well as a central committee member of the SACP. It was unfair to expect him to do all these jobs, and it must have threatened his health trying to do so much. Obviously he could not do justice to all commitments and it must have been difficult to decide on priorities.

At the time of his election he was working full-time in the ANC office, and he continued there. He never seemed able to reduce the other demands on him so that he could give his full attention to SACTU, and our organisation suffered because of that.

For example, he postponed SACTU national executive council meetings, which people had flown thousands of miles to attend, if he had a conflicting call from the ANC. Once the national executive committee wrote to Tambo to complain about this. OR replied that it was up to John to decide his own priorities and he, OR, could not do anything about it because John had been elected to the ANC national executive. In practice Nkadimeng gave priority to the ANC. Perhaps he held the view that SACTU was the ANC's labour wing, and so subsidiary to the ANC.

Kay Moonsamy, who had been elected president, apparently took the same view because he too continued to work full-time for the ANC. In my opinion, this was wrong. John Gaetsewe had been right that trade unions should guard their independence. At that crucial time SACTU needed the full commitment of its leaders. I believe SACTU could have given even more to the union movement in its last few years if it had been the number one commitment of its leaders.

At about this time negotiations were underway in South Africa between different groupings of trade unions. The negotiations involved the Federation of South African Trade Unions (FOSATU), the Council of Unions of South Africa (CUSA) and a number of individual unions. Among these were the South African Allied Workers' Union, the African Food and Canning Workers' Union and the Food and Canning Workers' Union - both represented by Jan Theron - the General and Allied Workers' Union, the Motor Assemblers and Component Workers' Union, the National Union of Mineworkers and the General Workers' Union.

An upsurge of militancy made it seem the right time to try to re-establish, above ground, one national trade union centre. SACTU was involved in these negotiations right from the start, both abroad and underground at home. We organised many meetings, some in Western Europe and some in Lusaka, inviting people from the different unions and groups operating above ground, and from SACTU underground structures, separately and together, to facilitate progress.

There was a lot of suspicion about "take overs" by big brother federations, and many of the different leaders did not even know each other, let alone trust one another. When SACTU brought people together we were able to help break down suspicions and encourage persistence in the difficult task.

I remember one general secretary whom we invited to London for discussions. He was getting impatient at the slow progress, but we persuaded him that South African workers had been disjointed for 300 years, so two or three years of negotiations was not that long if they reached the objective of one national trade union centre. We suggested it might help if he and his colleagues tried to get to know the other negotiators outside meetings, inviting them home and so on, to try to build better trust and understanding. He went back much happier than when he arrived.

Sometimes SACTU helped twist the arms of comrades who were hung up about names or office bearers, and in the end the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) was formed in 1985.

The only group which could not be persuaded to join in was a rump of CUSA, which became the National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU), which was taking its orders from outside - from the ICFTU. Some of their former affiliates, particularly the National Union of Mineworkers under Cyril Ramaphosa's leadership, had left them and come into COSATU.

When COSATU was formed, the liberation movement - ANC, SACTU and SACP -invited the leadership to Lusaka for a meeting. They went to SACTU headquarters first to discuss union issues.

We had two main points to make. The first was that SACTU welcomed the establishment of COSATU and wanted to ensure we had a common approach to the other organisations and to the international community.

The second point was to suggest that whenever COSATU or any affiliate were involved in dealings with unions or centres overseas, it would be useful to consult SACTU's external people. We knew the overseas organisations and could point out problems, potential allies and so on.

COSATU agreed with the points, and our London office had floods of people streaming in for discussions when they started visiting Europe and North America. Many also went north with me to spend a weekend relaxing and having discussions at my home. They included Marcel Golding, assistant general secretary of NUM, Jay Naidoo, then general secretary of COSATU, Justice Langa and Selo Ntai, president and general secretary of SARHWU. Tommy Oliphant, general secretary of the Metal and Electrical Workers' Union, a NACTU affiliate, also came.

So SACTU still had more work to do. In addition to passing on our international experience, the external structures were able to use influence with friendly British trade unions and the Commonwealth TUC to fund and set up seminars in London, Zambia and Zimbabwe, tailor made for particular industries.

They usually involved three groups, SACTU people from outside, COSATU people, and people from SACTU underground structures in South Africa. They therefore brought together, sometimes for the first time, workers and union leaders who would need to work together in the new South Africa. This was a contribution to the implementation of SACTUs "one industry, one union" policy, which COSATU had adopted. On returning home SACTU underground members, deeply respected by workers for their commitment and discipline, played a big part in persuading workers to agree to the necessary mergers.

Although we were still busy we all understood that SACTU's tasks were coming to an end. We had a meeting with the leadership of COSATU and the general secretaries of all the unions, to jointly plan the way forward. Since some of us were still having difficulty entering South Africa, we invited them to SACTU headquarters in Lusaka for a two day meeting.

At the meeting some expressed the view that SACTU should be dissolved immediately, with COSATU taking everything over there and then. But that was rejected. Most people felt we should carry on making plans for the future of SACTU personnel, SACTU property and SACTU money, but that external members should return home and call a meeting for those who had been part of the underground internal structure before the organisation was formerly dissolved.

COSATU said that they wanted all the experienced personnel they could get: that there would be posts there for everyone, either in COSATU itself, or in the affiliates.

SACTU property would be disposed of, and the proceeds would go to COSATU. At that time we were still hoping to recover funds from the Botswana properties, to raise enough money to endow something permanent which would bear SACTU's name, such as a workers' college. In the end we got nothing from Botswana, and had less money to hand over than we hoped.

As far as the rest of the funds were concerned, we agreed that after all outstanding commitments had been met, including the costs of the remaining seminars which had already been planned, the proceeds would go to COSATU.

A joint SACTU-COSATU facilitating committee was formed to take forward these decisions, and I was appointed chair.

Before the comrades left for home, they ransacked SACTU headquarters, stripping it of books and pieces of literature about working class history and struggles. They had never had access to material like this in South Africa. In addition, some of the general secretaries started negotiating with individuals, trying to persuade them to work in their unions.

After the meeting, my facilitating committee called together SACTU people in Lusaka, to report back to them. After the report, we talked about plans to go home, and asked them to think about which part of the country they wanted to go to and with which union they would prefer to work.

The last thing we asked was if anyone wanted academic training before going home, so that SACTU could help find sponsors. We undertook to produce a form so there would be a record of people's preferences.

At the same time we asked the treasury how much SACTU could afford to give members to help them start life at home.

While people were deciding what they wanted, we arranged for the education department to run a series of seminars, so people could polish up all they had learned. We also faxed letters, covering the same topics, to all SACTU offices across the world, asking the comrades to reply urgently with their views and wishes.

The national executive met to discuss how to minimise frictions which were bound to occur when people from outside returned. Our first decision concerned recommendations for older comrades. We decided that all who were 60 or older should not put themselves forward for jobs. There were not many of us in that category - Mark Shope, John Nkadimeng, Stephen DhIamini, Kay Moonsamy and myself.

Secondly, even if people had high academic qualifications we urged them to work for a union first, not to accept other offers. Because of this Dr Vanguard Mkosana, for example, who was offered a post at Fort Hare, refused to take it and went to work for SARI-lWU instead.

The third point was that members should not push to start in high positions. SACTU people needed to familiarise themselves with what was going on first, and then if they were doing a good job, the union might want to offer them a more senior position later.

At the meeting we approved the treasury's proposals to give R2 000 to returnees, with more when they took up jobs. We also agreed to run down all SACTU regional offices, and close them as soon as possible.

After the meeting the general secretary, John Nkadimeng, disappeared back to South Africa and we neither saw him nor heard from him until we found him in the ANC offices in Johannesburg. He played no part at all in the work of SACTU in these closing stages of its existence.

We had expected COSATU to send a circular to its affiliates reporting on our meeting, but this did not happen, so I delegated some of the committee members to go to Johannesburg to find out what was happening. They reported that everyone was busy with their own unions and could not arrange meetings. They had to visit individual unions one by one, covering as many as they could on their short visit.

They discovered there were financial problems in some of the unions, where they desperately needed SACTU people but could not pay, while in others the problems were nothing but bureaucratic procedures. I phoned and told them to contact our underground activists to take on the job of pushing the unions to act on decisions taken. People in Lusaka were anxious to go home and it seemed to me that their expertise was needed badly by the unions.

It turned out there was another bottleneck. The government was still trying to screen people returning, and the ANC had to battle against this. We were supposed to submit a list of those due to arrive and somehow the list sent had never been submitted.

Another copy was faxed, but this still did not work and I had to rush there myself, to intervene with the ANC department responsible and ask them to give priority to the names, as members had jobs to start in unions. My stay was brief and I then returned to Lusaka, where most of our comrades were still waiting.

Eventually all delays were ironed out, the ANC provided air tickets, and people started leaving for South Africa. Before long most SACTU members had left Lusaka, and with that part of my task completed, I too was able to go home - nearly 27 years after my underground departure.

I am sad to say that the meeting the national executive committee had decided should be held at home ' to formally close down SACTU, never happened. It appears some Johannesburg based comrades, all busy with other things, just decided to hand over the remaining money to COSATU without any ceremony, the rest of the national executive committee not even knowing that SACTU had gone.

I still think SACTU deserved a more dignified end than that.

[Contents] [Part 5]