Death in Pretoria : untold stories of political activists executed during Apartheid / Peter Auf der Heyde.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Auf der Heyde, Peter, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political activists--South Africa.

Political activists.

Executions and executioners--South Africa.

Executions and executioners.

Capital punishment--South Africa.

Capital punishment.

Apartheid--South Africa.

Apartheid.

South Africa--Politics and government--1961-1978.

South Africa.

South Africa--Politics and government--1978-1989.

Physical Description:

xiv, 322 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly colour) ; 24 cm

illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Cape Town, South Africa : Penguin Books, 2025.

Summary:

"Between 1960 and 1989 in South Africa, more than 130 people were executed for crimes that had a political motive. Who were they, what did they do, and why did they do it? While many people have heard of Solomon Mahlangu, John Harris or even Vuyisile Mini, the vast majority of executed activists remain very much unknown, even though they paid the ultimate price for their actions. This book tells their stories, drawing on the author's interviews with fellow activists, the families left behind, lawyers on both sides, judges who passed sentence, warders on death row, and even functionaries tasked with informing the condemned of their impending fate. In the process, the book sheds light on forgotten aspects of South African history, such as the actions of the PAC/Poqo in the 1960s, which resulted in dozens of executions, and people who heeded the ANC's call to make the country ungovernable in the 1980s and who were then disowned by the organisation. The book also makes startling revelations about miscarriages of justice, defence attorneys working against their clients, and, sadly, the post-apartheid state's neglect of those who suffered as a result of political executions."-- Back cover.

Contents:

The road to Pretoria

The files

Living on death row

The length of the rope

The beer war

The letter, the receipt and the mountain men

Three errors - three hangings: a clerical mistake

In whose defence?

Rural uprising: they were buried with their boots on

Urban uprising: dying alone

From Robben Island to Pretoria

A village devastated

PAC on the Reef: breaking stones

The innocent

The protest singer

Ignoring the judge

A true patriot

Fighting for Namibia

The soldiers

Zone of ambiguity

A double betrayal

A life wasted

Killing the consul general

Making the country ungovernable.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Auf der Heyde, Peter. Death in Pretoria : untold stories of political activists executed during Apartheid.

ISBN:

9781776391875

177639187X

OCLC:

1528435085

Publisher Number:

90104844224