Behind South African bars

Press, 18 September 1976, Page 13

Behind South African bars

Bandiet: Seven years in a South African prison. By Hugh Lewin. Penguin Books. 229 pp. $3.05 (paperback). (paperback). (Reviewed by A. J. Curry) In 1964, Hugh Lewin, the son of a South African Anglican priest, was detained under South Africa’s 90-day law. He and four others were charged with committing acts of sabotage, charges to which he pleaded guilty, and for which he was subsequently sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. He was then 24 years of age. This book tells of his arrest and interrogation by the Special Branch, and his lengthy sentence of imprisonment, every day of which was served because no remission was allowed to “political” prisoners. Lewin had been a student at Rhodes University, and had worked in the African community in Sophiatown. The poverty and the suffering which he saw there at first hand led him to believe that as a member of the white community, he was partly responsible for what he saw. He became a member of the Liberal Party, but his efforts to change the traditional way of life in South’ Africa by peaceful means seemed to him to be puny, and when he was approached to become a member of die more radical and secret sabotage group, the “National Committee for Liberation,” he joined. He was a member of this group, later called “A.R.M.” (African Resistance Movement) for 18 months, during which time he personally participated in three acts of sabotage against installations such as power pylons. The book is impressive because the author sounds sincere, and he writes without bitterness. The conditions in the Pretoria Prison where he and his fellow political prisoners served their sentence were quite appalling. The petty restrictions, such as not allowing political prisoners news of any kind, restricting them to one visit and one 500-word letter every six months, and not allowing them to smoke combined

with the loneliness to make his seven* year sentence a shattering experience. Despite this, Lewin has retained his composure, and has produced a testament which deserves to be read by all those who take an interest in South African affairs.