THE CLASS OF 79 Janice Warman Jacana Media REVIEW: Jonathan Amid TWENTY years after the first democratic elections in South Africa, it is a most apposite time to reflect on the processes and actions of specific individuals who fought for democracy and equal rights for all.
While we are all generally able to reflect without much difficulty on the role played by such Struggle stalwarts such as Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Walter and Eleanor Sisulu, Chris Hani, Steve Biko, Ruth First, Ronnie Kasrils and many more, there are fewer of us that would be able to tell the story of the heroic individuals from the journalism programme at Rhodes University, the class of '79.
Janice Warman, journalist and publisher, whose work spans several decades and various writing, editing and broadcasting projects in the UK and elsewhere, was one of those part of this class. So too were Marion Sparg and Zubaida Jaffer, and all three shared a mutual admiration for Guy Berger, one year their senior.
What would come to define these individuals as heroic, and motivate Warman to tell each of their stories - at once both ordinary and extraordinary, singular and shared with others - is their own involvement in fighting the good fight, sacrificing much to see their dream of a democratic South Africa realised.
Warman notes that the book is dedicated to "those who suffered under apartheid, and suffered to end it".
Its scope, as such, is that it honours those directly involved in the fight against apartheid and those who had their agency blunted and their voices silenced.
If there is consensus that apartheid was one of the darkest times in our country's recent history, what then is to be gained from telling the story of these three individuals?
Firstly, Sparg, Jaffer and Berger have a markedly different story to tell, each with its own crushing lows and triumphant highs, however tempered those highs may be or have been.
Sparg, as a rather radical opponent of the apartheid regime, joined the Spear of the Nation, Umkhonto we Sizwe, six months after writing her final exams.
Her story is engrossing and powerful, a timely rejoinder of the active role many women played in the military history of this country's liberation Struggle.
Jaffer's story is no less dramatic, and it is with great interest and horror that one reads of her arrest and torture. Her story one of physical, as well as mental suffering in the name of equality, is no less stirring.
Finally, the shocking facts of Berger's arrest and time served for being in possession of banned books reminds us of the sheer injustice perpetrated in this country in the name of righteousness.
The three stories form a cohesive whole, detailing past struggles and suffering, while offering reflections on the state of the nation.
For a new generation of readers in particular, this impressively researched, heartfelt book is a fillip for their understanding of struggles gone by and those yet to be fought.
Article by : Janice Warman.
Article source : Cape Times