Stephanie Kemp: a tribute

Stephanie Kemp was one of that remarkable generation of South African women, from all sections of the community, that risked their lives because of their opposition to apartheid.??They were truly formidable – Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Ruth First, Shanthie Naidoo, Joyce Sikhakhane, Dulcie September, Eleanor Kasrils, Frene Ginwala and so many others, too many to name.??Stephanie was one of that group and her contribution to the destruction of apartheid was a significant one.

Stephanie was born in the Karoo in 1941 and grew up in a small town that was dominated by the Dutch Reformed Church and the Broederbond.?Her family, despite the name, were committed Afrikaner nationalists, and it is a testimony to her humanity that Stephanie rejected all of that.??Stephanie went to study physiotherapy at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 1960, and it was there that she got caught up in the political turmoil in her country, following the Sharpeville Massacre that year.??She worked at the Defence and Aid Fund in Cape Town, an organisation that was soon to earn the wrath of the apartheid government because of its support for the families of political prisoners.??It was from the contacts that she made at the Fund that she learned about the banned and illegal South African Communist Party (SACP) which she subsequently joined.??It was during this period that she rejected Afrikaans and refused to speak it any longer.

Following the banning of the ANC and other anti-apartheid organisations, Stephanie became involved in the sabotage campaign, and was arrested in 1964, along with members of the African Resistance Movement, an organisation of white liberals such as John Harris and Hugh Lewin, who used sabotage to oppose the apartheid state.??While in detention, Stephanie was tortured by the security police and was then imprisoned in Pretoria Central Prison, where she was held for trial.?Stephanie was sentenced to five years in prison but, because she pleaded guilty, three of those five years were suspended.??During the time that she was in detention, her lawyers filed a lawsuit against BJ Vorster, the Minister of Justice and a member of the security police for assault, and this was settled out of court.

Stephanie was released in 1965, and the following year she left South Africa for exile in the UK.??In London, she quickly made contact with the Anti-Apartheid Movement where she worked for several years, organising its campaigns for the boycott of apartheid goods, and the various other boycott campaigns.?She was inspirational in this work.??It was in 1966, that Stephanie married Albie Sachs, a fellow exile who she had first met in Cape Town, and went on to have two sons, Alan and Michael.??It was also at this time that she began to work underground for both the ANC and the SACP. She was not a member of the ANC until the Morogoro Conference at which the rules were changed to allow whites to become members of the organisation.

Eventually, Stephanie and Albie drifted apart, and they divorced in 1980.??Stephanie continued her underground work for the SACO and the ANC.??This was dangerous.??Ruth First and Dulcie September were murdered, but Stephanie did not falter in her commitment to the cause.??When the ANC and the SACP were unbanned in 1990, Stephanie returned to South Africa, where she worked as a physiotherapist at the Alexandra Health Clinic, and was the chairperson of the Hillbrow-Berea branch of the ANC in Johannesburg.??

I was able to visit the Alexandra Health Clinic in 1993 and was welcomed by Stephanie.??In 1994, I returned to South Africa to volunteer at the ANC Regional Office in Johannesburg where I worked with Mike Sachs, her son.??I did not see Stephanie during those momentous days of April/May 1994.

Over the years, Stephanie became disillusioned with both the ANC and the SACP, and resigned from both organisations in 2008, citing “the systematic campaign of vilification”, and the stirring up of hatreds and rivalries. She was mortified by the culture of corruption that pervaded government.

The last years of Stephanie’s life were filled with joy.??Michael and Gadi married, and they had two sons, Mahlasedi and Lewatle.??Stephanie’s love for these two, and her delight in them, was unbounded.??They were a blessing to her.

Stephanie Kemp, a warrior in the fight against apartheid, rest in peace.

Hamba Kahle.??Malibongwe.??A luta continua.??Amandla.