Hugh lewin biography

He provided a unique voice on the South African story over many decades as militant, prisoner, journalist, author and much else. Lewin is perhaps best known for two books that arose from his early involvement in the anti-apartheid underground.

Biography: Hugh Lewin () was a.

Bandiet, Seven years in a South African Prison , which has been described as a remarkable piece of prison literature, and Stones against the Mirror , published decades later, in which he describes grappling with the betrayal of the man whose testimony sent him to jail. An outpouring of tributes has greeted news of his death.

I first encountered him when he ran the small publishing house Baobab Books in Zimbabwe. Later I worked with him at the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism in Johannesburg, and will mainly remember his gentle humour, a sharp intellect that was never cutting, his ability to listen and his concern for others. It made him a great friend and outstanding teacher and mentor to many.

I will also remember the quiet dignity with which he dealt with his gradually failing health over the past decade, cared for by his partner Fiona Lloyd. Lewin was born in the small town of Lydenburg in into an Anglican missionary family. He was quickly drawn into anti-apartheid politics of an increasingly radical kind, and got involved in the National Committee of Liberation, later renamed as the African Resistance Movement.

This group of activists grew out of the Liberal Party and embarked on a campaign of sabotage of infrastructure targets, which it carried out between and In July , Lewin, then 24, was sentenced to jail for seven years for sabotage. He served this time in Pretoria Central prison, where he kept notes of his experiences in his Bible.

Hugh Lewin (3 December – 16 January ) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and writer.

Bandiet was published during this time. It manages both to provide harrowing detail of life in an apartheid jail and to use prison as a metaphor for the system as a whole. Roux called it an,.