London Recruits

The history of the antiapartheid movement brings up images of boycotts and public campaigns in the UK, but another story went on behind the scenes, in secret. This is the story of the foreign volunteers and their activities in South Africa, how they acted in defiance of the apartheid government and its police on the instructions of the African National Congress (ANC). From the transportation of weapons to the passage of ANC fighters into South Africa, this account describes the many risks taken by the volunteers—many of whom were young communists, Trotskyists, or independent socialists who traveled from the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United States—to join the cause.  

Ken Keable is a former antiapartheid foreign volunteer. Z. Pallo Jordan is the former minister of arts and culture of the Republic of South Africa and a former member of the research unit of the African National Congress. He was also elected to be a member of parliament in the National Assembly of South Africa and is the former minister of environmental affairs and tourism. Ronnie Kasrils is the author of Unlikely Secret Agent and the former minister for intelligence services. He is also a former member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress as well as a former member of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party.