George Johannes remembered

Peter Hain speaking

 by New Worker correspondent

A celebration of the life of African National Congress (ANC) and communist activist and former ambassador to the Holy See, George Johannes took place last week at the South African High Commission in London's Trafalgar Square.
Chitra Karve, chair of Action for Southern Africa, paid tribute to George, saying that he had "contributed to the liberation of our beloved country with distinction and dignity".
    Peter Hain, a former leading Anti Apartheid Movement (AAM) activist and Labour government minister, said the George had been on the BOSS (apartheid South African intelligence service) list for kidnapping or murder, pointing out that several leading anti-apartheid members had been murdered and he himself had received a deadly letter bomb in London.
    Hain said that for years the British AAM "was in a minority, criticised, besieged, infiltrated and targeted", and recalled that in 1996 Margaret Thatcher called Nelson Mandela a terrorist. Years later, when she attended Mandela's speech to both houses of parliament, Hain described seeing her "scuttling to her seat".
    Former ANC UK spokesperson and High Commission political attache Nad Pillay said that George studied at the University of Cork and formally joined the ANC in 1976 after his return to Africa.
He underwent military training, and worked on intelligence and security under the name Joseph Louw. He then worked in Angola and Zambia before moving to London.
    "George travelled across the UK for the ANC and was known, if I remember correctly, as something of a 'Trot-basher', Nad recounted. "I look forward to raising a glass in memory of George Johannes, persistent in adversity, a comrade in the struggle"
    A message from the Secretary General of the African National Congress said "Comrade George's work for Radio Freedom, Umkhonto we Sizwe (the armed wing of the ANC), and at the ANC's Penton Street office in London, were landmarks in his life of struggle."
    Another message from Cheryl Carolus, the first London High Commissioner after apartheid, described George as "a trusted colleague, a wise advisor and friend, and a respected member of the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party".
    A group of singers led by vocalist Queen Patience sang a selection of beautiful and very moving songs in George's memory.
    During his time working at the South African High Commission in London from 1998 to 2005, as Political Counsellor and then Deputy High Commissioner, George became a member of the New Communist Party. He is still remembered by many NCP members as an inspiring and energetic comrade and a very attractive and lively personality.