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Johannes A. Smit
– of the political prisoners’ fighting for an ideal and not for immediate
material gain and gratification. While he appreciates their ‘matter-offactness’
– which signals a concern for human life in its brute data – they
lack in their understanding of the broader concerns of humanity. He recounts:
One of the things that I learned from the non-political prisoners was
their wonderful matter-of-factness, their understanding of the nature
of the South African system as an oppressive system, and their rather
contemptuous attitude towards us, particularly those of us who
thought of change by nonviolent methods. And, of course, the folly
of going to prison for an ideal rather than for a bank robbery was
something that caused them endless amusement (Brutus [1974]
2006:90).
Secondly, it is precisely this appreciation of criminality that brought
him to a further insight – if these bankrobbers and murderers have been
produced by the racist apartheid system (which would not have happened if t
was not for this system), then this datum must be negotiated as part of the
liberation movement’s struggle. This is evident from his narrative in prison
where he says:
But I learned for myself to work out how much those who were made
criminals by the violations of the criminal code were themselves
victims of injustice in another form, that the racism and oppression
which we challenged and which denied us our human freedom was in
other ways operating to destroy their human dignity and their
freedom. They were outlaws and proud of it. They stood outside the
law, and they had very few illusions about the justice of the system
under which they lived. They spoke frequently about their exploits
outside, many of them perhaps boasting, and they were extremely
curious to know what the politicians would do about them when they
came to power. The notion that they would be excluded from justice
when we took over was one that appalled them. It antagonized them,
of course, because they saw no reason why they should support us
when we were liable to imprison them as well; that may simply be
because they had a better understanding of the conditions which
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