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who turned up at the gaol later that morning to enquire after the two inmates, were told that they were
still in bed.
The car in which the two men were travelling to the airport was escorted all the way by a police
vehicle, by way of protection in case of any kidnapping attempt. At 7.50 a.m. they took off in a Cessna
aircraft belonging to Arusha Air Charters (Tanganyika), and landed in Elizabethville early that
evening. When the plane touched down at the airport, Goldreich strutted up to a fellow passenger, a
brown-haired young lady, flung an arm round her shoulders, and announced: "My wife, recently
acquired." At that time his actual wife, Mrs Hazel Goldreich, was still in a cell at Marshall Square,
Johannesburg.
On September 10th the two fugitives arrived in Dar-Es-Salaam, where a contingent of
newspapermen awaited them at the airport. The press conference had hardly begun, however, when
there was a shattering explosion uncomfortably nearby, close to the aircraft from which they had just
alighted. They themselves were unhurt but some African children who had been playing about nearby
were less fortunate. Four of them were injured, one seriously. The newspapermen watched as the
unconscious lad, whose chest and arms were coveted with blood, was taken away in an ambulance.
One of the other children explained that they had been playing with some rusty tins that had been lying
about, and that one of the tins had suddenly exploded.
The disturbing interlude over, the press conference continued. Goldreich was expansive in his
praise of everyone, individuals as well as organisations, who had been instrumental in aiding their
escape. "We could never have managed it alone," he conceded.
Dar-Es-Salaam proved more hospitable than Francistown. The Comrades were welcomed
enthusiastically, feted and lionised. Their triumphal way was lined with cheering crowds who sang
South African songs of freedom and carried placards bearing slogans such as 'Your Escape Is A Blow
To Nazi Vorster', and 'The ANC Is Indestructible'.
Of Goldreich's 'recently acquired wife', the brunette of the Cessna plane, there was no sign. Asked
about his wife, Goldreich replied that she was in prison in South Africa.
The two Comrades proceeded to visit various Black states where they talked with a number of
escaped communists from South Africa, inter alia Jack Hodgson and Vivian Ezra, whose respective
roles in the 'liberation movement' were to be exposed in the course of the Rivonia trial. Accompanied
by representatives of the ANC, they also visited Julius Nyerere, the President of Tanganyika.
On September 23rd Goldreich and Wolpe arrived in London, where their reception was far less
cordial than they had hoped.
In fact, the immigration authorities would have deported them forthwith, had they not found a
champion in the person of Barbara Castle, M.P. (Labour). Thanks to her efforts on their behalf they
were granted permission to remain in England for two months.
A press conference was arranged for them in London. Newspapermen found them willing and
eager to talk and to answer questions. Referring to Mr Vorster's comment that he and Wolpe were 'two
big fish that got away', Goldreich boasted that there were still plenty of big fish at large in the
Republic.
Sabotage? Goldreich virtuously denied all knowledge of acts of sabotage in South Africa, nor was
he aware that any such acts had been committed there at all. The sobotage stories were pure
fabrication, he said, invented by the South African Government to discredit the 'freedom fighters' in the
eyes of the outside world, hence the 'irresponsible statements' by the Government alleging that he and
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