They were giants too
Marion Grammer is surprised that Leslie Dikeni’s roll-call of South African intellectuals makes ‘not a single mention of the many so-called “coloured” and Indian intellectuals who were so prominent during the Apartheid years.’
While I appreciate that not every South African intellectual can be mentioned in your ultimate paragraph ‘The South African Intellectual Tradition’, I am still surprised that you make not a single mention of the many so-called ‘coloured’ and Indian intellectuals who were so prominent during the Apartheid years, though sadly less so in the current post-Apartheid period.
One giant who immediately springs to mind is Richard Dudley, the great educator, who passed away this year. Others were and are Ben Kies, Goolam Gool, Helen Kies, Victor Wessels and Hosea Jaffe, to name but a few.
These people made enormous contributions to the intellectual life of many, especially amongst the youth. They shone light during a period of stultifying darkness and through their untiring efforts were subjected to banning orders, detentions and other forms of harassment.
It is telling and disturbing that in the rewriting of recent South African history, hardly any mention is made of these people and the movements they started and contributed to. They were truly intellectuals of the highest order.