Farewell Comrade Mandela

Nelson Mandela

As an active trade unionist and in particular a TASS member the struggle against the apartheid regime in South Africa was close to my heart.  Every year we would organise a Christmas Card campaign and send thousands of cards to the South African authorities demanding the release of our colleague (Ian) David Kitson and ANC member Nelson Mandela.

David Kitson in London, mid-1980s (Source: Rob Scott http://www.robscottphotography.com)

 David studied mechanical engineering in Durban in the 1940s.  Upon graduation, he served as a sapper in the South African army, thereby learning to apply his training as an engineer in ways that would later benefit the anti-apartheid struggle.  At the end of WWII, David moved to London, where his father had been born.  There he worked as a draughtsman for de Havilland Aircraft.  He played an active role in the engineering union TASS which would sponsor him to study at Ruskin College, Oxford for two years.

When almost the entire leadership of MK was arrested at Rivonia in July 1963, David was propelled into the four-strong replacement High Command of the organisation.  He served a little more than four months in this role before he too was arrested.  At his subsequent trial he was jailed for twenty years for sabotage and membership of the Communist Party.  Despite our union's campaign, he served almost the full-term; eventually being released in May 1984.  Mandela was to remain behind bars until 1990.

In 1990, following Mandela's release, I received an unexpected letter from the ANC thanking me for supporting them through the years and enclosing a photo of Nelson Mandela, which I still have.

Almost unnoticed, Dave Kitson died in South Africa on 9 November 2010, his old comrade Mandela died on 6th December 2013, between them they had served almost 50 years in prison.  We owe them both a dept of gratitude for making the world a better place.

Amandla!