Donald Woods
Encyclopedia
Donald James Woods, CBE
(December 15, 1933 – August 19, 2001) was a white South Africa
n journalist and anti-apartheid activist.
As editor of the Daily Dispatch
from 1965 to 1977, he befriended Steve Biko
, leader of the anti-apartheid
Black Consciousness Movement
, and was banned by the government soon after Biko's death, which had been caused by serious head injuries, sustained while in police custody. The government denied giving Biko these injuries, even though police officers admitted to beating Biko to the point of nerve and brain damage. Woods fled to London
, where he continued to foster opposition to apartheid. In 1978, he became the first private citizen to address the United Nations Security Council
.
, now part of the Eastern Cape
, South Africa, where his family had lived for five generdations. His ancestors came to South Africa
as part of a British and Irish group known as the 1820 Settlers
. His parents ran a trading post in Transkei, a tribal reserve, which would later be designated a bantustan
. As a boy Woods had extensive regular contact with the Bomvana people. He spoke fluent Xhosa
and Afrikaans
, as well as his mother tongue, English
.
Woods and his brother, Harland, were sent to the Christian Brothers
College in Kimberley
in the predominantly Afrikaner Northern Cape
for their secondary education. The school was academically rigorous, and the Irish Christian Brothers were regarded as being neutral on questions of politics. While Woods was away at school, the National Party
came to power in 1948 and began to build the apartheid structure. When he started his law course at the University of Cape Town
in 1952, Woods supported government policies that separated the races but was wary of the heavy hand of the Afrikaner National Party. During his legal studies he started to question the separatist views he grew up with, becoming politically active in the Federal Party, which rejected apartheid and drew its support from liberal English-speaking whites.
Woods spent two years as a legal apprentice, with the goal of becoming a barrister
, but he became bored with law and gravitated toward journalism. Just as he was about to embark on his career as a journalist, the 23-year-old Woods was approached by the Federal Party to run for a seat in parliament. His campaign was unsuccessful, and he went back to his job as a cub reporter for the Daily Dispatch newspaper in East London. For two years during the late 1950s, he honed his skills as a journalist by writing and sub-editing for various newspapers in England
and Wales
. It was while working in Wales that he developed a love and respect for the Welsh people
that endured all his life. While working on the Western Mail, Cardiff, Woods became friends with colleague Glyn Williams, who later joined him on the Daily Dispatch and eventually became editor himself. Before returning to South Africa, he served as a correspondent for London's now defunct Daily Herald, traveling throughout the eastern and southern United States, eventually arriving in Little Rock, Arkansas
, where he filed stories comparing U.S. segregation
with South Africa's apartheid.
Woods went back to work at the Dispatch and married Wendy Bruce, whom he had known since they were teenagers in their hometown. They had six children: Jane, Dillon, Duncan, Gavin, Lindsay, and Mary. Their fourth son, Lindsay, born in 1970, contracted meningitis
and died just before his first birthday. The family had settled into a comfortable life in East London, and in 1965, at the age of 31, Woods rose to the position of editor-in-chief of the Daily Dispatch, which held an anti-apartheid editorial policy. As editor, Woods expanded the readership of the Dispatch to include Afrikaans speakers as well as black readers in nearby Transkei
and Ciskei
. Woods integrated the editorial staff and flouted apartheid policies by seating black, white, and coloured
reporters in the same work area. Additionally, he favored hiring reporters who had had experience working overseas. Woods had several scrapes with the South African Security Police
regarding editorial matters and on numerous occasions ruffled the feathers of Prime Minister B. J. Vorster in frank, face-to-face exchanges regarding the content of Dispatch editorials. Woods found himself tiptoeing around, and sometimes directly challenging, the increasingly restrictive government policies enacted to control the South African press.
. A young black woman, Dr Mamphela Ramphele
, berated Woods for writing misleading stories about the movement, challenging him to meet with Biko.
The two men became friends, leading the Security Police to monitor Woods's movements. Nevertheless, Woods continued to provide political support to Biko, both through writing editorials in his newspaper and controversially hiring black journalists to the Daily Dispatch.
On June 16, 1976, rioting
broke out in Soweto
, in which young students from Soweto participated in a march to protest against being taught in Afrikaans
and against the Bantu
education system in general. They marched from the Morris Isaacson School intending to hold a rally outside the Education buildings in Johannesburg
. The schoolchildren were met by the police and ordered to disperse. The children refused and the police opened fire, killing at least 618 of them. In the violence, two white people were also killed, including Dr Melville Edelstein, a sociologist who had done a lot of work with the black youth. He was stoned to death and left with a sign around his neck saying "Beware Afrikaaners". As the children pelted the police with stones, South Africa
went up in flames. The government responded by banning
the entire Black Consciousness Movement along with many other political organisations, as well as issuing banning orders against various persons. Donald Woods was one of the banned persons and was effectively placed under house arrest
.
Steve Biko had been involved in clandestine contacts with two outlawed liberation movements, the African National Congress
(ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). Returning to his home one evening from a trip to Cape Town, Biko was arrested, imprisoned and mortally beaten. He was transported naked and manacled for 740 miles (1200 km) in the back of a police van to Pretoria
, and died shortly after arriving at the police hospital there. James Kruger
, the Minister of Justice, claimed that Biko died on a hunger strike
. Speaking in Afrikaans
, he said of Biko's death, "Dit laat my koud" ("It leaves me cold").
Woods went to the morgue with Biko's wife Ntsiki and photographed Biko's battered body. The photographs were later published in Woods's book, exposing the South African government's cover-up
of the cause of Biko's death.
to avoid the dangerous threats from the South African government. Woods and friends Donald Card and Father Kani devised a plan for him to be smuggled out of his house. Disguised as a Catholic priest, Father "David C. Curren", on New Year's Eve
, 1978, Woods hitchhiked 300 miles (480 km) before attempting to cross the Telle River. However, owing to days of steady rain, the river had flooded, leaving him to resort to crossing at a border post using a false passport. He made it undetected by South African Government officials to Lesotho
, where, prompted by a prearranged telephone call, his family joined him shortly afterwards. Once they arrived in Lesotho, Bruce Haigh
, an Australia
n diplomat of the embassy, drove him to Maseru
. With the help of the British High Commission (in Maseru) and from the Government of Lesotho, they flew under United Nations passport
s and with one Lesotho official over South African territory, via Botswana
to London
where they were granted political asylum.
After arriving in London, Woods became an active spokesman against apartheid. Acting upon the advice of Oliver Tambo
, the President of the ANC, Woods became a passionate advocate of nations imposing sanctions
against South Africa. He toured the United States
campaigning for sanctions against apartheid. The trip included a three-hour session, arranged by President Jimmy Carter
, to address officials in the U.S. Department of State
. Woods also spoke at a session of the United Nations Security Council
in 1978.
On February 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela
was released from prison after serving twenty-seven years on Robben Island
. That Easter, Mandela came to London
to attend a concert at Wembley Stadium to thank the anti-apartheid Movement and the British people for all their years of campaigning against apartheid. Woods gave Mandela a tie in the black, green and gold colours of the African National Congress to celebrate the event. On Easter Sunday, Mandela phoned to thank Woods' family for the tie and said that he would wear it at the concert the next day, which he did. Woods stood throughout the phone call.
. On April 27, 1994, Woods went to vote at the City Hall in Johannesburg
. A cheering crowd took him to the head of the queue, giving him the place of honour so that he could be one of the first to vote in the new South Africa. Following the election, Donald worked for the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism in Johannesburg.
On September 9, 1997, on the twentieth anniversary of the death of Steve Biko, Woods was present in East London when a statue of Biko was unveiled by Nelson Mandela and the bridge across the Buffalo River was renamed the "Biko Bridge". Woods also gave his support to the Action for Southern Africa event in Islington
, London honouring Biko, helping to secure messages from Ntsiki Biko, Mamphela Ramphele (then the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town
) and Mandela.
filmed the story of Woods and Steve Biko, based upon the books which Woods had written, under the title Cry Freedom
. Donald and Wendy Woods became very much involved in the project, working closely with the actors and crew. The film was shot largely on location in Zimbabwe
(South Africa still being under the apartheid regime at the time) and was released in 1987 to critical acclaim, and won a number of awards. At nearly three hours long it featured appearances by John Thaw
, Timothy West
and Desmond Llewellyn. Woods was portrayed by actor Kevin Kline
, who became friends with Woods and his wife and family during the filming, which friendship continued until Woods' death in 2001. Biko was played by Denzel Washington
, who was Oscar-nominated for the role.
It closes with a list of deaths of black activists in police custody in South Africa, with the official explanations, up until the police stopped releasing these increasingly obviously fabricated details.
in Trafalgar Square
outside the South African High Commission, where anti-apartheid campaigners had demonstrated during the period of the apartheid regime.
Woods was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2000. He died of cancer on August 19, 2001 in London
.
The nine-foot (3 m) high bronze statue of Mandela was eventually erected on nearby Parliament Square
, Westminster City Council
having objected to its erection on Trafalgar Square, because of space considerations. It was unveiled by the British Prime Minister
, Gordon Brown
, on August 29, 2007, in the presence of Woods' widow, Wendy, and Richard (now Lord) Attenborough.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(December 15, 1933 – August 19, 2001) was a white South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n journalist and anti-apartheid activist.
As editor of the Daily Dispatch
Daily Dispatch
Daily Dispatch is a South African newspaper published inEast London in the province of Eastern Cape.Founded in 1872 as East London Dispatch, the Dispatch is today the Eastern Cape'sbest selling daily with a circulation of about 33,000 copies....
from 1965 to 1977, he befriended Steve Biko
Steve Biko
Stephen Biko was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the...
, leader of the anti-apartheid
History of South Africa in the apartheid era
Apartheid was a system of racial segregation enforced by the National Party governments of South Africa between 1948 and 1994, under which the rights of the majority 'non-white' inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and white supremacy and Afrikaner minority rule was maintained...
Black Consciousness Movement
Black Consciousness Movement
The Black Consciousness Movement was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress leadership after the Sharpeville Massacre in...
, and was banned by the government soon after Biko's death, which had been caused by serious head injuries, sustained while in police custody. The government denied giving Biko these injuries, even though police officers admitted to beating Biko to the point of nerve and brain damage. Woods fled to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he continued to foster opposition to apartheid. In 1978, he became the first private citizen to address the United Nations Security Council
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
.
Early history
Woods was born in Hobeni, TranskeiTranskei
The Transkei , officially the Republic of Transkei , was a Bantustan—an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity—and nominal parliamentary democracy in the southeastern region of South Africa...
, now part of the Eastern Cape
Eastern Cape
The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are Port Elizabeth and East London. It was formed in 1994 out of the "independent" Xhosa homelands of Transkei and Ciskei, together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province...
, South Africa, where his family had lived for five generdations. His ancestors came to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
as part of a British and Irish group known as the 1820 Settlers
1820 Settlers
The 1820 Settlers were several groups or parties of white British colonists settled by the British government and the Cape authorities in the South African Eastern Cape in 1820....
. His parents ran a trading post in Transkei, a tribal reserve, which would later be designated a bantustan
Bantustan
A bantustan was a territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa , as part of the policy of apartheid...
. As a boy Woods had extensive regular contact with the Bomvana people. He spoke fluent Xhosa
Xhosa language
Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said...
and Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
, as well as his mother tongue, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Woods and his brother, Harland, were sent to the Christian Brothers
Congregation of Christian Brothers
The Congregation of Christian Brothers is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice. The Christian Brothers, as they are commonly known, chiefly work for the evangelisation and education of youth, but are involved in many ministries, especially with...
College in Kimberley
Kimberley, Northern Cape
Kimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...
in the predominantly Afrikaner Northern Cape
Northern Cape
The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of an international park shared with Botswana...
for their secondary education. The school was academically rigorous, and the Irish Christian Brothers were regarded as being neutral on questions of politics. While Woods was away at school, the National Party
National Party (South Africa)
The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...
came to power in 1948 and began to build the apartheid structure. When he started his law course at the University of Cape Town
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
in 1952, Woods supported government policies that separated the races but was wary of the heavy hand of the Afrikaner National Party. During his legal studies he started to question the separatist views he grew up with, becoming politically active in the Federal Party, which rejected apartheid and drew its support from liberal English-speaking whites.
Woods spent two years as a legal apprentice, with the goal of becoming a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
, but he became bored with law and gravitated toward journalism. Just as he was about to embark on his career as a journalist, the 23-year-old Woods was approached by the Federal Party to run for a seat in parliament. His campaign was unsuccessful, and he went back to his job as a cub reporter for the Daily Dispatch newspaper in East London. For two years during the late 1950s, he honed his skills as a journalist by writing and sub-editing for various newspapers in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. It was while working in Wales that he developed a love and respect for the Welsh people
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
that endured all his life. While working on the Western Mail, Cardiff, Woods became friends with colleague Glyn Williams, who later joined him on the Daily Dispatch and eventually became editor himself. Before returning to South Africa, he served as a correspondent for London's now defunct Daily Herald, traveling throughout the eastern and southern United States, eventually arriving in Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
, where he filed stories comparing U.S. segregation
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
with South Africa's apartheid.
Woods went back to work at the Dispatch and married Wendy Bruce, whom he had known since they were teenagers in their hometown. They had six children: Jane, Dillon, Duncan, Gavin, Lindsay, and Mary. Their fourth son, Lindsay, born in 1970, contracted meningitis
Meningitis
Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs...
and died just before his first birthday. The family had settled into a comfortable life in East London, and in 1965, at the age of 31, Woods rose to the position of editor-in-chief of the Daily Dispatch, which held an anti-apartheid editorial policy. As editor, Woods expanded the readership of the Dispatch to include Afrikaans speakers as well as black readers in nearby Transkei
Transkei
The Transkei , officially the Republic of Transkei , was a Bantustan—an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity—and nominal parliamentary democracy in the southeastern region of South Africa...
and Ciskei
Ciskei
Ciskei was a Bantustan in the south east of South Africa. It covered an area of 2,970 square miles , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian Ocean....
. Woods integrated the editorial staff and flouted apartheid policies by seating black, white, and coloured
Coloured
In the South African, Namibian, Zambian, Botswana and Zimbabwean context, the term Coloured refers to an heterogenous ethnic group who possess ancestry from Europe, various Khoisan and Bantu tribes of Southern Africa, West Africa, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaya, India, Mozambique,...
reporters in the same work area. Additionally, he favored hiring reporters who had had experience working overseas. Woods had several scrapes with the South African Security Police
South African Bureau of State Security
The South African Bureau for State Security was established in 1969 and replaced by the National Intelligence Service in 1980. The Bureau's job was to monitor national security...
regarding editorial matters and on numerous occasions ruffled the feathers of Prime Minister B. J. Vorster in frank, face-to-face exchanges regarding the content of Dispatch editorials. Woods found himself tiptoeing around, and sometimes directly challenging, the increasingly restrictive government policies enacted to control the South African press.
Relationship with Steve Biko
Under Woods, the Daily Dispatch was very critical of the South African government, but was also critical of the emerging Black Consciousness Movement under the leadership of Steve BikoSteve Biko
Stephen Biko was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the...
. A young black woman, Dr Mamphela Ramphele
Mamphela Ramphele
Mamphela Aletta Ramphele is a South African academic, businesswoman and medical doctor and was an anti-apartheid activist. She is a current trustee on the board of the Rockefeller Foundation in New York.-Life and career:...
, berated Woods for writing misleading stories about the movement, challenging him to meet with Biko.
The two men became friends, leading the Security Police to monitor Woods's movements. Nevertheless, Woods continued to provide political support to Biko, both through writing editorials in his newspaper and controversially hiring black journalists to the Daily Dispatch.
On June 16, 1976, rioting
Soweto riots
The Soweto Uprising, also known as June 16, was a series of high school student-led protests in South Africa that began on the morning of June 16, 1976. Students from numerous Sowetan schools began to protest in the streets of Soweto, in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of...
broke out in Soweto
Soweto
Soweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
, in which young students from Soweto participated in a march to protest against being taught in Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
and against the Bantu
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
education system in general. They marched from the Morris Isaacson School intending to hold a rally outside the Education buildings in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
. The schoolchildren were met by the police and ordered to disperse. The children refused and the police opened fire, killing at least 618 of them. In the violence, two white people were also killed, including Dr Melville Edelstein, a sociologist who had done a lot of work with the black youth. He was stoned to death and left with a sign around his neck saying "Beware Afrikaaners". As the children pelted the police with stones, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
went up in flames. The government responded by banning
Ban (law)
A ban is, generally, any decree that prohibits something.Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some see this as a negative act and others see it as maintaining the "status quo"...
the entire Black Consciousness Movement along with many other political organisations, as well as issuing banning orders against various persons. Donald Woods was one of the banned persons and was effectively placed under house arrest
House arrest
In justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...
.
Steve Biko had been involved in clandestine contacts with two outlawed liberation movements, the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
(ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). Returning to his home one evening from a trip to Cape Town, Biko was arrested, imprisoned and mortally beaten. He was transported naked and manacled for 740 miles (1200 km) in the back of a police van to Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
, and died shortly after arriving at the police hospital there. James Kruger
Jimmy Kruger
James Thomas "Jimmy" Kruger was a South African politician who rose to the position of Minister of Justice and the Police in the cabinet of Prime Minister John Vorster from 1974 to 1979...
, the Minister of Justice, claimed that Biko died on a hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
. Speaking in Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
, he said of Biko's death, "Dit laat my koud" ("It leaves me cold").
Woods went to the morgue with Biko's wife Ntsiki and photographed Biko's battered body. The photographs were later published in Woods's book, exposing the South African government's cover-up
Cover-up
A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrong-doing, error, incompetence or other embarrassing information...
of the cause of Biko's death.
Life in exile
It became clear to Woods that his family was being targeted by the government (when shirts laced in acid seriously injured his six year old daughter), and he decided his family needed to leave South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
to avoid the dangerous threats from the South African government. Woods and friends Donald Card and Father Kani devised a plan for him to be smuggled out of his house. Disguised as a Catholic priest, Father "David C. Curren", on New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
, 1978, Woods hitchhiked 300 miles (480 km) before attempting to cross the Telle River. However, owing to days of steady rain, the river had flooded, leaving him to resort to crossing at a border post using a false passport. He made it undetected by South African Government officials to Lesotho
Lesotho
Lesotho , officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. It is just over in size with a population of approximately 2,067,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name...
, where, prompted by a prearranged telephone call, his family joined him shortly afterwards. Once they arrived in Lesotho, Bruce Haigh
Bruce Haigh
Bruce Douglas Haigh joined the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1972. He served in South Africa from 1976 to 1979 with the Australian Embassy ....
, an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n diplomat of the embassy, drove him to Maseru
Maseru
Maseru is the capital of Lesotho. It is also the capital of the Maseru District. Located on the Caledon River, bordering South Africa, Maseru is Lesotho's only sizable city, with a population of approximately 227,880 . The city was established as a police camp and assigned as the capital after the...
. With the help of the British High Commission (in Maseru) and from the Government of Lesotho, they flew under United Nations passport
United Nations Laissez-Passer
A United Nations Laissez-Passer is a travel document issued by the United Nations under the provisions of Article VII of the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations in its offices in New York and Geneva, as well as by the International Labor Organization...
s and with one Lesotho official over South African territory, via Botswana
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where they were granted political asylum.
After arriving in London, Woods became an active spokesman against apartheid. Acting upon the advice of Oliver Tambo
Oliver Tambo
Oliver Reginald Tambo was a South African anti-apartheid politician and a central figure in the African National Congress .-Biography:Oliver Tambo was born in Bizana in eastern Pondoland in what is now Eastern Cape...
, the President of the ANC, Woods became a passionate advocate of nations imposing sanctions
International sanctions
International sanctions are actions taken by countries against others for political reasons, either unilaterally or multilaterally.There are several types of sanctions....
against South Africa. He toured the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
campaigning for sanctions against apartheid. The trip included a three-hour session, arranged by President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, to address officials in the U.S. Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
. Woods also spoke at a session of the United Nations Security Council
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
in 1978.
On February 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
was released from prison after serving twenty-seven years on Robben Island
Robben Island
Robben Island is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 km west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. The name is Dutch for "seal island". Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, 3.3 km long north-south, and 1.9 km wide, with an area of 5.07 km². It is flat and only a...
. That Easter, Mandela came to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to attend a concert at Wembley Stadium to thank the anti-apartheid Movement and the British people for all their years of campaigning against apartheid. Woods gave Mandela a tie in the black, green and gold colours of the African National Congress to celebrate the event. On Easter Sunday, Mandela phoned to thank Woods' family for the tie and said that he would wear it at the concert the next day, which he did. Woods stood throughout the phone call.
Return to South Africa
Woods returned to South Africa in 1994 to support the fundraising efforts for the ANC election fund. His son Dillon was one of the organizers of the fundraising appeal in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. On April 27, 1994, Woods went to vote at the City Hall in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
. A cheering crowd took him to the head of the queue, giving him the place of honour so that he could be one of the first to vote in the new South Africa. Following the election, Donald worked for the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism in Johannesburg.
On September 9, 1997, on the twentieth anniversary of the death of Steve Biko, Woods was present in East London when a statue of Biko was unveiled by Nelson Mandela and the bridge across the Buffalo River was renamed the "Biko Bridge". Woods also gave his support to the Action for Southern Africa event in Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
, London honouring Biko, helping to secure messages from Ntsiki Biko, Mamphela Ramphele (then the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
) and Mandela.
Cry Freedom
Director Richard AttenboroughRichard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
filmed the story of Woods and Steve Biko, based upon the books which Woods had written, under the title Cry Freedom
Cry Freedom
Cry Freedom is a 1987 British drama film directed by Richard Attenborough, set in the late 1970s, during the apartheid era of South Africa. It was written from a screenplay by John Briley based on a pair of books by journalist Donald Woods...
. Donald and Wendy Woods became very much involved in the project, working closely with the actors and crew. The film was shot largely on location in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
(South Africa still being under the apartheid regime at the time) and was released in 1987 to critical acclaim, and won a number of awards. At nearly three hours long it featured appearances by John Thaw
John Thaw
John Edward Thaw, CBE was an English actor, who appeared in a range of television, stage and cinema roles, his most popular being police and legal dramas such as Redcap, The Sweeney, Inspector Morse and Kavanagh QC.-Early life:Thaw came from a working class background, having been born in Gorton,...
, Timothy West
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...
and Desmond Llewellyn. Woods was portrayed by actor Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
, who became friends with Woods and his wife and family during the filming, which friendship continued until Woods' death in 2001. Biko was played by Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
, who was Oscar-nominated for the role.
It closes with a list of deaths of black activists in police custody in South Africa, with the official explanations, up until the police stopped releasing these increasingly obviously fabricated details.
Final years
In the last year of his life, Woods gave his name to support an appeal to erect a statue of Nelson MandelaNelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
in Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
outside the South African High Commission, where anti-apartheid campaigners had demonstrated during the period of the apartheid regime.
Woods was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2000. He died of cancer on August 19, 2001 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
The nine-foot (3 m) high bronze statue of Mandela was eventually erected on nearby Parliament Square
Parliament Square
Parliament Square is a square outside the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in London. It features a large open green area in the middle, with a group of trees to its west. It contains statues of famous statesmen and is the scene of rallies and protests, as well as being a tourist...
, Westminster City Council
Westminster City Council
Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council and is entitled to be known as a city council, which is a rare distinction in the United Kingdom. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors...
having objected to its erection on Trafalgar Square, because of space considerations. It was unveiled by the British Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, on August 29, 2007, in the presence of Woods' widow, Wendy, and Richard (now Lord) Attenborough.
Awards
- 1978 Conscience-in-Media AwardConscience-in-Media AwardThe Conscience-in-Media Award is presented by the American Society of Journalists and Authors to journalists that the society deems worthy of recognition for their distinctive contributions. The award is not given out often, and is awarded to those journalists which the ASJA feels have...
, from the American Society of Journalists and AuthorsAmerican Society of Journalists and AuthorsThe American Society of Journalists and Authors was founded in 1948 as the Society of Magazine Writers, and is an organization of independent nonfiction writers in the United States...
Works
- Asking for Trouble: Autobiography of a Banned Journalist
- South African Dispatches
- BikoBiko (book)Biko is a biography about Black Consciousness Movement leader and anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko. It was written by the liberal white South African journalist Donald Woods, a personal friend of Biko. Donald Woods was forced into exile for attempting to expose the truth surrounding Biko’s death...
. Originally published by Paddington Press, London and New York, 1978; later edition published by Henry HoltHenry Holt and CompanyHenry Holt and Company is an American book publishing company. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt...
, New York, 1987. - Filming with Attenborough
- Rainbow Nation Revisited: South Africa's Decade of Democracy
External links
- Donald Woods April 4, 1988 speech at George Washington UniversityGeorge Washington UniversityThe George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
on C-SPANC-SPANC-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
(@ 12 minutes)