Quiet Activists
Featured Products
The book offers another perspective on the armed struggle – what it was like as a young married couple to join Umkhonto we Sizwe; the training they undertook outside SA; some political events that affected them and their community; and how, decades later, the effects of having to operate secretly took its toll on the author. While the struggle for freedom underpins the story, the author delivers a personal account of their experience and how it impacted their lives and their interactions with friends and family.
Introduction
“I spend the morning cleaning and polishing the 1946 Austin 10, ostensibly without a worry in the world – as it should be for a young man of 22 who, later in the day, will marry the woman he loves. In reality, however, I am sweating with anxiety, a hundred questions and issues swirling around in my head, none of them about the wedding itself. ‘Where you going for your honeymoon?’ someone asks. I’m struggling to come up with an acceptable answer, but Bibi doesn’t miss a beat. ‘I don’t know,’ she smiles. ‘Peter refuses to tell me. It’s a surprise.’ That, of course, is not true. What lay ahead was no honeymoon, not at all. But we could not tell anyone the truth.”
It was a tense and dangerous time for non-whites in South Africa in the 70s and 80s – a time characterised by hatred, distrust, propaganda, fear and frequent clashes between protesters and the security forces. Being an anti-apartheid activist was risky business. Being a member of Umkhonto we Sizwe – the ANC’s military arm – even more so, and, if caught, could result in indefinite detainment without trial – even torture and death.
Peter Present shares in this memoir what it was like growing up in Elsies River, a working class community in Cape Town, South Africa – before and during the height of unrest – and what prompted him and his new bride, barely hours after they’d said “I do”, to leave home to join the armed struggle. Peter opens up about their lives: from the values instilled by their parents while growing up; their experiences of racism; the people who helped them along the way; what it was like to train in an ANC military camp; and then, upon their return, living a double life where not even family or friends knew their secret.
Hyper-vigilance and secrecy had kept them safe, but it also took its toll. Peter shares his journey of learning to trust again and of overcoming the last-remaining shackles that held him hostage in his mind, long after freedom had been won.
About the Author
Peter has just completed writing his memoirs, QUIET ACTIVISTS. He shares in this memoir what it was like growing up in Elsies River, a working class community in Cape Town, South Africa – before and during the height of unrest – and what prompted him and his new bride, barely hours after they’d said, “I do”, to leave home to join the armed struggle.
After matriculating at Spes Bona High School in Athlone in 1981, Peter completed a four-year draughting course with De Beers and Anglo-American Corporation. A few days after getting married, he left the country with his new bride in early 1986 to join the ANC and MK and received military training in northern Angola. Upon his return to South Africa, he and his wife worked underground for the ANC until its unbanning.
In January 1988, he started teaching Technical Drawing at Spes Bona and completed a Higher Diploma in Education in 1990 (UCT), while studying towards a B.Ed. Degree at the Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit (now University of Johannesburg) in 1991. He also completed an Executive MBA (EMBA) in 2009 (UCT). He continued teaching at Spes Bona and Bet-El Special School between 1992 and 1996 before taking up a position as Planner for School Infrastructure at the newly established Western Cape Education Department.
In February 2000, he was appointed as advisor to the Western Cape Minister of Education. A year later he became the first director in the newly established Research Directorate, where he initiated the first external assessments at foundation and intermediate phases for schools in the country. As head of the EMIS Sub-Directorate, he was also responsible for conceptualising and implementing the first learner tracking system in South Africa. In October 2007, he was promoted to chief director, responsible for policy coordination, infrastructure planning, human capital planning and strategic planning.
He joined a multinational professional services firm, Deloitte, in February 2008 as a senior manager, and was promoted to partner in the firm in June 2014. During his 10 years at Deloitte, he established an education consulting business and led a team who delivered on education projects in all provinces.
After leaving Deloitte, he joined HashData, a software development company focusing on developing software systems and providing consulting services for government departments. He is also one of four directors of an NGO, JobAbled, whose focus is to find job opportunities for people with special needs.
Peter lives in Kuils River outside Cape Town with his wife Bibi and their boys Fidél and Fédor.
