Stephen Johannes Marais - Unrehabilitated Terrorist

About the Author

Stephen Marais was born in 1956 in Stellenbosch. He matriculated from Paul Roos Gymnasium in 1974. In 1975 he registered at Michaelis School of Fine Arts at UCT for a 4 year course but did not complete his studies.

In 1979, instead of reporting for military service, he absconded to Lesotho where he lived in a village in the mountains for a year. He then lived for a year in Rhodes village in the Northern Cape, before joining the Environmental and Development Agency in 1981.

In March 1983 he was recruited into MK in Maseru by Sandi Jacobson (MK name Millie). Three years later, in March 1986, he was detained by the Security Police and kept in solitary confinement and interrogated, mostly in John Voster Square.

In October 1986 he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on terrorism charges.

In 1989 he got married to Khethiwe, in the Pretoria Security prison garage.

After his sentencing he spent 4 years prison until his release in October 1990.

In 1991 Steve and Khethiwe started an African language translator service in response to a need from the ANC, Cosatu and various NGOs. They are both still involved in the provision of language services.