South African anti-apartheid writer and poet, Breyten Breytenbach, has passed away at the age of 85 after a long battle with ill-health.
A statement by his family said Breytenbach who was a staunch opponent of the county’s white-minority government’s apartheid policy of racial oppression, died in Paris on Sunday.
A citation by a South African news platform describes Breytenbach as a celebrated wordsmith and a leading voice in literature in Afrikaans, and a fierce critic of apartheid that was imposed against the country’s Black majority between 1948 and 1990.
“He moved to Paris but on a clandestine trip to his home country in 1975, he was arrested on allegations that he assisted Nelson Mandela’s then-outlawed African National Congress group in its sabotage campaign against the white-minority government,” the medium wrote.
“He was convicted of treason and served seven years in prison. French president Francois Mitterrand helped secure his release in 1982.
“Upon his release, Breytenbach based himself in Paris, becoming a French citizen, and continued his anti-apartheid activism.
“Breytenbach is best known for “Confessions of an Albino Terrorist,” his account of his imprisonment and the events leading to it.
“His work addressed themes of exile, identity and justice, his family said in a statement on Sunday. Known for his masterful poetry collections in Afrikaans, as well as autobiographical works such as “The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist” and “A Season in Paradise,” he fearlessly addressed themes of exile, identity and justice,” his family said in a statement.
Born in the Western Cape province in 1939, Breytenbach was a poet, novelist, painter and activist whose work touched on and influenced literature and the arts both domestically and abroad.
He joined Okhela, an ideological wing of South Africa’s African National Congress, in exile, but remained deeply connected to his South African roots, his family said.