South Africa: Overcoming Apartheid

Interview Segment

Eddie Daniels interviewed by Ruendree Govinder
May 27, 2005 Cape Town, South Africa.


"The men signed contracts for 12 or 15 months. The wives are widows, the children are fatherless for that period of time..." [2:32]

Eddie Daniels describes the economic situation that forced Africans into migrant labor and the difficulties of life in the urban areas, especially for Africans who did not have passes to work there.

Eddie Daniels, who was classified as Coloured, was born in District Six in Cape Town and worked on a whaling vessel and in the mines in Namibia. He joined the Liberal Party because it was a nonracial and anti-government organization. He joined the African Resistance Movement (ARM), which began sabotage actions a little before the African National Congress’ UmKhonto we Sizwe armed wing. Daniels was found guilty of sabotage and was imprisoned on Robben Island for 15 years. He joined the African National Congress after he was released from prison. He has written about his imprisonment in There and Back: Robben Island 1964-1979.

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