Henning van Aswegen. Okhéla group, Okhéla and The Poet

The Afrikaans-writer and poet Breyten Breytenbach is famous for his membership in the “Sestigers” literary movement in the 1960s and 1970s, and infamous for his efforts to spark his own revolution in South Africa. Breytenbach, born on 16 September 1939 and head boy of the Hugenote High School in Wellington, came to the attention of the South African authorities in 1961 when he left the country to settle in Paris with his Vietnamese wife, Hoäng Lien Ngo (meaning yellow lotus, also known as Yolande). South Africa’s controversial race laws, particularly the Law Against Mixed Marriages (1949), prevented the poet from returning to the country and living here with his lawful wife. Because he hailed from a traditional Afrikaans family, Breytenbach’s radical left-wing politics surprised his readers and literary supporters. His brother Jan, nicknamed ‘Bruinman’ because of his sallow sunburned complexion, was a counter-insurgency officer in the South African Defence Force and founder of the Thirty-two Battalion which fought a covert war in Angola from 1975 to 1989. Jan Breytenbach used the pseudonym “Carpenter” in 1975, while training FNLA troops opposed to the communist MPLA in Angola.

Breyten, as he was known by friends and foe alike, gained both notoriety and fame for his books and poems in the 1960’s and 1970’s, notably ‘Die Ysterkoei moet Sweet’ in 1964 and Kouevuur in 1969. Although the stories and poems of the “Sestigers” could not be described as resistance art, some members made mild public noises against the Publications Law of 1964. Paris, France became a Mecca for self-exiling South Africans in the 1960’s, amongst them Breytenbach, who established a secret organisation Okhéla to, in his own words, “serve as the white wing of the African National Congress.” A former South African spy within the ranks of the ANC, informs that Breytenbach’s declaration of “a white wing of the ANC” horrified ANC leaders because a white faction within the organisation was the antithesis of their doctrine and policies.

During the 1960-s, one of the founders of the Egyptian Communist Party and self-proclaimed Stalinist, Henry Curiel, used Paris as the base for his campaign against the Egyptian government. Coincidentally, Curiel was the cousin of George Blake, a career member of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, MI-6) and Naval Intelligence Officer in Germany, who was unmasked as a KGB spy in May 1961. In Paris Curiel created a KGB-funded front organisation called ‘Solidarite’ into which a somewhat naïve Breyten Breytenbach was recruited. Breytenbach was unaware of Curiel’s contact with South African Communist Party leader Joe Slovo and Barend Schuitema, a former NUSAS student leader and ANC member. In April 1970 Breytenbach had written an article for the ANC mouthpiece Sechaba, stating that the totalitarian and capitalist South African regime should be destroyed by way of a revolution. It was self-evident that Breytenbach’s political and philosophical views had undergone a radical change in 1961 and that he had come to the conclusion that in South Africa the Communist system was preferable to Western capitalism.

 The National Union of South African Students elected Breytenbach its ‘honorary deputy chairman’ in 1971 and in June 1974 its honorary president; meaningless titles but to some measure an acknowledgment by mainly English-speaking university students that they considered Breytenbach, an Afrikaans speaker, a kindred political spirit and comrade. In Paris, Curiel and Breytenbach proceeded to establish ‘Okhéla’ as a Soldarite sub-group and so-called ‘White wing of the ANC.’ Their first meetings in the sidewalk cafes on the elegant boulevards of the ‘City of Lights’ were innocent enough, Breyten not realising that he was slowly being drawn into an ill-advised and superficially planned scheme to create a revolution in South Africa. Okhéla is the Zulu word for “ignite” or spark, as in sparking the revolution and in Russian Okhéla equates to “iskra,” also the title of Vladimir Lenin’s famous mouthpiece and newspaper during the Bolshevist Revolution of 1917.

After some years in self-imposed exile in Europe, Berend Schuitema re-entered South Africa with a false passport in 1973, planning to recruit young Afrikaners for Solidarite and Okhéla. Under heavy surveillance by the De Villiers Street Johannesburg regional office of the Bureau for State Security (BFSS), a blithe Schuitema travelled around South Africa to recruit mostly left-wing students to his cause. Because he was unaware of the surveillance, Schuitema compromised individuals such Donald Moerdijk, Jobst Grabow and Madie Rhoem. Schuitema showed his motley group of recruits a typed document with the heading, “The Okhéla Manifesto” which, in its second paragraph, describes the mission of the organisation as “harnessing the energies of white revolutionaries, particularly Europeans and South African students for the purpose of overthrowing the South African government.”

On 1 August 1975, a strange-looking young “Christian Galaska,” sporting an ill-fitting disguise and false French passport, arrived at Jan Smuts International Airport aboard an Alitalia flight from Rome. Waiting for Breytenbach on the other side of passport control was Annatjie van Schalkwyk, an attractive flight attendant who later described her paramour as a “charming Frenchman.” Breytenbach arrived in Cape Town where he phoned James Polly to arrange a meeting. During the telephone call, Breytenbach identified himself as Christian Galaska. A surprised Polly mentioned that he (Glaxa), sounded just like Breyten Breytenbach. He also mentioned that he was staying in the President Hotel in Sea Point. A member of the BFSS surveillance squad commented that BFSS was unaware of Breytenbach’s arrival in South Africa and only became aware of his visit while he was in Cape Town.

A former head of counterespionage in the South African intelligence services describes the events as follows: “One of our sharpest colleagues just happened to be listening to the conversation in real-time and rushed into the office where I and others were busy monitoring mail. We quickly put our heads together to try and figure out what to do. No operational members were able to identify Breytenbach, but the wife of one operational member who happened to arrive at the office said she was able to recognise and identify him. The Regional Representative, Koos Kemp, was then advised of Breytenbach’s presence in Cape Town, which he did not really believe and called for proof (hence the photograph later taken in Sea Point. Breytenbach. Breytenbach was first identified inside Stuttafords, before the arrival of James Polly and only a day later he was photographed in Sea Point). An operational member and his wife proceeded to the Sea Point promenade near the President Hotel, where he (Breytenbach) was photographed as part of the background of another photograph. Only when the photos were processed did the BfSS regional representative believe it was Breyten Breytenbach. The regional representative then notified BfSS Headquarters in Pretoria. The surveillance team consisted of two operational field workers, a counterespionage officer and the wife of one of the operational field workers. At one point during the surveillance, Breyten was wandering around in the store, so one enterprising member went behind the counter and started selling cigarettes to customers and could thus keep him under surveillance in the store. The shop attendant behind the counter was somewhat shocked, but luckily said nothing. Breyten hooked up with James Polly, who was overjoyed and excited to see him. So much so, that when they walked out of the store, James Polly forgot he was double-parked in Adderley Street and walked past his car. Halfway up the road he suddenly remembered his car and they rushed back.

Later that night, two members carrying out the surveillance were held up at gunpoint that night, while conducting surveillance on Polly’s house. There was a block of flats behind his house and a row of garages bordering on his fence. We were behind the garages where the bins/trash cans were kept and could see Polly and Breytenbach in the house, but then by someone high up in a block of flats saw us and thought we were burglars and held us up at gun point. We managed to escape by jumping over a very low wall at the other end of the garages, only to encounter a twenty-foot drop on the other side, but we survived to tell the tale. The Regional Representative Koos Kemp was waiting for us in a car in the street and was rather annoyed when we told him to drive away quickly as someone with a gun was coming after us. We had a good laugh, but the regional representative did not appreciate the humour. The Cape Town Regional Office personnel were proud that they were the ones to recognise that this individual in disguise really was the infamous Breyton Breytenbach. Interestingly Breyten disguised himself as a woman and (delete and) to catch the surveillance team off guard. The official surveillance team instructed to take over the surveillance of Breytenbach never detected him at (and they lost him on a Sunday morning outside delete this part of the sentence) the President Hotel where he was staying. It was later determined that the surveillants were huddled over the bonnet of the car checking the horse racing results from Saturday, when Breyten walked past them, commented on the fact they were checking the results and walked away without them recognizing him. He was never found again during his journey throughout SA. The next time Breytenbach was sighted was in Lesotho. Breytenbach was finally caught at Jan Smuts airport when he had already gone through into the international section. A senior BfSS member used the intercom system to notify Breyten that someone was outside waiting to greet him before he departed, and he was promptly arrested. We eventually convinced Breyten to admit that he was indeed Breyten Breytenbach and not Galaska, even threatening to bring his mother to Pretoria to identify him. He did not want his mother involved and admitted that he was indeed Breyten Breytenbach.”

The bemused BfSS “tekkie squads” (official surveillance units) never found Breytenbach. He even attended an Afrikaans language festival in Paarl on 14 August 1975. Many of the writers and poets attending the festival knew Breytenbach well and were not quite sure how to react to the strange sight of the famous poet wandering around, insisting that he indeed was Christian Galaska from France, but speaking to old university friends and colleagues in Afrikaans.

Breyten Breytenbach’s arrest at Jan Smuts International Airport on 18 August 1975 made both national and international headlines, with the South African government being inundated by inquiries from media from all over the world. The story of Breytenbach’s visit to South Africa, his unlikely cover story, fake name, and the outrageous outfits he wore during his visit to the country of his birth was simply too good to be true. 

“It was just after seven in the morning when my office telephone rang, Paul Gough from our counterespionage division calling,” Johan Mostert, a former BfSS official recalls. “Come to my office at once,” Gough barked and I could sense by the tone of this voice that something out of the ordinary had happened. At that time I was the head of a small section in the BFSS investigating ‘affected organisations,’ such as the Wages Commission of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) and the funding they were receiving from abroad. At the Kompol Building in Pretoria. I met Paul Gough and Colonel Kalfie Brooderyk, who accompanied me to an office where Karel Tipp, the NUSAS president was sitting in a chair, tussling with his beard and unkept hair. Colonel Boorderyk simply said: “Mister Mostert, meet Mister Tipp; mister Tipp, meet mister Mostert” and promptly left the room. “What are you doing here?” I asked Karel. “Haven’t got a clue. You tell me,” he answered and we spent the next couple of minutes trying to figure out why he was picked up by the Security Branch of the South African Police. He insisted that he had no idea why he was “picked up” (his words). Because we both came from academic backgrounds, we started chatting about student politics and academic matters, later about the merits and demerits of socialism and communism. Besides the mild discussion and discourse on political matters of the day, I had no idea what to ask the man or how to interrogate him. I probably sweated more than he did. At about eleven o’clock that morning there was a knock at the door and I asked a colleague to come and sit in my place for a while. I searched for Paul Gough, found him in a passage and asked him: “What on earth do you want me to ask Karel Tipp?” Gough said that Breyten Breytenbach had been detained at the airport and that we (BfSS) had to talk to all the people that Breytenbach had contacted on his journey through South Africa, including Karel Tipp. Returning to the office, I asked Tipp about his meetings with Breytenbach, but he kept on denying any knowledge of the visit. By late afternoon we were both tired and Col Broodryk took Tipp back to the Pretoria Central Prison. We would continue our discussion the next day. That night I fell into bed shortly after six pm, quite exhausted. There was not much point keeping Tipp in detention because he had broken no laws, and he was released.

During this time, we also spoke to Glen Moss who later wrote the book The New Radicals – A Generational Memoir of the 1970s. It was quite obvious that Breyten Breytenbach went about his business in an amateurish way and that very little damage was done by his visit to South Africa. We experienced Breyten as quite a nice chap and Colonel Kalfie Broodryk even testified to mitigating circumstances in Breyten’s favour during his later court case.”

Breytenbach was charged with various offenses under the Suppression of Communism Act and some counts under the Terrorism Act, but the famous poet surprised those present in the court by pleading guilty to all the charges against him. “During the trial, it became apparent that Breytenbach’s plans included a missile attack on a Rhodesian airliner, an attempt to demolish Beit Bridge on the South African-Rhodesian border and an attempt to free Nelson Mandela from Robben Island using a submarine. Because of Breytenbach’s guilty plea, a number of co-conspirators were mentioned by the State, including Karel Tipp, Glen Moss, Norman Lewis, James Polley, and Horst Kleinschmidt.         

“We were all quite surprised by the nine-year prison sentence Breytenbach received and thought it quite excessive. We thought that Breytenbach would receive a sentence of about five years, because this was the sentence his lawyer, advocate PJ Henning had asked for. Many colleagues questioned the reasons why it was necessary to send Bteytenbach to prison at all. Breyten was a man of refined intellect and despite his naivety pursued a goal of government change in South Africa. At that time it was against the laws of the land and unfortunately the law took its course. In Alan Paton’s words: “Cry the beloved country.”

At his sentencing hearing, the famous poet and writer apologised to the court, Judge PM Cilliè, and the people of South Africa “for the ridiculous and stupid things that I have done.” Breytenbach was nevertheless found guilty because of Okhéla’s violent nature and sentenced to nine years in prison. During four meetings in 1985, dr Frederick van Zyl Slabbert, leader of the opposition in the South African parliament, prevailed upon Prime Minister PW Botha and Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee to release Breytenbach. Van Zyl Slabbert later said he made more headway with Botha and Coetzee in face-to-face meetings than in public exchanges across the floor of the House of Assembly.

The story of Breyten Breytenbach had a bizarre twist in the tail when a South African, Louise Stack, unwittingly approached a member of the Daisy Spy Ring in Geneva, Switzerland on 8 January 1979. Stack, who claimed to be a member of Okhéla, told the South African super spy that she had an Irish father and Afrikaans mother. She was sent to Switzerland to make contact with the International University Exchange Fund, by another member of Okhéla, Barend Schuitema, to ask for money and to get the IUEF’s reaction to Schuitema’s project, ‘Operation Harpoon.’  Slack wanted guarantees that the IUEF would provide legal defence money, ‘when’ Schuitema is arrested by the South African authorities. Slack curiously did not use the word “if,” but “when,” presumably expecting a hapless end to Schuitema’s personal project. Slack also wanted the IUEF to donate 5000 Swiss Franc to the Anne Frank Foundation, to cover the salary and costs of employing one Okhéla member undercover in that organisation for one year. The Daisy Spy Ring super spy told Slack that Schuitema was mad to go back to South Africa with such a hair-brained scheme and that he would be arrested and locked up. The IUEF would however try and get some legal aid funds for Schuitema, if and when he is arrested, but would not provide any money for the Anne Frank Foundation plan. Slack informed that the Okhéla John Harris cell was “actively working” on the South African-Irish question and that the Okhéla Henri Curiel cell was “actively working on the South African-Palestinian question. Breytenbach was recruited into the Solidarité International, a network formed by the Egyptian-born Jew Henri Curiel. Curiel was a founder-member of the Egyptian Communist Party and described himself as an “unconditional Stalinist.”

Following sustained complaints and pressure from Afrikaans literary circles and the international community, Breyten Breytenbach was eventually released on 2 December 1982, two years before the end of his sentence. Breytenbach returned to France on 5 December 1982 and became a French citizen in 1983.  In his seven years in jail, the poet wrote more than four hundred poems, eventually published in the anthology ‘Die Ongedansde Dans,’ (The Undanced Dance, 1975-1983). The poet resurfaced in the company of the first lady of France, Danielle Mitterand at a cultural festival on the Senegalese island of Gorée, also attended by dr Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert. Slabbert had quit his post and position as leader of the official opposition, saying that the South African parliament had become a meaningless institution. In Senegal, Slabbert turned to Breyten Breytenbach and said: “Would it not be fantastic if I could bring sixty Afrikaners here (to Gorée) to meet the African National Congress?” Slabbert then traveled to Lusaka to explain his plan to ANC leaders, while Danielle Mitterand and Breytenbach returned to Paris. The French government facilitated visas for the groups of Afrikaners to Senegal to attend the IDASA Dakar Conference in 1987 – the first open and unrestricted meetings between the ANC-SACP and a cross-section of Afrikaner academics, political activists, and businessmen. 

As an artist and poet Breyten Breytenbach is undoubtedly one of the most talented and loved sons of Afrikaans literature – the creator of countless romantic poems and essays. As a political activist and originator of the violent organisation Okhéla, his legacy is more convoluted and less certain.

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