Paul Trewhela

Paul Trewhela, born in Johannesburg in 1941, worked in underground journalism with Ruth First, and edited the underground journal of MK, Freedom Fighter, during the Rivonia Trial. He was a political prisoner in Pretoria and the Johannesburg Fort as a member of the Communist Party (1964-1967), breaking with the SACP while in prison. In exile in Britain, he was co-editor with the late Baruch Hirson of Searchlight South Africa, banned in South Africa, which published in 1990 the earliest first-hand memoir of the struggle for democracy in MK in Angola, and the repression of its members in Quatro prison camp. The memoir was reprinted in his book of essays, Inside Quatro: Uncovering the Exile History of the ANC and Swapo (Jacana, 2009).