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Peter Ralph Randall

Peter Ralph Randall was an anti-apartheid publisher in South Africa, and was banned by the former South African government between 1977 and 1981. He later became a professor in charge of teacher education at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Early History

Peter Randall was born in Durban in 1935, the youngest of four sons. His father, Walter Kenneth Randall, worked as a journalist and court reporter for the Natal Mercury newspaper, and his mother, Elizabetha Margaretha Randall (nee Powrie), was a specialist nursing sister. Randall was educated at the Open Air School, the Durban Preparatory High School, and Kearsney College, and after matriculating he trained at Natal Teachers’ Training College (NTC) in Pietermaritzburg. He also completed a BA majoring in English and history through the University of South Africa. He was the first Kearsney matriculant to obtain a distinction in English, and he gained distinctions in English each year thereafter, from teacher training to BA level. In 1956 he was awarded a medal for best final-year student at NTC.

At NTC he met Isobel Hickman, the previous final-year medallist, and they were married in 1958 in Greytown. From 1957 to 1961 Randall was employed by the Natal Education Department, and taught at Vryheid High School and Greytown Junior School. In late 1961 he and Isobel travelled to England, and from 1962 through 1963 they were employed as teachers by Essex County Council (Peter taught at Broadfields County Primary and Mark Hall Secondary, Harlow). During this time they toured Europe and Britain in an old Bedford van, and before returning to South Africa they worked as apple-pickers.

In early 1964 they returned to Pietermaritzburg, and from 1964 until mid-1965 Randall lectured at NTC and was the warden of the men's residence. Daughter Lee-Ann was born in 1964, and in 1965 they moved to Johannesburg, where their second daughter Susan was born. Their third child Jonathan died as an infant. A second son named David was born in 1970.

Anti-apartheid activity

While a student at NTC, Randall took an interest in radical politics and approached Peter Hunter, a lecturer with similar views, with the hope of becoming constructively involved. Hunter took him to a school in Sobantu Village in Pietermaritzburg, where teachers had to learn Afrikaans because of the Bantu Education policy, and Randall went there several times to teach Afrikaans and to learn some Zulu. Other important influences on his thinking at this time were leading Liberal Party figures such as Peter Brown, author Alan Paton and senator Edgar Brookes.

From July 1965 to mid-1969 Randall was Assistant Director of the South African Institute of Race Relations, based in Johannesburg. The Institute published several titles by him, including a series of talks he gave on human rights and the need for social justice. From mid-1969 to 1972 he was Director of Spro-cas (Study Project on Christianity in Apartheid Society), which was sponsored by the Christian Institute and South African Council of Churches (SACC). Randall worked closely with Beyers Naudé who was heading the Christian Institute, and with other leading anti-apartheid clerics like Denis Hurley and Desmond Tutu. Although Spro-cas was intended as a relatively short-term project, it had put together a substantial body of publications. Under the directorship of Randall, it published some 25 titles with the view to contributing to the search for social justice in South Africa.

“Spro-cas 1”, the study project, was followed by “Spro-cas 2”, the action project, again with Randall as Director. After discussions—particularly with Bennie Khoapa and Steve Biko, it was decided to split the project into a Black Community Programme and a White Consciousness Programme. The aim was for the BCP to develop community education programmes, and for the WCP, where a key figure was Horst Kleinschmidt, to make South African whites aware of social injustice and the need for change. The project ran until the BCP was banned in 1977. The story is told in A Taste of Power, the final Spro-cas report written by Randall. Although some details had to be glossed over in this book, due to state restrictions on the media, it paid considerable attention to Black Consciousness as well as to the sins of the apartheid government.

From 1973 to Oct 1977 Randall was Director of Ravan Press, which was established in 1972 by Beyers Naudé, Danie van Zyl and Randall (the unusual spelling of “Ravan” is due to the word being made up of the initial letters of Randall, van Zyl, and Naudé). Randall’s role was diverse: editor, publisher, salesman, and financial manager. In a time when “non-whites” were severely repressed by the government, Ravan Press became an important avenue through which dissident voices could be heard.) Ravan had several publishing “firsts”, most notable being the acceptance of JM Coetzee's first book, Dusklands, after it had been rejected by other South African and international publishers. Other “firsts” included works by Sipho Sepamla, Chabani Manganyi, Miriam Tladi, Peter Wilhelm, and Stephen Gray.

Due to his involvement in anti-apartheid publishing, Randall experienced severe state repression from 1970 onwards. His passport was confiscated in 1972 for a period of ten years; it was returned for one month in 1981, after pressure from German and American publishers for Randall to attend the Frankfurt Book Fair; it was returned in full in 1982. Randall was also prosecuted in 1973 under the Commissions Act for refusing to give evidence before the Schlebusch Commission, along with Beyers Naudé and others, and was sentenced to three months, suspended. In 1974 the three founding directors of Ravan were prosecuted under the Internal Security Act for publishing the words of a “banned person” (Paul Pretorius of NUSAS), but the case was dismissed on a technicality because the security police confused Spro-cas and Ravan Press.

Randall also experienced harassment such as having his mail and telephone calls intercepted, attempts to plant spies, intimidation of bookshops not to stock Ravan titles, having his visitors trailed, having cars parked outside his house with listening devices in them, and so on. An unsuccessful attempt was made to entice both Randall and Naudé into a relationship with a buxom Post Office employee.

In 1974 Randall stood as a Social Democratic candidate in the Von Brandis constituency in central Johannesburg, in the national general election. Horst Kleinschmidt was his electoral agent, and to general surprise they managed to gain a thousand votes and save their deposit in a safe United Party seat.

The offices of Ravan Press in Braamfontein, Johannesburg were the target of bomb threats and acts of vandalism such as slogans being painted on the walls. Randall once endured a four-hour security police raid of Ravan (along with the other organisations in Diakonia House, such as the Christian Institute and SACC), during which every document and letter—and his personal diary—was scrutinised.

On 17 October 1977 Randall was served with banning orders (a form of house arrest) by the Minister of Justice, Jimmy Kruger. At least forty black leaders were detained in the same month, and the Christian Institute and seventeen other organisations—mainly black consciousness groups—were declared unlawful and were not allowed to continue their existence. Other white South Africans banned in that month were Beyers Naudé, Cedric Mayson, Brian Brown, and Theo Kotze, all of whom were associated with the Christian Institute. The banning orders were for five years.

In terms of Randall’s banning order, he was forbidden to attend gatherings (the legal consensus was that this meant meeting with more than one other person at a time); he was forbidden to leave the Johannesburg magisterial area without the permission of the chief magistrate, Mr Francis; and he was forbidden to enter schools, factories, publishing houses and so on. He was also required to report weekly to his local police station and sign the register, and when going on holiday he had to report to the local police station on arriving at his destination. To attend functions at his children's schools or take his family on holiday he had to seek permission, which was sometimes granted and sometimes not. Mr Francis would forward Randall’s requests to the Minister, who would call for reports and recommendations from the Bureau of State Security (BOSS) and the security police, and the Minister would then instruct Francis. The granting or withholding of permission appeared to be completely arbitrary and no appeal was possible.

In 1981 Randall applied for permission to attend the Frankfurt Book Fair—a request which drew divergent responses from BOSS and the security police. The head of BOSS suggested that it was best to let Randall attend the Fair, stating that “hy sal in elk geval gemonitor word” (in any case he will be monitored). Once in Frankfurt, Randall considered applying for political asylum in the UK, thus going into exile there, but ultimately he decided against this. His banning order was lifted later the same year by the new Minister of Justice, Kobie Coetzee, after approaches from the Progressive Party and others.

Academic career

In 1977, prior to his banning, Randall was employed as a part-time temporary organiser of teaching practice by the Education Department at the liberal University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). His banning order meant that he could no longer officially work at Ravan Press, and Wits approached the Minister for permission to employ him full-time. This was granted after six months during which Wits continued to pay his salary although he could not fulfill his duties.. Unofficially, he did continue his involvement with Ravan, acting in an advisory capacity and carrying out some editorial responsibilities. He remained in employment at Wits until his retirement in 1995, eventually becoming professor assignatus and director of teacher training. During this time he wrote an M.Ed dissertation on private schools, which was later published as Little England on the Veld. In 1989 he was awarded a Ph.D degree for his thesis on the role of theory in the training of teachers in the United Kingdom, United States of America and South Africa. Part of this research included Randall making study tours to the UK and USA.

While at Wits University, Randall published a few academic articles and edited several collections. He delivered papers at international conferences held by the History of Education Society in Berlin, Lisbon, Cracow, and Dublin, some of which were published in the proceedings of the International Standing Committee on the History of Education. In the 1980s and 1990s Randall and his wife Isobel attended several conferences of the IBBY (International Book Board for Young People) in Groningen, Seville and Berlin, where they delivered joint papers.

After 1995 he continued as a part-time lecturer at Wits, a part-time editor at Ravan Press, and a book reviewer for Financial Mail. His career as a book reviewer had begun thirty years and some 300 titles earlier with the Rand Daily Mail, and during Randall’s banning his reviews had appeared under his wife Isobel’s name.

Current

Since 2002 Peter and Isobel Randall spent much of their time in the United Kingdom, establishing a home in the West Midlands. In 2007 both became naturalised British citizens, while retaining their South African citizenship. During 2005 - 2006 the South African History Archives (SAHA) obtained from the State Archives copies of all the reports and recommendations from BOSS and the security police relating to Randall. A copy of the documentation was given to Randall and another copy is archived by SAHA at Wits.

Works

The William Cullen Library at the University of the Witwatersrand holds a collection of Spro-cas titles and other works by Randall.

The catalogue of the Library of Congress in Washington DC list 20 of Randall's works.

Copies of the Ravan Press correspondence between Randall and various authors (including JM Coetzee), as well as manuscripts, are archived in the National English Literary Museum in Grahamstown, South Africa.

The South African Institute of Race Relations archives include several of Randall's titles published between 1965 and 1969.

“The Beginnings of Ravan Press: a memoir” in Ravan: Twenty-five years (1972 – 1997). Published 1997 by Ravan Press, South Africa. ISBN 0-8697-5496-3

Towards Social Change (1971). Spro-cas publication number 6: Report of the social commission of the Study Project on Christianity in Apartheid Society. Ravan: Johannesburg. ISBN 0-86975-001-1

A Taste of Power (1973). The final co-ordinated Spro-cas report; Spro-cas publication number 11. Ravan: Johannesburg. ISBN 0-86975-025-9

Not without Honour: Tribute to Beyers Naudé (ed. P. Randall). (1982) Ravan: Johannesburg. ISBN 0-86975-138-7

References

Category:South Africa Category:Apartheid Category:Publishing Category:Education