Harold Strachan

Harold "Jock" Strachan (born 1925) is a South African writer and anti-apartheid activist. He trained as an artist, flew for the South African Air Force, then became an early member of Umkhonto we Sizwe. He went to prison for sabotage, and after his release served another sentence for telling a journalist about poor prison conditions. He has written two semi-autobiographical books.

Early life
Strachan was born in Pretoria in 1925. His father had been a metalworker in the Clyde shipyards in Scotland, and his mother was a teacher. When his father died in 1931 from the effects of mustard gas poisoning in the First World War, his mother moved with Harold and his two siblings to Pietermaritzburg in Natal. He attended Merchiston Preparatory School then Maritzburg College there, where he began to develop his political consciousness. He joined the South African Air Force straight from school, and served as a pilot during the Second World War with the rank of lieutenant. After the war he studied for a Fine Arts degree at Natal University College in Pietermaritzburg, went to the University of Pretoria, then won a scholarship to study at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts in London and the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart. Strachan worked as a teacher after graduation, and was married to the activist Jean Middleton. In 1949 he completed the Comrades Marathon, an 89 km ultramarathon run between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. In 1954, when he finished sixth in 7 h 48 min and earned a gold medal,  he is supposed to have prepared for the race by drinking gin and vermouth with his wife. During the 1950s, he worked with the artist Selby Mvusi. He was friendly with the English satirist Tom Sharpe until they fell out over a woman.

Activism and imprisonment
Strachan was a founder member of the Liberal Party of South Africa and also belonged to the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of Democrats. In 1960, during the protests after the Sharpeville massacre, he and his second wife Maggie von Lier stood between armed police and black protesters, and prevented the police from firing. He worked with Govan Mbeki in the Port Elizabeth area, and helped him produce a newsletter Izwe Lomzi ("Voice of the People"). He accepted a request to improvise explosive devices for Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), using substances such as nitric acid, potassium permanganate, magnesium, glycerol and icing sugar.

"...this was our job – devices and explosives. So I said, for God’s sake, why me? And they said, no well, you were a bomber pilot in the war, you see, so you must know how to make bombs. I said, but for Christ’s sake, Govan, we didn’t make our own bombs. And they said, but you know about those things and I said, no, bombs were made in bloody factories, I don’t know. So he said, anyway, you’re appointed. We did a good job, actually."

Strachan's home-made bombs were planted at strategic targets like electrical substations and railway lines. As far as is known, no lives were lost in these attacks. He was arrested and tried under the Explosives Act, and was imprisoned from 1962 to 1965 for sabotage. He spent a large part of his sentence in solitary confinement and had all his teeth removed. Strachan was named as a conspirator in the Rivonia Trial in 1963–64; most of the accused there (including Nelson Mandela) got life sentences as the law had been strengthened after Strachan's trial.

On his release, he gave an account of prison life to the journalist Benjamin Pogrund, who used it to write an exposé of the conditions under which prisoners were kept, including frequent assaults and poor sanitary conditions. When the story was published in the Rand Daily Mail, the government invoked the Prisons Act. In the subsequent court case, a fellow saboteur called Raymond Thoms gave evidence contradicting Strachan's allegations, and Strachan was imprisoned for $2 1⁄2$ years. This was reduced to $1 1⁄2$ on appeal. During his second period of incarceration he helped raise the morale of fellow political prisoners by designing props and costumes for amateur dramatics. Strachan's case and the publicity around it helped start a process of prison reform, but in the shorter term they made South African media more cautious about publishing anything critical of any government agency.

Following his release he was placed under house arrest for ten years, and then banned from public gatherings for another ten. The stress of imprisonment and later shooting attacks on his home led to family difficulties. Ben Turok wrote in his autobiography that in the 1973 Durban strikes he had channelled resources via Strachan to support trade unions without the permission of the SACP, and that Turok had been expelled from the party for refusing to reveal his contact. Strachan has recognised the support of his wife over the decades when he was unable to work. They have a daughter, Susan, and a son, Joe.

Later life
Strachan testified at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996 and 1997. His artistic career was held back by his involvement in political activism, but he has paintings in the collection of Durban Art Gallery and in private collections. He has worked as an art restorer, and illustrated Hugh Lewin's book Bandiet: Out Of Jail.

Strachan has had two books published. Way Up, Way Out (1998) describes his childhood in Natal and his pilot training. It includes his descriptions of walking in the Drakensberg mountains, which he continued as his children grew up. He completed the original manuscript in six weeks, and was disappointed with the edited version that was published.

Make a Skyf, Man! (2004) is about his time in MK and in prison. He describes his involvement as a "boys' own armed struggle", and the book begins and ends with stories about angling for shad, a longstanding passion of Strachan's. Both books are autobiographical fiction and were based on anecdotes he told. He has described how he tries to use the techniques of painting, such as contrast of texture, in his writing. He has also written regular columns for publications including the Weekend Witness and Noseweek.

In April 2011 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Durban University of Technology in recognition of his contributions to art and democracy.