Phyllis Altman

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Phyllis Altman (25 September 1919 – 18 September 1999) was a

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF),[2] and a fiction writer.[3]

Biography

Phyllis Miriam Altman (née Sachs), was the daughter of Jewish

Greyshirts and the bulldozing of Sophiatown."[4] She earned an undergraduate degree and then finished an Honours degree in History before spending a year at the Teachers' Training College in Johannesburg.[4] She was almost expelled from the Teachers' Training College because of her activism, but she graduated and spent three years teaching at "all White schools."[4] After teaching, she started working for the anti-fascist Springbok Legion.[1] In the Springbok Legion, she helped support ex-servicemen of color,[2] where she was able to see the "disastrous effects of the Apartheid system on African men."[1]

For three years, Altman and her husband Ray Altman, a South African trade unionist, lived in London.[4] In 1952, she published The Law of the Vultures.[4][5] The book was based on her experience working with the Springbok Legion.[4] Not long after its publication and good critical reception internationally, a professor at the University of Witwatersrand called the book "subversive," which caused many booksellers to return copies of the book.[4]

Altman joined the

Swaziland.[7] She was banned in 1964 under the Suppression of Communism Act which prevented her from teaching and working with the unions.[2] She left South Africa in 1964.[1] Altman still helped SACTU, remotely, operating with others out of London.[8]

When

International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) in 1967, John Collins hired Altman to be in charge of administrative affairs.[9] Altman was the general secretary of what was known as Programme 1, which helped secretly channel funds to defence lawyers in South Africa.[10] She was very secretive about the system, using a secret code with her contacts and a system that was difficult to crack.[2] Altman was also able to successfully deflect attempts by South African spy Craig Williamson, to infiltrate IDAF.[10]

Altman also edited books for IDAF under the Kliptown Books name.[2] Collins died in 1982, and Altman stayed afterwards long enough to ensure that the reorganization was "firmly established," and then retired.[10]

Altman was also involved in a programme that educated "Rhodesian blacks interned in camps."[2] Half of the cabinet of Robert Mugabe had degrees they had earned with Altman's help.[2]

Altman's role in working with IDAF became known after the release of Nelson Mandela.[2] Altman died on 18 September 1999 in London.[2]

Bibliography

  • The Law Of The Vultures (1952)[11]
  • Come Back, Africa! Fourteen Short Stories from South Africa (1968)[12]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Luckhardt; Wall. "Organize... or Starve! - The History of the SACTU". South African Congress of Trade Unions. South African History Online. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Herbstein, Denis (24 September 1999). "Phyllis Altman". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  3. ^ David Attwell; Derek Attridge (12 January 2012). The Cambridge History of South African Literature. Cambridge University Press.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Phylllis Altman". South African History Online. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  5. ISBN 9780199765096
    .
  6. ^ Sithole & Ndlovu 2006, p. 220.
  7. ^ Sithole & Ndlovu 2006, p. 211.
  8. ^ Sithole & Ndlovu 2006, p. 212.
  9. ^ Herbstein 2004, pp. 68–69.
  10. ^ a b c "The International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF)". South African History Online. 14 February 2013. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  11. ^ ALTMAN, Phyllis (1 January 1954). The Law of the Vultures (4th printing ed.). Jonathan Cape.
  12. ^ "Come Back, Fourteen Short Stories from South Africa". Goodreads. Retrieved 27 May 2022.

Sources

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