1. Introduction

This is now known as the Drakenstein Correctional Centre, located in the Western Cape province.

The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on March 21, 1960. The South African police opened fire on a crowd of 5,000–7,000 protestors outside a police station, killing 69 people.

The complexity of the exile experience has been explored in relation to gender, marriage, sexual relationships, families, social networks and “daily life in the camps.” See, for example, Ngcobo (2012); Lissoni and Suriano (2014); Tsampiras (2012); Bernstein (1994); Israel (1999); Manghezi (2009); Williams (2011).

A life history approach was used to gather data, enabling interviewees to focus on events, places and relationships that were significant to them. Non-directive questions such as “How did this make you feel?” and “How did you respond in this situation?” were then asked as triggers to open further discussion. Interviews lasted between 2 and 3 hours each, in a venue of the interviewees’ choosing. In two cases, interviews were conducted over Skype. The interviews were audio-recorded with permission from interviewees. Transcripts of the interviews were sent to the interviewees, which allowed them to reflect on their responses, verify the data or raise concerns. In addition to the correction of minor issues such as the spelling of names and places, two interviewees asked for sensitive information to be removed and placed off the record after having reflected on their responses. The data was analysed thematically and many themes emerged from the data (Strauss and Corbin 1990). The study adhered to the ethical standards upheld in the Code of Conduct of the Oral History Association of South Africa (Denis and Ntsimane 2008). Ethical data collection and management included obtaining informed written consent from the interviewees; offering them the right to withdraw or seal a transcript; ensuring confidentiality and full anonymity through the use of pseudonyms (selected by the researcher); and protected storage of data. Information that might allow the identification of an individual has been obscured due to the political sensitivity of the data and safety concerns for the interviewees. The interviews were conducted by the author and by Annette Bayne. Recordings and transcripts are held by the author.

To reduce the bias of snowball sampling, recruitment announcements were posted on a range of mailing lists and websites (e.g. the H-SAfrica discussion forum). Nevertheless, the sampling method introduced a bias in terms of party affiliation, similar to that experienced by Bernstein (1994) and Israel (1999 ). 35 of the interviewees’ families were affiliated with the ANC, 5 with the PAC, 1 with the SACP and 8 were politically independent. As a result, this book focuses largely on the role of the ANC in the liberation struggle, but the narratives from non-ANC affiliated second-generation exiles have been included with regards to the construction and experience of childhood in exile.

The characteristics of the final sample of 49 individuals are as follows. In terms of gender, the sample was quite balanced with 21 male and 28 female interviewees. In terms of race, the sample is biased towards black interviewees (29), who were over-represented in relation to white (6), coloured (4) and Indian (10) interviewees. At the time of the interviews, 4 were younger than 30 years of age, 16 were between the ages of 31 and 35, 11 were aged 36–40 and 17 were older than 41 years. The age at which the interviewees went into exile is as follows: 26 were born in exile, 16 were aged 1–5 and 7 were older than 6 years. 10 returned to South Africa from exile aged 0–10 years, 17 were aged 11–18 and 19 were over 19 years of age. One participant returned to South Africa prior to 1990, and 36 returned between 1990 and 1994. Seven returned between 1995 and 1999 and one after 2000. Although this study intended to focus only on those who have returned, four who have not returned permanently were also included in the sample as they offered interesting insights into children’s decision-making. It is important to bear in mind that the interviewees lived in anywhere from one to four different countries when in exile: 15 lived in one country, 11 lived in two countries, 15 lived in three countries and 7 lived in four countries. The majority therefore lived in two or more countries as children. Thirty lived in southern Africa, 18 in Eastern Africa, 3 in West Africa, 1 each in South East Asia and Australasia, 27 in Europe and 13 in North America.

The 1913 Natives Land Act allocated less than 10% (later expanded to 13%) of the entire land mass of the Union to “natives.” It also restricted black tenant farming on white-owned land.

The Urban Areas Act (1922) created separate residence locations for “natives.” It formed the basis of segregated reserves and homelands to come.

The Soweto Youth Uprising occurred on June 16, 1976. Three to ten thousand school students marched against the decision to make Afrikaans a compulsory medium of instruction alongside English. The police responded with teargas and live ammunition, killing 176 people. This stimulated a series of uprisings across the country.

The Rivonia Trial occurred between 1963 and 1964. Ten leaders of the ANC were tried for 221 acts of sabotage and eight were convicted, including former President Nelson Mandela.

Murray (2004, 188); Organisation of African Unity, “Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa (‘OAU Convention’), September 10, 1969.” 1001 U.N.T.S. 45; Jastram and Achiron (2001); Council of Ministers of the Organisation of African Unity, Resolution on the Root Causes of the African Refugee Problem (CM/Res 987(XLII), Forty-second Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; see also International Conference on the Plight of Refugees, Returnees and Displaced Persons in Southern Africa (CM/Res. 1181 (XLIX). Resolution on the Problem of Refugees in Africa, CM/Res.103(IX); see also Resolution on the Activities of the Bureau of Placement and Education of Refugees, CM/Res.202(XIII); Amate (1986, 471).

Organisation of African Unity (OAU). 1969. “Convention governing the specific aspects of refugee problems in Africa (‘OAU Convention’), September 10, 1969.” 1001 U.N.T.S. 45.

Council of Ministers of the Organisation of African Unity, Resolution on the Root Causes of the African Refugee Problem (CM/Res 987(XLII), Forty-second Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. See also International Conference on the Plight of Refugees, Returnees and Displaced Persons in Southern Africa (CM/Res. 1181 (XLIX).

Resolution on the Problem of Refugees in Africa, CM/Res.103(IX). See also Resolution on the Activities of the Bureau of Placement and Education of Refugees, CM/Res.202(XIII).

During the 1960s, the South African refugee population resident in Botswana was relatively small. Botswana was regarded as a corridor by which exiles could reach Tanzania or Zambia, where bases were set up to receive refugees. During the 1970s, however, Botswana became a popular destination for young dissidents who stayed on to complete their education. To accommodate the influx of refugees at that time, the Dukwi refugee camp was established close to the border with Zambia. In 1988, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that there were several thousand South African refugees in Botswana. In later years, however, Botswana authorities refused to host ANC members in their efforts to appease the apartheid government (Zetterqvist 1990; Makhema 2009; Southall 1984).

Following the independence of Lesotho on October 4, 1966, the new government allied with the apartheid government in order to obtain assistance building its administrative capacity. The ANC’s presence was officially accepted in 1976 and large numbers of student activists were accommodated at the university with scholarships and offered safe passage. The apartheid government responded with assassinations, abductions, cross-border raids and a border block that threatened the nation’s food security. In the late 1980s and early 1990 Lesotho increasingly expelled ANC members as it succumbed to South Africa’s economic pressure (Rwelamira 1990, 35; SAHO 2011a).

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, refugees started to arrive in Swaziland from South Africa and by the mid-1970s efforts were made by the ANC to build structures in Swaziland. Swaziland was used as a transit route for MK recruits as they travelled to military training. King Sobhuza II was initially sympathetic to the ANC, but from 1976 started to confiscate weapons, as well as arrest and deport ANC members. A secret agreement with the apartheid government on February 17, 1982, resulted in the abduction and detention of ANC cadres in Swaziland. From then on, Swaziland had a relationship of “open hostility” towards the ANC, leading many exiles to leave Swaziland and cross the border to Mozambique in order to escape detention or even expulsion back to South Africa (Simpson 2009; Rwelamira 1990).

Mozambique first accommodated ANC exiles but began to expel them after signing the Nkomati Accord with South Africa on March 16, 1984. As a pact of non-aggression and good-neighbourliness, the Nkomati Accord stipulated that South Africa would cease its support for Renamo forces if the establishment of ANC and PAC bases, as well as the transportation of arms and personnel, were prohibited in Mozambique (SAHO 2011b; Manghezi 2009).

The Rhodesian government was hostile towards the ANC, which collaborated with the black liberation movements in their struggle against white minority rule. After Zimbabwe became independent in 1980 and the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) assumed power, an agreement was reached with the MK in 1986 that permitted a limited flow of weapons and personnel through the country. In the 1980s, the South African government led targeted assassinations of ANC activists residing in Zimbabwe. It sponsored armed groups to destabilise the newly independent Zimbabwe and withheld Zimbabwean goods at the border in an attempt to cause economic destabilisation (SAHO 2011a).

Following the banning of the ANC, the external mission headquarters were set up in Dar es Salaam on a site provided by the Tanzanian government. In 1964, the external headquarters were moved to Morogoro. Between 1965 and 1977 it was moved to Lusaka, although Morogoro remained the site of the external mission headquarters. The Tanzanian government granted OAU-recognised liberation movements (apart from the ANC this included the Namibian SWAPO, Mozambican FRELIMO, Zimbabwean ZAPU and Angolan MPLA) a site known as the Kongwa Camp in the centre of the country for training and preparing infiltration into their countries of origin as well as land for SOMAFCO in Mazimbu, in the south of the country (Schleicher 2011; Williams 2011; Morrow et al. 2004).

At the Ruth First Education Orientation Centre (EOC), Raymond Mhlaba Rehabilitation Centre, Social Order Unit and Vocational Training Centre (Morrow 1998).

The crèche was initially established in 1979 in Morogoro to cater for children whose mothers were working for the ANC in different parts of the world. It was moved to various temporary premises until it found its permanent home in 1984 in Mazimbu, with funding from the Swedish Teachers Union. It provided both day care and residential facilities.

Non-discrimination is enshrined in the 1924 Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child, Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (1979), the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1981) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1990, came into force in 1999). Children’s rights in relation to detention are enshrined in Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990). Children’s right to an education is enshrined in Articles 23(3), 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 11(1 and 2) and 13(2) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 17 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1981), Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education (1960). Children’s right to health is enshrined in Article 25(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), Article 16(1) of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1981), and Article 24(1) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990). Children’s right to family life is enshrined in the preamble and Articles 7(1), 8(1), 9(1), 10, 16(1), 20(1) and 22(2) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) as well as Article 18 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. Also of particular relevance to children in exile are the provisions of the Declaration on Social and Legal Principles relating to the Protection and Welfare of Children, with Special Reference to Foster Placement and Adoption Nationally and Internationally; the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (The Beijing Rules); and the Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict.

GA Res 31/126 of December 16, 1976, and GA Res 32/119 of December 16, 1977.

GA resolution 40/54 of December 2, 1985; GA resolution 41 of 27.

Case law from 1989 and 1986 suggests that the United States applied very strict criteria to South African exiles, which meant that they had to enter the country on a student or work permit (see Nkacoang v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 83 F.3d 353, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, May 16, 1996).

Norway, Denmark and Sweden had well-established legal-policy provisions for refugees in line with the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol. In addition, these states provided direct financial support to the ANC and South African refugees living in third countries, such as Tanzania and Angola (Morgenstierne 2003; Eriksen 2000; Sellström 2002).

Prior to 1992 there was no law to recognise or protect refugees in the Soviet Union. There were only a few, strictly controlled channels for coming into the country, such as working in politically significant projects and education (Ivakhnyuk 2009). Such projects included military training for cadres. The press reported that from 1963 to 1991 a total of 1,501 ANC activists underwent military training in Soviet institutions. Education and political training was also provided to the liberation movements (Shubin and Traikova 2008).

The Aliens Act of 1905 (5 Edw. VII. c. 13), s. 1(3)(d) was initially generous in its provision for refugees, but the Aliens Restriction Act 1914 removed the right of asylum, although the Attorney General stated that the Act would not be enforced against political refugees. The Rules under the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 and 1968 referred to refugee status but it was not couched in terms of the right to asylum (Stevens 2004). Stevens (2004) and Israel (1999) argued that the racialised discourse surrounding immigrants meant that white South African migrants tended to be signified as non-immigrants who were able to evade the restrictions placed on immigrants. This created a space for the ANC to set up its main exile office in London.

Migration studies suggest that in some cases these “diaspora orphans” exhibit low self-esteem, but in other cases transnational parenting may be effective particularly if there are feelings of collective welfare and unity, there is a trusted extended family present and remittances lead to elevated status (Kufakurinani et al. 2014). The well-being of children left behind depends on who migrates (mother or father); the child’s relationship with the migrant parent; the age and level of understanding at the time of separation and reunion; the child’s gender and how this affects the relationship with the carer;. the quality of care received by the caregiver; the distance travelled by parents; the frequency of visits; the possibility of technology-aided contacts; intra-household communication and decision-making patterns; emotional bonds between family members; and the addition of new family members to the family unit (e.g. through marriage) (Smith et al. 2004; Moskal and Tyrrell 2016; Mazzucato and Schans 2011).

The Children’s Act 31 of 1937 stipulated that a child was anyone below the age of 19. This was followed by the Children’s Act 33 of 1960 and the Child Care Act 74 of 1983 which both defined children as anyone under the age of 18 years.

African National Congress Archives, University of Fort Hare (forthwith ANC Fort Hare), ANC Lusaka Collection, Box 93, Folder 31, Interim Report to Women’s Committee—East Africa (April 10, 1979) and “Project: The Programme for Child and Baby Care.”

Archival data was collected from two sources. First, at the University of the Western Cape (UWC)’s Robben Island Mayibuye Archives (forthwith Mayibuye Exiles Project) a sample was drawn of the transcribed oral history interviews that were conducted by Wolfie Kodesh, Farid Stemmet, Sazi Veldtman, Rachidi Molapo and Les Switzer with South African political exiles between 1992 and 1995, for the Mayibuye Centre (Mayibuye Archive [2004]). Second, archival data was collected from the African National Congress (ANC) Archives at the University of Fort Hare’s National Heritage and Cultural Studies Centre, with documents drawn from the SOMAFCO Collection, the Mission Collections and the Batlagae Trust files (forthwith ANC Fort Hare).

Mabel Choabi, “The role of residential care in the liberation struggle,” presented at the First Conference of ANC Women in the External Mission, n.d., ANC Fort Hare, ANC Lusaka Collection, Box 2, Folder 6.

O.R. Tambo, ANC President, Opening address of the ANC 48th National Conference in Durban, July 2, 1991.

Chris Hani, born Martin Thembisile Hani (June 28, 1942–April 10, 1993) was the leader of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of the MK.

Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (born June 18, 1942) was the president of South Africa from June 14, 1999, to September 24, 2008. He went into exile in 1962, spending subsequent years studying at Sussex University, participating in military training in Russia and engaging in various strategic ANC activities in Lusaka, Botswana, Swaziland, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

Recordings and transcripts are held by the author.