REST IN POWER

Breyten Breytenbach, writer who challenged apartheid, dies at 85


By AFP
November 24, 2024

Breyten Breytenback became one of the most influential voices against South Africa's legalised system of racial segregation - Copyright AFP/File Pedro PARDO

South African writer and anti-apartheid activist Breyten Breytenbach died on Sunday in Paris at the age of 85, his daughter told AFP.

A poet, author and painter, Breytenbach left his native country in the early 1960s to settle in Paris, where he became one of the most influential voices against South Africa’s legalised system of racial segregation.

“My father, the South African painter and poet Breyten Breytenbach, died peacefully on Sunday, November 24, in Paris, at the age of 85,” Daphnee Breytenbach said.

Breytenbach published around 50 books during his lifetime, including “The True Confession of an Albino Terrorist” and numerous volumes of poetry, written mainly in his native Afrikaans.

“Immense artist, militant against apartheid, he fought for a better world until the end,” his daughter said.

The writer spent seven years in jail in South Africa including two in solitary confinement.

French president Francois Mitterrand helped secure his release in 1982 and he returned to France, where he became a citizen.

He was later named Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur et Commandeur des Arts et Lettres, France’s top cultural award.

Breytenbach was born in the small Western Cape town of Bonnievale in 1939.

Though he eventually settled in France with his wife, Yolande Ngo Thi Hoang Lien, he travelled back to South Africa regularly.

“His words, his paintings, his imagination, his resilience will continue to guide us,” his daughter said.