‘These stories were so unthinkable, they had to be told’ - Death in Pretoria author

702 and CapeTalk’s Mandy Wiener speaks with Peter Auf der Heyde, author of ‘Death in Pretoria: Untold Stories of Political Activists Executed During Apartheid’

Listen below (from 33:48):

Between 1960 and 1989, more that 130 activists were executed for political crimes.

Despite paying for their actions with their lives, many of their names are unknown.

In his new book, Peter Auf der Heyde tells their stories - drawing on interviews from family, activists, lawyers, judges and more.

Der Heyde says he was inspired to write this book after being asked by a museum to compile a list of political executions during apartheid.

To do this, he had to sift through a list of 4,300 names of those sentenced to death, and find those who were executed with political motives.

“In speaking to people, I realised that the stories they told were so outlandish, so unimaginable, so unthinkable, that I felt they had to be told.” 

- Peter Auf der Heyde, Author 

In one shocking case he uncovered, four people were sentenced to death but were given leave to appeal.

However, the judge forgot to write down one of the names, and the man was executed without ever having his appeal heard.

Scroll up to the audio player for more.