Loved and lost: Breyten Breytenbach. 16 September 1939 to 24 November 2024

To some he will be remembered as an activist, to others he will live on eternally in the South African history books as a great writer and poet.

Breytenbach will be remembered as an activist who went to jail in defiance of the apartheid laws, a vocal and energetic opponent of a regime that divided a nation based on colour.

The poet and author went into self-imposed exile and spent most of his life abroad. He secretly came back to South Africa in 1975, but he was soon caught and imprisoned, spending seven years in jail between 1975 and 1982.

After his release he went to Paris, France where he became a French citizen and continued his activism.

Because of his history, he is often seen only as an activist, but he will be remembered as a brilliant poet and author.

His first published work, Die Ysterkoei Moet Sweet, appeared in 1964. He had married Yolande Ngo Thi Hoang Lien, from Vietnam in 1962, which already brandished him as an outcast for marrying what was classified as a “non-white” in the apartheid South Africa.

In an article by author Anthony Akerman in Daily Maverick under the heading of Breyten Breytenbach — “Prisoner of consciousness, my hero”, the author describes meeting Breytenbach in Paris in the 1970s.

Akerman speaks of a man of humour and good humour.

“He seemed an impossibly romantic figure when he shook my hand and flashed me a broad smile,” Akerman writes.

“We drank café au lait and, in his soft-spoken and engaging manner, Breytenbach asked me about myself.”

Akerman accompanied Breytenbach to Orly Airport.

“I’m not sure what he did at Orly. Perhaps he was delivering or receiving clandestine communication for Okhela, a separate ideological wing of the ANC in exile that would fatefully take him back to South Africa and into prison sooner than I could have imagined,” wrote Akerman.

He said Breytenbach was the first person in exile that he ever met.

“When I asked him if he’d ever go home, he replied: ‘We all go home in the end.’ ”

And now, at 85, Breyten Breytenbach, born on September 16, 1939 in Bonnievale, Western Cape, has passed away in Paris with his wife Yolande by his side.

Leon Breytenbach, the poet’s nephew, confirmed that the writer’s death was “very sudden”.

“He passed away peacefully in Paris (France) at the age of 85 – with his wife Yolande by his side,” Breytenbach’s family said in a statement.

Pictured above: Breyten Breytenbach

Source: @rfi_literature