Brian Bunting

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Brian Percy Bunting (born April 9, 1920 in Johannesburg , † June 18, 2008 in Cape Town ) was a South African politician and journalist. He was a leading member of the South African Communist Party (SACP) and editor-in-chief of numerous opposition newspapers. Together with his wife Sonia Bunting , he was also politically active in British exile .

Life

Brian Bunting was born to Sidney Bunting , a co-founder of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA, later SACP) to Rebecca Bunting. At the age of 15 he already obtained his matric at Jeppe High School; In 1939 he graduated from Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg with a Bachelor of Arts . During this time he was elected President of the Wits Student Representative Council . From then on, he worked night shifts as a sub-editor at the Rand Daily Mail and the Sunday Times and obtained a BA (Hon) degree at the same time in 1940. In the same year he joined the CPSA. From 1942 he experienced the Second World War as an intelligence officer in North Africa and Italy and in 1946 became chief editor of the South African Guardian . At the same time he held a leading position in the Springbok Legion for former soldiers. He also held the position of editor-in-chief at several successor newspapers, including New Age .

In 1946 Bunting was elected to the district committee of the CPSA in Johannesburg, and later he became a member of the party's central committee . He was arrested for allegedly participating in the miners' strike in 1946; however, the charges were dropped. From 1952 to 1953 he was a representative of the blacks of the Cape Western District in the National Assembly , but in 1952 he was banned as a result of the Suppression of Communism Act . He was arrested again in 1960 and placed under house arrest in 1962 . In the same year, New Age was banned. He was also not allowed to write for The Spark newspaper and went into exile in London . There he worked with Yusuf Dadoo , wrote a book and met with other exiled South Africans, including Thabo Mbeki . In the 1980s he published the magazine The African Communist .

In 1991 he returned with his wife Sonia to South Africa, where he stood in the 1994 elections on the list of the African National Congress and was again a member of parliament.

Brian Bunting was married to Sonia Bunting, nee Isaacman, with whom he had three children.

Works

  • The Rise of the South African Empire. Penguin, London 1964.
  • Moses Kotane - South African revolutionary: a political biography. Inkukuleko Publishers, London 1975, ISBN 0950422509 .

Honors

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j biography at sahistory.za.org (English), accessed on October 12, 2018
  2. ^ The Presidency: Brian Bunting 1920–2008 (English), accessed October 12, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Bunting, Brian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bunting, Brian Percy (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African politician and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Johannesburg
DATE OF DEATH June 18, 2008
Place of death Cape Town