Marion Crawford: defying social injustice to the end

JORDAN MOSHE

But Crawford – who passed away on March 8 in her Orchards home – was probably better known as a prominent member of the Black Sash movement and as an ardent anti-apartheid activist. Lauded for her intellectual curiosity as much as for her ethical stance, Marion will be remembered for her daring, non-violent resistance to the country’s draconian pass laws.

“My mother’s prevailing characteristics were her sharp intellect and her strong sense of justice,” recalls her daughter, Andy. “She was always very principled.

“Throughout my childhood I remember her being on a mission, either for or against something. She wouldn’t let an injustice pass. I distinctly recall her getting into a number of arguments with random people who she felt were being racist, sexist or simply uncouth.”

In 1985, Crawford was issued with a summons for hiring a black person outside the prescribed area. Appearing in court for her violation of the law, Marion was offered a choice of a R100 fine or 10 days in prison, and she was taken down to the Prisoner’s Friend to pay the fine. She refused to pay and was led off to the holding cells to await transportation to the infamous Sun City prison.

Crawford said she had no choice but to resist the law. “I have to live with myself and with my conscience and integrity,” she told the court, “and I can’t do both.”

Her defiance of the regime came to the attention of the Jews for Social Justice, an anti-apartheid organisation formed that same year. It was on her release that she was invited to speak at the organisation’s launch.

“She was received with rapturous applause by those who came to hear her,” explains Howard Sackstein, the founder and vice-chairperson of Jews for Social Justice. “She joined as a member of its executive, and went on to serve on its board for many years.”

Her friend, Melody Emmett, recalls how Marion remained committed to her values until the end and quotes a conversation she had with her in 2017. “Very few people stand up to people in power. That’s how dictatorships go on and on. People don’t necessarily agree with what is happening, but they just let it happen.”

One of those who joined her in standing up to the apartheid regime was her husband, Euan. Petronella Clark, her friend of more than 40 years, spoke of the role he played in the struggle. “She was a humanitarian, a conscientious objector together with her husband Euan, who helped Harold Wolpe and Arthur Goldreich escape from South Africa.”

Arrested in 1963 after police raided a Communist Party-ANC hideout in Johannesburg and detained top ANC leaders, both men escaped from a Johannesburg jail by bribing a guard, setting off one of the nation’s largest manhunts.

After being smuggled to a safehouse by theatre director Barney Simon, they were transported by Euan to the Swaziland border, through which they fled.

“My parents were very involved in the struggle against the apartheid government, and there was quite a bit of clandestine goings-on during the early ’80s,” says Andy. “Even though I was very young, I recall meetings of the Detainees’ Parents Support Committee at our house and being shocked at the stories of random detentions and disappearances I was hearing.

“I recall my dad dashing off to the townships at all hours of the night, as part of the violence monitoring group, in an attempt to unravel the truth behind the ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party bloodshed. I also remember being astounded that most of my peers had no clue that any of this was happening.

“I was always very proud that my parents were involved in the way that they were.”

The South African community at large was touched by Crawford’s actions, which gave rise to a new consciousness, and a sense of hope and courage in many who had previously felt disempowered by the weight of injustice perpetrated by the apartheid regime.

“She did what she did simply because it was the right thing to do, and she did quite a bit,” says Andy. “Her principles stemmed from empathy as she was a warm and kind person.

“My most marked memory of my mother is of her laughing. She was irreverent and generally managed to find a funny side to most situations.”