South African author and anti-apartheid activist Breyten Breytenbach has died on the age of 85

Prominent anti-apartheid author and activist Breyten Breytenbach, jailed for his beliefs in South Africa within the Seventies, has died on the age of 85, his household stated.

He died in his sleep, along with his spouse Yolande by his facet in Paris.

The dissident poet, novelist and painter was “an immense artist, militant towards apartheid, he fought to the tip for a greater world”, reads a press release from his household.

Breytenbach’s eager mind received him widespread admiration, prompting the British satirical tv puppet present Spitting Image to explain him as “the one good South African” in a track through the darkest days of apartheid.

Jack Lang, former French training minister, shared a heartfelt tribute to X.

“A soft-hearted insurgent, he was a part of all human rights struggles,” he wrote.

Born within the Western Cape on September 16, 1939, to a household of 5, Breytenbach lived a lot of his life overseas however all the time remained true to his South African roots.

He attended the University of Cape Town and joined a bunch of Afrikaans poets and writers known as the Sestigers, who needed to spotlight the great thing about the language whereas criticizing the racist apartheid regime.

Afrikaans developed amongst white settlers and comes from the Dutch phrase for African.

With Afrikaners in energy throughout apartheid, the language turned more and more related to the oppressive regime.

In an interview with The New York Times, he stated: “I might by no means reject Afrikaans as a language, however I reject it as a part of the Afrikaner political identification. I not contemplate myself an Afrikaner.”

In 1960 he left South Africa for a self-imposed exile, primarily in Europe, however continued to be a vocal critic of the apartheid regime.

He labored for some time in London earlier than settling in France, the place he met his Vietnamese spouse Yolande Ngo Thi Hoang Lien.

Breytenbach tried to return to South Africa along with his spouse within the Sixties, however was denied a visa as a result of she was a “non-white”. Interracial marriages had been towards the regulation.

In 1975, on the top of his literary fame, he clandestinely returned to South Africa, the place he was arrested for trying to assist resistance teams within the nation.

He was sentenced to seven years in jail for terrorism, however continued to put in writing poetry whereas in jail.

The then French president, François Mitterrand, helped safe his launch in 1982 and he turned a French citizen.

The years of imprisonment led to one in all his most impactful works, his novel The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist – a harrowing account of his seven-year jail sentence, two of which he spent in solitary confinement.

After the tip of apartheid, he turned a vocal critic of Nelson Mandela’s liberation authorities. He believed that the African National Congress (ANC) had became a “corrupt organisation”.

The poet not solely used his pen to battle these injustices in South Africa, but in addition world wide.

In 2002 he wrote an open letter within the Guardian to the then Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon.

“Why ought to we glance the opposite method when it’s Israel that commits crimes? A viable state can’t be constructed on the expulsion of one other individuals who have the identical rights as you may have on that territory,” he wrote concerning the continuing battle between Israel and the United States. Palestinians.

Breytenbach printed over 50 books throughout his lifetime, and a few have been translated into a number of languages.

He can also be identified for his surreal work, which frequently depict people and animals in captivity.

He was later made a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, the best French cultural award.

Breytenbach leaves behind his spouse Yolande, daughter Daphnée and two grandchildren.