Community House artworks take shape

Tribute to Jeanette Curtis, by Lovell Friedman, Community House, Woodstock. Photograph credit: Jo-Anne Duggan

Artworks paying tribute to heroes of the labour struggle are taking shape in Community House, Woodstock, Cape Town.

Lovell Friedman’s tribute to Jeanette Curtis, in an alcove in the building’s foyer takes the form of a mosaic. Large scale words surrounding a printed portrati of Curtis spell out her contribution and outline her story. Small scale reproductions of archival documents, printed onto ceramic tiles add an additional layer of meaning to the work.

It’s a powerful work, visually and conceptually and it conveys enough information about Curtis to ensure that she and her contribution will be remembered. 

JEANETTE EVA CURTIS: 1948 – 1984

On the 28 June 1984 Jeanette (Jenny) Curtis and her six year old daughter Katryn were killed by a parcel bomb in Lumbango, Angola.

At 18, while still at school, she became politically active, campaigning against the Sabotage Act. As a university student she played an active role in the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), holding key positions in the organisation. In 1971, as NUSAS vice president, Curtis was instrumental in the establishment of the Wages Commissions on various campuses throughout the country. They aimed to provide labour related services and education for workers while mobilising for ‘workers power’.(1) The early 1970s saw a revival of the workers’ movement in South Africa. The Wages Commissions joined forces with older ANC-SACTU activists in the building of workers’ organisations. Curtis was key to a number of these developments. These initiatives led to the Western Province Workers Advice Bureau (WPWAB) launched on 5 March 1973 and the Industrial Aid Society (IAS) in Johannesburg.

Employed as an archivist at the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), while continuing her trade union activities, Curtis’ passport was confiscated 1974. In 1975 she was detained for three months under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act. In 1976, following the Soweto uprising, the Soweto Student Representative Council (SSRC) called the first national stayaways since 1961. In November 1976 Curtis was banned, together with many trade unionists across the country.

In January 1977 Curtis enrolled for the Development Studies postgraduate course at Wits. In April that year she was charged with contravening her banning order. The hearing was postponed, but in June, Curtis married Marius Schoon, a recently released political prisoner. The following day they skipped the border, into exile in Botswana. Here, registered as refugees, they worked to build the ANC and SACTU. Both Schoon and Curtis taught at a secondary school in Botswana until July 1981 when they started working for a British organisation, International Voluntary Service, as field officers (2)

Their daughter, Katryn, was born in 1978 and their son Fritz in 1981. Constantly under threat from the apartheid state, the ANC redeployed them to Lusaka, Zambia in July 1983. After three months they were sent to teach in Lubango, Angola. It was during the time that Schoon was reporting to the ANC in Lusaka that Curtis and their daughter were killed by a letter bomb. Their son Fritz witnessed the killing.

Craig Williamson, a spy of the apartheid government who had infiltrated NUSAS, was responsible for Curtis’ assassination. He applied for amnesty to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Schoon was engaged in a legal battle around Williamson amnesty prior to his death in 1999.

Curtis is reported to have said: “All political activists, whether they are inside or outside South Africa ….have a real fear of assassination. Danger is nothing new. Wherever you are, you are in danger.”(3)

(1) The Wages Commission, extract from ‘Conservative Revolutionaries;’ Anti-Apartheid Activism at the University of Cape Town 1963-197329 by Erbmann published on South African History Online.
(2) South African History Online
(3) Sechaba No 4, August, 1984, http://www.disa.ukzn.ac.za

Source: Community House document: invitation to artists to submit proposals

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