Jeremy Patrick Cronin (born 12 September 1949) is a South African writer, author, and noted poet. A longtime activist in politics, Cronin is a member of the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

and a former member of the National Executive Committee of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

.Jeremy Cronin
Who's Who He served as the South African Deputy

Minister of Public Works This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

from 2012 until his retirement in 2019.

Early life

Cronin was brought up in a White middle-class

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

family in

Rondebosch Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town. History Four years after the first Dutch s ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa. During adolescence, he considered the idea of entering the priesthood. After a year's military service, when he was conscripted in the

South African Navy The South African Navy (SA Navy) is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force. The Navy is primarily engaged in maintaining a conventional military deterrent, participating in counter-piracy operations, fishery prot ...

, Cronin won a bursary to study at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

in 1968; there he became a member of the Radical Student Society and was subsequently recruited into then-banned

(SACP). In the early 1970s, Cronin studied for his Master's degree in Philosophy in France and returned to South Africa, where he began lecturing in the Philosophy department at the University of Cape Town.

Activism and imprisonment

Cronin's work in the propaganda unit of the SACP brought him to the attention of the South African

Bureau of State Security The Bureau for State Security ( af, Buro vir Staatsveiligheid; also known as the Bureau of State Security (BOSS)) was the main South African state intelligence agency from 1969 to 1980. A high-budget and secretive institution, it reported directly ...

; he was arrested on charges under the Terrorism and

Internal Security Act Internal Security Act may refer to: * Internal Security Act 1960, former Malaysian law *Internal Security Act (Singapore) * McCarran Internal Security Act, a United States federal law *Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, a South African law, rename ...

s and tried in the Cape Town Supreme Court in September 1976, along with David Rabkin and his wife Sue. The charges included conspiring with members of the

(also a

banned A ban is a formal or informal prohibition of something. Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some bans in commerce are referred to as embargoes. ''Ban'' is also used as a verb similar in meaning ...

organisation) and the SACP, and preparing and distributing pamphlets on these organisations' behalf (activities commemorated in Cronin's poem "A Step Away from Them," modelled on a poem of the same title by American poet

Frank O'Hara Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American writer, poet, and art critic. A curator at the Museum of Modern Art, O'Hara became prominent in New York City's art world. O'Hara is regarded as a leading figure i ...

). Cronin pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment (1976–1983). He served his time in Pretoria Local, or Pretoria Prison, which was part of the

Pretoria Central Prison Pretoria Central Prison, renamed Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area by former President Jacob Zuma on 13 April 2013 and sometimes referred to as Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Services is a large prison in central Pretoria, within the City of Tshwane ...

complex, along with

Denis Goldberg Denis Theodore Goldberg (11 April 1933 – 29 April 2020) was a South African social campaigner, who was active in the struggle against apartheid. He was accused No. 3 in the Rivonia Trial, alongside the better-known Nelson Mandela and Walter ...

Raymond Suttner Raymond Suttner (born ) is South African activist, academic, journalist and public figure. Education and activism Suttner was born in Durban, South Africa. He obtained BA and LLB degrees from the University of Cape Town and an inter-disciplinar ...

and others. He participated in the planning of a daring escape in 1979 by

Tim Jenkin Timothy Peter Jenkin (born 1948) is a South African writer, former anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner. He is best known for his 1979 escape from Pretoria Local Prison (part of the Pretoria Central Prison complex), along with Steph ...

, Stephen Lee and

Alex Moumbaris Alexandre Moumbaris is a political activist and former political prisoner. He was born in Egypt to Greeks, Greek parents, grew up in Australia, lived and worked in the United Kingdom, UK, was imprisoned in South Africa and now lives in France. H ...

. His wife Anne Marie died of a brain tumour during his imprisonment.

Poetry

Cronin's first book of poetry, ''Inside'', was published in 1984 following his release from prison. Subsequent volumes include ''Even the Dead'' (1997) and ''Inside and Out'' (1999). His most recent collection, ''More Than A Casual Contact'', was published in 2006. Among his best known poems is "Motho Ke Motho Ka Batho Babang", whose title is taken from the Sotho aphorism "A person is a person because of other people".

Collected poems

* ''More than a Casual Contact'' (2006) * ''Inside and Out'' (1999) * ''Even the Dead: Poems, Parables and a Jeremiad '' (1997)

Politics

Following Cronin's release from prison he began working with the United Democratic Front (UDF), founded in 1983, where he worked as the editor of its theoretical journal '' Isizwe (The Nation)''. He was also involved in various kinds of popular education, but in the late 1980s, increased harassment from the security forces forced him and his wife to leave South Africa and move first to London, then to

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

in Zambia, where he worked closely with

Joe Slovo Joe Slovo (born Yossel Mashel Slovo; 23 May 1926 – 6 January 1995) was a South African politician, and an opponent of the apartheid system. A Marxist-Leninist, he was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Communist Pa ...

for the ANC/SACP alliance. In the 1990s, he worked in the SACP head office in Johannesburg, where he was deputy general secretary of the party. He became a member of parliament in 1999. His interviews with

Helena Sheehan Helena Sheehan is an academic philosopher, historian of science, philosophy, culture and politics. Sheehan is Professor Emeritus at Dublin City University, where she taught media studies and history of ideas in the School of Communications. She wa ...

in 2001 and 2002 met with a storm of controversy, because of his left critique of the ANC during the presidency of

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...

. He was forced to apologise to the ANC in 2002. He delivered the Chris Hani memorial lecture, titled ''Why South Africa will never be like Zimbabwe'', in Durban on 4 May 2008.Why South Africa will never be like Zimbabwe
Chris Hani memorial lecture 4 May 2008 On 10 May 2009, President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...

appointed him Deputy

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government agen ...

, and in 2012 he moved to become Deputy

. In May 2019, he retired from parliament and government office.

Political writings

"The national democratic struggle and the question of transformation", 1986

"Inside which circle, a reply to Colin Bundy, 1989

* ttps://www.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv02424/04lv02730/05lv03005/06lv03006/07lv03030/08lv03039.htm "The boat, the tap and the Leipzig way", 1992
"Dreaming of final showdown – a reply to Jordan and Nzimande", 1992

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120229144115/http://www.sacp.org.za/main.php?include=pubs%2Facommunist%2F1997%2Fissue146.html "We Need Transformation, Not A Balancing Act", 1997
"The New Imperialism", May 1997

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120229144331/http://www.sacp.org.za/main.php?include=pubs%2Fumsebenzi2%2F1996%2Fumseb9605.html "Communist Manifesto, 150 years", February 1998
"Chris Hani", 1999

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120229144224/http://www.sacp.org.za/main.php?include=pubs%2Facommunist%2F2000%2Fac153b.html "Morality is relevant in economic policy", 2000
"Review of ''The UDF- History of the United Democratic Front 1983–1991''", 2000

* ttp://www.monthlyreview.org/1202cronin.htm "Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Reply to John S. Saul", December 2002
"Here Comes The Sun – drawing lessons from Slovo's ''No Middle Road'', January 2003

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120229144239/http://www.sacp.org.za/main.php?include=docs%2Fsp%2F2003%2Fsp0908.html "Contemporary challenge for left progressive forces in Africa and Europe", September 2003]
"Living in Joe Slovo", 11 July 2005

"Neo-liberalism, reformism, populism and ultra-leftism", 28 August 2005

"The people shall govern – class struggles and post-1994 state in South Africa", 2005

"Chris Hani", 1 April 2005

"Blank pages in history should be allowed – the role of revolutionary intellectuals"m, February 25, 2006

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070714175409/http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/pubs/umrabulo/umrabulo25/pages.html "the role of revolutionary intellectuals", 2006
"Joe SlovoDemocracy and Socialism",18 January 2007

"In defence of the new ANC", 18 February 2008

"Netshitenzhe misses the point", 12 June 2009

* ttp://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71619?oid=116244&sn=Detail:"The present economic crisis in the world capitalist system – and prospects for the left", 28 January 2009
"Debunking Dalai Lama", 1 April 2009

"Some thoughts on the global economic crisis", 7 September 2009

"The future of the state", 23 October 2009

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120229144700/http://www.sacp.org.za/main.php?include=pubs%2Fumsebenzi%2F2010%2Fvol9-05.html "Let us close ranks against factionalism. Let us close ranks against corruption", 17 March 2010]
"Response to Mondli Makhanya, 6 April 2011

"The E-toll saga – ideological confusions and strange bedfellows", 15 March 2012

"Let's not get pushed into opposing corners by those who don't have interests of our Alliance and our country at heart", 13 December 2012
*
Why Chris Hani's killer Clive Derby-Lewis should not get a parole", 3 July 2014

"What lies behind the current turmoil within COSATU?, 27 November 2014

"What is going on in South Africa's Parliament?" 20 February 2015

* ttp://www.sacp.org.za/main.php?ID=3242 "Do we need an independent media tribunal?" 20 August 2015
"Former President Mbeki doesn't get it", 20 January 2016

"Corporate Capture, Money and Politics – Part Two", 3 November 2016

"No slightest glimmer of reciprocal self-reflection on Ratshitinga's side", 19 June 2017
* *

External links

Interview with Jeremy Cronin
by Dr Helena Sheehan, 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cronin, Jeremy 1949 births Living people Marxist writers Writers from Cape Town University of Cape Town academics South African activists South African democracy activists English-language South African poets 20th-century South African poets South African revolutionaries South African people of Irish descent University of Cape Town alumni African National Congress politicians South African Communist Party politicians South African communists White South African anti-apartheid activists