- Jeremy Cronin
Jeremy Cronin (born 1949) is a
South African politician , academic and notedpoet .Early life
Cronin was brought up in a middle-class white
Roman Catholic family inRondebosch inCape Town ,South Africa . Duringadolescence he considered the idea of entering the priesthood. After a year's military service, which he spent conscripted in theSouth African Navy , in 1968 Cronin won a bursary to study at theUniversity of Cape Town , where he became a member of the Radical Student Society and was subsequently recruited into the (banned)South African Communist Party (SACP).In the early 1970s, Cronin visited
France before returning to South Africa, where he began lecturing in thePhilosophy department of 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 AfricanBureau of State Security ; he was arrested on charges under the Terrorism andInternal Security Act s and tried in theCape Town Supreme Court in September 1976. The charges included conspiring with members of theAfrican National Congress (also a banned organisation) and the SACP, and preparing and distributing pamphlets on these organisations' behalf. Cronin pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, which he served inPretoria . His wife Anne Marie died of a brain tumour during his imprisonment.Following Cronin's release from prison he began working with the United Democratic Front (UDF), 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 , and subsequently toLusaka inZambia , where he worked closely withJoe Slovo for the ANC/SACP alliance.Poetry
Cronin's first book of poetry, "Inside", was published in 1984 following his release from prison. He has recently published a new collection of his poetry, titled "More Than A Casual Contact" (2006). He wrote a poem called Motho Ke Motho Ka Batho Babang.
Political life
Cronin has been a member of the ANC's Central Committee since 1991 and a member of the SACP Politburo since 1989; he is Deputy General Secretary of the SACP. Since 1999 Cronin has been a Member of Parliament, where he is the Chair of the Standing Committee on Transport.
Arms Deal
References
* [http://www.comms.dcu.ie/sheehanh/za/cronin-aah01.htm Interview with Jeremy Cronin by Dr Helena Sheehan, 2002.]
Further reading
* Jeremy Cronin, "More than a Casual Contact" (2006)
* Jeremy Cronin, "Inside and Out" (1999)
* Jeremy Cronin, "Even the Dead: Poems, Parables and a Jeremiad("1997)
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.