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Clare: The killing of a gentle activist: The mystery of Clare Stewart’s death
In November 1993, ANC activist and development worker Clare Stewart’s body was found in a shallow ditch in rural KwaZulu-Natal as the province sat on the brink of civil war. Amid the ensuing chaos and euphoria of South Africa’s ‘new dawn’, the details of Clare's killing would stay hidden beneath the surface. This gripping, moving account of Clare’s life and the mystery surrounding her death touches on the fragility of memory, family loss, apartheid’s evils, and the fault lines in our democracy.
264 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 17, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 26, 2022
Journalists don’t always get to choose what to write about, or when. Deadlines and demands go with the turf. But given a choice, their selected subject will almost inevitably be something with deep personal significance.
So why did Christopher Clark, a peripatetic, young British-born multi-media journalist, photographer and documentary filmmaker, chose Clare? The full book title is Clare - The Killing of a Gentle Activist (Tafelberg).
In his own words, he says of his ‘meeting’ with Clare’s story as ‘drifting around the periphery of my world and consciousness for a number of years before some combination of serendipity and circumstance pushed it to the forefront, where it gradually became a near obsession.’
An obsession it may have been for him, but it was otherwise a story he describes as ‘relegated to the margins of history’. But telling about the sensitivity of the journalist himself, he admits to wondering ‘how I would be perceived for centering a book on a white woman’.
Not necessarily an answer to that question, but he also confesses that ‘I (had become) jaded and cynical – a common but unattractive trope amongst journos working in harsh environments.’
But whatever his self-doubts and no matter his reasons, what Clark has done is tell one woman’s story in remarkable depth, at the same time exposing some largely untold but related stories regarding the state of the country at the time. In addition, and this is what makes his book exceptional, he has woven in his own journey. A complicated personal stretch that coincided with his investigation into the mystery of Clare’s death, and life.
So, who was this Clare?
Clare was an ANC activist with a heightened sense of social justice. In her late twenties she joined MK (ANC paramilitary wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe or Spear of the Nation) and went on to become a rural development worker involved in a remote community cattle project in KZN. In 1993, Clare’s body was found by cattle herders in a shallow ditch below a cluster of red aloes. At the time she was not much older than Chris is now. She had two small much-loved children, Themba and Puleng, that she was raising alone in an isolated bush homestead.
The mystery of her murderer, or murderers, was never solved. Nor is it now. Despite, his best efforts, over a number of years, Chris was not able to pin the killers, nor their motive, down. But what he did discover – not least about himself – was way more than he bargained for. Way more than this reader had expected. I felt I learnt a lot of lessons. About the unearthed secrets that never hit the headlines back in the dark, difficult days just before the final fall of apartheid. A lot about the life of a young woman who stuck to her ‘guns’ so to speak, and was determined to do what she could for a fairer outcome for all. I also learned a huge amount about her family, some of whom were consulted in the research process, but most especially about her children. Still very small when her body was found (two weeks after she went missing), Themba and Puleng have grown into strong, creative-minded adults of whom Clare would surely be proud. A particularly interesting section of the book is when the two of them accompany Chris on a research trip to the place where they had lived with Clare all those years ago.
But most of all, I learned that to be a journalist true to yourself as well as to your story, you have to invest, not just time and energy, but a large part of your soul if you want your work to be believed. And that means making yourself very, very vulnerable. It seems that Chris and Clare may just have had quite a bit in common.
So why did Christopher Clark, a peripatetic, young British-born multi-media journalist, photographer and documentary filmmaker, chose Clare? The full book title is Clare - The Killing of a Gentle Activist (Tafelberg).
In his own words, he says of his ‘meeting’ with Clare’s story as ‘drifting around the periphery of my world and consciousness for a number of years before some combination of serendipity and circumstance pushed it to the forefront, where it gradually became a near obsession.’
An obsession it may have been for him, but it was otherwise a story he describes as ‘relegated to the margins of history’. But telling about the sensitivity of the journalist himself, he admits to wondering ‘how I would be perceived for centering a book on a white woman’.
Not necessarily an answer to that question, but he also confesses that ‘I (had become) jaded and cynical – a common but unattractive trope amongst journos working in harsh environments.’
But whatever his self-doubts and no matter his reasons, what Clark has done is tell one woman’s story in remarkable depth, at the same time exposing some largely untold but related stories regarding the state of the country at the time. In addition, and this is what makes his book exceptional, he has woven in his own journey. A complicated personal stretch that coincided with his investigation into the mystery of Clare’s death, and life.
So, who was this Clare?
Clare was an ANC activist with a heightened sense of social justice. In her late twenties she joined MK (ANC paramilitary wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe or Spear of the Nation) and went on to become a rural development worker involved in a remote community cattle project in KZN. In 1993, Clare’s body was found by cattle herders in a shallow ditch below a cluster of red aloes. At the time she was not much older than Chris is now. She had two small much-loved children, Themba and Puleng, that she was raising alone in an isolated bush homestead.
The mystery of her murderer, or murderers, was never solved. Nor is it now. Despite, his best efforts, over a number of years, Chris was not able to pin the killers, nor their motive, down. But what he did discover – not least about himself – was way more than he bargained for. Way more than this reader had expected. I felt I learnt a lot of lessons. About the unearthed secrets that never hit the headlines back in the dark, difficult days just before the final fall of apartheid. A lot about the life of a young woman who stuck to her ‘guns’ so to speak, and was determined to do what she could for a fairer outcome for all. I also learned a huge amount about her family, some of whom were consulted in the research process, but most especially about her children. Still very small when her body was found (two weeks after she went missing), Themba and Puleng have grown into strong, creative-minded adults of whom Clare would surely be proud. A particularly interesting section of the book is when the two of them accompany Chris on a research trip to the place where they had lived with Clare all those years ago.
But most of all, I learned that to be a journalist true to yourself as well as to your story, you have to invest, not just time and energy, but a large part of your soul if you want your work to be believed. And that means making yourself very, very vulnerable. It seems that Chris and Clare may just have had quite a bit in common.
March 17, 2024
Clare Stewart was one of all too many people murdered in KwaZulu Natal in the lead-up to the first democratic election in South Africa. She was working in an NGO that was establishing a healthy indigenous cattle herd for the benefit of the people in the area. She was or had been involved in the underground of ANC politics, which may have been part of the reason she was murdered. This story provides a brief background and somewhat illuminates the tension in the country during the 1980s, 1990s, and up to 2022 when the book was published. Much of the book focuses on the impact of her murder on her very young children and her sister. The author met her children and sister during the reserach and writing of the book, and travelled with them to the area where Clare had been living and working at the time of her murder. The impact of her loss on the family is clear. As well as Clare's story, this book can be extrapolated to show us the impact of the hundreds of losses felt by so many families during this time period. The trauma of the time prior to the 1994 election shows up as a factor in the ongoing political violence in KZN, and elsewhere in the country. Violence is not a new thing in SA, and it is widely prevalent now - but history gives us some explanation.
July 11, 2022
It is rare to find a journalist who is both aware and honest about their biases and limitations as a writer but still perseveres to research and document with humility, intelligence and compassion. I have not stopped thinking about Clare - who she was and how much we need a person like her now in South Africa. Clark's retelling of a story forgotten by the public pays homage to a person who was driven to create change, even at her own expense. Clark's style is introspective and compelling and doesn't shy away from the difficult moments of storytelling. A brave book that could not have been easy to write but I am so glad he did.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews