From Newsgroup: alt.obituaries
Dave Hemson (1945-2025) Obituary
by Crispin Hemson
Christopher David Law Hemson was born in Durban, South Africa, on 18th
July 1945 and died in the same city on 7th November 2025, with his
wife Suzanne, stepdaughter Soroya, and brothers Crispin and Jonathan
around him. His parents were British; his father had been sent during
the Second World War to establish radar installations in Simonstown
and Durban, and his mother and sister followed during the war.
After education at Kearsney College, he studied at the then University
of Natal, where he served on the Students Representative Council and
edited the student newspaper, Dome. His involvement in student
activism at the University and in NUSAS, the student union, joined
with leaders such as Steve Biko, Ben Ngubane (with him in a photo from
1967 or 1968) and Rogers Ragaven. He then turned to exposes of the
wages paid by British firms in South Africa, through the Wages
Commission, which he and fellow students formed.
From 1971 he pursued the establishment of trade unions for Black
workers, with Halton Cheadle, Rick Turner, Foszia Fisher and others.
This was a remarkably successful intervention; it was a major factor
in the strikes of January 1973, which transformed labour relations in
South Africa. The unions founded at this time became core elements of
the labour movement.
A year later, the apartheid government put him and other labour
leaders under house arrest and other restrictions. He went into exile
in 1975 and completed a doctorate at the University of Warwick that
focused on the nature of labour control on the Durban docks, a thesis
that had a major influence on subsequent studies of South African
society. His independent stance, with three other anti-apartheid
activists, led to his expulsion from the ANC; he formed with them the
MWT of the ANC, which linked with Militant in the UK. He taught for a
time at the University of Dar-es-Salaam, and in May 1982 married
Patricia (Trish) Struthers in Harare, Zimbabwe, where he worked as a
teacher and where his first son, Jesse, was born in 1983.
In March 1985, David was detained without charges at Chikurubi Maximum
Security Prison in Harare together with Darcy du Toit. On 18 April
1985 he was released and deported with his family to the UK, on
accusations that he was plotting to overthrow the government of Robert
Mugabe. His second son, Benjamin (Ben), was born in the UK in 1987. In
the UK he maintained his activist work with the MWT. In late 1990,
after the release of Nelson Mandela, he was given permission by the
South African government to return to Durban.
He worked as an academic at the Universities of Natal and
Durban-Westville and later as a researcher on public service delivery
with the Human Sciences Research Council. He was respected across a
wide range of political and social leaders in various countries for
his independence and outspokenness, as well as his intense patriotism.
In 2006 he married the anthropologist, Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala, and
later moved to Maryland, where he worked on evaluation of major
developmental projects. He energetically continued his activism and
writing. He and Suzanne finally moved to Cumberland, Rhode Island.
In 2024 he fell ill and moved to be with his brothers in Durban. He
leaves his sons Jesse and Ben Hemson-Struthers, and four stepdaughters
from his marriage to Suzanne. On 1st November 2025, Jack was born to
Jesse and Leandra Hemson-Struthers in London. David is survived by his
older sister, Gille de Vlieg, and his twin brothers, Crispin and
Jonathan.
--
Steve Hayes
http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
http://khanya.wordpress.com
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