Sean Hosey - Poem from his father

Sean Hosey

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We found this moving poem in Voices magazine on-line: .http://www.mancvoices.co.uk/issue_9.htm It is by Sean Hosey's father John Hosey. In 1972, finding that his son (one of the London Recruits) had been arrested, he went out to South Africa to support him and wrote this poem after attending the trial. "Joe Boshoff" refers to the judge. "The Actor man" presumably refers to actor David Tomlinson, who also attended the trial.The accused became known as the "Pretoria Six", and John names them in this poem. Sean was sentenced to five years imprisonment, which he served in full. 

You smiled quietly as you mounted the steps
From the cells below. I couldn't hear
As your lips moved, but I knew you said
Hello dad.

Your cheeks are pale
The flesh is taut
I will bring you some food tomorrow
Some apples and pears and oranges too
Am I staring too hard?
Have they broken you
With obscenity and cruelty
Joe Boshoff, surrounded
By a dozen Mein Kampfs
A court of jackboots
Make you tremble I will watch your hands To see if they shake
But Wrath"

London Recruits on BBC Radio 4

Click here to download (40MB) Radio 4’s Saturday Live podcast of Steve Marsling and Sean Hosey telling the story of their lives as undercover ANC recruits.

Interview starts at 48.48.

Alternatively visit the Radio 4 website to listen to the interview. Their part starts more than 45 minutes into the programme.

Steve and Sean were both members of the Young Communist League. YCL London District Secretary Bob Allen recruited Steve, who in turn recruited Sean. On his second mission, in 1972, Sean was arrested in Durban, tortured, kept in solitary confinement, and jailed for five years under South Africa’s Suppression of Communism Act. In this interview, he gives a very moving account of his experiences.