Harry Heinz Schwarz (13 May 1924 – 5 February 2010) was a South African lawyer, statesman, and long-time political opposition leader against apartheid in South Africa who eventually was the South African Ambassador to the United States during the country's transition to majority rule.
Schwarz rose from the childhood poverty he experienced as a German-Jewish refugee to become a lawyer and a member of the Transvaal Provincial Council, where from 1963 to 1974, he was Leader of the Opposition. In the 1964 Rivonia Trial he was a defence lawyer. Advocating a more aggressive political opposition to the National Party's racial policies in the 1960s and 1970s, as Leader of the United Party in Transvaal and leader of the liberal "Young Turks", he clashed with the United Party establishment. He pioneered the call in white politics for a negotiated end to apartheid and in 1974 signed the Mahlabatini Declaration of Faith with Mangosuthu Buthelezi for a non-racial democratic society in South Africa. He was in the opposition for over 40 years and was a founding member of the Democratic Party. In light of his record, his appointment as South African Ambassador to the United States in 1990 was widely heralded as symbolic of the government's commitment to ending apartheid, and played a significant role in renewing the nation's image as the new democratic South Africa.
As a South African Air Force World War II veteran during the 1950s, Schwarz co-founded the Torch Commando, an ex-soldiers' movement to protest against the disenfranchisement of coloured people in South Africa. Described as South Africa's "most feisty politician" and a political "maverick", he was known for his parliamentary clashes with the apartheid government over its racial and economic policies. In his political career spanning 43 years, in which he gained respect from across the political spectrum, he never lost an election. In 1988 he received the Order for Meritorious Service and received several Honorary Doctorates. He was also one of the South African Jewish community's foremost leaders and spoke out strongly against anti-semitism.*
Schwarz was described by the University of Stellenbosch as "one of the conceptual and moral fathers of the new South Africa" in the sense that he had not only been one of apartheid's most prominent opponents, but his ideas and the initiatives he had taken had played a key role in the development of the concept of a negotiated democracy in South Africa, based on the principles of freedom and justice. Nelson Mandela, a friend of his whom he visited while in prison, described him as a "champion of the poor".
Refugee from Germany
Harry Schwarz was born Heinz Schwarz to Fritz (1897–1969) and Alma Schwarz (1901–1999) in Cologne, Germany. His family belonged to the Glockengasse Synagogue. He arrived in South Africa as a Jewish refugee from Germany in 1934 with his mother and younger brother Kurt. His father Fritz, a Social Democratic Party activist, left for South Africa the night the Nazis came to power. They boarded the SS Giulio Cesare in Genoa, Italy which took them to South Africa. When they arrived in Cape Town they stayed in one room in a house in Kloof Street. Schwarz described how he was "lucky" as eventually he was able to sleep in a bathroom in a rusty bath. He spoke no Afrikaans or English at first and had strong memories of being taunted on the schoolyard for being different. Schwarz stated in an interview in 1991 that "I know what the word discrimination means, not because I've read it in a book, but because I've been the subject of it. And I know what it means to be hungry." The discrimination and financial difficulties of his family left a strong impression on Schwarz and helped shape his political philosophy with its emphasis on social justice and the rule of law.
He attended Tamboerskloof School and South African College Schools in Cape Town and then Jeppe High School for Boys in Johannesburg.
Military service
Following his graduation from school in 1943, he was offered a job working for a stockbroker, as well as a university scholarship. However, Schwarz instead joined the South African Air Force during World War II in order to defeat Nazism. He served as a navigator and fought in North Africa, Crete and Italy. It was in the air force that he adopted the name Harry, as his Colonel said Heinz would not stand him in good stead if he were captured by Germans. He was in 15 Squadron and seconded to the RAF. In 1984 he was made an Honorary Colonel of the 15th Squadron.
Wits University
In 1946 he went to University of the Witwatersrand (more commonly known as Wits University) in Johannesburg with the help of a Government loan and grant, where he first befriended fellow students and future anti-apartheid political activists Nelson Mandela and Joe Slovo. He joined the United Party and assisted in the 1948 election. However, as a result of the National Party victory, he was determined to become more active and was elected Chairman of the United Party branch at the university. He argued that the National Party's victory in 1948 was reversible and anyone who opposed them should concentrate on defeating them. In an interview in 1991, Schwarz said on the National Party victory that "To me, they were the people who had supported Germany during the war. As a young man, it was very objectionable to me that the very people I had been fighting against were the people that the National Party had supported." He was also president of the university's ex-servicemen's league and chair of the Law Students Council. He stood as a candidate for treasurer of the Students Representative Council and refrained from voting for himself which he considered to be unethical. When the votes were counted, it was announced that Schwarz had lost by one vote.
He was awarded a BA, with distinctions in both history and economic history, and later an LLB. In 1949 he was admitted as a solicitor and, later, as a barrister (Member of Middle Temple) in London, United Kingdom. In 1953, he became advocate at the South African Bar.
Rivonia trial
In 1963, Nelson Mandela and many other political opponents were arrested and brought to court in the famous Rivonia Trial. Harry Schwarz was one of the defence barristers in the trial defending Accused No. 8 Jimmy Kantor, who was a close friend of his. Kantor was Mandela's lawyer in the trial until he too was arrested and charged with the same crimes as Mandela. After being the subject of vicious taunting and many attempts to place him as a vital cog of MK by Percy Yutar, finally Judge Quartus de Wet discharged him, stating Accused No 8 has no case to answer. Kantor along with Rusty Bernstein were the only accused who were acquitted. Kantor noted in his autobiography, A Healthy Grave, that Schwarz refused payment. Schwarz was refused access to Mandela while he was imprisoned on Robben Island, however he was granted access to visit him after 1988 when he was transferred to Victor Verster Prison. After the trial he left the Bar and became a solicitor so that he could concentrate on fighting apartheid.
During the trial he presented the case for Kantor as follows, "My Lord, it is difficult to reply in a restrained fashion. My learned friend must not use words such as 'Communist' lightly, when he refers to Kantor. Kantor is not a Communist. My learned friend has used the tactics of McCarthyism in an endeavour to smear him. I think, with respect, my learned friend is allowing himself to run away with facts that are not there. His complaint in count one is not that they found files with evidence. Oh not, he says that 'we found files with nothing in them', not in Kantor's office, but in the office of Wolpe. Then my learned friend [held] that the practice had been ruined and liquidated Kantor's practice. My lord, it is not Kantor. It is not Kantor! Why I say it is so difficult to be restrained, is that my learned friend has thrown in everything that concerns every accused in this case, and says 'that is why I don't want Kantor to get bail.
Rise to politics
Harry Schwarz's political career started with his election to the Johannesburg City Council in 1951 for Booysens, which had been said to be an unwinnable seat against the National Party. Schwarz won the seat by 954 votes. Despite being the youngest person in the city council, he became chairman of the council's management committee - the most influential committee on the council. While in the council, Schwarz focused on challenging forced evictions of black and coloured people in Johannesburg, and attempted to improve housing and education. Booysens had once been occupied by Labour Party politician Jimmy Green, who was his wife's uncle, who was first elected in 1920 to the City Council.
In 1958 during a by-election Schwarz was elected into the Transvaal provincial council for the Hospital constituency. The constituency eventually was renamed Hillbrow. In 1963 he became Leader of the Opposition in the Transvaal Provincial Council, a post he would hold until 1974. He continued to practice law whilst in the Provincial Council and throughout his political career. However, he briefly withdrew from law between 1969 and 1974 to take up the position of Chief Executive of Merchant Bank.
Schwarz's vision for the post-apartheid South Africa was embodied in a document named the "Act of Dedication", of which he presented to the provincial council in 1973. The document, written by him, called for the Transvaal and the rest of South Africa to adopt and subscribe to the principles of a non-discriminatory society. While the UP Transvaal caucus unanimously adopted the initiative, the National Party refused to allow it to be debated in the council and parliament. Schwarz pushed for the adoption of the act in the 1973 National UP Congress, in which he succeeded.
Tensions within United Party
In 1959, Schwarz remained in the United Party after 11 liberal United Party members broke away from the party to form the Progressive Party in 1959, opting instead to change the UP from within. By the early 1970s Schwarz had become known as the leader of the liberal faction of the party, dubbed the "Young Turks", who wanted the UP to adopt a more aggressive approach to the National Party and its policy of apartheid. Schwarz and his Young Turks faced fierce opposition and resistance from the party's national leader Sir De Villiers Graaff and other members of the UP's "Old Guard". Schwarz achieved prominence as a race relations and economic reformist in the party. In 1971 he became deputy leader of the UP in the Transvaal, a post specially created for him. However, internal divisions in the party between liberals and conservatives came to a head in August 1973 when Schwarz ousted Marais Steyn as the leader of the United Party in the Transvaal. Steyn had been an MP for almost 25 years and for 15 years had been a close adviser to De Villiers Graaff. After Steyn lost the election he defected to the National Party. Schwarz's victory was a visible sign of strength from the liberals within the party.
Mahlabatini Declaration