Donald Woods

dies at 67

EAST LONDON -- Donald Woods died in London yesterday at the age of 67.

Woods, a former Daily Dispatch editor and anti-apartheid campaigner who was honoured by the Queen last year with the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for his contribution to human rights, died after a brave fight with cancer that never quenched his humour or his indomitable spirit.

He had several operations during which he lost a kidney and a lung, but after recuperating he continued to try to live a full life, travelling, working, and even playing his lifelong love, golf, though with the aid of an electric cart.

He then had to undergo chemotherapy on his bladder but despite this he travelled to South Africa in May this year to meet and be with old friends, to attend the wedding of the son of his friend, Steve Biko, who was killed when detained by security police in South Africa, and to receive an honorary degree from Rhodes University here.

He faced his death with the courage that marked a life spent fighting for justice and equal rights in the land of his birth, South Africa.

Among the telephone callers to the hospital in Sutton, Surrey, just before his death were Nelson Mandela and the SA High Commissioner in Britain, Cheryl Carolus. His son, Gavin, said from London earlier yesterday that the family had been keeping vigil at Woods' bedside in hospital.

Woods was editor of the Daily Dispatch from 1965 to 1977, when he was banned for five years by the National Party government. He escaped from South Africa with his family at the end of 1977, and became known throughout the world with the release of the Richard Attenborough film Cry Freedom, about his friendship with Black Consciousness leader Biko, his constant campaigning for a democratic SA, his books, lectures and journalism.

When he was banned for five years after accusing the government of being responsible for Biko's death, Woods decided to leave South Africa, disguised as a Catholic priest, crossing into Lesotho, where he was joined by his wife, Wendy, three sons and two daughters. Woods took with him into exile in Britain a book on the death of Biko which was translated into 17 languages.

He was to prove a more formidable and effective foe of apartheid abroad than he could ever have been in South Africa. In 1978 he became the first private citizen invited to address the United Nations Security Council.

He campaigned against apartheid in 36 lecture tours of the US over 12 years, and was consultant on South Africa to the European Union in Brussels, and to the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.