With the success of “Gandhi”, “The Killing Fields” and “The Mission” under her belt, Susie Figgis, who came to be regarded as one of Britain’s most highly acclaimed casting directors, arrived in Zimbabwe in 1986 to work on “Cry Freedom”, the Donald Woods film about Steve Biko. A year later she was back in Africa casting “A World Apart”, about South African revolutionaries Ruth First and Joe Slovo, written by their daughter Shawn. Much later, in a free South Africa, Figgis did the casting for Robyn Slovo’s film “Catch A Fire”, also written by Shawn.
In 1986 the South African struggle against apartheid and Figgis’ future husband were beckoning. During her time in Harare, she met many in the ANC community (a fertile hunting ground for extras to play security police). Back in London she was introduced to exile Eleanor Kasrils, who wasted no time in recruiting Figgis into her underground support network.
For the next four years until the democratic breakthrough in South Africa, Figgis relayed secret communications, transferred funds and put up comrades passing through London. For three decades, from 1960 to 1990, the city was a hive of ANC activity, not only as virtual headquarters of the global Anti-Apartheid Movement to publicly isolate the Pretoria regime through the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign, but in support of the ANC’s clandestine struggle within South Africa.
There is a rich legacy in Britain to scores of internationalists who assisted the ANC and SACP in underground work in the struggle for a non-racist, democratic South Africa
Figgis fitted well into the role Eleanor Kasrils tailored for her. Driven by her sense of justice and passion for those fighting for freedom and independence, she carried out sensitive tasks assigned to her with flair, wit and a sense of a fulfilment outside her movie career. She was not some dilettante living out her fantasies sprung from a career in the movies; she had responded to a deadly serious motivation to assist in a just cause in which she deeply believed. One sensed in her humour and sparkling eyes the relish of a challenge, no matter how small, for the rare opportunity to deliver a blow against an evil enemy.
Kasrils remarked how Figgis’ canny eye and judgment of character, which made her a legend in the field of casting sensational movie roles, assisted her in acute observations of the character of underground recruits she helped Kasrils take care of.
Figgis possessed a deft knack for coming up with a quick idea to solve a problem — assisting Kasrils in finding an appropriate disguise for an activist or a last-minute courier who could deliver funds and false documents to someone in Johannesburg. They would kick off their heels and sip G&Ts toasting another success. Not even Figgis’ closest colleagues ever guessed at her real-life enactments.
She was aware there could be dire consequences, kept her lips tightly sealed, and proved to be a rock Kasrils could rely on when reverses occurred in South Africa or when apartheid agents were on the trail in London. In 1988, Bill Anderson was based in Lusaka working in MK military intelligence, under my command, and flew to London to meet a contact from South Africa. Eleanor Kasrils handed him the keys to a safe house where she said he wouldn’t be disturbed, as the owner was abroad.
It didn’t turn out like that. A day later in walked Susie, back early from Paris where she had just bust up with a current boyfriend. Covers blown, Kasrils, Figgis and Anderson went out to dinner. The rest is history.
After 35 years of marriage to Anderson, mother to Anu and step-mum to Ntsiki, Susie passed away peacefully in London aged 77, on December 12. While her collaborators in the film industry and loving friends are gathering to celebrate her life and the effects of such films as “The Crying Game“, “The Full Monty”, and “Harry Potter”, we should also put down a marker in history for this honorary South African.
There is a rich legacy in Britain of scores of internationalists who assisted the ANC and SACP in underground work in the struggle for a non-racist, democratic South Africa. Books, education packs and a documentary film by that name have been produced. They are known as London Recruits. The name of unforgettable Susie Figgis can be added to that heroic list.
• Ronnie Kasrils is a veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle, and South Africa’s former minister for intelligence services, activist and author.
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