Foot Soldier for Freedom: A Life in South Africa's Liberation Movement

Rica Hodgson was banned, detained, house arrested and exiled by the apartheid government. After 27 years in exile she returned to South Africa to become Walter Sisulu’s secretary and to assist Nelson Mandela with projects close to his heart.In Foot Soldier for Freedom Rica traces her evolution from relative white privilege as a child of emigrant Jews to her entry into the struggle at the age of 23 when she joined the army to confront the global threat of fascism. She later became a member of the Springbok Legion, the Communist Party and the African National Congress, working full time for the movement. In Britain she worked with Canon Collins in the Defence and Aid Fund, helping to establish clandestine channels of funding for the defence of political prisoners and the support of their families.Rica’s story is interwoven with the ups and downs of the South African struggle, her love affair and marriage to Jack Hodgson, her time in prison and the many wonderful people who shaped her life – friends such as Ruth First and Hilda Bernstein, and leaders of the struggle, including Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and Bram Fischer.