Indian Writing

South African, Nobel Laureate, longtime anti-apartheid activist, now 83 years old, attacked at home by robbers, assaulted and locked into a cupboard when she refused to hand over her wedding ring even though she had already given them her cash and other jewellery.

And still refusing to leave the family home in Johannesburg.

Here’s what she had to say after the attack:

As the thieves grabbed the widowed author and her 66-year-old domestic servant, she was overcome more by sympathy than fear. “One grabbed me and had his arm across me. It was a muscular, smooth arm and I thought, ‘Shouldn’t there be a better use for these hands, this arm than robbing an old woman?’ What a waste of four young men. They should have jobs,” she said.

The robbers were after cash and car keys, which Gordimer did not hesitate to hand over. But after one of the thieves pushed her into her bedroom she balked at surrendering the wedding ring from her husband, Reinhold Cassirer, who died five years ago. “He pulled off my ring. He held me tight, against his chest. I was very close to his face and could see he had very little beard. He didn’t shave often. I would put his age at 18 to 22,” she said.

The two women were then locked in a storeroom. They were released about 30 minutes later by security guards who had been alerted by the domestic worker hitting an alarm button.

A week later, Gordimer was keen to view the incident from the other side. The robbers, she said, are products of a society grappling with the legacy of South Africa’s past. “I know that South Africa has a terrible problem with crime, with violent crime. But I don’t think the answer is more police. I think we must look at the reasons behind the crime. There are young people in poverty without opportunities. They need education, training and employment. That is the way to reduce crime,” she said.