Andrew Feinstein Comes Home

by Tanya on Nov 1st, 2007

The last word of the evening at the launch of Andrew Feinstein’s After the Party went to the book’s publisher, Jonathan Ball, who rallied an emotion-laden audience with an impromptu salute to the author’s courage.

“It’s good to see a strong man weep,” Ball said. Moments before, while Feinstein was thanking those who had been involved in his book and its story, his voice had caught several times – particularly when he mentioned his late friend Kevin Brown. Brown had, said Feinstein, taught him what it meant to “live in the truth”, and he was very sharply missed on the night.

Feinstein singled out many others for gratitude, including the directors of the Cape Town Holocaust Centre, who had helped him write a resolution on the Holocaust while a sitting MP (Feinstein’s mother survived the Holocaust); members of the Treatement Action Campaign, whom the author called “the real heroes of the day”; the displaced residents of Tramway Road, Sea Point, who had been quasi-constituents of his when he had been based on the Atlantic Seaboard; the journalists who continue to cover the arms deal story; and Barbara Hogan, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, Gavin Woods (“we endured so much together”) and Feinstein’s wife, Simone Sultana. (All present: see video clips and photo gallery below.)

The event was host to a number of impressive characters, known for their regular appearances in newsprint and courtrooms over the last several years. These included Billy Downer, who prosecuted Schabir Shaik, and Greg Johnson, who testified in Shaik’s defence; they were seen fraternizing convivially on the night. Raenette Taljaard of the Helen Suzman Foundation was there; as were Pregs Govender, Terry Crawford-Browne and Martin Welz. To use Govender’s phrase, this latter bunch all had “stories of insubordination” to tell – not a few stemming from the arms deal – and made for a highly appropriate, ad hoc congress of dissidents on the occasion. (Not to exclude, come to think of it, Mark Keohane – a once and future rugby dissident, one might say – who was also there.)

Earlier, publishing director at Jonathan Ball, Jeremy Boraine, called After the Party “more than just about the arms deal; more than just a memoir; more than just a journey through the ANC.” The book amounts to living history, which is precious stuff – as evidenced by the number of copies that were bought and signed. For once, Wordsworth Books was almost caught short!