Duty and Dynamite

It is our hope that readers will imbibe the heroic story of your life and be reminded that our freedom did not fall from heaven. It was fought for. Many freedom fighters were jailed for long periods; many were hanged or tortured to death; others were assassinated. In the Soweto uprising of June 1976, hundreds of school children were killed.

History will record that the enemy may have succeeded in torturing, jailing and killing these patriots, but it failed to kill the spirit of liberation. Mr L., as part of the army of cadres, you have served the cause with distinction. We are proud of you and salute you – the salt of the earth.
— Ahmed Kathrada (from the Foreword)

Many remarkable people were imprisoned on Robben Island from the early 1960s until the last prisoner left in 1991. All had their individual stories worth telling. As one of them, Ahmed ‘Kathy’ Kathrada has said, ‘Every prisoner’s story is unique.’ One of the most remarkable and distinctive of those people is Laloo ‘Isu’ Chiba. Curiously, his name is not a household word in South Africa. It should be. Until now, except for a sketch in the publication, Men of Dynamite: Pen Portraits of MK Pioneers, he has only in parts made guest appearances in the books of others.
— Professor Tim Couzens (from the Introduction)