An ordinary man with no ordinary story

In South Africa 1948 the National Party came in to power and as a result the policy of apartheid was officially adopted by the South African government. Apartheid was a system of racial segregation and involved political, legal and economic discrimination against nonwhites as whites were viewed as the superior race. The majority of white South Africans succumbed to the belief that people of non white decent were in fact inferior to them and believed the system of apartheid to be fair. White South African, Brian Morrow did not share this belief and from a young age questioned the fairness of this system. His story is one that has gone unheard by many and the courage he showed in fighting for racial equality in South Africa has often not been condoned. This is his story.

Brian was born in East London in the Eastern Cape in 1962, but moved to Durban at a young age. He was the youngest of three, and lived his childhood in luxury with his parents running, what ended up being an extremely successful drapery business. His pessimistic view on racial inequality originated from his close relationship with both of his black servants Idah and Adrina as well as his close relationship with his father who like Brian was liberal in his views. His parent’s wealth lead to regular trips to the UK where his father’s family lived. Exposure to the news and racial equality within the UK also played a vital part in his growing sense of unease at the racial structure of South African society. As he grew older he found his rare liberal views causing much conflict with his friends and even his family, particularly his brother and sister. However this did not cause Brian to conform to the majority of his friends and families’ racist thinking and he continued to preach the view of racial equality at any opportunity given.

By the time Brian had finished school conscription had been introduced in South Africa whereby any white male over the age of 17 had to spend either two years in the military, four years in the police force, or six years in jail. Brian applied for deferment as he wished to attend university; however this excuse did work out nicely for him as he wanted to avoid conscription for as long as possible, aware that the South African army and police force were both extremely racist. However the time did come when he could no longer avoid it and in 1986 he made the decision to enter into the police force as he believed it to be the lesser of two evils. Initially he was part of the railway police where he was exposed to more racism and poverty than ever before. He learnt quickly that central to being a railway policeman was to be racist, so therefore his liberal views stuck out like a saw thumb. He created quite a reputation for himself, often intervening in attacks made on black, coloured or Indian people by white policeman, who often found it amusing and entertaining to beat non whites prior to arresting them.

Brian’s skill and high level of education lead to him receiving a promotion into the Durban Security branch. However he did not view this as a promotion, as a part of being in the Durban Security branch required him to enforce the government’s law of apartheid, working in black townships, attending rallies, essentially keeping blacks in line and forcing them to cooperate with the system. Working in the Durban Security Branch exposed him to an even extremer level of racism, where he would often have to witness the torture of innocent non white South Africans who were simply fighting for justice and equality. It was the exposure to such extreme forms of racism that caused Brian to feel as though he needed to act. He needed to stop the injustice happening in his own backyard.

Being in such a high profile area of the South African police did have its benefits as it allowed Brian access to many of the governments top secret files. One day when working in the filing room Brian stumbled across a number of official documents that provided sufficient evidence that the South African government was secretly funding the brutal, ongoing black on black violence between Inkatha and the African National Congress (ANC) in an attempt to portray blacks as scum and prove to the world that apartheid was in fact a fair system. Finding these documents was a massive break through for Brian as he now had concrete evidence that he could use to expose the duplicity of the South African government. Over the next two years he made it his focus to both photocopy and steal as many of the documents he could. In order to not arise any suspicions amongst his co-workers he had to keep a low profile and for the first time in his life not voice his liberal views. He knew for certain that if he was caught he would be killed. He would have been viewed upon more contemptuously than outspoken white liberals or black activists as what he was doing was “betraying” both the force and his race.

In the year 1991 Brian had served out his time in the South African Police force and he and his wife, Michelle Morrow decided to set sail for England with the intent to expose the government’s conspiracy of funding the brutal ongoing black on black violence between Inkatha and the ANC.Once they had established a life in England Brian set about finding newspapers who would publish this story. He wanted to remain anonymous in the story as it had never crossed his mind to look for personal profit or gain. His sole purpose of stealing the documents was to have the truth published and allow the public the luxury of making up their own minds. Any profit made out of it he viewed as “blood money.”

Friday the 19^th of July 1991 is a day Brian will never forget. On his way to work he bought the Guardian newspaper and the headline on the front page read “South African Police Cash Went To Inkatha.”The scandal then took on a momentum of its own, being the lead item on both the ITV and BBC television news. The far reaching coverage of the story came as a massive shock to both Brian and Michelle. The excitement and satisfaction Brian felt at the success of the story came to a shuddering end, when less than a week later he happened to glance over an article concerning the Inkathagate scandal in the Times newspaper, with the article revealing “the suspect is said to be a policeman based in Durban, who has disappeared with secret files. It is understood the documents, with copies of bank accounts and receipts were released in London last week.” He had been

exposed!

Shortly after viewing this article, he and his family received many threatening letters and phone calls, with the South African government demanding that the British government send him back to South Africa so he could be punished for his “crimes” accordingly. Fortunately Brian was granted protection by the British government who had no intention fulfilling the South African government’s demands. However Brian and Michelle still lived their lives in constant fear over the next year haunted by numerous threatening letters, phone calls and even visitors. As time went by life began to return to normality and in 1994 the couple were blessed with a beautiful baby girl who in 2012 proudly wrote this story.

Brian Morrow risked everything in his fight for racial equality in South Africa, with no intention of receiving any personal gain. The repercussions of his actions are still seen today, as he is still unable to return to South Africa (where all his family currently live) without putting his life in masses amounts of danger. In 1998 he was able to briefly return to South Africa for his father’s funeral with the help of the British government who provided him with a fake identity, where he was known as “Stuart Harris.” His actions have however sealed an aspect of his future; he is to always be in exile from his homeland.