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Authority record

Muller, Ruth

  • Person
  • 1951

Ruth Muller's was born in the UK in 1951, lived in the Soviet Union (USSR) 1956-1959, educated in the UK, then went to Mozambique in 1979 (after independence) to live and work for 9 years. In 1988 she came to South Africa and worked in a variety of entities including Times Media Limited, the SABC, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand. She has a Social Science degree, a Post Graduate Diploma in Librarianship and Information Studies and a Masters degree in History.

Muller, Michael

  • Person
  • 1949

Born Johannesburg 1949 and named Arnold Michael, his parents were political activists (mother a lawyer, father a trade unionist) and later exiles in Swaziland (from May 1962); schooled in Johannesburg and Swaziland (Waterford Kamhlaba), journalist, researcher-activist (in the UK), took a civil engineering degree at City University London (1974-1979); became an international 'cooperante' (solidarity worker) in Mozambique (1979-1988), and later a development specialist and policy analyst at DBSA (1988-1994). He was seconded to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry in 1994 and later was appointed Deputy DG and then Director General (1997-2005). Muller was also a member of the 1st National Planning Commission, 2010-2015. After his contract with the DWAF was not renewed (2015) he joined the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) School of Public & Development Management (P&DM), later renamed the Wits School of Governance (WSG), as an Adjunct Professor and became something of an academic, writing numerous papers for for peer reviewed journals and book chapters. He also continued his involvement with international organisations such as the United Nations, the Global Water Partnership, the ADB and SADC, as well as advising the SA government. He has always been, and continues to be, a prolific writer of articles in the South African national press.

Moumbaris, Alexandre

  • Person
  • 20th century

Alexandre (Alex) Moumbaris, born in Egypt to Greek parents, began his political life in England as a member of the British Communist Party and later the South African Communist Party. He also joined Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), and together with his wife Marie-José became part of what is now known as the internationalist underground group ‘London Recruits’, for which they received the South African National Order “Sabotage Campaign Medal” in 2012.
Alex and Marie-José Moumbaris were arrested on the 19 July 1972 while trying to cross the border from Botswana to South Africa during an MK operation, together with other members of MK. They were secretly detained for 4 months, before ‘Alexandre Moumbaris and 5 Others’ were charged under the Terrorism Act in January 1973. Marie-José, who was pregnant at the time with their first child, had been released through international pressure and deported to France in September 1972. Alex Moumbaris was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on the 20 June 1973, which he started serving in the Pretoria Local Prison.
On the 11 December 1979 Alex Moumbaris and two other prisoners, Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, made a daring escape from Pretoria Central Prison. After a dangerous and exhausting journey they eventually arrived in Lusaka, where they were received by OR Tambo, and for the first time appeared publicly about their escape during a press conference on the 14 January 1980. He then joined his wife Marie-José and their son Boris in Paris. Their daughter Chloé was born on the 11 December 1982, the third anniversary of his escape from prison.
Alex Moumbaris continued his political work as part of the French national and the wider international South African liberation movement, as a communist, internationalist and humanist. The Government of the Republic of South Africa awarded him with the Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo in Silver in 2014, which is awarded “to those who have actively promoted the interests and aspirations of South Africa through outstanding cooperation, solidarity and support”.

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