Sylvia Neame was born in 1937, one of twins. There were 4 children in the family, Peter, Graham, Sylvia and her twin sister Jennifer. She studied at Rhodes University and obtained her BA in History and Social Anthropology there in 1961. Her first 90 Day detention was in 1963. Neame was again detained under the 90 Day law in mid-1964, 2 weeks in Pretoria Central prison, and 1 1/2 months at the Fordsburg police station. She was one of the accused in Case 375/64, The State vs. Abram Fischer and 13 Others, during which Bram Fischer absconded (he returned to face a second arrest and trial in 1966), where she was charged with furthering the aims of the banned Communist Party, convicted and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment, 2 years to run concurrently.
She, together with the other accused was to spend the 9 months awaiting trial period in the 'Fort' in Johannesburg. Directly after being sentenced she was transferred to the North End prison in Port Elizabeth and was to face trial in the Humansdorp Magistrate's Court, for 'becoming or continuing to be an office-bearer of the ANC in Grahamstown from April 8 1960 to March 31 1961', advising or encouraging activities that furthered the aims of the ANC and with contributing funds to the ANC, to be sentenced to another 4 years but acquitted on appeal.
After being released from Barberton Prison (in what was then the Eastern Transvaal and is now Mpumalanga) in April 1967 she left South Africa on an exit permit, and lived in Britain for 4 1/2 years studying for part of this time at the University of Oxford, and later, from 1971, in in East Germany, where she completed a D.Phil (on the expulsion of the communists from the ICU ) at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig and was also awarded a 'Diplom' (equal to MA). Her doctorate was awarded in 1976. Thereafter she joined the staff of the University.
She returned to South Africa in 1993 with her husband but after some months returned to Germany. She returned to South Africa again for 1 1/2 years, 1999-2000, but again returned to Germany. Her published works include a three volume history entitled 'The Congress Movement: The Unfolding of the Congress Alliance 1912-1961' (Cape Town, HSRC Press, 2015), and 'Imprisoned' (Jacana, 2018).

NB: Sylvia testimony to the United Nations in 1967/68 - see link: E/CN.4/950: http://undocs.org/E/CN.4/950