Ronald Segal


Ronald Michael Segal was a South African activist, writer and editor, founder of the anti-apartheid magazine Africa South and the Penguin African Library.

Life

Ronald Segal was born on 14 July 1932, into a rich South African Jewish family. He was educated at Sea Point Boys' High School. After failing to gain entry to Oxford University, he studied at Cape Town University and then Trinity College, Cambridge. Returning to South Africa in 1956, he founded the anti-apartheid magazine Africa South. After the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre he went into exile with Oliver Tambo, and settled in England, continuing his anti-apartheid political activity and pursuing activity as a writer. Segal's best-known work is The State of the World Atlas, which he co-founded with Michael Kidron, who shared most of his political views.
After Segal was unbanned from South Africa, he visited the country several times, receiving a hero’s welcome on stage alongside Mandela, Tambo and Slovo in 1992. He died on 23 February 2008.

Works