A. Lerumo

Michael Alan Harmel OLG (7 February 1915 – 18 June 1974) was a South African anti-apartheid activist, journalist and editor. He was a political mentor and friend of Nelson Mandela. Harmel was a member of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party and its leading theoretician.

Early life Harmel was born in Doornfontein in Johannesburg to Irish Jewish immigrant parents. Michael was then raised by his father and aunt in the Orange Free State town of Vrede.

Activism and career In 1938, Harmel returned to work at the Johannesburg newspaper, The Star, where he had worked in the winter vacation of the previous year.

He then became involved with establishing the radical left-wing white, anti-apartheid organization, South African Congress of Democrats, which formed part of the Congress Alliance.

In 1959, he took on the role of editor of the publication, The African Communist.

In 1972, he relocated to Prague on a secondment, as the SACP's representative for the publication, World Marxist Review.

Personal life In the late 1930s, whilst living in London, he reportedly had a brief relationship with the South African writer, Noni Jabavu. A blue plaque now adorns their former home, commemorating the legacy of both Ray and Michael Harmel.

Harmel and Ray were friends with Nelson Mandela and his wife, Winnie. Glamorous photographs of the couple in their wedding attire were taken at the Harmel home in Johannesburg.

Harmel later entered into a relationship with an Irishwoman, Kathleen O’Callaghan.

Harmel died of a cerebral haemorrhage in Prague on 18 June 1974. He was cremated and his ashes kept in an urn at Břevnov cemetery in Prague. His ashes were scattered in a glade in Liboc-Vokovice in 2005.

A blue plaque adorns the former home of Michael and Ray in The Gardens, a suburb of Johannesburg. It honours their social and political work during the apartheid era.