As the handsome young man sauntered past me in Grahamstown’s High Street, I felt a frisson of loathing. And again, that flash of coppery yellow in the murky Kariega River returned and the cry of “Snake in the water!” rang in my ears. I maintained my composure and in my most imperious tone I retorted, “Only my best friends call me Rosie!” Lloyd Edwards was a Special Branch operative, as friendly and fresh-faced as the boy next door, but beneath his panache lurked danger and deceit. He and his brother were an infamous pair, both undercover spies on the Rhodes campus until their cover was blown. Thereafter Lloyd continued as a ubiquitous presence in Grahamstown, propping up bars in local hotels or strolling confidently around campus. When the time came for the state to clamp down on white activists, it was Lloyd who was directly responsible for the detention of many of our friends and acquaintances. One of these was Ann Burroughs, my co-chair in the Black Sash in the early 1980s.
What do You think about Swimming With Cobras (2012)?
