Donald Card (14 July 1928 – 12 July 2022) was a South African security constable and politician who was the Mayor of

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

, South Africa.

Biography

Card was born on 14 July 1928 in

Port St Johns Port St. Johns (or Port Saint Johns) is a town of about 6,500 people on the Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated at the mouth of the Umzimvubu River, northeast of East London and east of Mthatha. Port St. Joh ...

Pondoland Pondoland or Mpondoland ( Xhosa: ''EmaMpondweni''), is a natural region on the South African shores of the Indian Ocean. It is located in the coastal belt of the Eastern Cape province. Its territory is the former Mpondo Kingdom of the Mpondo peo ...

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Tran ...

, into a wealthy family. He was present in

Duncan Village Duncan Village is a township in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The township is located about five kilometres away from the East London city business district (CBD). Duncan Village is ...

in 1953 on the day

Elsie Quinlan Elsie Quinlan (3 December 1914 – 9 November 1952), religious name ''Mary Aidan'', was a Dominican sister who was killed in Duncan Village in 1952, by a mob of ANC rioters. Early life and education Quinlan was born in Kingwilliamstown, now know ...

, a Dominican nun, was brutally killed. In the aftermath of the nun's killing, the police retaliated by killing up to 200 people involved in the rioting that led to Quinlan's death. He was also implicated in police brutality and torture in evidence given at the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...

in 1997. In 2004, a symbolic ceremony of reconciliation took place at the inauguration of the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory Project; Card handed back to

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

78 letters written by Mandela on

Robben Island Robben Island ( af, Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afr ...

. These letters were previously unknown. Card died after collapsing at a retirement home in East London, Eastern Cape on 12 July 2022 at the age of 93.

References

Citations

Sources

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External links

The Donald Card collection of Nelson Mandela's letters from prison
{{DEFAULTSORT:Card, Donald 1928 births 2022 deaths Mayors of places in South Africa South African police officers South African white supremacists People from Cape Town Perpetrators of political repression in apartheid-era South Africa White South African people