Interview with Peter Donald Hjul

Oral interview with Peter Donald Hjul who was a leading figure in the Liberal Party, which existed from 1953 until 1968. Born in Northern Rhodesia in 1929, Hjul lived in Cape Town where he became involved in producing trade journals for the fishing industry in the early 1950s. Drawn to politics by a strong social conscience and a dislike for both the National Party government and the United Party opposition in Parliament, he joined the Liberal Party at its inception. From the LP’s founding, Hjul belonged to its radical wing that advocated a universal adult franchise. He played an active part in unsuccessful efforts to elect Liberals to Parliament in a period when white Communists were more popular among Africans and Coloureds who had the vote in the Cape Province. Banned and harassed by the security police, Hjul and his family left South Africa for Britain on an exit permit in 1965. Hjul continued to edit commercial journals for the fishing industry in Britain, and died there in 1999. He was interviewed by Professor Gwendolen Carter of Smith College.