Looking out over the sea at her fine residence in Dalkey, the South African Ambassador Priscilla Jana says she is leaving Ireland with some regret.

During her four-year stint in this country, her two children have gone to school and college here and she has formed close friendships. Her neighbour Bono has even popped over for dinner.

"I asked him to come several times and one day he just appeared on the doorstep. We had a great evening and he sang for us.''

The ambassador, a veteran of the struggle against apartheid who is returning to her home country next month, is no ordinary diplomat. While many in her profession studiously avoid saying anything of interest in order not to ruffle feathers, she is refreshingly unguarded in her comments, and by turns passionate and amusing.

She cannot conceal her sorrow that Ireland is not going to the World Cup in South Africa next summer.

"Ireland should be going. I hope that by some miracle that there will be a replay and Ireland can go. It might not be diplomatic to say so.''

Jana did not grow up with diplomatic niceties. From her childhood onwards, her family was oppressed, evicted, and threatened firstly because of the colour of their skin, and secondly because they stood up to the regime.

If you read accounts of black South Africa's struggle against apartheid, the name Priscilla Jana often crops up. As a gutsy human rights lawyer, she acted for several of the leading activists, including Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Archbishop Desmond Tutu -- and was not discouraged by persistent threats on her life.

The ambassador says one of the most formative moments of her career came when she visited Mandela, who was imprisoned on Robben island. At the time, she was trying to get a protection order to stop the authorities harassing Mandela's children.

"Mandela is a towering giant. He was a man of enormous stature. When I arrived in the prison there was a stunned silence. It was so odd for the warders to see a woman in the prison. I was the first woman lawyer to go there.

"I tried to smuggle chocolates in to him, but obviously his main interest was to deal with his family's problem.''

Jana was born in Durban to a family of Indian descent. Her family was embroiled in political activity and her father, a school principal, spoke out strongly against apartheid.

"Already as a child I had witnessed and experienced political violence. I remember the loud and aggressive intrusion by security officers into our home.

"I remember my father being taken away by them. I remember the anxiety, the pain and the helplessness.''

Her family was ordered from their Durban home because it was deemed to be a white area. "I still hear the sounds and feel the trauma of watching the bulldozer demolish our home.''

Under apartheid the population was divided into four racial groups -- whites, "coloureds'', Asians, and black. "They had these crazy tests to test whether you were black, such as the pencil test. If a pencil fell out of your hair you would be one race; if it stuck, you were deemed to be black.''

As a medical student, she became involved in the black consciousness movement, led by Steve Biko. "The black consciousness movement was incredibly important, because it enabled us to be proud of our identity. We had always been made to feel subservient and embarrassed of our culture, but now we could walk tall.''

Jana opened her own law practice to defend political activists in 1979, and was immediately served with a banning order, and effectively placed under house arrest.

"My adult life was invaded by arrests, detentions, interrogations, constant surveillance and raids. I suffered intimidation and harassment.

"There were several chilling attempts on my life and that of my family, which included a number of petrol bomb attacks.''

She is proud of her Indian ancestry and wears a sari, but she is at pains to point out that she sees herself as South African rather than Indian.

She jokingly recalls how she once caused a few raised eyebrows when discussing her Indian identity and her wearing of a sari by remarking: "I wear French knickers, but that does not make me French.''

Jana praises Ireland's support of the anti-apartheid movement. "Ireland had a proud tradition in the anti-apartheid movement," stemming from Kader Asmal's days at Trinity College Dublin, she points out.

The ambassador also pays particular tribute to a group of 11 Dunnes Stores workers who staged a two-and-a-half-year strike in the 1980s when they refused to handle South African fruit.

"They showed incredible courage to do what they did. ''

- KIM BIELENBERG

Irish Independent