Anti-apartheid activist and author Raymond Suttner will reunite with the man who gave him a lovebird as a companion while he was in solitary confinement.
The official who brought him the bird read about himself in Suttner's book Inside Apartheid's Prison and made contact with him this week.
Suttner posted on Facebook yesterday: "Last night I got a message that a man whose name I did not recognise sent regards. He turned out to be the Sergeant who had bought me the Lovebird/parakeet (Jail bird or 'JB') when I was in the last period of solitary confinement and the authorities allowed me the lovebird."
"He sent his phone number so we have agreed to meet. He was reading the book and saw I referred to him as a person who had always treated me well," he said.
Suttner spent a total of 11 years in prison or under house arrest for his underground activities with the ANC and the SA Communist Party.
He first served eight years in prison before being released in 1983. But he was redetained in 1986 for 27 months, 18 of which were in solitary confinement.
He is no longer part of the SACP or ANC, disagreeing with the path they have taken. Suttner is married to gender activist Nombonisa Gasa. He wrote the book in 2001 and it was relaunched this year.
He wrote: "One day, Sergeant Joubert, a warder who was always very kind to me, arrived with this beautiful little red-cheeked parakeet in a shoebox.
"It was wonderful having this beautiful little live creature with me. Its head smelt like a baby and it had no one else in the world besides me. I called him Jail Bird or 'JB'."
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