Kilgore 'a champion of poor'

Published Nov 11, 2002

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One of America's most elusive fugitives appears in the Wynberg Magistrate's Court on Monday after his sensational capture on Friday seized world attention.

James Kilgore, 55, who has lived here as respected UCT researcher Dr John Pape, was the last fugitive member of one of America's most infamous terrorist gangs, the Symbionese Liberation Army.

He was arrested at his home in Claremont after 27 years on the run. His extradition is sought on charges of murder and unlawful possession of explosives.

On Sunday his wife, UWC staffer Terri Barnes, was fighting back tears outside Bellville police station as she went to visit him.

On the FBI's wanted list, his possible occupations are still listed as "cook" or "house painter".

But instead of living in the shadows and keeping his head down, Kilgore has managed to create an entirely new life as a prominent academic whose arrest rocked city campuses.

He is regarded as one of Cape Town's leading intellectual lights. In his persona as Dr John Pape, he was on Sunday praised as an outspoken champion of South Africa's poor.

Tony Ehrenreich, Western Cape Congress of SA Trade Unions leader, told the Cape Argus last night: "John is an important activist who made a huge contribution towards the workers' struggle in South Africa."

And he is the author of an influential new book attacking the government's treatment of the poor.

Pape has, since January 1998, been the co-director of the International Labour Resource and Information Group at the University of Cape Town, based at Community House in Salt River.

But by last night it was still not clear if his wife, university researcher Terri Barnes, had known anything of her husband's chequered and allegedly violent past.

Arriving at Bellville police station on Sunday, she looked distraught and haggard.

She and their two children, eight and 12, have already moved from their Dunluce Road home in Claremont and Barnes was seen on Sunday loading their clothes and belongings into a car.

UCT expressed shock and dismay.

"The University of Cape Town management is shocked and saddened by details surrounding the arrest of one of our contract researchers," spokesperson Shireen Sedres said last night.

"Pape was appointed at UCT on January 1 1998. He competed with various other candidates for the position. He came with an established reputation and was well known in the field.

"Pape is highly regarded as an academic. He is viewed as an outstanding researcher and a respected colleague. His level of professionalism is noteworthy and he is well published.

"Colleagues are surprised and disturbed by the allegations. They know him as a warm individual of high integrity. They are in a state of disbelief and trying to come to terms with the information presented."

Kilgore was formally contracted to the university as "Charles William" Pape, but was known as John.

The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was formed in early 1973 and first gained notoriety on November 6 1973, when its members murdered a school superintendent, Marcus Foster, for introducing identity tags.

On February 4 1974, the SLA pulled off the abduction that put them in the history books: by seizing Patty Hearst, granddaughter of billionaire William R Hearst and heiress to his media empire.

Her abduction and subsequent appearance on security video as a "chic", gun-toting SLA bank robber captured the world's attention. She later claimed she had been brainwashed by the group.

Almost 30 years later, Kilgore was the last remaining member still on the run.

Four of Kilgore's former fellow revolutionaries finally pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors in the Californian city of Sacramento in exchange for light sentences.

A top FBI agent said South African police knocked on the door of the modest home he shared with his wife and two young children 24 hours later and asked: "Are you James Kilgore?"

"Yes, that's me," Kilgore reportedly replied.

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