When it comes to leaving countries in a hurry, Magda Wierzycka has plenty of experience. At just 12 years old, the South African entrepreneur and her parents fled their native Poland under the the cover of night, becoming refugees after its communist government declared martial law. Ending up in South Africa – via an Austrian refugee processing centre – she went on to become one of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs, founding and running the major investment firm Sygnia , while becoming one of its most recognisable anti-corruption campaigners.
That was, at least, until her assiduous activism forced her to move for a second time. In 2017 a whistleblower handed her a a drive containing over 500,000 emails that revealed the true scale of rank corruption and iniquity that lay at the heart of the South African government. And after several tense conversations with lawyers, journalists and campaigners, she decided to release them – expediting the end of Jacob Zuma’s contentious tenure as South Africa’s President and bringing down UK PR shop Bell Pottinger in the process.
Then, fearing for her safety, she fled to London with her family, using a luxury Park Lane hotel as a bolt hole. Ultimately, her family would return to her adopted home, but the constant phone-tapping, threats on Twitter, and interventions from state security led Wierzycka to make London her home. Her newfound freedom brought with it benefits spanning all corners of her life.
She could now walk.
