From 1943 to 1952, he was a member of Cape Town city council, and on 17 November 1948 he was elected to South African House of Assembly as a Communist, representing native African voters in the western Cape Province (from 1937 to 1960, Black African voters voted for 'native representative' MPs instead of constituency MPs with White voters), campaigning on his disapproval of Prime Minister Malan's "nazi doctrine of white supremacy".
[1] He made his maiden speech on 27 January 1949 during a debate on a no confidence motion moved by the leader of the opposition, Field Marshal J. C. Smuts.
Expelled from parliament in 1952 upon suspicion of operating with illegal Communist organisations (the CPSA being outlawed in 1950), he left South Africa permanently in 1960 and settled down in the United Kingdom.
He decided to practice as a solicitor instead of a barrister because he felt that by doing so he could remain close to the people he was determined to serve.
Sam Kahn also worked in a legal practice in downtown Cape Town for approximately 20 years, whilst simultaneously pursuing his political career.
He left South Africa illegally in 1960 by spiriting himself out of the country in disguise – he grew a beard and dyed it red.
Occasionally the discussions got a little bit heated, particularly if the waiter tried to deny the existence of the offending material in his food.
Sam was a marvellous raconteur, one of the last of his generation; he was very entertaining, especially at dinner parties and would have his captive audience either transfixed, or in stitches.
Pauline and the children travelled from Cape Town to Southampton on an oceangoing mail liner called the RMS Pendennis Castle.
In his latter years he concentrated predominantly on the Arab-Israeli conflict, whilst at the same time retaining an active interest in South African politics.
His plane landed in Cape Town from England 12 hours behind schedule, and whilst he pleaded for an extension from the South African authorities in order to make up for the time lost due to the delay, this was denied him.