Ahmed Kathrada | |
|---|---|
 Kathrada in 2016 | |
| Parliamentary Counsellor to thePresident of South Africa | |
| In office 10 May 1994 – 16 June 1999 | |
| President | Nelson Mandela |
| Member of theParliament of South Africa | |
| In office 1994–1999 | |
| Constituency | Lenasia |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada (1929-08-21)21 August 1929 Schweizer-Reneke, Transvaal Province, Union of South Africa |
| Died | 28 March 2017(2017-03-28) (aged 87) Johannesburg,Gauteng, South Africa |
| Political party | African National Congress |
| Other political affiliations | South African Communist Party |
| Spouse | Barbara Hogan |
| Alma mater | University of South Africa |
| Occupation |
|
| Website | kathradafoundation.org |
| Nickname | "Kathy" |
| Criminal charge | Sabotage, seditious conspiracy |
| Trial | Rivonia trial |
| Penalty | Jailed (1964–89) |
Ahmed Mohamed KathradaOMSG (21 August 1929 – 28 March 2017), sometimes known by the nickname "Kathy", was aSouth African politician andanti-apartheid activist.
Kathrada's involvement in the anti-apartheid activities of theAfrican National Congress (ANC) led him to his long-term imprisonment following theRivonia Trial, in which he was held atRobben Island andPollsmoor Prison. Following his release in 1990, he was elected to serve as a member of parliament, representing the ANC. He authored a book,No Bread for Mandela – Memoirs of Ahmed Kathrada, Prisoner No. 468/64.
Ahmed Kathrada was born on 21 August 1929 in the small country town ofSchweizer-Reneke in the WesternTransvaal,[1] the fourth of six children in aGujaratiBohra family ofSouth African Indian immigrant parents fromSurat, Gujarat.[2][3][4] Once in Johannesburg, he was influenced by leaders of theTransvaal Indian Congress such as Dr.Yusuf Dadoo,IC Meer,Moulvi andYusuf Cachalia, and JN Singh.[1] Consequently, he became a political activist at the early age of 12 when he joined the Young Communist League of South Africa.[3] He took part in various activities such as handing out leaflets[4] and performing volunteer work in the individual passive resistance against the Pegging Act in 1941. DuringWorld War II, he was involved in the anti-war campaign of the Non-European United Front.[5]
At the age of 17 he left school to work full-time for the Transvaal Passive Resistance Council in order to work against theAsiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act, commonly referred to as the "Ghetto Act", which sought to give Indians limited political representation and restricted where Indians could live, trade and own land.[3][5]
Kathrada was one of the two thousand volunteers imprisoned as a result of the campaign; he spent a month in a Durban jail in South Africa.[1] This was his first jail sentence for civil disobedience. Later, he was elected as the chair of the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress.[1][5]
While Kathrada was a student at the University of the Witwatersrand he was sent as a delegate of the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress to the3rd World Festival of Youth and Students in East Berlin in 1951.[6] He was elected as the leader of the large multi-racial South African delegation.[5] He remained in Europe in order to attend a congress of theInternational Union of Students in Warsaw,[5] and finally travelled to Budapest and worked at the headquarters of theWorld Federation of Democratic Youth for nine months.[7]
As result of the growing co-operation between the African and Indian Congresses in the 1950s, Kathrada came into close contact with African National Congress leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. He was one of 156 accused in the four-year Treason Trial which lasted from 1956 to 1960. Eventually, all of the accused were found not guilty.[4]
After the ANC (African National Congregation) and various other anti-apartheid organisations were banned in 1960, Kathrada continued his political activities despite repeated detentions and increasingly severe house arrest measures against him. To be free to continue his activities, Kathrada went underground early in 1962.[4][5]
On 11 July 1963, Kathrada was arrested at the South African internal headquarters ofUmkhonto we Sizwe ("The Spear of the Nation" – the military wing of the ANC) inRivonia, nearJohannesburg. Although Kathrada was not a member ofUmkhonto we Sizwe, he became one of the accused in the famous Rivonia Trial, which started in October 1963. He was charged with sabotage and attempting to overthrow the government and to start a guerrilla war.[8]
The trial ended in June 1964; Kathrada was sentenced to life imprisonment along withNelson Mandela,Walter Sisulu,Govan Mbeki,Andrew Mlangeni,Billy Nair,Elias Motsoaledi,Raymond Mhlaba andDenis Goldberg.[9] Kathy was the youngest prisoner (34 years old, at the time of arrest).
For the following 18 years, Kathrada was confined to theRobben Island Maximum Security Prison offCape Town along with most of his Rivonia Trial co-defendants.[3] In October 1982, he was moved toPollsmoor Maximum Security Prison near Cape Town.[3]
While in jail on Robben Island and in Pollsmoor, Kathrada completed aBachelor's degrees in History/Criminology as well as three other degrees, thanks to his family who paid the tuition fee.[10]
On 15 October 1989 Kathrada, along withJeff Masemola,Raymond Mhlaba,Billy Nair,Wilton Mkwayi,Andrew Mlangeni,Elias Motsoaledi,Oscar Mpetha, andWalter Sisulu were released from Johannesburg prison.[11]
After the unbanning of the ANC in February 1990, Kathrada served on the interim leadership committees of both the ANC and theSouth African Communist Party. He resigned from the latter position when he was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee in July 1991. During the same year, he was appointed as head of ANC public relations as well as afellow of theUniversity of the Western Cape's Mayibuye Centre.[12]
Kathrada went on theHajj pilgrimage toMecca in 1992.[12]
In the first all-inclusive democratic South African elections in 1994, Kathrada was elected as a member of parliament for the ANC. After refusing to accept a position in Mandela's cabinet as minister of correctional services stating that " I joined the struggle not for positions"[3] in September 1994 he was appointed as the political advisor toPresident Mandela in the newly created post of Parliamentary Counsellor.[3] In June 1999, Kathrada left parliamentary politics.
In 1994 and 1995, Kathrada was elected as chairperson of the Robben Island Council. He remained the chairperson of the Robben Island Museum Council. On 27 October 2013, on the island, he launched the International Campaign to FreeMarwan Barghouti and All Palestinian Prisoners.[13]
Kathrada was married toBarbara Hogan, a recentMinister of Public Enterprises.[14][15] In 2008, he founded theAhmed Kathrada Foundation to continue his life's work.[16]
In 2017, Kathrada appeared along with remaining surviving co-defendants at the Rivonia Trial,Andrew Mlangeni andDenis Goldberg, along with lawyersJoel Joffe,George Bizos andDenis Kuny in a documentary film entitled “Life is Wonderful”, directed by SirNicholas Stadlen,[17] which tells the story of the trial. The title reflects Goldberg's words to his mother at the end of the trial on hearing that he and his comrades had been spared the death sentence.[18][19][20][21]
Kathrada died at a medical centre in Johannesburg from complications of a cerebralembolism on 28 March 2017, aged 87.[22] He was buried the next day in Johannesburg in accordance withIslamic rites atWestpark Cemetery where his funeral also took place there.[15] TheBBC described the funeral as "simple" with "nothing lavish or grand" in sight, and there was a tent "filled with people" who paid their last tribute.[15] His funeral was attended by veterans of the struggle for freedom, ANC stalwarts, South African politicians, civil society and ordinary South Africans. Notable mourners wereFormer PresidentThabo Mbeki,Deputy PresidentCyril Ramaphosa, last two remainingRivonia trialistsDenis Goldberg andAndrew Mlangeni, last two remainingLittle Rivonia TrialistsLaloo Chiba andMac Maharaj, former South African lawyer of Rivonia trialists and little Rivonia TrialistGeorge Bizos,Graca Machel,Winnie Mandela,Sophia De Bruyn,EFF leaderJulius Malema, including theGauteng PremierDavid Makhura who made welcoming and the Former PresidentKgalema Motlanthe who was keynote speaker for the funeral and theMinister of FinancePravin Gordhan who was given a resounding applause by everyone due to his fight against corruption led by president Zuma and the Gupta Famil.[15] PresidentJacob Zuma, Kathrada's opponent, did not attend the funeral in accordance with the family's wishes.[15]
Zuma ordered the South African flag to be flown athalf-mast to mark Kathrada's death and postponed a cabinet meeting in order to allow cabinet members to attend the funeral.[15]
In addition to receiving theIsitwalandwe Award (the ANC's highest possible accolade) whilst still in prison in 1988,[23] Kathrada has also been awarded four Honorary Doctorates, including the University of Massachusetts Amherst (2000), theUniversity of Missouri,Michigan State University, and theUniversity of Kentucky.[24]
Kathrada was voted 46th in theTop 100 Great South Africans in 2004.[25]
He was awarded thePravasi Bharatiya Samman by theMinistry of Overseas Indian Affairs in 2005.[26]
On 18 July 2011, he and his wife were the chief guests on Nelson Mandela International Day at theUnited Nations Information Centre for India and Bhutan, where he shared his views with children.[27]
