Ahmed Kathrada . Veteran South African anti-apartheid fighter. Known as Uncle Kathy . Former deputy and adviser to President Nelson Mandela during his term ( 1994 – 1999 ), he was part of the first circle of historical leaders of the African National Congress (ANC). Nelson Mandela’s cellmate at Robben Island jail. He was a prominent figure in the late 1980s during the negotiations between the ANC and the white regime that contributed in the early 1990s to the fall of apartheid and the country’s first free elections in 1994.
Summary
[ hide ]
- 1 Biographical synthesis
- 1 Trajectory
- 2 Illness and death
- 2 Publications
- 3 References
- 4 Sources
Biographical synthesis
He was born on 21 of August of 1929 in Schweizer Reneke-a small town in the province of the Western Transvaal, South Africa. Son of a family of Indian immigrants.
He dropped out of school at 17 to take part in the fight against separate housing laws.
He was married to Barbara Hogan, a former minister and veteran of the fight against segregationism.
Trajectory
He was arrested in 1963 along with Nelson Mandela and part of the staff of the African National Congress (ANC) in his clandestine headquarters in Johnnaesburg and charged with sabotage.
A year later, in 1964, he was tried and sentenced for his political activities and ideas to life imprisonment in Robben Island prison, along with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba and Elias Motsoaledi, in what are known as Trials of Rivonia. He spent 26 years in detention and was released along with his fellow prisoners in 1989, when the segregationist regime began negotiations with the black resistance to dissolve and make way for multiracial democracy.
He was a prominent figure in the late 1980s during the negotiations between the ANC and the white regime that contributed in the early 1990s to the fall of apartheid and the country’s first free elections in 1994.
He was elected an ANC member of parliament in the first democratic elections, held in 1994, and was an advisor to President Mandela during his term (1994-1999), with whom he left politics in 1999.
Since retiring from politics in 1999, he has led the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation (AKF) to fight inequality.
A member of the country’s Indian minority and a Muslim religion, he was later involved in several campaigns to support the Palestinian people, and launched numerous projects for social justice and against racism since the foundation.
He was part of the first circle of historical leaders of the African National Congress (ANC). He was also a member of the South African Communist Party (SACP).
Sickness and death
He was admitted at the beginning of March 2017 due to dehydration, later the doctors located a clot in his brain, proceeding to operate on him. He was unable to recover from the surgery he underwent and later experienced some complications.
He died on 28 March of the 2017 in the Donald Gordon Hospital in Johannesburg at 87 years of age [1] .
Publications
Author of the book No Bread for Mandela- Memoirs of Ahmed Kathrada, Prisoner No. 468/64
