Ahmed Kathrada

Political prisoner, anti-apartheid activist, politician

Ahmed Mohamed “Kathy” Kathrada was born on August 21, 1929 in Schweizer-Reneke, in what was then the Western Transvaal, to parents who were Indian immigrants. He was not permitted into the strictly segregated school in the small town, so he came to Johannesburg, where he could be educated.

As a young lad in the big city, Kathrada was impressed by the leaders of the Transvaal Indian Congress, including Dr Yusuf Dadoo, Ismail Meer, Maulvi and Yusuf Cachalia, and JN Singh, and he became a political activist at the tender age of 12, volunteering and handing out leaflets.

At the age of 17, Kathrada left the Johannesburg Indian High School to work fulltime in the Johannesburg offices of the Passive Resistance Council, attempting to fight the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act, which aimed to restrict Indian political representation, land ownership and trade. This would result in Kathrada’s first stint in jail for civil disobedience.

As secretary-general of the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress, Kathrada came into contact with Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, as an alliance developed between the Indian and African congresses.

Kathrada studied at the University of the Witwatersrand and, in the early 1950s, went overseas as a delegate of the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress.

In 1960 the African National Congress (ANC) and anti-apartheid organisations were banned, and Kathrada’s continued anti-government activities resulted in detentions and house arrests. In early 1963, he went underground, but he was arrested at Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, where the ANC military wing leadership was camped out.

Though Kathrada was not a member of the organisation, he was nonetheless charged with sabotage and attempting to overthrow the apartheid government. The subsequent Rivonia Trial, which ended in June 1964, saw Kathrada sentenced to life in prison, alongside Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi, Raymond Mhlaba and Denis Goldberg. He was detained on Robben Island and at Pollsmoor Prison.

Upon his release in 1989 – after serving 25 years in prison – Kathrada lived with his brother in Willow Street, Lenasia. At the small, Willow Street park, a crowd of several thousand well-wishers gathered to welcome him home.

In February 1990, Kathrada served on the interim leadership committees of both the ANC and the South African Communist Party. He was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee in July 1991 and appointed head of ANC public relations and a fellow of the University of the Western Cape’s Mayibuye Centre. Kathrada went on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 1992.

After the 1994 democratic elections, Kathrada was sworn in as a Member of Parliament for the ANC and became the political advisor to then president Mandela. In 1994 and 1995 he chaired the Robben Island Council (he still serves on the Robben Island Museum Council). In 1999, Kathrada left parliamentary politics.

For his lifetime’s work to bring democracy to South Africa, Kathrada was honoured with the Isitwalandwe Medal (the ANC’s highest tribute) while still in prison and was awarded four honorary doctorates. The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman award was bestowed on him in 2005 by the President of India to commemorate his exceptional contribution in the struggle for freedom from oppression.