Ahmed Kathrada

Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada OMSG (21 August 1929 – 28 March 2017), sometimes known by the nickname "Kathy", was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist.

Kathrada's involvement in the anti-apartheid activities of the African National Congress (ANC) led him to his long-term imprisonment following the Rivonia Trial, in which he was held at Robben Island and Pollsmoor 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.

Early life Ahmed Kathrada was born on 21 August 1929 in the small country town of Schweizer-Reneke in the Western Transvaal, the fourth of six children in a Gujarati Bohra family of South African Indian immigrant parents from Surat, Gujarat. Once in Johannesburg, he was influenced by leaders of the Transvaal Indian Congress such as Dr. Yusuf Dadoo, IC Meer, Moulvi and Yusuf Cachalia, and JN Singh.

Political activist At the age of 17 he left school to work full-time for the Transvaal Passive Resistance Council in order to work against the Asiatic 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. He was elected as the leader of the large multi-racial South African delegation.

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.

The trial ended in June 1964; Kathrada was sentenced to life imprisonment along with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Andrew Mlangeni, Billy Nair, Elias Motsoaledi, Raymond Mhlaba and Denis Goldberg. Kathy was the youngest prisoner (34 years old, at the time of arrest).

Imprisonment Kathrada giving a tour of Robben Island, where he was imprisoned between 1964 and 1982, to then-U.S. President Barack Obama's family in 2013. For the following 18 years, Kathrada was confined to the Robben Island Maximum Security Prison off Cape Town along with most of his Rivonia Trial co-defendants.

On 15 October 1989 Kathrada, along with Jeff Masemola, Raymond Mhlaba, Billy Nair, Wilton Mkwayi, Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi, Oscar Mpetha, and Walter Sisulu were released from Johannesburg prison.

Activities after release After the unbanning of the ANC in February 1990, Kathrada served on the interim leadership committees of both the ANC and the South 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 a fellow of the University of the Western Cape's Mayibuye Centre.

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"

Kathrada married Barbara Hogan, former anti-apartheid activist who was imprisoned for nine years, later Minister of Health and then Minister of Public Enterprises in the ANC government.

In 2008, he was invited to be the keynote speaker at the UNESCO Global Intergenerational Leadership Development Conference at the University of Connecticut in Hartford, Connecticut, held from 2-11 August. The annual conference is hosted by the UNESCO Chair and Institute of Comparative Human Rights. In his address, given on 4 August 2008, Kathrada spoke of what he had learnt from Nelson Mandela when both incarcerated on Robben Island. Many in the audience of 75 young people from 55 countries, were reported to be "spellbound by Kathrada’s courage, humility and sacrifice".

Also in 2008, he founded the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation to continue his life's work.

In 2017, Kathrada appeared along with remaining surviving co-defendants at the Rivonia Trial, Andrew Mlangeni and Denis Goldberg, along with lawyers Joel Joffe, George Bizos, and Denis Kuny in a documentary film entitled Life is Wonderful, directed by Nicholas Stadlen, 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.

Death and legacy Kathrada died at a medical centre in Johannesburg from complications of a cerebral embolism on 28 March 2017, aged 87. He was buried the next day in Johannesburg in accordance with Islamic rites at Westpark Cemetery where his funeral also took place there.

The Ahmed Kathrada Award of Excellence is awarded by the Congress of Business and Economics.

Honours and awards In addition to receiving the Isitwalandwe Award (the ANC's highest possible accolade) whilst still in prison in 1988, Kathrada has also been awarded four Honorary Doctorates, including the University of Massachusetts Amherst (2000), the University of Missouri, Michigan State University, and the University of Kentucky.

Kathrada was voted 46th in the Top 100 Great South Africans in 2004.

He was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in 2005.

On 18 July 2011, he and his wife were the chief guests on Nelson Mandela International Day at the United Nations Information Centre for India and Bhutan, where he shared his views with children.