Gora Ebrahim

Ahmed Gora Ebrahim (29 May 1936 – 25 November 1999) was a South African politician and former anti-apartheid activist. He was the foreign secretary of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) during apartheid and represented the party in the National Assembly from 1994 to 1999. Shortly after losing his parliamentary seat in June 1999, and shortly before his death in November that year, he defected to the African National Congress (ANC).

Early life and anti-apartheid activism Ebrahim was born on 29 May 1936 in Durban in the former Natal province. He and his younger brother, Ebrahim Ismail, were both politically active in their youth, in his case in Trotskyite circles at Natal University and the University of the Witwatersrand. he joined the PAC in 1957 and went into exile in 1963 after the party was banned. After a single term in the assembly, he lost his seat in the 1999 general election, in which the PAC performed poorly. In the aftermath of the election, media reports suggested that Ebrahim was on the brink of defecting from the PAC to the ANC, which had apparently offered him a diplomat post; he defected soon afterwards.

Personal life and death Ebrahim met his French wife, Xaviere, in China, where she worked as a translator. They had two children, a son and a daughter, who were born in exile in Tanzania.

Months after joining the ANC, Ebrahim died on 25 November 1999 at his home in Berea, Johannesburg after suffering a heart attack.