{"id":33512,"date":"2017-03-28T12:26:44","date_gmt":"2017-03-28T12:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/s-african-anti-apartheid-icon-ahmed-kathrada-dies\/"},"modified":"2017-03-28T12:26:10","modified_gmt":"2017-03-28T12:26:10","slug":"s-african-anti-apartheid-icon-ahmed-kathrada-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/s-african-anti-apartheid-icon-ahmed-kathrada-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"S.African anti-apartheid icon Ahmed Kathrada dies aged 87"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Celebrated South African anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, a Robben Island prisoner and one of Nelson Mandela’s closest colleagues in the struggle against white rule, died early Tuesday aged 87.}<\/p>\n

Kathrada was among those tried and jailed alongside Mandela in the Rivonia trial in 1964, which drew worldwide attention to the brutalities of the apartheid regime.<\/p>\n

He died in hospital in Johannesburg after a short illness following brain surgery, his charity foundation said.<\/p>\n

Kathrada spent 26 years and three months in prison, 18 of which were on Robben Island, the notorious jail off the coast of Cape Town.<\/p>\n

After the end of apartheid, he served from 1994 to 1999 as parliamentary counsellor to President Mandela in the first African National Congress (ANC) government.<\/p>\n

Retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu described Kathrada as “a man of remarkable gentleness, modesty and steadfastness,” hailing him a moral leader of the anti-apartheid movement.<\/p>\n

“These were people of the highest integrity and moral fibre who, through their humility and humanity, inspired our collective self-worth -\u2013 and the world’s confidence in us,” Tutu said in a statement.<\/p>\n

{{- ‘A great patriot’ -}}<\/p>\n

Kathrada’s activism against white-minority apartheid rule started at the age of 17, when he was one of 2,000 “passive resisters” arrested in 1946 for defying laws that discriminated against Indian South Africans.<\/p>\n

The ANC party was banned in 1960, and two years later Kathrada was placed under “house arrest”.<\/p>\n

Soon afterwards, he went underground to continue the struggle as a member of the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).<\/p>\n

In July 1963, the police swooped on Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, a Johannesburg suburb, where Kathrada and other senior activists had been meeting in secret.<\/p>\n

At the famous Rivonia trial, eight of the accused were sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour on Robben Island.<\/p>\n

His fellow prisoners included Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Denis Goldberg.<\/p>\n

“The nation has lost a titan, an outstanding leader and a great patriot,” the ANC said in a tribute to Kathrada on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“His life is a lesson in humility, tolerance, resilience and a steadfast commitment to principle.<\/p>\n

“Uncle Kathy, despite disagreement with the ANC leadership from time to time, never abandoned nor turned his back on the ANC.”<\/p>\n

The Nelson Mandela Foundation lauded him as “the embodiment of promise” during the apartheid years, saying Kathrada was “a comrade, associate and close friend of Nelson Mandela’s through seven decades.”<\/p>\n

{{- Key negotiator -}}<\/p>\n

Released from prison in 1989, the softly-spoken Kathrada belonged to the golden generation of freedom fighters untainted by later corruption scandals.<\/p>\n

In jail, he had been a teacher for fellow prisoners and a strategic thinker who formed part of the ANC delegation in the negotiations that finally ended apartheid.<\/p>\n

Derek Hanekom, a fellow veteran activist and now a government minister, said he had lost a “revolutionary mentor and dear friend”.<\/p>\n

“Comrade Kathy was a gentle, humane and humble soul. He was a determined revolutionary who gave his entire life to the liberation struggle in our country,” Hanekom said.<\/p>\n

Fellow Robben Island prisoner Laloo “Isu” Chiba said Kathrada was a figurehead to anti-apartheid colleagues.<\/p>\n

“He has been my strength in prison, my guide in political life and my pillar of strength in the most difficult moments of my life,” Chiba, 89, said in a statement issued by the Ahmad Kathrada Foundation.<\/p>\n

Kathrada will be buried according to Muslim religious rights on Wednesday, the foundation said.<\/p>\n

He choose not to pursue a political career, but remained an activist and was critical of the current ANC government under President Jacob Zuma.<\/p>\n

He was survived by his wife, Barbara Hogan, also an ANC stalwart.<\/p>\n

“This is great loss to the ANC, the broader liberation movement and South Africa as a whole,” said Neeshan Balton, head of Kathrada Foundation.<\/p>\n

“‘Kathy’ was an inspiration to millions in different parts of the world.”<\/p>\n

\"South<\/figure>\n

Source:AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Celebrated South African anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, a Robben Island prisoner and one of Nelson Mandela’s closest colleagues in the struggle against white rule, died early Tuesday aged 87.} Kathrada was among those tried and jailed alongside Mandela in the Rivonia trial in 1964, which drew worldwide attention to the brutalities of the apartheid regime. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[160],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-33512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-theophile-niyitegeka"],"bylines":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"contributors":[{"id":160,"name":"Th\u00e9ophile Niyitegeka","slug":"theophile-niyitegeka","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":3}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33512\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33512"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=33512"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=33512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}