Ahmed "Kathy" Kathrada has joined a long list of great patriots, who with selfless sacrifice and resolute struggle, contributed immeasurably to the birth of a free, democratic South Africa.
Today, we mourn his death, but also celebrate his life – as we say: “We will never forget you, Uncle Kathy.”
Born in Schweizer-Reneke in the then Western Transvaal on August 21, 1929, Kathrada tasted the bitter effects of racial discrimination when white and African schools in the town of his birth would not accept him, and he had to move to Johannesburg to be educated.
In eGoli, he was influenced by giants of the Indian Congress movement, such as Yusuf Dadoo, IC Meer and Yusuf Cachalia – to such an extent that by the age of 12 he became a political activist, joining the Young Communist League of South Africa.
During the Second World War, Kathrada, like so many other black South Africans, questioned why people without rights should support the war effort of South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts. But he went even further than that: he also agitated against enlistment, via the anti-war campaign of the Non-European United Front.
Feisty, funny, a highly effective organiser, a doer, the person who got things done – Kathrada was all this, and more.
He was never afraid to stand up for what he believed was right. Some of his early exchanges with Nelson Mandela, who would later become his great friend, were spoken about by others, and even Mandela himself, with great respect years later.
“What Kathrada was able to with remarkable effect, said Joel Joffe, one of the legal team at the Rivonia Trial, in which Kathrada was one of the accused, “was to heckle pointedly, with biting and pertinent interjections, and often with a great deal of sarcasm and humour.”
After his release from prison, Kathrada, like Mandela, worked energetically for justice and reconciliation among all South Africans – and did not hold back on criticising the ANC government when he felt the occasion demanded it.
Kathrada touched many lives – and the biggest tribute we can pay to him is to carry on his legacy, by continuing the never-ending fight for a truly free, just and equal South Africa.
Hamba Kahle, Uncle Kathy.