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Farewell, Uncle Kathy!
Visionaries like Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada, South Africa’s anti-apartheid crusader who died in March, are a fast disappearing breed. For Kathrada, the principled fight for a non-racial, non-sexist, just South Africa trumped all personal perils.
On 28 March, the world bid adieu to Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada, South Africa’s anti-apartheid crusader. Kathrada, fondly called “Uncle Kathy,” passed away at the age of 87. In a life that spanned close to nine decades, he spent 26 long years in prison. Eighteen of those were spent on Robben Island. Accused of attempting to overthrow South Africa’s white minority government, Kathrada was convicted alongside his comrades Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Denis Goldberg, Raymond Mhlaba, Elias Motsoaledi and Andrew Mlangeni in the famous Rivonia trial of 1964. In time to come, the Rivonia trial would become a war cry against the apartheid regime in South Africa. It would emerge as a symbol for the fight for human justice all over the world. All through his life, Kathrada remained a steadfast foot soldier of this fight, both in prison and outside of it. Archbishop Desmond Tutu rightly described Kathrada’s life as “a legacy of non-racial justice.”
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