Ahmed Kathrada

Ahmed Kathrada was a veteran anti-apartheid activist who was jailed for life on 12 June 1964, along with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Raymond Mhlaba, Denis Goldberg, Govan Mbeki, Elias Motsoaledi and Andrew Mlangeni. He died in Johannesburg on 28 March 2017 and was born in Schweizer-Reineke on 21 August 1929.

Released on 15 October 1989, he went on to become a Member of Parliament after South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. He served one five-year term, during which he also acted as Mr Mandela’s Parliamentary Counsellor.

Mr Kathrada was chairperson of the Robben Island Museum Council from its inception until his term expired in 2006. The author of four books, Mr Kathrada is also the recipient of four honorary doctorates and Isithwalandwe, the highest award the African National Congress can bestow on an individual. He established the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation in 2008.

Mr Kathrada served as a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation until late 2016, when he retired.

Timeline

1929, 21 August	Ahmed Kathrada is born in Schweizer-Reneke, South Africa
1938	Forced to leave his home where there was no Indian school, to attend school in Johannesburg
1941	Joins the Young Communist League at the age of 12
1943	His father dies
1945	Joins the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress
1946	Is jailed for one month in the Passive Resistance Campaign
1947	Cancels his trip to the World Youth Festival in Prague after being hospitalised with a broken leg
1949	Drives the Revered Michael Scott to Botswana
1950	Clashes with Nelson Mandela over a planned strike
1951	Registers at the University of the Witwatersrand, but drops out to attend the World Youth Festival in Berlin and to work at the World Federation of Democratic Youth in Budapest
1952	Is arrested for his role in the Defiance Campaign and charged with 19 others under the Suppression of Communism Act
1952, December	Convicted and sentenced to nine months hard labour suspended for two years
1954	Is banned for the first time
1956	Is arrested in a police swoop of 156 activists
1957	Is issued with a five-year banning order
1957 to 1961	Stands trial for treason
1961, 29 March	Is among the final 28 accused acquitted of treason (including Wilton Mkwayi who had absconded during the trial and Elias Moretsele who died)
1962, August	Is named as secretary of the “Free Mandela Committee”
1962, 22 October	While attending Mandela’s trial for inciting workers and leaving the country without a passport, he is served with a notice putting him under house arrest. He became the second person in South Africa to be placed under house arrest, nine days after Helen Joseph
1962, 7 November	Nelson Mandela is sentenced to five years in prison
1963, May	Goes underground
1963, 9 October	Appears in court for the first time since his arrest with 10 other accused including Nelson Mandela
1963, 29 October	Is charged with 199 acts of sabotage
1963, 30 October	One of the accused, Bob Hepple, is discharged and he flees the country. The indictment against the remaining 10 accused is quashed. They are immediately rearrested
1963, 12 November	A new indictment is introduced by the prosecution
1963, 25 November	The 199 counts of sabotage are reduced to 193. The defence applies to quash the indictment
1963, 26 November	Judge De Wet dismisses the defence application
1963, 3 December	All 10 accused plead not guilty to charges of sabotage
1964, 4 March	James Kantor is acquitted leaving nine accused on trial
1964, 20 April	The defence case begins with Nelson Mandela’s speech from the dock
1964, 11 June	Eight accused are convicted of sabotage. Rusty Bernstein is acquitted
1964, 12 June	All eight are sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour
1964, 13 June	Seven of the men arrive on Robben Island. Denis Goldberg is held separately at Pretoria Prison because he is white
1968	Completes his BA in History and Criminology
1972	His mother dies
1975	Prisoners on Robben Island have access to hot showers
1976	Spends two weeks in traction for a back ailment
1976	Completes his B Bibliography degree in African Politics and Library Science
1977	Has his studies suspended because he helps Mandela with the memoirs he wrote secretly in prison. Mandela and Sisulu’s studies are also suspended
1982, 21 October	Is transferred to Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison on the mainland where he joins Mandela, Sisulu, Mlangeni and Mhlaba who were transferred six months earlier. On the same day, Barbara Hogan, whom he later married, is sentenced to 10 years in prison for treason
1982	Completes his BA Honours in History
1983	Is made a patron of the United Democratic Front
1985	Completes his BA Honours in African Politics with the dissertation The Radicalisation of Black Politics in South Africa 1900-1961
1988	Is awarded Isithwalandwe, the highest honour bestowed by the ANC
1989, 10 October	Watches President FW de Klerk on television naming him among a group of prisoners to be freed
1989, 15 October	Is released from prison
1990	Begins a relationship with activist and former political prisoner Barbara Hogan
1991	Is elected on to the National Executive Committee of the ANC
1992	Undertakes the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca on behalf of his late mother
1994, 27 April	Votes for the first time in his life
1994	Is appointed President Nelson Mandela’s Parliamentary Counsellor
1997	Is elected chairperson of the Robben Island Museum Council
1997	Declines his nomination to the National Executive Committee of the ANC
1999	Publishes his first book, Letters from Robben Island
1999, June	Is awarded South Africa’s Order for Meritorious Service from President Mandela
1999	Retires from Parliament
1999	Is appointed by Nelson Mandela as a Trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation
2002	Receives an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Massachusetts
2002	Receives an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Durban-Westville
2004	Receives a Doctorate of Humane Letters by the University of Missouri
2004	Publishes his autobiography Memoirs
2005	Receives the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, by the President of India
2005	Publishes his third book, A Free Mind, Ahmed Kathrada’s Notebook from Robben Island
2005	Receives an Honorary Doctorate from Michigan State University
2006	Steps down after one term as chairperson of the Robben Island Museum Council
2008	Establishes the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation
2011	Receives an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Kentucky
2012	Receives the Freedom of the City of Johannesburg
2012	Receives an Honorary Doctorate from Wits University
2014	Marries Barbara Hogan
2015	Receives an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Cape Town with Thuli Madonsela and Dikgang Moseneke
2015	Receives the Freedom of the City of Sedibeng
2015	Steps down as a Trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation
2016	Receives the Freedom of the City of London
2016	Receives an award from South Africa Partners
2016, 21 August	Turns 87
2017, 4 February	Publishes his book Conversations with a Gentle Soul
2017, 28 March	Ahmed Kathrada dies in Johannesburg, aged 87