From left: Ahmed Kathrada, Nelson Mandela and Cyril Ramaphosa came together to celebrate Kathrada’s 80th birthday at Mr Mandela’s Houghton home today
August 20, 2009 – On the eve of his 80th birthday, anti-apartheid struggle veteran Ahmed Kathrada lunched with Nelson Mandela at his Houghton, Johannesburg home today.
Kathrada, who has known Mr Mandela for 64 years, was joined by activist turned businessman Cyril Ramaphosa, who is also the chairperson of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation. Established in 2007, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation works to “deepen non-racialism”.
Mr Mandela and Kathrada are the only two surviving accused who were charged in all three of South Africa’s major political trials of the 1950s and 1960s: the 1952 Defiance Campaign Trial, the 1956-1961 Treason Trial and the 1963-1964 Rivonia Trial.
On June 12, 1964, they and six others were sentenced to life imprisonment for sabotage in the Rivonia Trial. The others were Walter Sisulu, Raymond Mhlaba, Govan Mbeki, Elias Motsoaledi, Denis Goldberg and Andrew Mlangeni. Because he was white, Goldberg was held separately in Pretoria Central Prison, while the seven others were sent to Robben Island.
Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada
Mr Mandela, Kathrada, Sisulu, Mlangeni and Mhlaba were transferred from Robben Island to Pollsmoor Prison after 18 years. Kathrada was released on October 15, 1989, and Mr Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison (now Drakenstein Prison) on February 11, 1990.
In his birthday message to Kathrada, whom he calls by his nickname, “Kathy”, Mr Mandela said:
“Kathy, our warmest congratulations to you on the occasion of your eightieth birthday. We have spoken often of the long road we have travelled together. But Madala, you would agree that to find ourselves still going strong after nearly a decade into the 21st century is extraordinary. Your friendship has been a great resource to me in good times and in bad. We join with South Africans and many friends abroad in celebrating your life and acknowledging the many contributions you have made to the struggles for justice in our country. May the years ahead bring you good health, and at least some rest in the midst of your many continuing projects.”
After South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, Mr Mandela appointed Kathrada as his Parliamentary Counsellor.