Mike Simpson

AHMED KATHRADA AHMED KATHRADA Integrating at grassroots level Ahmed Kathrada on non-racialism D espite what politicians, opinion polls or media reports sometimes indicate, non-racialism in South Africa is alive and well at grassroots level. Every day, ordinary people are integrating, quietly getting to know each other and making friendships across the colour line. This is the message from Ahmed Kathrada, veteran anti-apartheid activist, political prisoner and long-time confidant of the likes of Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. Kathrada, now a sprightly 80-year old and still active in public life, is confident that notable inroads are being made through mediums such as sport, music and even television. “I look at Soweto hosting the Blue Bulls rugby team, I look at the World Cup spirit, I see a PSL [Premier Soccer League] where most of the coaches are white – but nobody complains,” he observes. “Just tune into anything on TV; some of it’s rubbish, but it involves both black and white people. I watched one particular soapie – and it’s all mixed. “You can’t change everything in 16 years, but we’re making good progress towards non-racialism. I see integrated schools, I see universities with a large percentage of mixed students. I look at all of these factors… and I’m confident about the future (of non-racialism),” he adds. Now retired from active party politics, Kathrada spoke to Leadership at the unveiling of an exhibition entitled “Kathy: The Man Behind the Public Figure”, which coincides with the 21st anniversary of his release from prison in 1989. The exhibition remains on public display until 6 September at Liliesleaf Museum in Rivonia, Johannesburg. Poignantly, it was the police 38 | www.leadershiponline.co.za raid at the Liliesleaf ‘safe house’ for activists in July 1963 that led to the Rivonia Trial and the eventual jailing of Kathrada, Mandela and Sisulu, among others. They subsequently spent 26 years behind bars – 18 on Robben Island and a further seven at Pollsmoor prison in Cape Town. After his release, Kathrada worked in ANC executive positions and was also a Member of Parliament for five years. These days, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, founded in 2008, occupies much of his time. Based in the former Indian suburb of Lenasia, near Johannesburg, it is active in propagating non-racialism among black and Indian school learners in the area. Earlier this year, the Foundation published a book entitled Men of Dynamite, which recounts the story of the mainly Indian group of young men who took up arms against the National Party government in the early 1960s. They lived, worked and socialised in the Fordsburg, Vrededorp and Ferreirastown areas west of the Johannesburg CBD which, at the time, were designated as “non-white” in terms of the infamous Group Areas Act. They were eventually arrested and nicknamed the “Dynamite Coolies” by warders at Leeuwkop Prison, where they were held before being transferred to Robben Island. Speaking at the book’s launch, Kathrada acknowledged its importance in recognising the contribution of members of the Indian population to the struggle, and said he hoped it would lead to other similar works. Robben Island His other big interest is his former prison ‘home’ of Robben Island. Kathrada was for many years chairperson of the Robben Island Museum Council and still devotes much time to the project, being steadfast in the belief that it is a “continuous message that needs to be conveyed”. He admits his first return to the island as a free man, accompanying a French television crew, was traumatic. “By that time, I was used to bigger spaces and could not conceive of how you can spend so many years in such a little cell,” Kathrada recalls. But subsequent visits have become routine and he tries to accompany as many special visitors as possible to the island. “People are interested in what happened there, and I find it amazing that visitor numbers never go down,” he says. The 18-year veteran of South Africa’s most infamous prison believes one of the most important lessons is how it was a microcosm of the way in which the apartheid system was applied at the time. “I came into the prison with Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela – of whom were between 11 and 20 years my senior. But the first thing that happened was that my seniors had to wear short pants because all Africans were regarded as ‘boys’ or ‘girls’ – and ‘boys’ wore short trousers!” Kathrada says. “When it came to food, I got more meat, fish and sugar than Mandela because he was African. But I got less than Dennis Goldberg because he was white. I got bread, but not Mandela. He got porridge. “That’s how you personalise things; that’s how we use Robben Island to explain the apartheid system,” he adds. Kathrada says one of his rules when accompanying visitors to the island is that politics must stop as the boat leaves the shores of Cape Town. “We’ve had many people with conflicting political views come; from Yasser Arafat of the PLO [Palestinian Liberation Organization] to the World Jewish “You can’t change everything in 16 years, but we’re making good progress towards non-racialism” North-West University PUK Rugby Institute AHMED KATHRADA Congress, from Fidel Castro to Bill Clinton. So we are neutral when we talk about the island.” In prison Kathrada’s own time in prison was undoubtedly difficult. He recalls longing to be able to hold a child and to hear a child’s cry – something which was impossible in the austere prison environment. The 1960s were the toughest years. The prisoners had almost no access to the outside world and felt the government was close to succeeding in crushing the liberation movement. “But, despite that, the confidence never left us,” he remembers. “As time went by, new information started to trickle in and we began to realise that, far from being lost, the struggle was growing. It was happening in South Africa, and international solidarity and support from civil society all over the world was also developing.” One of the ways to free his mind from the daily drudgery of prison life was to collect quotations he liked, garnered from the few books in the prison library, study textbooks, and the occasional newspaper smuggled in from the outside world. These quotations eventually numbered several thousand – ranging in origin from Daniel Defoe and Oliver Schreiner through to Reader’s Digest magazine and the Rapport Afrikaans newspaper. They were kept in hidden exercise books and eventually became the basis for a book entitled: A Free Mind: Ahmed Kathrada’s Notebook From Robben Island. Kathrada is on record as saying these were probably a continuation of his pre-incarceration debating activities, when he frequently used relevant quotations in his speeches. But he seems to have become an almost unofficial historian of life on the island, using his well-developed literary skills to pen more than 900 letters – 103 of which later became the basis of another book, entitled Letters from Robben Island, a selection of Ahmed Kathrada’s private correspondence,-. He also wrote his own memoirs (published in 2004), in which he recalls that, prior to being imprisoned, he was an occasional slogan painter and graffiti artist with a group called the Picasso Club. One of their ‘raids’ was on the segregated Johannesburg Public Library, where they painted the slogan “Let us black folk read”. When the authorities cleaned it off, the Club responded with the slogan: “We black folk ain’t reading yet”. A very happy birthday, Mdala Many birthdays have passed since I first met Madiba in 1945 – he was 27 and I was 16. We first began “group” celebrations in prison where fellow prisoners began by simply shouting “Happy Birthday” through the windows of our single cells. Having known him close to 60 years, I find it is impossible to box his personality into a single category. Any attempt to do so will find he is an amalgam of the peasant and the aristocrat; the simple everyday individual and the lawyer; the democrat par excellence – at times exasperatingly so; soft and tenacious; shy – yet not without a touch of vanity; obstinate and flexible; generally cool-tempered, with the ability to explode with anger. With all these qualities notwithstanding, he is overwhelmingly a man of great compassion and care. Throughout our prison years, his concern for his fellow prisoners was always uppermost in his mind. In the trenches with the rest of us, he refused to be singled out for special treatment. For example, exemption from work, better food or clothing. He refused to be exempted from our hunger strikes and he refused the 1977 offer to be released. To me, Madiba remains a man whom I respect, admire and love. On the occasion of his birthday, I join the millions of people in South Africa and all over the world, saying: “A very happy birthday, Mdala. May you see many more birthdays and may your wisdom and guidance that saw us through thick and thin remain with us. May your unshaking commitment to a non-racial, nonsexist, democratic South Africa continue to flourish and be our beacon for all time.” Kathy (written for “Leadership” magazine’s Madiba tribute last year) With Mandela Kathrada’s story is closely entwined with that of Nelson Mandela. On three occasions, he was tried with Mandela and ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment with him after the Rivonia Trial. Prior to that, however, he had been involved in semi-clandestine activities and was among a few activists responsible for the security and contacts of Mandela while he operated underground. Later, when Mandela was arrested, Kathrada came out into the open to launch the “Free Mandela” campaign. He still sees Madiba from time to time, but says it is always informal and without an agenda. “Often, if he (Mandela) has read the newspapers already, we’ll talk about that. Otherwise, we chat about the past, or people we know,” Kathrada explains. Does he have a favourite Mandela story? Kathrada says there is one that Madiba himself related at a meeting, not long after his release from prison. A little girl, aged six or seven, confronted him and asked, “How old are you?”, to which the great man patiently replied. She then wanted to know why he had been in jail – to which he again responded. Several more questions and answers followed, before the young girl delivered her verdict: “You’re just a silly old man!”. “Mandela related this at a public meeting,” says Kathrada. “It says so much about him that he’s able to laugh at himself.” Satisfied So, is he satisfied with South Africa’s postdemocracy progress? Kathrada pauses for thought. “No. Although it may be a long time in the lifespan of a human being, 16 years is too short in the life of a nation. “What we have achieved – apart from material gains like houses, water, schools and electricity – is still not enough. “Don’t tell the person in Standerton about statistics. His question is: ‘Where’s my house?’,” he says. But he does not believe that is cause for despair. “I was talking to a very knowledgeable man a month ago, and he said: ‘Take all the post-colonial countries which achieved their independence long before us – and show me one that has achieved in 16 years what we have achieved’.” ▲ Mike Simpson 40 | www.leadershiponline.co.za Creating a quality league As far back as 2000, a previous national coach, a money market manager and a charted accountant developed the concept at the then Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education. They believed there was a necessity for an institute that could develop players in a comprehensive way, preparing them for life after sport, and which is linked to a university. They believed it is possible to incorporate the following into a student-athlete: • Crucial lifeskills such as respect, effort, discipline, self-direction and “taking it off the field“ (practical application). • For the student – athlete to be honest, forthright and respectful. • For sporting skills to build on lifeskills. • To have an athlete that would be able to conduct him or herself on the track as well as off the track. When the North-West University PUK Rugby Institute was established, the Potchefstroom University team (Pukke) had not beaten the Free State University (Kovies) in 17 years. Within a year following the inception of the institute, Pukke had already won the Pirates Grand Challenge, and went on to beat the University of Pretoria (Tukkies), Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) – and within five years, Pukke were the club champions at the prestigious Club Championship. The products of this institute have become national assets. One such example is Henno Mentz, who obtained his honours degree, but also played for the national team against Ireland. He was one of the first successful student-athletes as envisaged in 2000 by the founding fathers of the North-West University PUK Rugby Institute. More than 27 players who have come from this institute have played in the Super 14 league, often described as the most competitive sports league in the world. Between 40 and 50 players are playing in the Vodacom Cup as well as in the Currie Cup competitions. These include players such as Willem van der Wal, Tiaan Liebenberg, Brock Harris, Wickus Blaauw, Tewis de Bruin, Bees Roux, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Frans Viljoen, Billy Wepener, Franco van der Merwe, Straatkat van Zyl, Walter Venter, Deon van Rensburg, Jaco Engels, Rayno Gerber and Naas Olivier. North-West University PUK Rugby Institute has grown from a point when it could not win regional competitions to where it has been the provincial champion for the last 10 years. It has also won the Golden Lions’ Pirates Grand Challenge seven times in the past nine years, and has been national club champion three times in nine years. The institute has also been a leader among university teams in the newly formed Varsity Cup, and only lost to Stellenbosch in the final of 2009. It can be argued that North-West University PUK Rugby Institute has developed into the strongest rugby club in the country over the past decade. Not only has it given the world a model for the student-athlete balance, it has also grown into an institute of preference to sustainably provide new players to South African Rugby. Furthermore, it has made its contribution to equity and transformation in rugby. The Tlokwe City Council recently honoured the North-West University PUK Rugby Institute, its architect André Markgraaff and his visionary associates Professor Johan Rost and Wessel van Rensburg, as well as all the rugby players ‘past and present’ and their coaches with a Special Mayoral Award for the most successful rugby club in South Africa over 10 years. It is indeed making the Potchefstromers proud.