The Triangle

Issue date: 11/4/05 Section: Entertainment

Ahmed Kathrada, former leader in the African National Congress (ANC) was one of the convicts in the infamous Rivona Trial that sent himself, Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu to prison for 26 years. Kathrada, at 76 years old, has recently written a book entitled Memoirs, telling of the struggle for freedom the trio faced and how he became the man he is today.

Kathrada was born Aug. 21, 1929 in Schweizer-Reneke, South Africa, to Indian immigrant parents. He grew up during the period of apartheid in South Africa. Apartheid was a system that the Afrikaner minority of South Africa used in order to keep the different racial and ethnic groups separate. Kathrada described the hierarchy as first whites, or Afrikaners, then Indians, Coloreds and Black Africans. Along with many other unjust laws, only the Afrikaners were allowed the vote. Because the schools were separate, Kathrada could not attend school in Schweizer-Reneke, and at eight years old, he traveled to Johannesburg to attend an Indian school. While he was attending school, he came in contact with a youth group known as Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC), and soon, he became "political".

Kathrada met Mandela at the age of 21. Mandela was 11 years his senior, but they became friends after a debate which Kathrada asserts, "In the end, I won." Around that time, the ANC and the TIC signed the Pact of Cooperation and they collectively came under one banner.

For many years, the fight against apartheid had been a passive resistance campaign. The turning point in the movement occurred when 69 people were killed during a passive resistance effort in the 1960s. Mandela received permission from the ANC to form Umkhonto we Sizwe, or "Spear of The Nation", which was an armed wing. Their main rule was that nobody was to be harmed, intentionally or not. Kathrada described their main objective as "forcing the enemy to the [negotiation] table."

The police raided their headquarters in Riviona, South Africa on July 11, 1963. Kathrada was among 11 people arrested. For ninety days, they were held without any contact whatsoever with each other or the outside world. Two of the detainees were physically tortured. They were all threatened with death. Eight of the "Riviona Trialists" were convicted, and each was sentenced to life in prison. They were sent to Robbin Island, which housed one of the few prisons for nonwhite political prisoners. Apartheid carried over into prison. Blacks, whether adults or not, were looked on as children; they were even called "boy" or "girl". Mandela, Sisulu, and the other black convicts were forced to wear shorts, whereas everyone else was given pants. Blacks were also given less food, no bread with their meals, and less sugar for their coffee.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools