Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim

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Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim
Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim.jpg
Ebrahim in 2010
Born(1937-07-01)1 July 1937
Durban, South Africa
Died(2021-12-06)6 December 2021 (aged 84)
Johannesburg, South Africa
Other namesEbie
OccupationAnti-apartheid activist, lawmaker
Children3

Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim (1 July 1937 – 6 December 2021) was a South African anti-apartheid activist of Indian origin who was a member of the African National Congress's armed wing uMkhonto we Sizwe. He was tried in the Pietermaritzburg sabotage trials of 1963 and was sentenced to a 15-year imprisonment at the Robben Island Maximum Security Prison.

Popularly known as Ebie, he served as a lawmaker in the first democratically elected government of South Africa in 1994 and also served as the country's deputy minister for international relations between 2009 and 2015.

Early life[]

Ebrahim was born in Durban in 1937 to parents, Hafeeza and Mohammed Adam Modan, of Indian origin. His father was from the Indian state of Gujarat and traveled to South Africa in 1933, while his mother was born in South Africa. His father took the surname Ebrahim from the family with whom he had traveled to South Africa.[1][2]

Ebrahim's schooling was taken care of by his grandmother after the authorities denied him primary school admission, stating that schools for Indian students were full and could not admit him. This continued for five years until he was ten. He then joined a government funded school The Hindu Tamil Institute.[1]

Career and activism[]

Ebrahim was exposed to speeches from the African National Congress (ANC) and Natal Indian Congress (NIC) leaders when he attended their rallies in Durban as a 13 year old. During this time he was introduced to activism that fought discrimination against Indians in the country.[1] Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's passive resistance movement, he attended Albert Luthuli's rallies. Luthuli, an ANC leader, would later go on to be the first African to win a Nobel Peace Prize, in 1960.[3]

Ebrahim joined the anti-apartheid movement by joining the NIC in 1952 during the Defiance campaign.[1] In the same year, he became a member of the ANC Youth League. As a member of the NIC he got to be a delegate to Congress of the People that adopted the Freedom Charter in 1955.[4][5]

He went on to become a member of the ANC armed wing Umkhonto We Sizwe in 1961 and was a member of the organization that carried out sabotage across the country.[1][6] He would later say that the Sharpeville massacre of 1960, where 69 protestors were shot dead by the Transvaal police, changed his mind about peaceful means of protest and passive resistance, leading him to join the armed wing of the ANC.[7]

He was arrested in 1963 under the Sabotage act.[4][5] He was tried in the that included 18 other activists and was sentenced to a 15-year imprisonment at the Robben Island Maximum Security Prison. His time at the prison coincided with the time that other prominent activists including Nelson Mandela were in the same prison.[4] During his time in prison, for a brief period he shared his cell with Jacob Zuma, who would later be the president of the country.[3]

Ebrahim would write in his memoir later of the physical abuse, torture, and suffering inflicted in the prison saying, "In prison we were assaulted, starved, under-clothed and exposed to bitter cold weather. We were sworn at and humiliated in the most degrading manner. We broke stones and ate a measly meal. For years we were made to stand stark naked for long periods of time in an open courtyard, sometimes in biting cold weather." Despite this, he used his time in the prison to obtain two university degrees, Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Commerce, from the University of South Africa.[3][8]

Ebrahim was released from prison in 1979, with the condition that he not participate in any political activities.[1] Ebrahim went into exile in 1980 at the instructions of the ANC.[5] However, he was arrested again in 1989 for planting landmines in white-owned farms in Swaziland (now Eswatini) in 1986, along with two others. He was kidnapped from Swaziland by South African apartheid agents and sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment, again in Robben Island.[4][9][10] Ebrahim was released from prison in 1991, when the court of appeal ruled that the South African court's jurisdiction did not extend over a foreign country and hence ruled the kidnapping illegal.[1]

Ebrahim in Australia (2013)

Ebrahim was part of the first democratically elected government of South Africa in 1994.[4] In this new role, he started as a lawmaker and later became a mediator, participating in mediations between the Palestinians and Israel, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and also in Nepal, Bolivia, Kosovo, and Burundi.[11] As a mediator in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict he advocated for a middle ground between the multiple Palestinian organizations. He met the Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat in 2001 in the West Bank during this time. In 2002, he was part of a group of South Africans that called for a Palestinian boycott of Israel and called for sanctions against the Israeli state.[12] In 2010, he issued a statement that the "Israel and Palestine conflict is primarily about freedom to live in dignity" and called for an "end to the cleansing of Palestinians from Jerusalem."[13]

He was appointed the deputy foreign minister in 2009 and served in the position for six years between 2009 and 2015.[4] He also served as the member of national executive of the African National Congress for over 26 years between 1991 and 2017.[1]

Personal life[]

Ebrahim, who was also known as Ebie,[14] met his future wife Shannon née Field, a United Nations official, in 1998. The couple married in 2000 and went on to have a son and a daughter. He also had another daughter from his earlier relationship with the American academic Julia Wells.[15]

Ebrahim was also known to be a fan of Indian film music, listening to singers including Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, and Geeta Dutt. It is noted that when he was underground on radio duty scanning radio stations, including Radio Moscow, Voice of America, South African Broadcasting Corporation, and the BBC, he would find himself tuning to All India Radio listening to Indian film music.[15] When incarcerated prisoners in Robben island were allowed to choose music for broadcast, he would select Bollywood music to confuse the prison warders.[15] He was also a fan of Soviet realist writer Nikolai Ostrovsky's works.[15]

Ebrahim died on 6 December 2021 at home in Johannesburg. He was aged 84.[4] He was provided a state funeral by the Gauteng province at the Westpark Cemetery.[16]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Explained: Who was Ebrahim Ebrahim, the Indian-origin anti-apartheid veteran?". The Indian Express. 7 December 2021. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  2. ^ author., Ebrahim, Shannon. Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim : a gentle revolutionary. OCLC 1061275307. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ a b c "S.African anti-apartheid veteran Ebrahim dies aged 84". gulfnews.com. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "South African anti-apartheid veteran Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim dies at 84". South China Morning Post. 6 December 2021. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  5. ^ a b c "Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim". People's Assembly. Archived from the original on 10 July 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  6. ^ Kasrils, Ronnie (8 December 2021). "Remembering Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim". Tribune. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  7. ^ "S.African anti-apartheid veteran Ebrahim dies aged 84". gulfnews.com. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  8. ^ "Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim". People's Assembly. Archived from the original on 10 July 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  9. ^ "S. African anti-apartheid veteran Ebrahim dies aged 84". France 24. 6 December 2021. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  10. ^ Battersby, John D.; Times, Special To the New York (17 January 1989). "Afrikaner Paper Urges Talks With Mandela". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  11. ^ "South African Anti-Apartheid Veteran Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim Dies At 84". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  12. ^ "Call for South Africa to cut ties with Israel". www.iol.co.za. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  13. ^ AFP and TOI staff. "South African anti-apartheid, Palestinian rights advocate Ebrahim dies at 84". www.timesofisrael.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  14. ^ "Explained: Who was Ebrahim Ebrahim, the Indian-origin anti-apartheid veteran?". The Indian Express. 7 December 2021. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  15. ^ a b c d "Ebrahim Ebrahim obituary: A life that leaves behind a substantial legacy of kindness and compassion". www.iol.co.za. Archived from the original on 7 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  16. ^ "WATCH: Gauteng Premier David Makhura pays tribute to Struggle stalwart Ebrahim Ebrahim". www.iol.co.za. Archived from the original on 7 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.

Further reading[]

  • Ebrahim, Shannon. Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim: a gentle revolutionary. OCLC 1061275307.

External links[]

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