Monday, October 24, 2005
3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
William Benton Museum of Art

Tuesday, October 25, 2005
4:00 p.m.
Rome Commons Ballroom

Ahmed Kathrada, a veteran of South Africa’s liberation struggle, was convicted in the Rivonia trial and served 26 years as a political prisoner with Nelson Mandela and others on Robben Island and at Pollsmoor Maximum Prison.

Born in 1929 of Indian immigrant parents in the Western Transvaal, Kathrada began his anti-apartheid activities when he was 11. He was imprisoned for the first time at the age of 17 for defying a new law against Indians’ ownership and occupation of land.

Kathrada joined the African National Congress political movement and, in the 1950s, participated in many campaigns alongside ANC leaders including Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. He was one of the accused in the Treason Trial of 1956-1961.

After the banning of the ANC and other organizations in 1960, he continued his political activities despite detentions and house arrest. He went underground in early 1963, but was soon arrested with Mandela, Sisulu, and others at Rivonia, and charged with sabotage. In 1964, the trialists were sentenced to life imprisonment. Kathrada spent the next 26 years in maximum security prison, first on Robben Island and later at Pollsmoor.

Like other leaders of the anti-apartheid struggle, Kathrada had a firm belief in the justice of the cause and the inevitability of eventual success. Despite the efforts of the authorities to crush the spirits of political prisoners through hard labor quarrying stone and numerous other deprivations, Kathrada and other leaders encouraged their fellow prisoners not to give in.

They found ways to continue their political activities within the prison, and emphasized the importance of studying. Kathrada became the first person to earn a bachelor’s degree on Robben Island, and accomplished a total of four degrees while incarcerated.

He was released in 1989. After the ANC was unbanned in 1990, Kathrada served in the highest echelons of the party, and in 1994 was elected a member of the National Assembly. That year, he also was appointed parliamentary counselor to President Mandela.

Kathrada has played a leading role in providing for former political prisoners and in preserving the history of Robben Island. A selection of his prison correspondence was published in 2000.

He is a recipient of the Isithwalandwe award, the highest honor accorded by the ANC.

Ahmed Kathrada’s visit is made possible by the UNESCO Chair & Institute of Comparative Human Rights