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Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim, a former veteran of the war effort discrimination who spent years in prison on Robben Island along with Nelson Mandela, has died at the age of 84, the ruling South African ruling party has announced.
Ebrahim died at his home in Johannesburg after a long illness African National Congress (ANC) said in a statement on Monday.
“He was a former member of the ANC, a patriot who served his country with diversity in humility, dedication and diversity,” the party said.
Ebrahim, an unknown figure in the history of apartheid, joined the struggle against white supremacy in his 1952 career.
His life followed the dictates of the liberation movement – from violent protests, to war, to imprisonment on Robben Island twice, and eventually to democracy.
Known as “Ebie”, he was born in Durban on July 1, 1937. As a child, he saw his father arrested twice for violating laws that barred Indians from traveling freely within South Africa.
By the time he was 13, he was getting involved in politics.
Encouraged by the anti-Mahatma Gandhi protests in India, Ebrahim attended the talks of Albert Luthuli, an ANC leader who in 1960 became the first African to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
He tried to join the protests, but the political parties did not allow him because of his childhood.
As an Indian, Ebrahim was initially not allowed to join the ANC. Instead he joined the Natal Indian Congress and became a delegate to the Congress of the People in 1955.
The conference brought together human rights activists, bringing together major public debates on how South Africans want to be governed. The result was the Freedom Charter, which is now seen as the first document to support South Africa’s democracy.
Like many others in the movement, the Sharpeville massacre in 1960 changed Ebrahim’s views on peaceful protest. Seeing police kill 69 protesters led him to join the ANC’s armed forces.
‘Beatings, starvation in prison’
He was arrested in 1963 and detained on Robben Island, where he studied with Mandela and shared a room with former President Jacob Zuma.
“In prison we were beaten, starved to death, naked and cold,” he wrote in an article.
“We were sworn in by shame and humiliation. We smashed rocks and ate fresh water.
“For many years we were exposed to the elements in the open for extended periods, sometimes during the coldest of winters. One of my best friends has since died from injuries. ”
However, Ebrahim spent days in prison earning two university degrees.
After his release, he went into exile to rejoin the ANC. But in 1986, he was kidnapped by apartheid rebels in neighboring Swaziland, now Eswanti, and tortured and imprisoned on Robben Island.
Mandela was given the task of negotiating with his fellow political prisoners on the negotiations that led to the end of apartheid and the transition to democracy.
Ebrahim was released in 1991 and won a parliamentary seat in the first democratic elections.
He later served as an ambassador and mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as in Burundi, Kosovo, Bolivia and Nepal.
In an interview with AFP in June 2021, Ebrahim said he was concerned that the fruits of democracy had not spread evenly, meaning extreme poverty and unemployment.
But he also said he trusted President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“It continues to play a role in ridding the world of corrupt leadership and corruption. We will recover, “he told AFP.
And he expressed frustration with his former prison colleague Zuma, who is accused of corruption.
“I was very close to him and we slept close to each other,” he said, however, adding that in prison Zuma was “very intelligent”.
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