Sunday Tribune

Anti-apartheid activist remembered

TASCHICA PILLAY taschica.pillay@inl.co.za

TRIBUTES were paid this week to anti-apartheid campaigner, Hanef Bhamjee, who passed away last Saturday after a short illness.

Bhamjee, 75, who lived in Cardiff in the UK, has been described as a legend who dedicated his life to the fight for freedom.

Bhamjee fled South Africa for the UK in the 1960s because of his involvement in the student wing of the African National Congress. He was secretary of the Wales Anti Apartheid Movement from 1981 to 1994.

“He was indefatigable in leading and sustaining the anti-apartheid movement in Wales. He had lived in Cardiff for decades, having left South Africa in difficult circumstances. He was a legend who led the Wales anti-apartheid movement with great verve and distinction and for everyone involved was regarded as a total legend,” said UK Member of Parliament and former anti-apartheid activist, Lord Peter Hain in a BBC news report.

Dr K V ( Keller) Moodley, Bhamjee’s close friend and comrade, described him as a humble caring person, a committed revolutionary, a socialist and internationalist, a freedom fighter and fearless champion for the cause of social justice.

“From an early age, Hanef was exposed to the effects of apartheid by not being able to attend a local school in Wolmaranstad (in the old Transvaal) and had to travel quite a distance to a school in an African area. This set him on a lifelong dedication to the struggle against apartheid and for a free, democratic and non racial South Africa.

“Some of us were recruited by Hanef to do underground work for MK in the Pietermaritzburg area. This included organising boycotts, distributing pamphlets, political education camps, painting slogans calling for the end of apartheid and the repeal of the 90-day detention laws. Hanef also recruited young activists to engage in social responsibility projects that exposed them to the inhumane effects of apartheid. This resulted in Hanef

being harassed by the local security branch, leading to interrogation on a number of occasions,” said Moodley.

He said following increased harassment, Bhamjee left South Africa to further his political education and training and to connect with the exiled leadership of the ANC in London.

“While in London he engaged with Comrades Oliver Tambo, Dr Yusuf Dadoo and Joe Slovo. Hanef travelled throughout the UK drumming up support for the struggle against apartheid. He addressed major conferences on the opposition to apartheid, including addressing the UN committee on the Boycott Apartheid movement,” said Moodley.

In 2003 he was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the Queen in recognition of his services to race relations, the Wales Anti-apartheid Movement and the charity and voluntary sector.

In 2009, the Gandhi Development Trust presented Bhamjee with a Satyagraha award for his contribution to the struggle for freedom in South Africa.

Ela Gandhi, granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, said Bhamjee was South Africa’s brave freedom fighter in the struggle for liberation.

“We are losing so many of our strong leaders and activists. He started participating from an early age in various activities in the Natal Indian Congress. When he left the country in 1960 he continued to work from Wales in the anti-apartheid movement. He did a lot of work in isolating South Africa and publicising the apartheid atrocities. In Wales he worked for the good of all people,” said Gandhi.

INDEPENDENT

en-za

2022-01-16T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-16T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://sundaytribune.pressreader.com/article/281715502980882

African News Agency