Ahmed Kathrada’s autobiography is a moving, touching and often amusing read about a man who not only observed, but also actively participated in the shaping of a country’s history.

Born a shopkeeper’s son in the rural town of Schweizer-Reneke, he became the trusted confidante of some of the most prominent political figures in South Africa’s struggle history, among them Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. Politically active at the age of 10, and joining the Young Communists’ League at 14, Kathrada – or ‘Kathy’, as friends and family affectionately called him – devoted his life to the freedom struggle in South Africa. Persecuted, driven underground and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial, Kathrada spent 18 years on Robben Island, where he grew close to both Mandela and Sisulu, whom he regarded as a second father. On the island, in his tiny garden patch, Kathrada buried the original draft of Mandela’s autobiography, until such time it could be smuggled to London. Having lived side by side with men who shaped the history of this country and assumed positions of power, Kathrada himself remained humble. Eventually released from prison after 26 years, he eschewed a cabinet post, instead opting to oversee the Robben Island Museum project. In this book, truly a collection of memoirs, he affords us rare glimpses into his and other activists’ lives during the struggle and imprisonment, and sketches poignant cameos of those who would become South Africa’s post-apartheid leaders. This is a fascinating book about a modest man who experienced a momentous life.

Contributor:

Nelson Mandela

Publisher:

ZEBRA PRESS

ISBN:

9781868729180

Publication date:

August 2004

Length:

230mm

Width:

150mm

Thickness:

29mm

Weight:

732g

Edition:

New title

Pages:

416

Illustrations:

Illustrations, facsims., ports.

Readership:

General

Staunch and subtle, fiercely moral and tender, idealist and daringly independent-minded, emotions not blunted by stoicism, humour not defeated by merciless humiliation and hardship - Ahmed Kathrada's Memoirs are read through the prism of his character. Nadine Gordimer in the Sunday Independent Another testament to Kathrada's magnetic character is the diversity of the endorsements at the front of the book: author and historian, Anthony Sampson; Archbiship Desmond Tutu; and vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town, Njabulo Ndebele. Less predictably through, they also freature film actor Amitabh Bachchand; film critic Roger Ebert and the pop-cultural cherry on top, U2 superstar and human rights activist Bono. Alex Dodd, This Day (South Africa)