Wits unveils plaque in honour of ‘selfless’ Kathrada

Struggle stalwart Ahmed Kathrada, like the late icon Nelson Mandela, fought a self-less liberation struggle for the benefit of all.

This was the view of Prof Achille Mbembe from the University of Witwatersrand who delivered an address at the unveiling of a plague for an auditorium named after Kathrada at the Mancosa College in Auckland Park.

Mbembe drew comparisons between Kathrada and Mandela through their books. Mbembe quoted from Kathrada’s Conversations with a Gentle Soul which he co-authored with Sahm Venter and from Mandela’s Conversations with Myself.

Looking at commonalities between the two leaders, who were both part of the Rivonia Trialists and served long jail terms on Robben Island for their political beliefs, Mbembe said: “Their time was marked by deep thinking. They showed that we cannot be involved in other praxis such as revolution without thinking deeply. To them, the political liberation had to produce meaning,” Mbembe said.

The two leaders epitomised the fact that one could not be a great leader if one did not go through a system of transfiguration. “They developed an ethic of detachment in relation to one’s own body and shunned personal benefit and consumption,” Mbembe said.

This was demonstrated by Mandela’s statement in his book that all that he possessed could be fitted into a box. Kathrada also played a similar part when he agreed to relinquish a Cabinet post he was offered by Mandela in favour of including the Inkatha Freedom Party in the Government of National Unity in 1994.

Currently Kathrada is hospitalised after undergoing an operation to remove a blood clot on the brain. Kathrada foundation director, Neeshan Balton thanked both the ANC and the EFF for their messages wishing Kathrada a speedy recovery.

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