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Profiles From South
Africa
Fatima
Meer
An Example of
Devotion and Fortitude
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By
Goolam Vahed**
Associate professor of history
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Mar. 01,
2006
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In the context of IslamOnline.net's special coverage
of the issue of Muslims in South Africa, we present a series of profiles
of prominent Muslim South African figures. Below is the
profile of Fatima Meer, one of the most active participants in the
struggle against apartheid.
Fatima Meer has arguably been the most popular and
recognizable Indian South African Muslim woman over the past five decades.
She was born in Durban, South Africa, on August 28, 1928, the daughter of
Moosa Meer who was the editor and publisher of Indian Views
(1914-1965), a weekly aimed at the Gujarati-speaking Muslim community of
Southern Africa. Indian Views focused primarily on the struggle
against colonialism, particularly the Indian struggle against British
imperialism, as well as throughout the Islamic world.
Meer's upbringing was not ordinary, and was certainly
unlike that of Muslim girls who were her contemporaries. Indian-born Moosa
Meer was broad-minded and respected all religions. Though not formally
trained in Islamic theology, he was well read and highly respected for his
immense knowledge of Islam. He was also very knowledgeable about Hinduism
and Christianity, and passed these qualities on to Meer who, throughout
her life, has tirelessly fought to build bridges across religious, racial,
class, ethnic, and gender lines.
Meer was initiated into politics at an early age. The
second of nine children, she grew up in an extended family of parents,
aunts, and cousins in a liberal Islamic atmosphere, one that was also
highly conscious of racial discrimination and the international struggle
against colonialism. Assisting with the editing of Indian Views and
engaging in debates over decolonization and religion helped shape young
Meer's outlook. Meer subsequently fashioned a reputation as a tireless and
determined defender of the oppressed, ceaselessly fighting injustice and
discrimination.
Fatima embarked on her career
as a public speaker by sharing the platform with formidable
anti-apartheid campaigners such as Dr. Yusuf Dadoo. |
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Moosa Meer valued education and ensured that all his
children received formal education. Meer attended Durban Indian Girls High
School and subsequently completed her bachelor's and master's degrees in
sociology at the University of Natal. This was a remarkable feat because
it was almost unheard of for women to be educated during the years when
she was growing up.
Meer's political career began in 1946 while she was
still in high school. From 1946 to 1948, Indians engaged in passive
resistance against segregation in Durban. She joined the campaign,
establishing the Student Passive Resistance Committee to support
volunteers. She embarked on her career as a public speaker by sharing the
platform with formidable anti-apartheid campaigners such as Dr. Yusuf
Dadoo. Meer subsequently blossomed as an activist.
Meer's involvement increased when the Nationalist
Party came to power in 1948 and imposed its invidious policy of apartheid.
She spoke publicly against apartheid. Due to her activities she was banned
(1)
in 1952 for a period of three years. She was one of the first South
Africans to suffer this incarceration that confined her to the magisterial
district of Durban and excluded her from all public gatherings and from
being published.
Fatima and her husband were
lucky to survive an assassination attempt when her house was
petrol-bombed by apartheid agents. |
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She was a founder-member of the Federation of South
African Women which organized the famous Anti-Pass March on the Union
Buildings in Pretoria in 1956. Meer organized weekly vigils outside the
Durban prison and provided food and comfort for prisoners. She also
organized a week-long vigil at the Gandhi Settlement in Phoenix, Natal,
which brought Africans and Indians together
through prayers and fasting, led by Sushila Gandhi, the daughter-in-law of
Mahatma Gandhi.
During the 1970s, Meer was involved in student and
women politics during the unprecedented upsurge in resistance following
the liberation of Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique. For her
outspoken public criticism of apartheid, she was again banned in 1975 for
5 years. For attempting to organize a mass rally with liberation leader
Steve Biko, she was detained without trial for 6 months, part of it in
solitary confinement, in indescribable heat and filth.
Shortly after her release in December 1976, Fatima and
her husband Ismail Meer were lucky to
survive an assassination attempt when her house was petrol-bombed by
apartheid agents. This did not dampen her spirit, and she continued to
display selfless courage in the fight for liberation. She was charged
twice for breaking her orders. This was a difficult period for her because
her teenage son, Rashid, was forced into exile in 1976 for his role as an
activist. She did not see him for over a decade.
With Indira Gandhi's help, Meer arranged for African
students to take up scholarships in India to study medicine and political
science. In 1986 she started Phambili High School for Africans, which
opened with an enrollment of 3,000 students. She founded the Khanyisa
School Project in 1993 as a bridging program for African children from
informal settlements to move on to formal schooling.
Meer was a respected academic. She was a member of the
faculty of the University of Natal from 1956 to 1988. During that period,
she acquired an international reputation. She published around 40 books on
a range of subjects, demonstrating her wide interest in the plight of the
underclass and her desire to bridge race and class relations and to create
better understandings across religions.
In immersing herself in
liberation politics, education, social work, poverty alleviation,
and health care, she has been an exemplary
Muslim. |
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Her major publications include Portrait of Indian
South Africans; Apprenticeship of a Mahatma (which was
published in Mauritius, India, and South Africa); Race and Suicide in
South Africa; Documents of Indentured Labour; Higher than
Hope, the first authorized biography of Nelson Mandela; The South
African Gandhi; and Towards Understanding Iran
Today.
Meer's contributions have earned her numerous awards,
such as the Personality of the Year Award from the Union of South African
Journalists (1975) and an honorary doctorate in philosophy from Swarthmore
College (1984).
Meer was high on the list of nominations for the South
African parliament in 1994; however, she declined because of her interest
in non-governmental work. She served on the ANC government in a number of
positions.
In May 1999, she helped found the Concerned Citizen's
Group (CCG) to persuade Indians not to vote for white parties as many had
previously done in 1994. She organized successful interdicts against
unlawful eviction and won reprieve with costs. She continues to be
actively involved with these communities. She was also an active
participant in marches on the American consulate during 2001 and 2002 to
protest the oppression and murder of Palestinians and war in Afghanistan.
She was elected patron and founder member of Jubilee 2000, which was
formed to cancel the unpayable debts of the poorest countries.
The past few years have been extremely difficult for
Meer. She lost her son Rashid with whom she was reunited after almost
two decades to a tragic car accident. Years of struggle took their toll
when Meer suffered a stroke in July 2002, which left her partly paralyzed
and bedridden.
Through all this, the remarkable 78-year-old Meer has
remained a redoubtable fighter and doughty champion of the underclass. In
immersing herself in liberation politics, education, social work, poverty
alleviation, and health care, she has been an exemplary Muslim, constantly
striving to improve the lot of her fellow people. Her immense contribution
to the underclass, women, and the poor, has played an important role in
positively portraying Islam and Muslims in South
Africa.
**Goolam Vahed is an associate professor at the
Department of Anthropology, Gender, and Historical Studies at the
University of KwaZulu Natal.
1- A banning order would restrict an
individual to a particular magisterial district, require him to report
regularly to the police and prevent him from associating with more than
one person at any time, including family members.
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