ANN ARBOR—Ahmed M. Kathrada spent 26 years as a political prisoner during the apartheid era in South Africa, most of that time with Nelson Mandela. On Thursday (Oct. 17), he will discuss his experience during a lecture at the University of Michigan. The program, which is coordinated by the Center for Afroamerican & African Studies (CAAS) South Africa Initiatives Office, begins with a 6 p.m. reception at the Ehrlicher Room in 411 West Hall. The political activist will speak at 7 p.m. on "A Life of Political Activism and Robben Island as a Symbol of Reconciliation and Memory." Kathrada also will hold a discussion 11 a.m. Friday (Oct. 18) in the Hayden Lounge, 111 West Hall. Both gatherings are free and open to the public. Born to Indian immigrant parents in 1929, Kathrada became a political activist as a teen-ager. He participated in campaigns of the Congress Alliance with African National Congress (ANC) leaders such as Mandela and Walter Sisulu. In October of 1963, he was one of the accused in the Rivonia trial, charged with sabotage and attempting to overthrow the government by violent means. When the trial ended the next summer, Kathrada, Mandela, Sisulu and five other individuals were sentenced to life imprisonment. He spent 18 years with his colleagues in the isolation section of the Maximum Security Prison on Robben Island, then—in 1982—moved to Pollsmoor Maximum Prison in Cape Town. With the exception of Mandela, Kathrada and the others were released October of 1989. "While we will not forget the brutality of apartheid, we will not want Robben Island to be a monument of our hardship and suffering," he said. "We would want it to be a triumph of the human spirit against the forces of evil … a triumph of the new South Africa over the old." Kathrada oversees ANC’s public relations department and is chairman of the Robben Island Museum in Cape Town. For additional information on Robben Island, visit www.robben-island.org.za

The CAAS Web site is http://www.umich.edu/~iinet/caas/

Contact: Jared Wadley