Collection 053 - Ahmed Kathrada Interviews with Nelson Mandela

Identity area

Reference code

MR-RT-053

Title

Ahmed Kathrada Interviews with Nelson Mandela

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Extent and medium

Approximately 100 hours of conversation. A small section relates to the Rivonia Trial ; Sound recordings

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Name of creator

(08 August 1929 - 28 March 2017)

Biographical history

Anti-apartheid activist, politician, political prisoner and MP. Leading member of the ANC and of the SACP. Founding member of the Transvaal Indian Volunteer Corps and its successor, the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress. Imprisoned for one month in 1946 for his participation in the SAIC’s Passive Resistance Campaign against the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act. Convicted for his participation in the 1952 Defiance Campaign. Banned in 1954. Co-organiser of the Congress of the People and a member of the Congress Alliance General Purpose Committee. Detained during the 1960 State of Emergency. One of the last twenty-eight accused in the Treason Trial acquitted in 1961. Placed under house arrest in 1962. Arrested at Liliesleaf Farm in July 1963 and charged with sabotage in the Rivonia Trial. Imprisoned on Robben Island, 1964–82, then Pollsmoor Prison until his release on 15 October 1989. MP from 1994, after South Africa’s first democratic elections, and served as political adviser to President Mandela.

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(18 July 1918-5 December 2013)

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Scope and content

These recordings were generated in the preparation and editing of the "Long Walk to Freedom" book and Anthony Sampson's authorised biography. In both of these projects, Ahmed Kathrada worked closely with Sampson and Stengel (who provided professional support for "Long Walk to Freedom") and Mandela. Transcription and digitisation is in process.

One transcribed extract (extract 5) relates to the Rivonia Trial as Mandela tells Kathrada about a conversation he had with a warder at Pretoria Local Prison during the trial about the fate of the accused.

There may be references to the Rivonia Trial in other recordings and in NMPP2009/57 Rick Stengel Interviews with Nelson Mandela.

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Inventory and transcription in progress

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