Ahmed Kathrada interviewed by Bob Vassen and Peter Alegi March 24, 2006 East Lansing, Michigan, United States.
"I was in somebody's storeroom overlooking the square... We could peep through peepholes. Because we were banned, we couldn't take part in it." [5:47]
Ahmed Kathrada explains the organization of the Congress of the People and the police raid as people voted on the provisions of the Freedom Charter.
Born in 1929, Ahmed “Kathy” Kathrada dropped out of high school to do political work, participating in many campaigns of the Congress Alliance. He was active in the Transvaal Indian (Youth) Congress and the South African Communist Party and was detained and put under house arrest. He went underground in 1963 and was one of the accused at the Rivonia Trial, although he was not a member of the ANC military wing. He spent 18 years on Robben Island, where he earned two BA degrees and helped Nelson Mandela edit his autobiography. In 1994, he was elected to Parliament and was a senior advisor to President Mandela.
