Kader Asmal
Kader Asmal was born on October 8, 1934, in the small rural town of Stanger, KwaZulu-Natal to a family of ten. His mother was a home-maker whilst his father worked as a shopkeeper, a shop assistant and then was unemployed. While his parents were not overtly political they encouraged lively debate and while still a school-boy he met with Chief Albert Luthuli who inspired him towards human rights.
There is a consistent theme and concern for human justice that stems from Asmal's childhood. As was the experience for the vast majority of South Africans then, his first brush with racism was as a teenager when a white shop-owner barred him from buying a newspaper.
A transformative moment in his political understanding, according to Asmal, occurred when footage of Nazi concentration camp victims was shown to him, and he decided on a career in law in order to oppose such oppressive mentality. He came to see that there was a definitive link between this tragedy in European history and his own life under apartheid.
The 1950s Defiance Campaign was a significant turning point for Asmal. He was a politicised Matric pupil and he witnessed the Defiance Campaign leaders marching through his small town wearing prison uniforms. This inspired him to lead his school in a stay-at-home campaign.
In 1954 he received his Diploma in Teaching from the College of Springfield Education. This was followed by him moving to London where he enrolled at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He received his Bachelors and Master's of Law Degrees here in 1962 and 1964 respectively.
Unable to return to South Africa because of his involvement with the Anti-Apartheid movement, Asmal began teaching at Trinity College, Ireland for the next twenty-five years. Specialising in human rights, labour and international law, he rose to become the Dean of the Faculty of Arts (1980-1986). He also started both the British Anti-Apartheid Movement (1960) and the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement 1972).
In 1983 he was awarded the UNESCO prize for his work on the advancement of human rights. He also served on the ANC's constitutional committee from 1986. When Asmal returned to South Africa in 1990, he took up the post of Professor of Human Rights at the University of the Western Cape. He held this post until he joined the first democratic government in 1994.
Whilst in exile Asmal effectively opposed the Apartheid regime but he did not limit himself to merely helping the oppressed of South Africa. He also added his efforts to the civil liberty campaigns in Northern Ireland and Palestine.
The popularising of a culture of human rights throughout society has been a life-time goal of Asmal's. He attempted this via his service on the various ANC's structures, especially the NEC, and through his chairing of the Council of the University of the North, to which he was appointed in December 1992.
Asmal was appointed Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry in May 1994, a position he held until 1999. He was appointed as a Minister of Education after the June 1999 elections.
Asmal has also written two books (Reconciliation Through Truth and Shoot to Kill), co-edited another, written nine chapters in books and over time penned 150 articles on legal and political aspects of apartheid, labour law, Ireland and decolonisation.
On the 22 June 2011, Asmal suffered a serious heart attack and died while he was in a Cape Town hospital for a stomach ailment.
He was 76 years old at the time of his death and leaves behind two sons who currently live in Ireland.
Sources
Page Updated: 23 June 2011
