Dear All,

he story of anti-apartheid activist and community organiser Fatima Meer is one of a life committedto fighting injustice and oppression. This remarkable South African activist and author was perhaps the most active and vocal woman from Durban’s Indian community to engage with the apartheid. She was also Nelson Mandela’s first biographer, a close friend of both Nelson and Winnie Mandela and the first non-white lecturer at the University of Natal.

Meer’s remarkable life and career are the subject of former BBC producer Arjumand Wajid’s book Born to Struggle. Wajid first met Meer in 1992 when she won a BBC bursary to “study the Indian community’s role in the liberation movement.” Their friendship developed over the years and in 2005 she embarked on this project after asking Meer if she’d like her to be her biographer since Meer’s failing eyesight meant she was struggling to put together an autobiography.

The result is not a hagiography. Instead, it is a candid, nuanced portrait of a courageous and committed woman who spent her life fighting apartheid and trying to bring the country’s Black and Indian communities together. Wajid tells Fatima Meer’s story by first giving some background into the Indian community in South Africa, when and how this came into being and the laws that restricted the lives of these ‘coloured’ people in South Africa. A family history is recounted and a family tree is provided in the appendices. Political and historical information is then provided in the context of Meer’s life.

Fatima Meer was not a member of the African National Congress but she worked closely with the ANC and other groups allied in the anti-apartheid movement. Her initial activism was within the National Indian Congress of which her lawyer husband, Ismail Meer, was a member. He was initially in the Transvaal Indian Congress and the Communist Party and he was one of the activists, including Nelson Mandela, who were arrested and put in the dock in what were termed the ‘treason trials’ in 1956. Wajid’s account of how Fatima coped while her husband was in prison gives many insights into the young woman’s fortitude and determination as she coped with three young children and the stress of his incarceration. In one of her letters to him she wrote about this “sorrowing the loss of my husband” but she was unwavering in her political commitment: “I resent the trials, but not for a fraction of a second do I regret the beliefs, the ideals, the actions that have landed us in this.”

In 1954,Fatima Meer was served with a banning order. Under this two-year ban she was prohibited from leaving the Durban district, from going into most black areas and from writing, speaking or organising anything in which any policy or principle of the apartheid government was questioned. At the time, she was expecting her second child. The banning order showed how dangerous the authorities considered her to be. She was the first Indian woman to be banned in South Africa and Wajid says she mentioned this often “with great pride, as a badge of honour.” Her husband received his banning order the following day.

Fatima Meer herself was imprisoned in 1976 and was kept is isolation for most of her 113-day incarceration. In the Old Fort Prison in Johannesburg with her were Winnie Mandela and several other women of the Black Women’s Federation which she had been instrumental in forming in 1973.

Fatima Meer herself was imprisoned in 1976 and kept in isolation for most of her 113 day incarceration. With her in the Old Fort Prison in Johannesburg were Winnie Mandela and several other women of the Black Women’s Federation, which she had been instrumental in forming in 1973. She wrote about the experience in Prison Diary for which Winne Mandela wrote the foreword. During this period the two women also discussed the idea that Meer should write a biography of Nelson Mandela.

The first edition of this biography was published in 1988. It was titled Higher than Hope. However, it was heavily censored by the regime. The second edition of the book was published in 1990 and received a lot of international attention. Meer also embarked on a book tour of the UK and Europe. The book was later criticised in South Africa as being a propaganda exercise to which Meer responded “What else could have been written about the man when he had been in prison for more than twenty years?” Winnie Mandela defended the work forcefully and attributed the criticisms to naivete or jealousy declaring that “Fatima did the unthinkable.Who would have dreamt of writing a book on Mandela at that time?”

In the post-apartheid elections in 1994 Fatima Meer’s husband, Ismail was elected as an ANC legislator in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature but she was not given a ticket or nominated for any significant government post. Although many people expressed surprise at this, she was actually not a member of the ANC. More to the point, she was so independent minded that it seems she was regarded by the party as unpredictable and perhaps too principled to be completely ‘loyal.’ One official she worked with said, “When we catch sight of that little stooped figure in the sari clumping down the corridor, we, grown men, quiver in our suits. She is the hardliner on the board– fearless and tenacious... but respected not only because of the moral line she takes by… always asking ‘But is it the right thing to do?’”

Despite being confined to a wheelchair in her later years she continued to be active: writing, advising, attending community events.

Apart from the political and social activism, Meer, a sociologist by profession, was involved in research, teaching and mentoring and responsible for the establishment of the Institute for Black Research at her university in 1972.

Despite her unwavering commitment, Meer faced many of the heartaches and struggles that are the activist’s lot: sacrifice and loss. Most poignantly, her son went into exile as a student. She saw him only twice in the 15 years he was away from South Africa.

Arjumand Wajid’s biography is a fascinating account of a fiercely independent and principled woman and a reminder of the sacrifices so many gave to end apartheid. The book (published by OUP) was launched in South Africa last year at the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Best wishes

Umber Khairi