South Africa - Cape Town - 07 October 2022 - Daughters of Imam Abdullah Haron Shamila Haron and Fatima Masoet crying outside the Maitland police cell where their father died.The family who broke down and cried as they entered for the first time, the place where their father died 53 years ago.Imam Haron was in detention for 123 days between two police stations, he was at the Cape Town Central Police station for three months before being sent to Maitland where he died.photograph : Phando Jikelo/African News Agency (ANA)
I attended two days of the inquest into the death of Imam Abdullah Haron as heard in the Cape Town High Court over the past two weeks.
The Imam’s family was present. The Imam died in detention on Saturday, September 27, 1969. An inquest held in 1970 under the apartheid government found the Imam had fallen down a flight of stairs.
It is quite clear to me that the evidence being produced at the present inquest points to the fact that the Imam was tortured and died because of this and did not fall down a flight of stairs.
One asks the question why it took so long for an inquest to be held after 1994, 28 years after democracy! Will information and resistance by the present government to cover up the persecution of people who stood up against the wrongs be allowed by us, or do we have to wait for 52 years?
Surely, one would want to believe that in the present South Africa, people who expose the wrongs of the present government would be protected. The late Neville Alexander, one of SA’s greatest thinkers, said after the national settlement in South Africa in 1994 that we only have a short window period to bring about a radical change in South Africa.
How do we, as ordinary citizens in South Africa, follow in the footsteps of the Imam?
Do we have a democratic political system that will protect the rights of South Africans? In the public service, the government only wants to give workers a 3% increase. Workers are asking for a measly 5%. In the private sector, the situation is even worse. In South Africa government schools, the system is in a crisis:
Low salary scales for most teachers.
The student-teacher ratio is 40:1, and where subjects like maths, physical sciences and accounting is concerned, the ratio is far higher. Most government schools do not even offer these subjects.
I have raised this issue on a number of occasions. For every two primary schools with a similar number of students, we only have one high school. I have challenged the national Education Department to say how they are addressing this crisis.
I appeal to teachers who are presently in the system to, like the Imam, roll up their sleeves and address the inequalities in education. Not to do this is to set education on a backward spiral.
There are teachers in the past who, like the Imam, brought about justice in the education system. It is now up to the present teachers in memory of the great Imam to reawaken the spirit of the Imam and take us forward to a better future.
*Brian Isaacs
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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