THE family of anti-apartheid activist and spiritual leader Imam Abdullah Haron are hopeful the re-opening of the inquest into his death at the hands of apartheid police will bring justice some 50 years later.
His daughter, Fatima Haron-Masoet, who was only 6 years old when her father was jailed and later murdered, read out an emotional letter to her father during a memorial lecture to honour his memory yesterday.
“We now have renewed energy that your file, which was declared as classified, will now be reopened and that ruling of 1970 will be overturned in the courts,” Haron-Masoet said.
Haron died in police custody on September 27, 1969 having been held in solitary confinement for 123 days. The autopsy in the 1970 inquest into Haron’s death showed 26 bruises and wounds.
Justice Minister Ronald Lamola recently announced the inquest would be heard in an open court on November 17 and 18.
“Through the passage of time I always wondered what life would have been like if you were at my side. Would your voice have comforted me like a hummingbird hovering over a flower; would the whispers of a parent’s sweet words soothe my soul?” asked Haron-Masoet.
“I have lived in your shadow, drawing strength from the stories and memories that so many others have shared. Why could I not have my own story to tell? I was too young when you left me, too young to engage with your thoughts and imaginations.”
On the day the members of the Special Branch police arrested Haron at his Claremont home, his wife Galiema was told that she would not be able to visit him. “I remember looking up at her face weeping and seeing the deep pain and her horror etched there. She had to start a new chapter without you and so did I.”
Haron-Masoet said it had taken years for the family to speak about all the elements of their late father’s life.
“It was as late as 2006 that Muslim Views published reflections of the painful and unforgettable days.”
Haron-Masoet’s brother, Muhammed, who was 13 years old at the time, saw bruises and wounds on their father’s body as he was prepared for burial.
“At 13 he witnessed the evidence of brutal torture. I remind myself that the blood of martyrs is not spilled in vain. Your legacy continues to have an enormous impact on a spectrum of people across the world.”
The Haron family is working with families of other anti-apartheid activists who died in police custody, including the families of Steve Biko and Fort Calata, to help each other find justice.
Chairperson of the Claremont Main Road Mosque (CMRM) and
UCT researcher Jaamia Galant said Haron’s legacy was characterised by his leadership.
Having lived through the apartheid era and risen to the position of an imam, Haron was hailed for forging a way to reconcile political views with spirituality.
“The youth left school highly politically conscious, perhaps eager to join in the resistance movement against apartheid. Perhaps they felt constrained by the Muslim identity and Islamic world view since the dominant sentiment at the time was that to resist apartheid you had to be a communist or a socialist. To be a communist you couldn’t also hold on to your religious views and identity,” said Galant.
“So it is this struggle of the youth to reconcile the anti-apartheid convictions with Islamic world view that Imam Haron connected with.”
Galant described Haron as a person who embodied leadership that did not shy away from dialogue and engagement with young men and women.
“His leadership was anti-authoritarian, it inspired action for social justice, valued insights and contributions of the youth and contemporaries without privileging one over the other.
“These are the qualities of the enduring legacy that he’s left us that we should take forward today ... as our youth are grappling with broader social, political and economic issues that they struggle to reconcile with Islamic world views,” she concluded.
Former journalist and Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigator Zenzile Khoisan expressed hope that the reopened inquest would shed light and arrive at a decision that would serve justice.
Dean of St Georges’ Cathedral Michael Weeder described Haron as a person who had reconciled humanity with intellect.
“The freedom he fought for was for all humanity,” he said.