Imam Cassiem’s death a ‘gap that can’t be filled’

The death of Struggle stalwart Imam Achmad Cassiem has been described as a “great loss of an outstanding son of the soil”.

Cassiem died on Friday at the age of 77 after suffering pancreatic cancer.

His long-time friend, retired High Court Judge Siraj Desai, said he first encountered Cassiem more than 50 years ago.

“I was then in Grade 8 and he in his matric year at the Trafalgar High School in District Six.

“Together with our maths teacher, Sedick Isaacs, and another fellow pupil, James Marsh, he was arrested on charges of sabotage and sentenced, as a scholar, by the apartheid state to five years’ imprisonment.

“He actually served six years of jail time.

“I think the additional year was for secretly reporting on the prison conditions to Amnesty International or some such organisation.

“As fellow students we were traumatised by his arrest and subsequent jailing.

“And, of course, the imprisonment of James and our teacher.

“I was later to meet up with the Imam both as a client, in my capacity as an attorney and later advocate, and over several decades as a friend and comrade.

“He was a tireless and highly principled revolutionary deeply committed to social justice in our country and elsewhere in the world.

“Influenced in his earlier years at Trafalgar by the politics of non-collaboration with the apartheid state and its allies, he remained throughout his life uncompromising with any attempt to subvert our vision of a just and equitable future society.

“Deeply inspired by the events in 1979 in Iran, he played a significant role in setting up various organisations, in particular Qibla and was its guiding light and strength.

“Putting it mildly, or rather diplomatically, he was not enamoured of the 1994 compromise and viewed it as a betrayal.

“His speeches and writings were underpinned by carefully considered logic and it was often difficult to counter his thinking.

“With the passing of Imam Achmed Cassiem we lose an outstanding son of the soil and it will be difficult to fill the enormous gap he leaves in our ranks. Go well my comrade,” said Judge Desai.

The MJC SA described Cassiem as an honourable and beloved husband, father, and anti-apartheid activist.

“May Allah reward him for the sacrifices and efforts he made to ensure that the rights of people are protected and that justice prevails.”

Cassiem was a leader of Qibla, a PAC activist as well as a Robben Island prisoner. He also served as national chairperson of the Islamic Unity Convention and an adviser to the Islam Human Rights Commission.

His funeral service was held, according to Islamic traditions, in Lansdowne on Friday.

Cape Times