Activist was a father to many
ANC and UDF activist Achmat Semaar, from Mitchells Plain, was laid to rest yesterday after his death on Monday at the age of 72.
Semaar, also the father of journalist and political commentator Karima Brown, was a Struggle activist in Mitchells Plain during the height of the fight against apartheid in the 1980s.
ANC provincial spokesperson Dennis Cruywagen described Semaar as “one of the greatest servants and an activist who dedicated his life to the cause of the ordinary people and the ANC. He was a beacon of hope in Mitchells Plain in a time when only a brave few dared to resist apartheid.”
In a Facebook post, Brown said her father was an activist all his life. “He was always involved with ordinary people. He was a father to many and was incredible. If he did not work for the ANC, he would have died.”
Semaar had six children and 14 grandchildren. A marine joiner by trade, he helped establish the Mitchells Plain Advice office after the launch of United Democratic Front in 1984. At the height of the student uprising in 1985, he helped establish the Mitchells Plain crisis committee in response to the arrest and detention of students.
Tyrone Parks, a Mitchells Plain Crisis Committee member who worked closely with Semaar, said: “He was our guardian and quite supportive of our youth struggles at the time.… We worked hard together at the Mitchells Plain Crises and Advice Centre... we had fun talking about everything under the sun, especially about food.”
Semaar was appointed as an administrator for the Mitchells Plain Parliamentary Constituency office and served members of Parliament such as Marius Fransman, Trevor Manuel and Derek Hanekom. In 1992, he joined the Lawyers for Human Rights as regional co-ordinator for paralegal training, where he facilitated training for community-based paralegals. In 1999, he joined the National Community-Based Paralegal Association as the national co-ordinator of the Access to Justice programme.
Semaar had recently retired as the Parliamentary Constituency office administrator and by the time of his death, was still involved on the board of the Mitchells Plain Education Forum and as a director of the Mitchells Plain Skills Centre. He was laid to rest at the Mowbray cemetery.