A BRAVE LIFE

Born: November 3, 1941, in Breyton, former Transvaal

Occupation: Teacher, member of the SACP and Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Died: October 27, 1971

Parents: Haji Yusuf Ahmed Timol and Hawa Ismail Dindar. His father came to South Africa in 1918 at the age of 12 from Kholvad in Surat province of Gujarat in western India. He was one of six children, with two sisters, Zubeida and Aysha, and three brothers, Ismail, Mohammed and Haroon.

TIMOL showed an interest in politics from a young age. His father was a close colleague of Dr Yusuf Dadoo, who was leader of the Transvaal Indian Congress and later chairman of the SACP.

Timol received a scholarship from the Kholvad Madressa in Surat to pursue a teaching course at the Johannesburg Training Institute, at the time the only institution of higher education for Indians in the then Transvaal. He was elected vice-chairman of the Students Representative Council, which was affiliated to the National Union of South African Students.

In December 1966, Timol resigned as a teacher and left South Africa on the pretext of going to Mecca for the Hajj, with the secret intention to live in London for the next three years.

It was in Saudi Arabia that he met Dadoo and Maulvi Cachalia, a stalwart of the liberation struggle in exile in India. Both inspired the young man to champion his nation’s struggle.

In 1967, Timol left Saudi Arabia and arrived in London where he became a member of the SACP and MK.

He was selected with Thabo Mbeki to attend the International Lenin School in Moscow, then returning to London where he received training from SACP leader Jack Hodgson. He then came home to South Africa.

Timol’s murder sparked nationwide shock, anger and demands for an inquiry. Support came from a broad spectrum of South Africans, including even the right wing, white United Party and various churches, the militant SA Students Association, the Coloured Labour Party and the National Indian Congress. – Staff Reporter