Two icons honoured
ESPITE constant debilitating interrogations by her apartheid tormentors, and inhumane prison treatment, Shanti Naidoo never gave in.
Now her refusal to give any evidence that could incriminate 22 ANC political trialists in 1969 will earn the former Johannesburg activist one of the country’s highest honours.
On Friday President Jacob Zuma will bestow a national order on Naidoo, 82, for her brave fight against apartheid.
She and other recipients, including the late Professor Fatima Meer, “suffered but stood fiercely with the courage of their convictions for their freedom”, the citation reads.
The Order of Luthuli in silver will be bestowed on Naidoo and Meer.
It recognises South African citizens who have contributed to the Struggle for democracy, nation-building, building democracy and human rights, justice and peace, as well as to the resolution of conflict.
Said Naidoo: “If I had not done what I had done, and the others not done what they did, then the trial of 22 people would have taken place.
“But because we refused to give evidence, it fell apart.”
She spent 371 days in solitary confinement, after being charged as a political activist in apartheid South Africa.
Meer is being honoured “for her excellent contribution to the Struggle for liberation. Her gallant and steadfast opposition to social injustices for decades is commendable,” reads the citation.
In 1946, Meer joined many other South African Indians in a passive resistance campaign against apartheid, during which she started the Student Passive Resistance Committee.
She also helped to establish the Durban District Women’s League, an organisation created in order to build alliances between Africans and Indians as a result of the race riots between the two groups in 1949.
In the 1960s, she organised night vigils to protest against the mass detention of antiapartheid activists without trial.
Her daughter Shehnaz, who recently completed her mom’s autobiography, will collect the order on her behalf.
She said: “This award is an acknowledgement and recognition of the remarkable contribution of a remarkable human being.”
It is unclear if Naidoo will attend the ceremony, which will take place at the Sefako Makgatho presidential guest house in Pretoria.