AV Mahomed

Hurley Centre.

“Apart from daily hot meals, the centre also provides medical care, counselling and shower facilities for the destitute.”

Mahomed was instrumental in the launching of the Social Cohesion Institute at the Grey Street Mosque last year, which brought together King Goodwill Zwelithini and various political, religious and cultural leaders.

His influence also ensured the 1860 Heritage Centre and its assortment of Indian artefacts had a permanent home, after years of struggle.

The Centre is located on Derby Street, where the Durban Documentation and Cultural Centre once stood.

Mahomed’s community activism began in 1963, he was 17 at the time, when he became the president of the Natal Memon Youth League.

Their purpose was to help widows and assist families of deceased people with funerals.

“The League crumbled after a year because the elders in our community became jealous and felt threatened by the work we did. So they deliberately spread untruths about us, which made it impossible to continue our work,” Mahomed claimed.

In 1967 he joined the Natal Memon Jammat, another organisation committed to well being of the poor and providing study bursaries for needy students.

He became the Jammat’s president in 1997.

During his seven-year term as president, a major accomplishment was building a community centre on Hendry Road, to advance the Jammat’s outreach initiatives.

Mahomed got to interact with other outstanding youth leaders from around the world in 1976.

By then he was the president of the Umgeni