FITTING SENDOFF FOR A GENTLE GIANT
THE sight of flag-waving ANC supporters mourning one of their own at the Covid-19 compliant Janazah (funeral prayers) of ANC MP Hisamodien (Hishaam) Mohamed at his home in Pinelands after his sudden death from a heart attack last week, was poignantly endearing and touching.
It is not often that MPs, lawyers and judges command such respect from grassroot supporters and activists in an age when politics and political culture seemed to have been captured by cronyism, corruption, narcissism, blinkered ideology and self-enrichment.
While President Cyril Ramaphosa and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni at the launch of the government’s R500 billion anti-Covid-19 Economic and Fiscal Support Package in April could not resist the temptation to invoke the Zulu spirit of thuma mina (send me), 55-year-old Hishaam was the embodiment of that spirit in his work and activism as a “people’s MP and lawyer”.
He comes from a long tradition of ANC and other compatriots going back to the very founding father Chief Albert Luthuli, stalwarts such as Govan Mbeki, Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko, Bram Fischer, Helen Joseph et al, Robert Sobukwe of the PAC and Imam Abdullah Haron, who were not merely driven by their Struggle against the injustices and inhumanity of apartheid, but through their unimpeachable integrity, sense of purpose and moral compass.
How on earth has the ANC after 26 years in power forfeited this noble legacy to the modern-day vagaries of state capture, rampant corruption, abuse of power, incompetence and mismanagement?
Patriots from various walks of life, disillusioned by the status quo, often invoked as an emotional release the spirit of thuma mina, a heartfelt call to public service popularised by legendary jazz musician, the late Hugh Masekela in his song of the same title.
Hishaam’s mentor was Dullah Omar, anti-apartheid activist, lawyer, and respected minister of justice from 1994 till his death in 2004.
Omar once reminded me that the criminal justice system the ANC “inherited was designed to fight opponents of apartheid and not crime, which has always been bad in our country.
“In the new democracy there is greater visibility, transparency and media willingness to expose problems. The best protection is a mobilised community,” advice that personified the work of his young protégé.
Public service was the modus vivendi of Mohamed, who as a paragon of modesty, would have been embarrassed by the many tributes and accolades. When ANC grandees such as former president Thabo Mbeki clamour for the party to return to its founding values, it is the above tradition that screams out for re-birth.
Western Cape ANC spokesperson Lerumo Kalako, spoke for millions when he said: “The sudden death of this kind, gentle and committed servant of the people came as a great shock. Comrade Hishaam touched us all and went out of his way to help wherever he could.”
Mohamed was born on January 2, 1965, in Lotus River. He studied law at University of Western Cape (UWC) graduating with three degrees culminating in an MA in Public Administration (Cum Laude) in 2003. In between he completed a Senior Executive Management Course at Harvard Business School in 2001.
He started humbly as a temporary clerk at Athlone Magistrate’s Court in 1990. By 1995 he was admitted as an advocate in the Western Cape High Court and served from 1997-2019 as provincial head of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
In 2015, he won the UWC Chancellor’s Outstanding Alumni Award “for providing access to justice and promoting community participation in the criminal justice system, particularly at rural and township courts”.
His interest in politics started at Wittebome High School, after which he joined the UDF and served on the ANC executive committee (Western Cape) from 1995-2018.
Hishaam leaves behind his wife, Rachmat, sons Imraan and Uzair, and daughter Haneem.