Struggle veteran who warned of black bourgeoisie

1937-2015

AN anti-apartheid revolutionary for more than 50 years, Issy Dinat, who has died in Johannesburg at the age of 78 after a short illness, was also a man ahead of his time, exemplified by his conviction that solar power was the solution to South Africa’s energy challenges. He is invariably described as a kind and generous person, despite having endured detention, torture and exile during the struggle.

Born in Krugersdorp on October 11 1937, and raised in an activist environment, the young Issy and his siblings often attended public meetings with their father, Ebrahim, a member of the Transvaal Indian Congress and the Communist Party.

Dinat joined the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress during the ’50s, serving as its joint secretary with Indres Naidoo, who would later be incarcerated on Robben Island. Dinat left school at 16 to work in a family-owned bicycle store in Rustenburg, and was largely self-taught thereafter.

During the early ’60s, Dinat lived with Goolam Hoosen and Amina Pahad, parents of Aziz and Essop, while working as a bookkeeper and studying at Damelin College.

In November 1963, he married Naidoo’s sister, fellow activist Ramnie, whose family home in Doornfontein was famous as the “People’s House”, for its hospitality towards ANC and SACP comrades, including Nelson Mandela before his arrest.

Dinat continued working underground for the banned SACP under the guidance of Violet Weinberg and SACP chairman Bram Fischer. He was detained without trial in December 1964 and again in 1966, under the 90-day and 180-day detention laws respectively.

In detention, he was interrogated and tortured by the Special Branch several times. Forced into hiding between his arrests, Dinat was separated from his family. During his four-month detention in 1966, he was called to give evidence at Fischer’s trial. His pregnant wife, Ramnie, queued daily at the court during the trial, but was often turned away because the seats for blacks in the gallery were full, many being occupied by police officers.

After his release in 1966, Dinat helped activists flee South Africa before being instructed to go into exile in London. This was where he initially lived with Paul Joseph, a 1956 treason triallist, and his wife, Adelaide. Dinat’s wife and children joined him in February 1967, compelled to leave on a oneway exit permit after Ramnie’s passport was withdrawn.

A member of the ANC’s Barnet Unit in north London, Dinat served on the party’s finance and fundraising committees. In exile he worked for the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the Middle East, Greece and Botswana.

His enthusiasm for technological innovation led him to pioneer a solar lighting business in Botswana during the late ’80s. In later years he continued to advocate solar energy for electrifying South Africa’s informal settlements. TORTURED, BUT TIRELESS: ‘Issy’ Dinat campaigned for the Anti-Apartheid Movement while in exile in London

In 1992, the Dinats returned to South Africa, where Issy became active in the ANC Kagiso branch and helped to revive its Azaadville branch.

During the political transition, he played a crucial role in the local government negotiating forum. As a social justice proponent, he believed local governance was key to overcoming oppression. Elected as a councillor after the first democratic local government elections, Dinat later became town clerk of the Krugersdorp municipality, and a street in SinqobileKagiso is named Issy Dinat Street in his honour.

Dinat’s commitment to gender equity found voice in his conviction that all girls should study mathematics and science as a route to achieving equality. His daughter, Natalya, entered the medical field as a direct result.

Dinat enjoyed mentoring young people, discussing new technologies with them while encouraging them to think deeply about socioeconomic inequality. As early as 1993, Dinat was prescient in warning against the rise of a “black bourgeois democracy” that would not serve the interests of all South Africans.

As a Muslim, he viewed his faith as committing him to promote peace and justice; perfectly aligned with his Marxist principles of social equity, as well as his belief that passive resistance (Satyagraha) is a potent weapon against oppression. Dinat respected all spiritual beliefs, appreciating their similarities and never imposing his views on others. He read widely, and particularly enjoyed British writer and former nun Karen Armstrong, often citing her work to support his conviction that all religious fundamentalisms have common roots.

Dinat moved to Killarney, in Johannesburg, after his retirement in 2001. He is survived by his wife, daughter, his son, Sean, and his sisters Zubie and Rookaya, as well as several grandchildren. — Ayesha Kajee small flat in Hillbrow where they used to meet.

Fischer went underground after leading the defence of Nelson Mandela and members of the ANC high command arrested at Liliesleaf farm in Rivonia in 1963.

Smith tipped him off that he was about to be arrested and shortly afterwards he was.

She wrote an account of her prison ordeal, which included solitary confinement, a 10-day hunger strike and “unending interrogation by up to 15 Special Branch policemen at a time”. It appeared as a front-page splash in the Sunday Times in January 1965 under the headline “How I spent my 90-day term”.

She was released after what she described as “ceaseless efforts” behind