Former mayor of Pietermaritzburg dies
THE first democratically elected mayor of Pietermaritzburg, Omar Latiff, died after a heart attack on Friday night.
Latiff, 62, was taken to Mediclinic Pietermaritzburg late on Wednesday with a heart ailment. He was later transferred to St Augustine’s Hospital in Durban where he died.
His friend of many years, Babu Baijoo, said on Wednesday afternoon that he and a group of friends had been with Latiff playing Thunee.
“Before that, during the day, he played golf, and when we left the club everything was fine. At about 10pm he left for home and after that we received news that he had been admitted to hospital,” he said.
Baijoo said the group became friends in the 1980s when they were members of the Pietermaritzburg Combined Residents and Ratepayers Association.
Latiff was later elected city mayor, and he held the office from 1996 to 2000.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Durban Westville (now University of KwaZuluNatal) in 1976.
Among many positions he held, he was a board member of Umgeni Water, from 1995 to 2005, and the co-chairman of the Greater Pietermaritzburg Local Government Negotiation Forum. At the time of his death, he was the chairman of LMD Africa Chartered Accountants Incorporated.
Baijoo said he would remember his friend for his courage and role in supporting the struggle for equality and fighting for a non-racial and non-sexist, democratic South Africa.
“He retired because he was ill, but he continued working and serving in a number of organisations,” he said.
The funeral for Latiff, who lived in Mountain Rise, took place in Pietermaritzburg on Friday
He is survived by his wife, four children and two grandchildren.