JOBURG HONOURS KATHRADA The City of Johannesburg Council, today, took a resolution to bestow Ahmed Kathrada with the City’s highest honour – the Freedom of the City - as a celebration of his contribution to change and democracy. Council considered a request by Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, in his capacity as Chair of the Board of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, for the City to bestow Mr Kathrada with its highest honor. The Freedom of the City is the highest recognition a City can present to acknowledge a person's contribution to the welfare of the city and its inhabitants. Ahmed Kathrada is the fifth person to receive this award from the City of Johannesburg. The other recipients - all figures in the liberation struggle - were Walter Sisulu, Beyers Naude, Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo and Dr Beyers Naude. Awarding Kathrada with the Freedom of the city is in line with the city’s policy on the conferment of the Freedom and Awards of the City of Johannesburg to deserving persons. Mr Kathrada has a long and illustrious relationship with the City of Johannesburg. In 1937 Mr Kathrada, at the age of 8; moved from Schweizer-Reneke to Johannesburg. From that time onwards his life as an activist is intimately intertwined with that of the City. At the age of 12 Mr. Kathrada got involved in liberation politics and was arrested, for the first time, at the age of 17. His political mentors, such as Dr Dadoo, JN Singh, IC Meer and Moulvi Cachalia, were all residents of our City. Mr. Kathrada lived at Flat 13 Kholvad House in Market Street in the City Centre. This flat became a center for discussion and debate for Johannesburg progressives. Nelson Mandela stated that it was at Flat 13 that “the first seeds of non-racialism were sown and a wider concept of the nation came into being”. It also became a hub of social activity, across racial and gender lines, which cemented lifelong friendships. In July 1963, the police swooped on Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia where Mr Kathrada and others (Walter Sisulu, Harold Wolpe, Govan Mbeki, etc) had been meeting. This led to the famous 'Rivonia Trial', in which eight accused were sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour. Mr Kathrada spent 26 years and 3 months in prison, 18 of which were on Robben Island. Upon his release he lived for a period in Lenasia and currently lives in Killarney. Deputy President Motlanthe captured the essence of Ahmed Kathrada’s contribution to South Africa’s liberation struggle when he said “Historically the footprints of Ahmed Kathrad can be found in almost every major struggle in our country, from 1946 to the time of his incarceration in 1963 and beyond.” (Speech delivered at the Annual Lecture of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, October 2010) The City in recognising individuals, like Mr Kathrada, marries itself firmly to their life’s work of creating a non-racial, democratic and non-sexist society. It is an objective many sacrificed and died for and it is also an objective around which the City of Johannesburg has developed it’s visionary Joburg 2040 strategy through which it strives to be a prosperous, healthy, literate, safe and socially inclusive City A special Council meeting will be held at the date and venue to be announced to formally confer the honorary Freedom of the City of Johannesburg upon Mr Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada