Dr Fatima Meer, mother, wife, and sister, activist and academic passed away at St Augustines Hospital in Durban on 12 March at age 82, two weeks after suffering from a stroke.
Dr Fatima Meer, mother, wife, and sister, activist and academic passed away at St Augustines Hospital in Durban on 12 March at age 82, two weeks after suffering from a stroke.
Born in Grey Street, Durban to a family of nine, from an early age Meer began her life of commitment to the country.
She has been described as “a true Gandhian” following his politics of self-sacrifice, and like Gandhi her courageous legacy of human development will always be remembered.
At 16 she raised £1000 for famine relief in Bengal, and initiated literacy classes for black adults in her father’s garage. At 18 she joined the Indian passive resistance campaign and established the Student Passive Resistance Committee. After the National Party gained power in 1948, Meer’s activism grew.
She was a founding member of the Federation of South African Women which was instrumental in organising the women’s march to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956.
In the 50s Meer joined the Natal Indian Congress as an executive member. It was here that she worked with political leaders such as Yusuf Dadoo. She also established the Durban and District Women’s League which aimed to reconcile relations between black people, including Indians after the Cato Manor violence of 1949.
As a result of her increased activism in 1952 Meer was banned by the government for the first time.
She was again banned in the 70s and detained without trial for attempting to organise a political rally with Stephen Bantu Biko.
In the 70s Meer played a key role in founding the Natal Education Trust which raised the money needed to establish five schools in black townships.
She also led rescue operations when the Umgeni River flooded which saved 10 000 Indian victims. Her activism nearly came to an end in 1976 after she was released from detention, when she narrowly missed an assassination attempt at her house in Durban.
In the 80s Meer put her activism into education by organising scholarships for black students to attend higher education intuitions in the United States, India and South Africa.
More recently she became a patron of the Jubilee 2000 movement which aims to write off third world debt. She was also among 104 South Africans to receive the Order for Meritorious Service by former President Nelson Mandela.
Meer taught for over 30 years at the University of Natal’s sociology department. She received four honorary doctorates: in philosophy from Swartmoor College (US) in 1984; in humane letters from Bennet College (US) in 1994; and in social sciences from Natal University in 1998 and in literature from Rhodes University in 2007.
Meer wrote over 20 books and was a well-known scriptwriter. Her biography, Higher than Hope, was
the first authorised biography written on Nelson Mandela and was published in 13 languages.Meer is survived by her two daughters Shehnaaz and Shamin and her brother Farouk.
