South African anti-apartheid veteran Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim dies at 84

Ebrahim spent years imprisoned on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was also imprisoned for 27 years

He was freed in 1991 and joined the government after South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994

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Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim pictured in 1989, aged 51. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:45pm, 6 Dec 2021

Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim, a veteran of the fight against apartheid who spent years imprisoned on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela, died on Monday aged 84, South Africa’s ruling party announced.

Ebrahim died at his Johannesburg home after a long illness, the African National Congress (ANC) said in a statement.

He “was a long-standing member of the ANC, a patriot who served his country in different capacities with humility, dedication and distinction,” the party said.

A largely unsung figure in the chronicles of apartheid, Ebrahim joined the struggle against white-minority rule in his early teens, becoming an ANC youth activist in 1952.

He later became a member of the ANC’s armed wing and was arrested in 1963 for sabotage.

Nelson Mandela looks out of the window of the prison cell he occupied on Robben Island in this 1996 file photo. Photo: Reuters

He was tried alongside 18 others and sentenced to 15 years on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was also imprisoned for 27 years.

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