Zainab Asvat
Zainab Asvat (born c. 1920 - 30 November 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Asvat was trained as a medical doctor, but was politically active most of her life. Asvat was the first Muslim woman to become a doctor in South Africa.[1]
Biography
Asvat's father took his daughter to political meetings when she was a girl and this helped her become politically active early on.[2] In the 1940s, she studied medicine at the University of Witwatersrand.[2]
In 1946, the South African government passed the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act No. 28, which was also called the "Ghetto Act." [3] This law made it illegal for Indian citizens of South Africa to own land except in "exempted areas."[3] Asvat took a year off of her third year of school, in 1946 to travel to Durban where she was a part of the Passive Resistance Campaign.[2][4] During the campaign, resisters set up tents at the corner of two streets in Durban on 13 June 1946 and by the 16th, their tents were destroyed, stolen and Asvat was injured when a tent fell on her.[2] She was arrested briefly on the 28th, but released by the night.[2] This arrest had an influence on Asvat's younger sister, Amina Cachalia, who later also became an anti-apartheid activist.[4] The day after the arrest, Asvat addressed a gathering of 800 women in the Avalon Cinema, inspiring the group to continue to resist.[5] In July, she was arrested with other resisters and was sent to prison until early October.[2]
After she was released from prison, she, PK Naidoo and Suriakala Patel became the first women elected to the Transvaal Indian Congress Committee.[2] Asvat then returned to medical school and it wasn't until the 1950s that she became active again politically.[2] Asvat, like many Indian women, joined the Federation of South African Women in order to fight apartheid in the 1950s.[3] She organized a "network of support" for the families of the 156 activists who were arrested in December of 1956.[2] Asvat also provided meals for the accused activists during their trials.[2]
In December of 1963, Asvat organized a Women's March to the Union Buildings, where she and other activists protested against the treatment of Indian women in the country.[2] The police set their dogs on the marchers and charged them with batons.[2] In 1964, she was banned from South Africa for five years.[2] She then found out that she would be subject to another five year ban.[6] Asvat and her husband, Dr. Aziz Kazi, received exit permits and moved to London, seeking political asylum.[2][6]
In 2008, her role in opposing apartheid was part of a photographic exhibition called "Our Triumphs and Our Tears," which included portraits by Gisële Wulfsohn and was displayed at the Slave Lodge, Cape Town.[7]
Asvat died in London on 30 November 2013.[1]
References
- ^ a b "Zainab Asvat, Doctor for the People, Passes On". Muslim Views. 28 (1): 25. January 2014 – via Issuu.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Zainab Asvat". South African History Online. 2011-02-17. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - ^ a b c Hassim, Shireen (2006-06-26). Women's Organizations and Democracy in South Africa: Contesting Authority. Univ of Wisconsin Press. pp. 24–25. ISBN 9780299213831.
- ^ a b Aboobaker, Shanti (3 February 2013). "An Iconic Stalwart and a Mother to All". The Sunday Independent. Retrieved 15 November 2017 – via LexisNexis.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help); Unknown parameter|subscription=ignored (|url-access=suggested) (help) - ^ "SA Indian women in the Struggle". The Mercury. 24 October 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2017 – via LexisNexis.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help); Unknown parameter|subscription=ignored (|url-access=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Barmania, Noorjehan (2008-06-19). "Noorjehan Barmania: This Muslim life". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
- ^ "Women's Role in Struggle Highlighted". Cape Argus. 14 June 2008. Retrieved 15 November 2017 – via LexisNexis.
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