Abdullah Abdurahman
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Abdullah Abdurahman (18 December 1872 – 2 February 1940) was a South African politician and physician, born in
Wellington, South Africa Wellington is a town in the Western Cape Winelands, a 45-minute drive from Cape Town, in South Africa with a population of approximately 62,000. Wellington's economy is centered on agriculture such as wine, table grapes, deciduous fruit, and a bra ...
. He was the first
Coloured Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...
city councillor of
Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, and the first ever Coloured South African to win election to a public body. He led the anti-segregationist movement
African Political Organization The African Political Organization, later known as the African People's Organization (APO), was a coloured political organisation in early-20th-century South Africa. Founded in Cape Town in 1902, the organisation rallied South African coloureds a ...
established in 1902.


Early life

Abdurahman was the son of Muslim Indians whose parents were greengrocers. His grandparents were slaves, possibly from India, who had bought their freedom. After receiving a good education in Wellington and Cape Town where he attended the
South African College Schools The South African College Schools (colloquially often known as “SACS”) is a public English medium primary and high education institution situated in Newlands - part of the Southern Suburbs region of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of ...
, he went to the
University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...
to study medicine in 1888, qualifying as a doctor in 1893. It was in Glasgow that he met his first wife, Nellie Potter James. Upon returning to South Africa he set up a thriving private practice in Cape Town.


Local government career

In 1904 he was elected Cape Town's first Coloured
city councillor A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council ...
, a position he held almost uninterrupted until his death. As city councillor he worked to improve the conditions of the
Cape Coloured Cape Coloureds () are a South African ethnic group consisted primarily of persons of mixed race and Khoisan descent. Although Coloureds form a minority group within South Africa, they are the predominant population group in the Western Cape. ...
community, especially within the field of education; he helped set up the first
secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
s for Coloured people in Cape Town. From 1923 to 1937 he chaired many of the council's Committees, including the Streets and Drainage Committee, which gave him an increasingly strong influence on local government. Aburahman was also the first Coloured person to be elected to the
Cape Provincial Council The Cape Provincial Council was the provincial council of the Cape Province of South Africa. It was created by the South Africa Act 1909, with effect from the formation of the Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910. The first election to the provinc ...
in 1914, a position he held until his death.


African Political Organisation

The greatest political achievements, however, of Abdurahman's political life, were connected to his involvement with the African Political Organisation. Elected president in 1905, his contribution to the party's success was so great that the party was often jokingly referred to as Abdurahman's Political Organisation. The party's goal was to fight the increasing racial oppression in the country, initially mainly on behalf of the Coloured (or mixed race) people who made up the majority of the doctor's constituents in
District Six District Six (Afrikaans ''Distrik Ses'') is a former inner-city residential area in Cape Town, South Africa. Over 60,000 of its inhabitants were History of South Africa in the Apartheid era#Forced removal, forcibly removed during the 1970s ...
. Abdurahman led a delegations to
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
to secure franchise rights for the Coloured population in 1906. In 1909, before the creation of the
Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Trans ...
in 1910, Dr Abdurahman participated in a second delegation to London to try to have the
Cape Qualified Franchise The Cape Qualified Franchise was the system of non-racial franchise that was adhered to in the Cape Colony, and in the Cape Province in the early years of the Union of South Africa. Qualifications for the right to vote at parliamentary elections ...
extended to all black South Africans. This delegation was led by
William Schreiner William Philip Schreiner (30 August 1857 – 28 June 1919) was a barrister, politician, statesman and Prime Minister of the Cape Colony during the Second Boer War. Early life Schreiner was born at Wittebergen Mission Station near Hersche ...
and included members of the black community who would form the
African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...
in 1912. It too was unsuccessful. Upon his return to South Africa the doctor reached out to African and Indian political movements in an attempt to resist the rising tide of racism. In 1925 Dr Abdurahman was asked to lead a delegation to the
Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...
by the
South African Indian Congress The South African Indian Congress (SAIC) was an organisation founded in 1921 in Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal), South Africa. The congress is famous for its strong participation by Mahatma Gandhi and other prominent South African Indian figures during ...
. He met
Lord Reading Marquess of Reading is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1926 for Rufus Isaacs, who had been Member of Parliament for Reading between 1904 and 1913, before serving as Viceroy of India and Lord Chief Justice of Eng ...
who was deeply impressed. The viceroy wrote to London: ‘Dr Rahaman icput forward powerful and well-argued statements of disabilities of humiliating description in social, political and economic life which have been imposed on Indians by legislation in Union (of South Africa) and of apprehension not without ground that contemplated Asiatic legislation will render positions of Indians wholly impossible….Much stress was laid by Dr Rahaman on favourable treatment of white element in population composed in many cases of races not born in or loyal to British Empire at expense of Indians born in and loyal to British connection…I found the position very difficult. I am deeply impressed by the humiliations to which Indians in South Africa are subjected, and by the gravity of the implications of the projected legislation which will be hurried through the second reading stage in the new year.’ During the visit Dr Abdurahman also addressed the
Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
in Kanpur in December 1925, making a considerable impression with his impassioned speech. ‘Wherever Dr Rehman and his colleagues have been and by this time they have practically covered the length and breadth of the country they have met with unanimous warmth and welcome from the people of India’, wrote the Sunday Times on 31 January 1926. In the end, however, the racist legislation introduced by
J.B.M. Hertzog General James Barry Munnik Hertzog (3 April 1866 – 21 November 1942), better known as Barry Hertzog or J. B. M. Hertzog, was a South African politician and soldier. He was a Boer general during the Second Boer War who served ...
defeated attempts to preserve the South Africa's conservative but liberal order. African men in the Cape lost the vote in 1936. The Doctor's campaigns - like the campaigns of the
African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...
the
South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...
and the Non-European Unity Movement in this period - bore little fruit. By the late 1930s, other political parties, such as the more radical National Liberation League, had taken the initiative.


Death and legacy

On 2 February 1940, Abdurahman died of a
cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...
. His funeral was attended by over 30,000 people. After his death, the party he had built up went into rapid decline. His political legacy is a mixed one; modern, more radical commentators see him as overly accommodating to the white authorities, and as far as practical results are concerned, the achievements of his political career were limited. On the other hand, there is little doubt that he was the most powerful South African Coloured politician of his time, and his popularity in the non-European community was immense, as was the respect he enjoyed with the white elite. In 1999,
Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
posthumously awarded Dr. Abdurahman the ''
Order for Meritorious Service The Order for Meritorious Service is a South African National Order that consisted of two classes, in gold and silver, and was awarded to deserving South African citizens. The order was discontinued on 2 December 2002. Abdurahman was married twice: once to the British Helen (Nellie) Potter James, whom he met in Glasgow. They had two daughters, Waradea "Rosie" and Zainunnisa (Cissie) Gool, and divorced in 1923. His younger daughter from this marriage, Cissie (1900–1963), became an important political figure in her own right, as a municipal councillor in Cape Town. His second marriage was in 1925 to Margaret May Stansfield. She bore him one daughter Begum (who married the physician Ralph Hendrickse), and two sons, Abdul and Nizam.


Notes


Further reading


Dr. Abdullah Abdurahman
(''South African History Online'')

(''South African History Online'') * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdurahman, Abdullah 1872 births 1940 deaths People from Wellington, Western Cape South African people of Malay descent 20th-century South African physicians African Political Organization politicians Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of South African College Schools