Ismail Chota Meer (5 September 1918 – 1 May 2000), sometimes spelled Ismael Meer, was a South African lawyer, writer, and

anti-apartheid activist Several independent sectors of South African society opposed apartheid through various means, including social movements, passive resistance, and guerrilla warfare. Mass action against the ruling National Party (NP) government, coupled with So ...

. He was the secretary of the

Transvaal Indian Congress The Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC) was a political organisation established in 1903 to fight discrimination against Indians in the Transvaal Colony, and later the Transvaal Province, of South Africa. Founded in 1903 as the Transvaal British I ...

during the presidency of

Yusuf Dadoo Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo OMSG (5 September 1909 – 19 September 1983) was a South African Communist and an anti-apartheid activist. During his life, he was chair of both the South African Indian Congress and the South African Communist ...

, and he later held leadership positions in the

Natal Indian Congress The Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was a political organisation established in 1894 to fight discrimination against Indians in the Natal Colony, and later the Natal Province, of South Africa. Founded by Mahatma Gandhi, it later served an importan ...

and

South African Indian Congress The South African Indian Congress (SAIC) was an umbrella body founded in 1921 to coordinate between political organisations representing South African Indians, Indians in the various provinces of South Africa. Its members were the Natal Indian ...

. After the

end of apartheid The apartheid system in South Africa was ended through a series of bilateral and multi-party negotiations between 1990 and 1993. The negotiations culminated in the passage of a new interim Constitution in 1993, a precursor to the Constitution ...

, he represented the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

in the

KwaZulu-Natal Legislature The KwaZulu-Natal Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. It is unicameral in its composition and elects the premier and the provincial cabinet from among the leading party or coalition members ...

from May 1994 until his death in May 2000.

Early life and education

Meer was born on 5 September 1918 in Waschbank, a small town in northern

Natal Province The Province of Natal (), commonly called Natal, was a province of South Africa from May 1910 until May 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. During this period rural areas inhabited by the black African population of Natal were organised int ...

(now

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

). His father, Chota Meer, had migrated from Surat, India to Natal in 1893, opening a general store called C. A. Meer in nearby

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. He was a teenager when his father's business collapsed during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, and he moved to the urban centre of

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

to find work. He matriculated in 1939 at Sastri College in

Berea, Durban The Berea is a ridge above the city of Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa on the northern side which overlooks the city centre and the Indian Ocean. Berea is also used as a collective designation for the suburbs in the area. It has been describe ...

. After high school, Meer completed a BA degree at the

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu- ...

, where he was president of the student representative council. Thereafter he moved to

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

to study law at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

. He graduated in 1946 and went on to qualify as an attorney; for many years from 1951, he ran a legal practice in Verulam, Natal.

Political activism

Having joined the Non-European United Front in high school, Meer became increasingly involved in politics as a university student. While at the University of Natal, he was particularly involved in trade union organising, becoming a co-founder and secretary of the Natal Teachers' Union while still a student. In Johannesburg, he was a member of the

Communist Party of South Africa The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded on 12 February 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), and tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by t ...

, the left-wing Liberal Study Group, and the

(TIC). His Johannesburg home, Flat 13 at Kholvad House in Market Street, became a meeting place for his politically active classmates;

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

later described as "a kind of headquarters for young freedom fighters". In Flat 13 he also became a political mentor to

Ahmed Kathrada Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada OMSG (21 August 1929 – 28 March 2017), sometimes known by the nickname "Kathy", was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist. Kathrada's involvement in the anti-apartheid activities of the African Natio ...

, who said in his memoirs that Meer was, "more than an individual – he was an institution". His own political influences included

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

and

Clements Kadalie Clements Kadalie (1896 – 1951) was born Lameck Koniwaka Kadali Muwamba in Nyasaland (present-day Malawi). At age sixteen, he was a qualified teacher. He later settled in Cape Town, South Africa where he became South Africa's first black natio ...

. In 1946, Meer was elected to take office as secretary of the TIC, serving under newly elected TIC president

. Under Dadoo's leadership, the TIC launched its campaign of

passive resistance Nonviolent resistance, or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, constr ...

to the Ghetto Act, as well as its gradual embrace of the

(ANC) and other non-

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

political organisations; Meer was regarded as an instrumental figure in both respects. He also contributed to various progressive publications – including through a regular column titled ''I Remember'' in the ''Leader'' newspaper – and he was editor of the ''Passive Resister'', a Johannesburg-based publication that reported on developments in the two-year-long Ghetto Act campaign. In the 1950s, while practising as a lawyer in Verulam, Meer remained politically active in the

anti-apartheid movement The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-white population who were oppressed by the policies ...

. In 1952, he was on the executive committee of the

Defiance Campaign The Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws was presented by the African National Congress (ANC) at a conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in December 1951 in South Africa, 1951. The Campaign had roots in events leading up the conferenc ...

, and on 29 November that year he led one of the campaign's

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

events; he was arrested and imprisoned for a month with hard labour. He went on to serve stints as vice-president of the

and president of the Natal branch of the

South African Congress of Trade Unions The South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) was a national trade union federation in South Africa. History The federation was established in March 1955, after right wing unions dissolved the South African Trades and Labour Council in 1954 t ...

. He and his wife were both subjected to banning orders in 1954, and – after being arrested while recovering from an

appendectomy An appendectomy (American English) or appendicectomy (British English) is a Surgery, surgical operation in which the vermiform appendix (a portion of the intestine) is removed. Appendectomy is normally performed as an urgent or emergency procedur ...

– he was among the 156 activists charged with treason in the

1956 Treason Trial The Treason Trial was a trial in Johannesburg in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956. The main trial lasted until 1961, when all of the defendants were found not g ...

. Although he was acquitted of treason, he was detained again during the 1960 state of emergency. As a result of state banning orders, it was illegal to quote or print Meer's words between 1952 and 1990, though he continued to write under a pseudonym.

Post-apartheid political career

The ANC was unbanned in 1990 during the

negotiations to end apartheid The apartheid system in South Africa was ended through a series of bilateral and multi-party negotiations between 1990 and 1993. The negotiations culminated in the passage of a new interim Constitution in 1993, a precursor to the Constitution ...

, and Meer was elected as chairperson of the party's local branch in Durban West. He stood as an ANC candidate in the first post-apartheid elections in April 1994 and was elected to a seat in the

. He retained his seat after the June 1999 general election. During this period, he also established the Liberation History Foundation, which promoted historical research and education about neglected aspects of the anti-apartheid struggle. While still serving as a legislator, Meer died in his sleep on 1 May 2000 at his home in Clare Estate, Durban. In April 2011, President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

admitted him posthumously to the

Order of Luthuli The Order of Luthuli is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003 and is awarded by the President of South Africa for contributions to the struggle for democracy, human rights, nation-building, justice, or peace and conflict ...

, granting him the award in silver for "His excellent contribution to a non-racial and democratic South Africa, struggle for liberation, workers rights and for the formation of the Natal Teachers' Union."

Personal life

In March 1951, he married

Fatima Meer Fatima Meer (12 August 1928 – 12 March 2010) was a South African writer, academic, screenwriter, and prominent anti-apartheid activist. Early life Fatima Meer was born in the Grey Streets of Durban, South Africa, into a middle-class family ...

, who was his father's grand-niece. Their son, Rashid, died in a car accident in 1995. They also had two daughters, Shamim and Shehnaz. Meer was

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

; he frequently delivered the ''

jumu'ah Friday prayer, or congregational prayer (), is the meeting together of Muslims for communal prayer and service at midday every Friday. In Islam, the day itself is called ''Yawm al-Jum'ah'' (shortened to ''Jum'ah''), which translated from Arabic me ...

khutbah ''Khutbah'' (, ''khuṭbah''; , ''khotbeh''; ) serves as the primary formal occasion for public sermon, preaching in the Islamic tradition. Such sermons occur regularly, as prescribed by the teachings of all legal schools. The Islamic traditio ...

'' and taught ''

tafsir Tafsir ( ; ) refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' (; plural: ). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding ...

'' at his mosque, and he performed ''

hajj Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...

'' with his wife in 1984. After Meer's death, his family edited and published his autobiography, ''A Fortunate Man'', which was printed in 2002 with a foreword by Nelson Mandela.

References

External links

*
I Remember
' – collected columns by Meer (1924–1958)
First interview
with Don Pinnock (1990)
Second interview
with Don Pinnock (1990) 1918 births 2000 deaths 20th-century South African lawyers 20th-century South African male writers 20th-century South African politicians 20th-century South African writers African National Congress politicians Natal Indian Congress politicians People acquitted of treason {{DEFAULTSORT:Meer, I. C. Members of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature Recipients of the Order of Luthuli Members of the South African Communist Party Muslim South African anti-apartheid activists South African anti-apartheid activists People from Endumeni Local Municipality South African people of Gujarati descent South African trade unionists University of the Witwatersrand alumni University of Natal alumni