Zuleikha Mayat: South African author and activist who led a life of courage, compassion and integrity
Retrieved on:
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
Odyssey, Social change, Sibling, Letter, Life, McCord Zulu Hospital, Interview, Humour, Orientation, Clothing, Religion, Politics, Child, Genocide, Kniphofia, Ageing, Friends, School, Institute of Race Relations, Apartheid, Osmosis (solitaire), Water, City, Social justice, Education, Journey, Textile, Culture, University, Bread, Journalism, Woman, Book
Few Indian South African women have achieved wider public recognition than author, human rights and cultural activist Zuleikha Mayat, who passed away on 2 February 2024.
Key Points:
- Few Indian South African women have achieved wider public recognition than author, human rights and cultural activist Zuleikha Mayat, who passed away on 2 February 2024.
- An honorary doctorate from the University of KwaZulu-Natal was just one of many awards bestowed on her during a life that spanned almost 98 years.
- I assisted her with her last book, and recently penned an e-book about her incredible life.
Early life
- Her father was generous to poor people and drummed into her, she later reflected, that “others have a share in our incomes”.
- For her “the Bounty of God is not just for a select few but must be shared” so that all “can benefit”.
- Segregation (1910-1948), the precursor to apartheid, which legally entrenched racial classification and enforced segregation in all walks of life, meant separate schools for different “races” and the schools for whites would not enrol her.
A letter to the editor
- An 18-year-old Mayat posted a letter signed “Miss Zuleikha Bismillah of Potchefstroom” to the newspaper Indian Views, which was published in Gujarati and English.
- The editor was M.I.
- He published the letter, in which she “argued for higher levels of education for girls” in a “style that revealed not only a principled passion concerning this matter but also her sharp wit”.
- In 1954, aged 28, she invited friends to her small apartment in the coastal South African city of Durban.
A life of writing
- Nanima’s Chest appeared in 1981 to promote the appreciation of traditional Indian textiles and clothing.
- A Treasure Trove of Memories: A Reflection on the Experiences of the Peoples of Potchefstroom (1996) recounts growing up and life in her home town.
- And at age 95 Mayat published The Odyssey of Crossing Oceans, an enthralling and expansive narrative by a consummate storyteller, which embodied some of her philosophy of life.
Justice and peace for all
- Post-1994, when democratic elections were held for the first time in South Africa, Mayat continued her fight for equity and social justice.
- She spoke out and marched against local and global injustices.
Saleem Badat receives funding from the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences.