The Second Deputy General Secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP) Solly Mapaila on Thursday called on South Africans to take forward the legacy of Apartheid struggle stalwart Dr Yusuf Dadoo by supporting the passing of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill.

Mapaila was addressing the struggle stalwarts and SACP delegates who attended the 110th birth commemoration of Dadoo, organized by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation at West Park Cemetery, in Johannesburg.

The foundation unveiled a memorial stone in honor of Dadoo, who died in 1983 in London, on September 19, 1983.

He is known for his role in the liberation movement, for persuading the Indian community to link its destiny with that of the African majority, as well as in building unity between oppressed peoples and democratic whites of the country in a common struggle against racism.

Mapaila said the NHI would ensure that all South Africans had access to better health services.

He said the SACP was dedicated to Dadoo’s vision and that he served its members and gave them medical treatment, in many instances, free of charge.

“It was well known that once you arrive [at] his offices, the most important thing was to be attended to. He never cared whether you had money or not. He needed money to survive which explains as to why he was living a very simple life. He didn’t see his profession as a profession to make money but he saw it as a profession to serve the community.

“We want to emulate his legacy by making sure that all of us make submissions in support of the NHI and support its fundamental pillars of solidarity, of public administration, of a national fund to make sure that all of us can have access to the resources of health,” said Mapaila.

He went on to highlight that the SACP would also commemorate Dadoo by fighting corruption and State capture, which had crippled the country’s economy.

Memorial Plaque

Dadoo’s daughter Roshan Dadoo said her family was honoured by the gesture shown by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation in commemorating her father’s legacy.

“It is befitting that the plaque is next to Ahmed Kathrada’s grave because uncle Kathy had such great respect for my dad and he told me that he felt that my father was his father and I also told him that he was a father figure to me,” she revealed.

She said growing up in exile, in London, her parents has asked her to write letters to Ahmed Kathrada and added that some of the letters carried important messages which she hadn’t understand at the time.

She said unveiling a plaque in his memory was a better tribute than repatriating his body.

“At this time in our country, especially over the last few weeks, it’s not the time for memorialising great male heroes of our struggle. We can’t escape the fact that our country is in crisis, not only our country but the world. If we want to look at where we are struggling to move forward that is when we need to look at our past. We need to celebrate the values of my father. He was a complicated man because he embodied a number of things, he was a stalwart in the struggle for African liberation in South Africa,” she said.

She went on to highlight that Dadoo was the first generation of migrants. She said her grandfather did what many migrants from all over Africa did: see the economic opportunity as traders in South Africa.

“My dad was in fact the son of the migrant and I say that because I think we are not dealing with some of the issues that we are facing now in the right way. We are not showing a sense of internationalism that my father was part of. As a child growing up in London, not only were we involved in the ANC struggle against apartheid, my father would also go to demonstrations like demonstrations against the Vietnam War,” she added.

She questioned why President Cyril Ramaphosa sent out envoys across Africa following xenophobic violence if there was denial that there was xenophobia in the country.

Touching on Ramaphosa’s solution to have stronger borders she questioned how it was going to help the problems at hand which she said were socioeconomic conditions.

“We have to deal with the problems, the collapsing health system, the collapsing education system. We have to deal with these problems because otherwise we are saying it is the foreigners’ fault,” she emphasized.