Kadar Asmal has left a positive legacy in Ireland

WHEN Dr Kadar Asmal died recently in Cape Town, South Africa, he left a world that is poorer for his passing but so much morally and socially richer for his living.

Dr Asmal will be best remembered in Ireland for his leadership of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement. Under his remarkable stewardship, the IAAM played a very significant role in the long and ultimately successful international struggle against Apartheid. In the course of this struggle, Dr Asmal was an inspiration to thousands of Irish people, many of who were to play leading roles in other progressive social and political endeavours within the country. Throughout his years in Ireland, Dr Asmal contributed handsomely to the welfare of his adopted home, as he did to his native South Africa. He was a powerful force in the struggle for civil liberties in this country and was a founding member of IFUT, the university teachers’ trade union. On his return to South Africa following the defeat of apartheid, he was elected to parliament for Nelson Mandela’s ANC.

Those who were privileged to know Dr Asmal and his wife Louise will remember them both as tireless and mighty warriors for justice. I feel sure that I speak for many when I express the hope Louise and her family will find solace in the knowledge that Dr Asmal has left an indelible, positive footprint in Ireland, as well as South Africa.