Mohammed Tikly (7 July 1939,

Pietersburg Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Provinc ...

Polokwane Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Province ...

) - 11 March 2020,

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

) was a South African educator and struggle veteran. A member of the

ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

, he spent over thirty years in exile in the UK,

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

and

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

. He was a former director of the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SOMAFCO) in Tanzania.

Early life and education

Tikly was the son of Abdul Hamid, a trader, and Amina Salojee. His mother died when Tikly was quite young and he was brought up by his extended family along with his three sisters. He attended high school in Johannesburg where he joined a circle of students reading the writings of ANC leaders. While at school he joined the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress, an affiliate of the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC). In 1959 he moved to Ireland to study medicine at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, however he left after two years for London to become more involved in the liberation struggle.

Struggle years

In 1964 he joined other activists on a seven-day hunger strike outside South Africa House to draw attention to the

Rivonia Trial The Rivonia Trial took place in South Africa between 9 October 1963 and 12 June 1964, and led to the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela and the others among the accused who were convicted of sabotage and sentenced to life at the Palace of Justice ...

. Their efforts in drawing international attention to the case were seen as instrumental in preventing the triallists, including Nelson Mandela, from receiving the death sentence for charges of treason. Tikly completed a degree in sociology from

Middlesex Polytechnic Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries of ...

in 1969. He qualified as a teacher in social studies and economics, teaching at a number of schools across London including William Penn School, Archway school and Islington 6th-form centre. In 1979 he worked under the

Inner London Education Authority The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was an ad hoc local education authority for the City of London and the 12 Inner London boroughs from 1965 until its abolition in 1990. The authority was reconstituted as a directly elected body corp ...

to found the Multicultural Education Advisory Group before founding a similar organisation in the borough of

Haringey The London Borough of Haringey (pronounced , same as Harringay) is a London borough in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of ...

. In 1982 he was asked to take over the directorship of the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College (SOMAFCO) in Tanzania by the

. In 1985 he then moved to Lusaka to work at ANC headquarters before returning to South Africa in 1990.

South African years

On his return to South Africa Tikly was asked to head up the Batlagae Trust which aimed to assist in the reintegration of student exiles as they returned to South Africa. Tikly then worked in the national department of education until his retirement in 2000. Tikly had been a member of the ANC's Archives’ Committee and continued to be involved with the Archives at

Fort Hare University The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution of higher education for Africans from 1916 to 1959 when it offered a Western-style academic education to students from across sub ...

. He was also a trustee of the Desmond Tutu Diversity Trust. He was awarded the

Order of Luthuli The Order of Luthuli is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003, and is granted by the president of South Africa, for contributions to South Africa in the following fields: (i) the struggle for democracy, (ii) building democ ...

(silver) in 2017 for his services to the struggle. He died on 11 March 2020 after a number of health issues including Parkinson's Disease.

Personal life

Tikly married Clare Reid, a maths teacher and fellow activist, in 1964. They had four children together: Anna-Zohra, Ruweida, Adam and Leon; but divorced in 1995 after a long separation.

References

External links

Interview with Mohammed Tikly by Bertil Högberg within the project Nordic Documentation on the Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tikly, Mohammed 2020 deaths 1939 births Anti-apartheid activists Members of the African National Congress Members of the Order of Luthuli Alumni of Middlesex University