Yusuf Abramjee is a South African

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and anti-crime activist. He has won numerous awards for his journalism, and

activism Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in Social change, social, Political campaign, political, economic or Natural environment, environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes i ...

, and serves as a social cohesion ambassador for the

South African government The Republic of South Africa is a parliamentary republic with three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating in a parliamentary system. Legislative authority is held by the Parliament of South Africa. Executive authority ...

Biography

Early life and education

Yusuf Abramjee was born and grew up in

Lady Selborne The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Inform ...

, an area north west of the

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

CBD. Abramjee's father Ebrahim "Boetie" Abramjee later served in the House of Delegates as an MP. Abramjee's family was the last to leave Lady Selborne, in 1984, as a consequence of the

Group Areas Act Group Areas Act was the title of three acts of the Parliament of South Africa enacted under the apartheid government of South Africa. The acts assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a system of u ...

, moving to

Laudium Laudium () is an Indian township (apartheid classification) in southwest of central Pretoria, in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. Claudius is a residential suburb that is effectively an extension of Laudium. History Older aeri ...

, an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

in Pretoria. Abramjee attended Laudium Secondary School, where he edited the school paper,

matriculating Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now. ...

in 1982, and then studied at the

Transvaal College of Education Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

, a teacher's training college Laudium.

Career

After graduating in 1985, Abramjee taught

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

at Laudium Secondary School, before taking a job with the House of Delegates as a spokesman, and then joining the

SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

. He later owned and edited a

local newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

, the ''Laudium Sun''. Abramjee freelanced for

Radio 702 702 is a commercial FM radio station based in Johannesburg, South Africa, broadcasting on FM 92.7 and FM 106 to the greater Gauteng province. The station is also webcast via its website. It claims to be Johannesburg's number one news and talk ...

ahead of South Africa's first non-racial election in 1994. He joined 702 on a permanent basis as a crime reporter in 1995, becoming crime editor in 1996 for Radio 702 and

567 Cape Talk CapeTalk is a commercial AM radio station based in Cape Town, South Africa, broadcasting on AM/MW 567 to Cape Town. The station is also webcast via its website. It claims to be Cape Town's number one news and talk station, offering news, sport, ...

, another station owned by

Primedia Primedia is a South African media group, headquartered in Sandton, Johannesburg. History Primedia was established in 1994 and its listing on the JSE Securities Exchange was completed in April 1995. Primedia remained listed on the JSE until 1 ...

. He won several awards for his reporting, and was eventually promoted to station manager of 702, before becoming Primedia's head of news and talk programming. He was chairman of the

National Press Club Organizations A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press ...

on a few occasions.

Activism

Abramjee was a founder of ''Crime Line'' in South Africa, a crime tip-off line, in collaboration with the government. He was a prominent opponent of South Africa's "Secrecy Bill". He helped found LeadSA, which "aims to celebrate efforts of ordinary South Africans to do good". He was reappointed as a

social cohesion Group cohesiveness (also called group cohesion and social cohesion) arises when bonds link members of a social group to one another and to the group as a whole. Although cohesion is a multi-faceted process, it can be broken down into four main co ...

ambassador by the Arts and Culture Minister in 2019. He also helped coordinate private relief efforts during the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Personal life

Abramjee is married, with two adult sons, and lives in

Erasmia Erasmia is a suburb in the northern outskirts of Centurion in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. Originally a whites-only area under apartheid, increasing numbers of Indians from neighbouring Laudium moved in, following the aboliti ...

Criticism

Abramjee was accused of self-promotion in 2015 by journalist, and former editor of the

Cape Times The ''Cape Times'' is an English-language morning newspaper owned by Independent News & Media SA and published in Cape Town, South Africa. the newspaper had a daily readership of 261 000 and a circulation of 34 523. By the fourth quarter of ...

, Ryland Fisher, who nonetheless described Abramjee as a patriot. Fisher was responding to a controversy involving Abramjee when he penned an

open letter An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...

to then-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 name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...

, calling for the government to act on the crime problem in South Africa.

Honours, decorations, awards and distinctions

Order of the Baobab The Order of the Baobab is a South African civilian national honour, awarded to those for service in business and the economy; science, medicine, and for technological innovation; and community service. It was instituted on 6 December 2002, and i ...

, 2014

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abramjee, Yusuf South African journalists South African activists Recipients of the Order of the Baobab South African Muslim activists South African people of Indian descent 1960s births Living people