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Mandela 'had me ostracised'
13/07/2005 08:49 - (SA)
Yvonne Beyers, Beeld
Johannesburg - The lawyer of former president Nelson Mandela was apparently alienated from the Indian community after Mandela allegedly asked four of his highly placed confidants to approached this community and ask them to ostracise him.
In a sworn statement, Ismail Ayob, Mandela's legal advisor since the struggle years, said "the community in which (he) lived for many years and in which (his) children grew up, distanced itself from (him) and (his) family" after Essop Pahad, minister in the presidency, Ahmed Kathrada, Mandela's fellow inmate at Robben Island, Jay Naidoo, former minister of communication, and Omar Motani, millionaire businessman, met with the Indian community in Laudium, Pretoria, in June.
"The purpose of the meeting was to tell the Indian community that Mandela is not anti-Indian, to convince the community to reject me, to ban me from mosques, to suspend my membership from religious and cultural organisations and to convince me to 'give up'," Ayob said in the statement.
Ayob said he was called a "criminal" at this meeting and it was said that he "should go to prison".
"Minister Pahad said at the meeting that I 'should not start with him' because he knows 'how to deal with' me. I see this as a threat that he will abuse the power of the state or use violence against me and my family."
Ayob said a similar meeting is planned in Durban on Sunday.
Essop said earlier that the "purpose (of the meetings) was to show Mandela that people of Indian origin still had the highest regard for him" and to protect "Madiba's integrity and reputation".
He said Mandela was "concerned that the (Indian) community should understand the reasons why he went to court" and stressed that the meetings did not touch the "merits of the case" because it is still sub judice.
- Beeld
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