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The Woman who turned down Nelson Mandela's Marriage Proposal by Ahsun Zafar
Activist-turned-South Africa’s first Black president, Nelson Mandela, knew how to use humour and wit to charm celebrities, world leaders, and whole nations. His high spirits and joyful demeanour have captivated the likes of Naomi Campbell and Oprah. He won over nearly everyone he came in contact with, from villagers to the men high in governments. However, during the 1990s, before he went on to marry his wife Graça Machel in his third marriage, there was one woman who had turned down his marriage proposal.
To say that Amina Cachalia’s biggest accomplishment was receiving a marriage proposal from Nelson Mandela is a grave wrongdoing. Her life was nothing less than extraordinary. She was a committed South African activist in the anti-aparthied struggle. A strong and independent woman, she has played a significant role in the struggle for equal rights since the 1940s.
Over five decades ago, South Africa was a police state that enforced apartheid - an oppressive political system that separated people by race and provided all the power to the hands of the white minority. Members of the Black community were arrested daily for not being in the “white area” without the right pass. Any romantic relationship across colour lines was a against the law. And anyone who disagreed with any of it was severely punished.
Amina’s dedication to dismantling racism in South Africa started young. Her father, Ebrahim Asvat, was a close ally of Mahatma Gandhi and was involved in organizing South Africa's first passive resistance campaign in 1907. When Amina was twenty-four years old, she helped to launch the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) where she held the role of treasurer. The purpose of the organization was to oppose the proposed Pass Laws for women by the apartheid regime. The Pass laws required Black South Africans to carry a pass book everywhere and at all times, similar to a passport. If caught without it, it was considered a criminal offence which could lead to a jail sentence. In 1956, in one of the largest demonstrations of the country’s history, 20,000 women of all races came together and staged a marched against the pass laws, including Amina, who was pregnant at the time with a son, Ghaleb. This iconic march is annually celebrated today in South Africa through a national public holiday on the 9th of August, known as, National Women's Day.
Amina Cachalia and her political activist husband, Yusuf Cachalia, to whom she wed to in 1955, were long time friends and ally with Nelson Mandela before his imprisonment at Robben Island in the 1960s. Mandela would often visit the Cachalia’s home and had been a guest at Amina’s 21st birthday party.