South Africa’s Zuma is asked to miss activist’s funeral

Former wife of the late former President Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, listens to speeches during the memorial service for Ahmed Kathrada, at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday, March 28, 2017. Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in jail - many of them alongside Nelson Mandela - for working to end South Africa's previous white minority rule, died in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

By Associated Press March 29, 2017 2 min read

JOHANNESBURG (AP) – President Jacob Zuma said Wednesday he was not attending the funeral of a South African apartheid-era leader after Ahmed Kathrada’s family asked him to stay away.

Kathrada died Tuesday at age 87 after being admitted for surgery linked to blood clotting on the brain. He was imprisoned for years along with Nelson Mandela for opposing the former white minority government. Kathrada last year called on Zuma to step down after numerous corruption allegations.

A statement from Zuma’s office said the president would respect the wishes of Kathrada’s family for him to stay away. It also said South Africa “has lost one of its valuable and most respected freedom fighters.”

Kathrada’s coffin was covered in the flag of the ruling African National Congress party. Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie Madikizela Mandela, 80, attended the funeral.

Kathrada was born in 1929 to a scholarly Muslim family and became involved in political activism at the age of 11.