History marks the passing of a woman of exceptional courage, Mary Louise Asmal.
Louise, as she was known, upheld the dignity of all people and strove all her life for justice and freedom. Together with her husband Kader Asmal, Louise was one of the founding members and Honorary Secretary of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement, which this year, celebrates its 60th anniversary. For twenty-five years, Louise edited Amandla, the Movement’s monthly newsletter. Amandla holds an archive of the deeds and schemes of the apartheid government and the often ingenious ways in which the Movement worked to counter those efforts. Today, this newsletter stands as a monument to Louise’s tireless contribution to the struggle for freedom in South Africa.
Louise was also actively involved with the International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) for Southern Africa, founded and headed up by Canon John Collins. IDAF helped to finance the defence trials of South Africa’s freedom fighters and assisted their families with social protection.
In 1990, Louise moved to South Africa from Dublin with her family and became the Regional Director of the Canon Collins Trust for over a decade. To this day, the Trust continues to provide financial support to southern African law and postgraduate students working toward social justice in the region. John Battersby, Chair of the Trust (2006 – 2021) writes:
Louise will be fondly remembered by the former staff and trustees of the Trust and by scores of scholars who graduated during the period Louise represented the Trust from her base in Cape Town. As a former Chair of Trustees, I am acutely aware of the crucial role that Louise played, and her quiet dedication will be remembered by many.
Many scholars under her tenure went on to lead remarkable careers contributing to growth and excellence across the region. Derrick Grootboom, Regional Prosecutor of the Northern and Western Cape, ex-Robben Island prisoner and Canon Collins alumnus remembers:
Comrade Louise Asmal was very much a motherly figure. A good life guide! It is indeed a good person who died, and I feel her loss because during my interactions with her, I only felt love and care. In all the times I met her, even years later, she was the same warm good-hearted person. The thing about meeting such persons is that they rub off on you and leave some goodness that clings to you. Unbeknown to yourself, that experience of kindness and goodness will sound alarm bells in your own life when you perhaps go off track. We wish her family strength in this time. She will be missed!
Describing her as a formidable and gentle heroine, Prof Maano Ramutsindela, University of Pretoria-University of Cape Town (UP-UCT) Future Africa Research Chair in Sustainability Transformations pays Louise tribute:
The passing of Louise Asmal is a sad loss for the family, friends and the comrades who worked alongside her in the struggle against apartheid. Using the proceeds from the Defence and Aid Fund and donations, she set up and managed the southern Africa office of Canon Collins Trust in Observatory, Cape Town. She built on earlier education for liberation campaigns to shape the Canon Collins Trust’s postgraduate scholarships, which have assisted over 4000 scholars to date.
Louise invited Maano as a Canon Collins Trust alumnus to assist the Trust in assessing scholarship applications, and he later became the Chair of Canon Collins Southern Africa with Louise as Director. “I recall going to Kader and Louise’s house for the first time expecting to see tight security in the Minister’s house only to find there was none. Am I lost? I wondered. In subsequent visits, including one Christmas day, it became crystal clear to me that the Asmal family had a rare generosity of spirit. They were not only fighters against the evil system of apartheid, but they had so much to give to the world.” Prof Ramutsindela recalled.
Louise has laid the foundational values for Canon Collins Trust scholarships in the region, and these are evident in our current scholars’ potential contribution to social change and justice.
Louise was also involved in the Kader Asmal Fellowship, which was established by the Irish Embassy to honour the legacy of Kader Asmal and Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement. She recognised the value of Ireland’s contribution to postgraduate scholarship in an interview with the Trust in 2019: “The Kader Asmal Fellowship with Canon Collins has an extraordinary legacy for the amount of people they helped who at the time could not access the kind of subjects that were needed.”
Canon Collins Scholars and Alumni, Board of Trustees and Staff join the country and the rest of the world in saluting Mary Louise Asmal for dedicating her life to a better and just society.
