ANDRÉ PUBLIC SCULPTURES

Brief History

 

Abdullah Abdurahman (18 December 1872 – 2 February 1940) was a South African politician and physician, born in Wellington, South Africa. He was the first coloured city councillor of Cape Town, and leader of the anti-apartheid movement African Political Organisation established in 1902. Abdurahman was the son of relatively affluent Muslim Cape Malays and his grandparents were slaves who had bought their freedom. After receiving a good British education in Wellington and Cape Town, he went to Glasgow to study medicine in 1888, qualifying as a doctor in 1893. Upon returning to South Africa he sat up a thriving private practice in Cape Town. In 1904 he was elected Cape Town's first non-European city councillor, a position he held almost uninterrupted until his death. As city councillor he worked to improve the conditions of the coloured community, especially within the field of education. He helped set up the first secondary schools for coloured people in Cape Town.

 

Zainunnisa "Cissie" Gool (1897–1963) was an anti-apartheid political and civil rights leader in South Africa. She was the daughter of prominent physician and politician Abdullah Abdurahman. Cissie founded the National Liberation League and helped to create the Non-European United Front (NEUF). She was known and loved as the "Jewel of District Six" and "Joan of Arc" by South Africans as a champion of the poor.

Cissie was first elected to the Cape Town city council in 1938 on which she represented District Six, a historically diverse belt. Cissie maintained this post until 1951.