Yusuf Bhamjee

Bhamjee was born on 10 January 1950 in Wolmaransstad in the former Transvaal.[1] His elder brother was activist Hanef Bhamjee.[2][3] While attending high school in Natal Province, Bhamjee was an accomplished sportsman, matching the South African 100-metre sprint record at the national athletics championships. He later played cricket for as a bowler and batsman for Natal, and he was a member and later coach of Young Natalians FC.[1]

After attending university in Dublin, Ireland, Bhamjee became a politics lecturer at the University of Natal. During the same period, he was active in the anti-apartheid movement through the Natal Indian Congress and United Democratic Front; he was particularly active in campaigning for sports boycotts of South Africa.[1] In 2019, Andrew Mlangeni awarded him the Andrew Mlangeni Green Jacket for his contribution to non-racial sport.[4]

In South Africa's first post-apartheid elections in 1994, Bhamjee was elected to represent the ANC in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature. Later the same year, he was the only Indian to win election to the Provincial Executive Committee of the KwaZulu-Natal ANC.[5] He was elected to a second term in the legislature in the 1999 general election.[6]

In the 2004 general election, Bhamjee was elected to an ANC seat in the KwaZulu-Natal caucus of the National Assembly.[7] However, midway through the term, on 10 August 2007, he resigned from his seat and returned to the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature;[8] his seat in the National Assembly was filled by Ntombikayise Sibhidla.[7]

On 23 April 2008, Bhamjee was elected as mayor of uMgungundlovu District Municipality, with Tu Zondi as his deputy. His election followed the ousting of Bongi Sithole, whom the ANC removed in a vote of no confidence due to allegations of mismanagement and maladministration.[9][10] Bhamjee was retained in the mayoral office after the 2011 local elections.[11] In addition, he was co-opted onto the ANC Provincial Executive Committee in 2012.[12]

As the end of his second mayoral term approached, the ANC announced that Bhamjee would not stand for another term as mayor.[13] After the 2016 local elections, he was succeeded as mayor by the ANC's Thobekile Maphumulo but was re-elected to the council and was elected as its speaker.[14]

Bhamjee married Sabera Bhamjee in 1977 after seven years of courtship. They had two daughters, Suhayfa and Sameera.[15] Sabera was the only woman gynaecologist in Pietermaritzburg at the time of her death.[16]

Sabera died on 2 June 2006 in her consulting room at St Anne's Hospital after being stabbed more than 60 times in her neck, head, and chest.[17] There were no witnesses and no forensic evidence and the motive for the killing was unclear.[16][18] As of 2017, the police had not found any leads in the murder investigation.[15]