Mavuso msimang biography of mahatma

Dr Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo

Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo was born on 5 September 1909 in Krugersdorp. His father Hajee Mohamed Mamoojee Dadoo arrived in South Africa in 1896 and by 1904 opened his own business, M. M Dadoo (PTY) LTD in Krugersdorp.

At the age of 15 Yusuf set forth his first political campaign by mobilising support for a meeting to oppose the Class Areas Bill of 1923. The meeting was well attended and Dadoo delivered a speech calling for opposition to the Bill. A prolific political career had begun.

In 1927, Dadoo matriculated from Aligarh Muslim College in India, and 1929 went to study in London. He joined the London branch of the Indian National Congress. A few months later he was arrested for demonstrating against the imperialist Simons Commission. Out of concern for his education, and in an attempt to tame his activist nature, his father insisted that he continue to study in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In Edinburg, Dadoo became involved in a number of political activities, which introduced him to socialist literature. These works entrenched in him an ideology that acknowledged the class struggle and its role in a revolutionary movement. The appeal for a “united” front against fascism grew on Dadoo, and this notion was reinforced by his act

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