Ebrahim Patel
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The Honourable Ebrahim Patel MP |
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| Minister of Economic Development | |
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Assumed office 11 May 2009 |
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| President | Jacob Zuma |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1962 (age 54–55) District Six, Cape Town |
| Nationality | South African |
| Political party | African National Congress |
| Alma mater | University of the Western Cape and University of Cape Town. |
| Religion | Islam |
Ebrahim Patel (born in 1962 in District Six in Cape Town) is a South African cabinet minister, who holds the position of Minister of Economic Development.
He comes from a working-class family, with his mother, a garment worker, being the sole bread winner.
He grew up in Lansdowne and Grassy Park.
He has three children, Amilcar, Iqraa and Zamir
He completed high school in 1979 and was one of the top 10 matriculants nationally, which afforded him bursaries and scholarships that led him to complete a university degree.
He started his tertiary education at the University of the Western Cape in 1980, but due to delays from being politically active, he ended up completing his degree through the University of Cape Town a few years later.
Patel became involved in worker and student struggles while at high school and led the student boycott of Fatti’s and Monis products during a worker strike at the pasta factory in March 1979
During his first year at the University of the Western Cape in 1980, he was a leader in a nationwide student uprising that started in Cape Town. He was detained under Section 10 of the Internal Security Act and was kept for a number of months at Victor Verster prison in Paarl. He was released without being charged.
During this period, he was actively involved in anti-apartheid activities, from campaigns against the celebration of the old republic, to campaigns against the Coloured Representative Council and the tricameral parliament. He became involved in struggles over access to housing and electricity. He established community organisations in the Lotus River-Grassy Park-Parkwood area. He worked closely with activists from different areas including Trevor Manuel, who represented communities in Kensington-Factreton area, in the Cape Areas Housing Action Committee (CAHAC).
A year later, he was detained under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act and kept in detention initially at Caledon Square police station in Cape Town. After a number of months in detention, he was again released without being charged.
He was involved in building support for workers on strike at Leyland Motors, as well as at Wilson-Rowntree, an Eastern Cape confectionery factory.
In 1982 he was detained on a third occasion and taken to Protea Police Station in Soweto.
He left university to work full-time at SALDRU, the research division of the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town in the first half of 1982 and completed his degree part-time at UCT shortly thereafter.
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Wikipedia