Ebrahim Sawant stepped down as chair of the Kuils River Islamic Society Trust (KIST), a position he held for 31 years, on Sunday 25 October.

He fulfilled his final duties as chairperson at the trust’s annual Eat in Treat fundraising event on Saturday 24 October, where the trustees bestowed on him the Highest Honour Award of KIST in recognition of his service. He will continue to serve as a lifelong honorary member.

Dream

Sawant said in 1946 only three Muslim families lived in Kuils River. For many years Muslims were visitors in the town, with no place to pray, to learn or to bury their loved ones with dignity. After 1970 more families arrived seeking work and a better life, but still had no place to call their own.

Sawant moved from Stellenbosch to Kuils River in December 1987. “I came as a political activist and community worker. But I immediately understood that true activism is not only in council chambers or on protest lines, it is in building institutions that will outlive you.”

Muslim families who shared the same dream began holding planning meetings in their lounges and kitchens, he said. There was no money, but there was vision. An executive committee was established and Sawant was entrusted as chair. The community identified three priorities: building a madrassah as a learning centre for children, building a mosque and writing a constitution to guide the community’s affairs.

Fundraising and the quest for land

Sawant said the small community started weekly fundraising sales, selling koeksisters, samoosas and curry and rice every Saturday. Every cent was counted, he said. At the same time they knocked on doors across the Cape to secure donors.

The quest for land was their biggest struggle, with many doors closed to them. Eventually, through perseverance and negotiation, they secured an 8 900 square-metre piece of land on the canal.

“My story is one of two struggles that became one purpose, the struggle for political freedom and the struggle to build a spiritual home for our people,” Sawant said.

Today, Sawant said, that vision stands as reality. The community has grown from three families in 1946 to a united and vibrant body with one of the most beautiful mosques in Cape Town. Almost 500 musallees attend the Jumuah programme every Friday, 200 learners attend the madrassah daily and the trust runs adult and youth classes and social programmes through its imam, trustees and ladies committee.

Community

Sawant said his political activism taught him to fight for justice and his council work taught him to negotiate for services, but his role as chairperson taught him what leadership really means: sabr, unity and vision when you have nothing but faith.

“This was never about one man,” he said. “It was about a community that decided it would no longer be invisible in Kuils River.”

Sawant thanked every family that sold a plate of food, laid a brick and made duah for the house of Allah.

Sedick Jappie, KIST secretary, said Sawant led without seeking position, served without seeking praise and gave without keeping account. “To write the history of the Kuils River Muslim community is to write the story of Ebrahim Sawant,” he said.

Sawant, who has been Ward 19 councillor since a by-election in November 2019, is also not standing for re-election in the forthcoming local government election.

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