Dullah Omar

Abdullah Mohamed Omar, better known as Dullah Omar, was born on 26 May 1934 in Observatory, Cape Town, to immigrant parents from Gujarat in western India.¹ He was a South African anti-apartheid activist and lawyer who became minister of justice in Nelson Mandela's government in 1994.¹ He died on 13 March 2004, still in cabinet as minister of transport.¹²

Omar attended Trafalgar High School in Cape Town and graduated from the University of Cape Town with a law degree in 1957.¹ The article describes him as a respected member of the Muslim community.¹ He defended members of the Pan Africanist Congress and the African National Congress, and was a member of the Unity Movement through the early 1970s and 1980s before joining the United Democratic Front as a leading member.¹ His movements were generally restricted by banning orders, he was detained without trial repeatedly, and he survived plots by the apartheid government to assassinate him.¹ In 1989 he became a spokesman for Nelson Mandela during the last months of Mandela's imprisonment.¹ In 1994 he became minister of justice in Mandela's ANC government, and he was the first cabinet minister appointed acting president in the absence of both the president and the deputy president from South Africa.¹ He played a major role in transforming the South African justice system.¹ In 1999, following Thabo Mbeki's election as president, Omar became minister of transport, a post he held until his death from cancer.¹ He was married with three children, and was buried with official honours, and in accordance with Muslim rites, on the day of his death.¹

One of his principal actions as justice minister was the promulgation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in July 1995, to look into the crimes committed under apartheid and to offer platforms for victims and their families to confront the perpetrators, who would in turn be offered amnesty for coming forward.¹ The article notes that the model served as an inspiration for other post-conflict societies, such as Sierra Leone and Rwanda.¹

This section sets out different positions as reported in the sources. It is not a verdict by the museum. The articles present Omar's life's work as human-rights activism: he defended members of the PAC and ANC, was a human rights activist throughout his life, and as justice minister drove the transformation of the justice system and the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.¹³ No criticism of Omar is recorded in the articles consulted.¹³

• Dullah Omar — English Wikipedia¹
• Dullah Omar — Persian Wikipedia³
• Dullah Omar — Wikidata Q317726²