Tributes continue to pour in following the death of veteran journalist Muhammed Rafiq Rohan.
The 69-year-old's passing was confirmed by KwaZulu-Natal police at the weekend.
Speaking to IOL, provincial SAPS spokesperson Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said police in Berea have opened an inquest.
"This follows an incident that occurred on February 24, where a decomposing body was discovered at Clarence Road. Reports indicate that there was a smell coming from the flat, and upon opening the flat, a decomposed body was found," she said.
The SA National Editor's Forum said for much of the 1980s and early 1990s, Rohan, who had been a journalist for more than 40 years, straddled the difficult divide being a journalist and a political activist, finally ending up on Robben Island, where he was sent for 15 years for his activities in uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the then-banned African National Congress. He spent three years on the island.
“Rohan was sentenced in 1988 and was the last person to occupy Nelson Mandela’s famous cell. He was released from Somerset Hospital in 1991 after he went on a hunger strike against his continued imprisonment despite the release of Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of the ANC and other organisations by FW de Klerk in February 1990. He was among the last 10 prisoners to be released before the prison on Robben Island was closed,” Sanef said.
Farid Sayed: "Rafiq was forthright, did not compromise his principles, and was prepared to challenge people in power, even if it meant sacrificing any position he may have held. It was this commitment to truth and justice that shaped his journalism. He was an activist journalist, and if there was any bias in his coverage, it was a bias in favour of justice."
Moegsien Williams: "He was a dedicated and an extremely loyal staffer on all the publications we had worked on over the years. He was also a very good cook on the occasions I had the pleasure of being served by him. May his soul rest in peace after he had spent a better part of his life fighting some inner demons."
Ryland Fisher: "Rafiq was the one who drove my wife and me to the maternity hospital in 1985 for the birth of our first child. He also took part in our discussions on a possible name for her. But I also knew him as a dedicated and professional journalist and a committed anti-apartheid activist. He would often write on a voluntary basis for Grassroots community newspaper, where I worked in the mid-1980s."
Hoosein Ismail: "A year ago, Rafiq entrusted me with his unpublished book. I will forever remember my dear friend as outspoken, kind and caring and strong willed. May Allah grant him a high pillar in Jannah."
He was buried on Monday.
IOL