|
Rafiq HajatRafiq Hajat (14 September 1955 – 13 September 2021[1]) was a prominent Malawian civil rights activist.[2] He was born in Blantyre.[3] He was the director for the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI) in Malawi.[3] He received a B.A. in political science at Saint Xavier College in Mumbai,India in 1975.[3] CareerVice president of the country's chamber of commerce and industry, chairman of DEMAT, the Development of Malawian Traders' Trust, and also founding director of the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI).[4] He has worked at the Malawi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and has been a board member with Small Enterprise Development Organisation of Malawi and the Development of Malawi Traders Trust.[5] Political careerHajat was a member of the executive in the United Democratic Front.[4] ActivismHajat was the founding director of the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI)[4] and was the founder of Transparency International - Malawi Chapter.[6] Hajat and Malawi Democratic Party (MDP) president Kamlepo Kalua formed a Forum for the Defence of Democracy a pressure group on governance concerns under the Mutharika administration. Hajat was one of the main civil society organizers of the 20 July Ultimatum and 20 July nationwide economic protests.[7] This forced him to go into hiding for a few days, but later he continued to organize the subsequent protests. On 2 September 2011, the offices of the IPI were burned whilst Hajat was traveling to Lilongwe.[8] DeathHajat died on the early morning of 13 September 2021 while being airlifted to South Africa after having a heart attack.[9] He was buried later that day at Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg.[10] Accolades
References
|
||||||||
