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Sunny Singh
Anti-apartheid activist Ronnie Kasrils has described the late Sunny Girja Singh as a courageous freedom fighter who devoted his life to justice and a democratic South Africa.
Singh died on Thursday, November 20, 2025, at the age of 86.
He was a member of the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) in 1956 and was later recruited into uMkhonto weSizwe, the paramilitary wing of the ANC in the Durban Central Area.
In 1964, he was imprisoned on Robben Island, where he spent 10 years behind bars for his role in the struggle against apartheid.
Kasrils says Singh was one of his oldest friends, who always put others before himself, and the nation above all.
“When I last saw him in August, we had a wonderful get together, and have known him from actually 1960. He’s one of my oldest friends. We had a joke amongst us about being the last of the Mohicans. He had a great love for literature, books, and film. He’s a most outstanding, courageous, wonderful human being and freedom fighter. We owe so much to him, and so many are deeply saddened by his passing,” says Singh.
Hamba Kahle Sunny Singh. 🕊️
These are pictures from the 2019 Robben Island Youth Camp of the AKF. Sunny joined us for 2 nights at that camp and enthralled the young people with his stories and insights as one of the early political prisoners on the Island.
He served a ten year… pic.twitter.com/L6rxKfRyPf
— Kathrada Foundation (@KathradaFound) November 20, 2025
