Yusuf Dadoo, political activist, is born

Updated: 2 Sep 2026

South African Communist Party Chairman Yusuf Dadoo

On 5 September 1909, a tireless fighter for national and social liberation, Dr. Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo was born in Krugersdorp, Johannesburg. According to Essop Pahad, the story of Dadoo’s life was inextricably linked to the resistance of racial discrimination and apartheid. Dadoo was known by many for always forging closer links between underprivileged groups of Indian, African and Coloured people in the struggle for liberation. His family arrived in South Africa in the 1890s, three decades after the first group of Indian immigrant labours entered South Africa. He left an impressive political legacy, covering a number of fields spanning the relationship between transnational identity, racial identity, national liberation, socialism, non-racialism and internationalism. On 19 September 1983, Dadoo died while in exile in London.

How we know this

01Pahad, E., (1979) ‘Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo’from The African Communist, No. 78 [online], Available at www.sacp.org.za [Accessed: 19 July 2011]
02Verwey, E. J. (ed.), (1995), “Dadoo, Yusuf Mohamed (Mota)” in New dictionary of South African Biography,Vol. 1. Pretoria: HSRC Press.

Last updated · 2 Sep 2026

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Yusuf Dadoo, political activist, is born. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011322

South African History Online (2011) 'Yusuf Dadoo, political activist, is born', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011322 (Accessed: 21 October 2026).

South African History Online, Yusuf Dadoo, political activist, is born [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011322, (accessed 21 October 2026).

"Yusuf Dadoo, political activist, is born." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011322. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "Yusuf Dadoo, political activist, is born." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0011322.