Constantinos Gazidis: The History of AC Milan Boss Ivan Gazidis's Father, An Unsung Anti-Apartheid Activist

• Renowned football chief executive Ivan Gazidis celebrates his 57th birthday today, 13 September.
• Though Gazidis is well known in the football community, many people don't know that his father was a prominent anti-apartheid activist.
• As Gazidis celebrates his birthday, Briefly News pays homage to the Man that set him on his path, Constantinos Gazidis

Constantinos Gazidis is not a name many people are familiar with. Instead, football fans are more acquainted with his son, Ivan Gazidis, who rose to notoriety as CEO of Arsenal ( 2009-2018) and AC Milan (2018 - present).

Ivan Gazidis celebrates his birthday on Wednesday, 13 September. As fans flood social media to wish the football titan a happy birthday, it can be argued that Ivan would not have risen to the heights that he has were it not for his father's sacrifices.

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Who is Costantino Gazidis?

Costantino Gazidis, who later changed his name to Costa Gazi, is a South African doctor of greek heritage. Gazi was a prominent anti-apartheid activist, but his origins story began when he was nine.

As a young boy, he helped out behind the counter of his parent's Cafe in Krugersdorp. One day an inspector bamboozled Garzidis into selling him a box of aspirin, which was not permitted as the small cafe was not licensed to sell medication, IOL reported.

The trick landed Gazidis in the magistrate's court, and as legend has it, that is when a rebel was born.

Costa Gazi's early anti-apartheid activisim

After graduating from Krugersdorp High School, Gazi went to the University of Witwatersrand to study medicine. According to New Frame, Gazi's defining moment in activism came when he refused to participate in dissection because his black classmates were being excluded.

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Ivan Gazidis shared the story of this incident. The renowned football executive said that when medical students were dissecting a white body, black students were not allowed to watch.

Gazidis said:

"One day they had thought the body would be black and it turned out to be white. They asked all the black students to leave the room. My father also left the room."

One of Gazi's classmates, Chaim M Rosenberg, recalled how the anti-apartheid activist was one of a handful of students willing to stand up to the government and risk their medical careers.

Gazi later joined the South African Communist Party (SACP) in 1962. He was eventually arrested in 1964 for his anti-apartheid activities and spent two years in jail. Gazi's jail sentence ultimately made him miss the birth of his first son, Ivan Gazidis, in September 1964.

Gazi was released in 1966 and immediately banned by the apartheid government. He wasn't allowed to further his studies in medicine and was isolated, with the government only allowing him to be in the same room with two people at a time. Eventually, Gazi and his family left South Africa in October 1968 and were exiled to Edinburgh, Scotland.

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While in the UK, Gazi worked to build the Azania Solidarity movement, which extended support to all South African liberation forces.

In 1983, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) named Gazi the 'Prisoner of the Year", and he travelled to The US to address the United Nations Committee against apartheid.

Costa Gazi post-apartheid activites

After 22 years in exile, Gazi returned to South Africa in 1990, when it was clear that the apartheid regime was crumbling. In the 1994 elections, Gazi ran as a PAC parliamentary candidate.

Gazi didn't win a seat in parliament but continued as the PAC's health secretary, where his opposition to abuses of power continued. Gazi bravely opposed then health minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma(NDZ) for her stance on HIV/Aids.

Gazi accused NDZ of murder when the government refused to give Antiretrovirals (ARVs) to pregnant HIV-positive women in 1999. As a result, he was fined R1 000 under the Public Service Act for interfering with the operation of the health department, but this decision was later reversed.

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Fees Must Fall activist Mcebo Dlamini said the ANC created a dependency state to control citizens

Briefly News previously reported that popular Fees Must Fall Activist Mcebo Dlamini had tongues wagging on Monday, 8 August, following his interview on a popular news channel.

In his interview on Power to Truth with JJ Tabane, Dlamini slammed the African National Congress for creating a dependency state that is being used to control the masses. He added that it was time for citizens to rise up and fight back.

"They found black people working and feeding themselves and they made those people to be useless and to live on handouts," said Mcebo on eNCA.

Source: Briefly News