Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Achmat ya ƙone makarantarsa a Salt River don tallafawa zanga-zangar ɗalibai na 1976
kuma an daure shi sau da yawa a lokacin samartakarsa don ayyukan siyasa. Ya shiga jam'iyyar African National Congress (ANC) a 1980 yayin da yake zaman kurkuku. Tsakanin 1985 da 1990 ya kasance memba na Marxist Workers Tendency na ANC, kungiyar Trotskyist mai rabuwa da ANC kuma magabata ga Democratic Socialist Movement.