SECOND GENERATION DESCENDANT OF INDENTURED LABOURERS WHO WAS ATTACKED BY HIS FATHER FOR TURNING TO CHRISTIANITY IN THE MID-1930s AT THE AGE OF 17 PASSES ON AFTER ATTAINING THE RIPE-OLD AGE OF 95

By Subry Govender

(RUTHINSAMY MUNSAMY ISAAC GOVENDER WITH HIS WIFE, KURPA, AT THEIR HOME IN NORTHDALE, PIETERMARITZBURG, IN SOUTH AFRICA) A second generation descendant of indentured labourers who had to flee his home at the age of 17 after being attacked by his father for “praying to a white man’s God”, has passed on at the age of 95 at his home in Bombay Road in Northdale, Pietermaritzburg, in South Africa. Mr Ruthinsamy Munsamy Isaac Govender, who grew up in Dayal Road in the historic “Indian” village of Clairwood, in the city of Durban, passed on, on Saturday, September 16, only three weeks after attaining the ripe-old age of 95. Mr Govender, who was also known as Wally to his “Christian” colleagues, was born on August 23 2017. He recalled his early life growing up in Dayal Road in several interviews with this correspondent over the past few years.

(MR GOVENDER WITH HIS DAUGHTERS, MERYL AND DAYA, NIECE, THYNA, AND SOME OF HIS GREAT-GRAND-CHILDREN AT HIS HOME IN PIETERMARITZBURG ON HIS 95TH BIRTHDAY ON AUGUST 23 2017)

(MR GOVENDER WITH HIS WIFE, KURPA, AND CHILDREN - RUTH, ABLE, SELVIE, MERYL AND DAYA) He was interviewed for a book that was being written about his indentured family’s history. He was born to Muniamma and Coopoosamy Govender, who were market gardeners at Dayal Road until they were affected by the development of the Durban Port in the early 1950s. His mother and his mother’s younger sister, Yellamma, were born at the Blackburn Sugar Estate, near Mount Edgecombe, on the North Coast of the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa.

(MR GOVENDER WITH HIS SISTERS, SALATCHIE AND SAVUNDALAY, AND OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS AT A MUNIAMMA GATHERING) His grand-parents, Kandasamy and Thanji, came as indentured labourers from the village of Navalpore in the then North Arcott District of Tamil Nadu in South India in the early 1880s. They worked as indentured labourers on the sugar estate for 10 years. Mr Govender was part of a large family of 14 children but today only he and two sisters are still around. His sisters, Savundalay Padaychee, who lives in Dundee, turned 90 on July 8, and Amoy Moodley, who resides in Chatsworth, celebrated her 82nd birthday on August 10. He also has one surviving sister-in-law, Soundler Govender, who is in her 80s and lives in Chatsworth. Mr Govender has come a long way from his early days at Dayal Road in Clairwood where in his youth he helped his father, brothers and sisters in cultivating their market garden. After a few years at primary school, he did odd jobs before taking up catering at several hotels in Durban as his main occupation. While still a young boy, he used to attend Tamil classes and visit the local temples on a regular basis. But when he became interested in the Christian religion at the tender age of 17, he faced attacks and rejection from his father and one of his elder brothers. They accused him of transgressing the family’s belief system.

(MR GOVENDER WITH FAMILY MEMBERS AT A FAMILY FUNCTION IN DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA) On one occasion, after visiting a local shop in Clairwood, he purchased a photo of Jesus Christ for two pence (this was the currency at that time until the late 1960s). When he took the photo back home, he was confronted by one of his brothers who asked him this question: “Why do you bring a white man’s God to our home?”. But he said he was not intimidated by his brother’s disapproval and instead retorted as follows: “Listen here Anna (big brother) I have paid for this photo and it belongs to me. It has nothing to do with you. You are not going to tell me what to do.” Then on another occasion, after secretly converting to Christianity at the age of 17, his father found him praying on the side of his bed. His father was furious and grabbed a spear and started to run after him. His mother, Muniamma, tried to stop Coopoosamy Govender but he pushed her aside and shouted: “It’s because of you he is acting like this.” He said his father shouted: “He is praying to a God we don’t approve of.” Noticing the serious trouble he had found himself in, young Govender jumped through the window and ran to a neighbour’s home for safety. He stayed the night at the nieghbour’s home and the next morning escaped to Durban. He went to the home of a pastor in Beatrice Street where he stayed for a few years while working as a chef. His mother, brothers and sisters were not too happy about him leaving home and spoke to Coopoosamy Govender to change his mind about young Govender.

(MR GOVENDER WITH HIS ELDER BROTHER, NADASEN, AT ONE OF HIS BROTHER, LICKY GOVENDER'S HOME IN CHATSWORTH, SOUTH AFRICA)

(MR GOVENDER WITH HIS YOUNGEST BROTHER, PERCY GOVENDER) While he was working at the Athlone Hotel at Riverside in Durban, he got a surprise visit from his father one day. His father wanted to talk to him about returning home in Dayal Road. “You have been away for three years and it’s not nice that you are staying away. I want to you to come back,” he said his father told him. Young Govender agreed to return home to Dayal Road on condition that he did not interfere with his religious affiliation. But when he returned home, he got a shock. “My father made a special room for me in the verandah where a separate plate and cup were provided for me. My father told me that I must eat on my own and that during weddings and other functions, I must not get involved. “But of course this only applied when my father was not around. My mother and other brothers and sisters were very concerned about me and made sure that I was not treated separately.” However, young Govender suffered more frustrations and inconveniences when his elder sister arranged for him to meet a young girl in the Merebank area. That girl, Kurpa, turned out to be his future wife. Although his father did not oppose his marriage, he insisted that he would not attend. At the same time he warned his wife and his children not to attend the wedding.

(MR GOVENDER WITH HIS WIFE, KURPA, AND ONE OF HIS SISTERS, SALATCHIE GOVENDER) But some of the brothers and sisters informed the old man that they were going to watch a Tamil movie at the Rani Theatre. “I was 22 at this time and my father was totally opposed to me marrying a Christian girl. He never accepted the fact that I became a Christian. “So when I got married he never turned up and he made certain that my mother also did not attend. But four of my sisters and two brothers were there. They bluffed my father that they were going to Rani cinema for a show. My sister, Savundalay, was my bride’s maid. “One of my elder brothers did not want to have anything to do with me because I became a Christian. “I tied the ‘thali’ because my wife’s family were strong Catholic people who respected their family’s traditions and cultures. The ‘thali’ my wife converted to rings later in our married life.

(MR GOVENDER WITH SOME OF HIS BROTHERS AND SISTERS) “My father mellowed his attitude a little only after my eldest daughter and son were born.” Mr Govender and his young family moved to Pietermaritzburg in the late 1950s after he found a job as a chef at one of the top hotels. They lived in the “Indian” district of central Pietermaritzburg for some time and moved to his present home in Northdale after being affected by the notorious Group Areas Act, which was enforced by the former apartheid regime to separate the residential areas according to race – white, coloured, Indian and African.

(MR GOVENDER WITH HIS DAUGHTER, RUTH, AND WIFE, KURPA, AT ONE OF THE MUNIAMMA FAMILY GATHERINGS)

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(MR GOVENDER WITH HIS WIFE, KURPA, AND SOME OF HIS IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBERS)

(MR GOVENDER WITH FAMILY MEMBERS AT ONE OF THE MUNIAMMA FAMILY GATHERINGS) He and his family have been living at this house for more than 50 years. Although he has been involved in the Christian religion for some time, Mr Govender has never forgotten his Tamil background, cultures and traditions. He managed to obtain a Tamil Bible and continues to sing religious songs in the Tamil language.

(MR GOVENDER WITH ONE HIS SISTERS, PATCHA, AND ONE OF HIS BROTHERS, PERCY, AT A FAMILY GATHERING) He also kept in close touch with his extended family by attending most of the weddings and other functions. He was a patron and senior of the Muniamma Family Social Club, which was established to keep alive the close bond of the extended family. He attended the family gatherings and getaway and at these occasions he always addressed his family members in the Tamil language and sang religious songs in Tamil. Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com