George Gangen Ponnen – a son of indentured sugar cane labourers who joined the struggles for a non-racial South Africa despite acute repression and racism at the hands of the minority white oppressors.

(GEORGE GANGEN PONNEN) By Subry Govender In this feature in our series on “Struggle Heroes and Heroines”, veteran journalist, Subry Govender, recalls the life of George Gangen Ponnen, the son of indentured labourers who concentrated his entire life in improving the working conditions of the labour class and who made an invaluable contribution in the political struggles through the South African Communist Party(SACP), the Natal Indian Congress and the African National Congress. Ponnen, who returned from exile in 1994 to cast his “freedom” vote, died two years later in January 1996. During the course of my compilation of the profiles of struggle heroes and heroines, the veteran activists that I had interacted with came forward with the names of a string of people who played their roles in the liberation struggles. One of those activists is George Gangen Ponnen who, despite his poor and poverty-stricken family background, immersed himself fully from an early age in the trade union movement and the political struggles of the South African Communist Party, Natal Indian Congress and the ANC. During his involvement in the struggles, which began at a knitting mill factory in Umbilo Road in Durban in the late 1920s, Ponnen was instrumental in the establishment of 27 trade unions from 1936 to 1945. Who is this little known stalwart who made an indelible contribution in the struggles for a non-racial and democratic South Africa? According to the information I had obtained from his close comrade, Swaminathan Gounden, and others such as Judge Thuma Pillay, Ponnen was a “salt-of-the-earth” person whose work at grass-roots levels consolidated and promoted the work of his leaders in the different trade union and political movements. Ponnen was born on the June 1, 1913, to parents who had settled in an area called Rooikopjes, near Westville, west of Durban, after completing their five-year indentureship at nearby sugar estates. His father, Ponnen, and his mother, Gangamma, had been recruited from the Madras Presidency in South India in the 1890s. He was the seventh child in a large family of seven brothers and one sister. He started school at the age of seven in 1920 at the St Thomas Govt-Aided Indian School and his social and political awareness began at this time whenever he and his siblings used to visit the nearby areas of Westville and Durban. He found that the restaurants and cinemas were restricted for whites only and “Indian, coloured and Africans” were not allowed to use the best and safe parts of Durban’s beaches. In 1921 his schooling was disrupted when his father passed on and his mother was forced to move the family to an area in Durban called Manning Place. He had to leave school and started work at the tender age of 10 at a cigar company in Alice Street, Durban, to help his family. Although he was in and out of school whenever conditions improved in the family, Ponnen only managed to complete standard four in 1928. He worked at several knitting and clothing factories in the Umbilo Road area in Durban where he came face to face with the exploitation of Indian, African and Coloured workers. It was during this period that he befriended another worker, H A Naidoo, and both of them joined together to promote the interests of the exploited workers. It was during this period that Ponnen with Naidoo were drawn into the South African Communist Party.

They were the first South Africans of Indian-origin to be accepted into the SACP as full members in 1930. At this time he also became interested and attended meetings of the Anti-Fascist League that was established to counter a right-wing and reactionary organisation called, Grey Shirts. This organisation was affiliated to Hitler’s Nazi Organisation, that was busy holding rallies all over South Africa. Because of his activities, life for Ponnen was made very difficult by his employers in the clothing, knitting, iron and steel and other factories. At every turn he was dismissed when his employers found that he was involved in establishing trade unions and promoting the rights of the workers. He also had to put up with reactionary elements in the Garment Workers Union, which was started by a British immigrant, J C Bolton, to cater mainly for white and some Indian and Coloured workers. Ponnen clashed openly with Bolton when he called for African workers to be also registered as members of the GWU. He also clashed with another trade union leader who wanted to separate African workers from their fellow Indian colleagues. The African workers were told that “Indians were only shop-keepers and exploiters”. But when Ponnen told the workers that the “Indian workers” were also part of the exploited working class and the only one who owned a shop was the “reactionary calling himself a leader”, the African workers confronted the “opportunist” and made him run for his life. During this period, Ponnen and his friend, H A Naidoo, attended evening classes at the Indian Technical Institute in the former Cross Street, Durban, to further their studies. But he and H A Naidoo had to abandon their studies after they were overwhelmed by their trade union and political work.

Between 1936 and 1945, Ponnen with H A Naidoo, helped to establish 27 unions that included the Iron and Steel Workers’ Union, Sugar Workers’ Union, Dundee Glass Workers’ Union, SA Railways and Harbour Workers Union, Natal Coal Miners Union, and the Cigarette and Tobacco Workers’ Union. When organising the various trade unions, Ponnen recruited and trained hundreds of workers who became trade union officials in a number of trade unions. They included P M Harry in the Iron and Steel Workers Union; A P Pillay in the Sugar Workers Union; L Ramsunder in the Laundry, Cleaning and Dyeing Workers Union; P T Cooppen in the Sugar Workers Union; S V Reddy in the SA Tin Workers Union; M Ramcheran in the Tobacco Workers Union; K Johnnie Naiker, Laundry, Cleaning and Dyeing Union; Sam Pillay, Food and Canning Workers Union; N G Moodley, Brick, Tile and Allied Workers Union; M D Naidoo, Tea, Coffee and Chicory Workers Union; R R Pillay, Natal Coal Miners’ Union; E I Moola, Chemical Workers Union; Vera Ponnen, Mineral, Water and Brewery Workers’ Union; Stephen Dlamini, Textile Workers Union and the S A Congress of Trade Unions(SACTU); R D Naidoo, Bakery Workers Union; and Mannie Pillay, Biscuit and Confectionary Workers Union. At the same time, Ponnen organised the workers to participate in the political struggles of the Natal Indian Congress, the African National Congress and other progressive movements. The struggles he became involved in, included the Passive Resistance Campaign led by the Natal Indian Congress; and the Defiance Campaign and the Anti-Pass campaign led by the Congress Alliance that comprised the ANC, NIC, TIC, Congress of Democrats and the Coloured Peoples’ Congress. Ponnen also organised the formation of the Natal Indian Youth League with H A Naidoo and Sooboo Rajah in order to counter the reactionary political leadership that captured the Natal Indian Congress at this time. (Sooboo Rajah in the 1970s was associated with the non-racial Southern Natal Soccer Board that became fully involved in the struggles against apartheid sport. Rajah was involved with sports activists of the calibre of M N Govender, R K Naidoo, Ramhori Lutchman, S K Chetty and Dharam Ramlall at that time. At the same time while George Ponnen and his comrade-in-arms, H A Naidoo, consolidated their struggles in the trade union movement, they also became involved in the struggles to remove reactionary elements from the Natal Indian Congress. They recruited workers and campaigned vigorously with the open support of Dr Monty Naicker, George Singh, Cassim Amra, Dawood Seedat, E I Moola, P M Harry, M P Naicker, and M D Naidoo. More than 40 000 people attended a meeting at Currie’s Fountain in the late 1940s to express their disquiet at the reactionary policies adopted by A I Kajee, P R Pather and their officials who were leaders of the NIC at this time. During the elections, the reactionary group was overthrown and Dr Monty Naicker was elected president. George Ponnen was elected as one of the vice-presidents. He occupied this position until 1950 when he was served with a five-year banning order. At this time, Dr Yusuf Dadoo and his progressive leaders toppled the reactionary leaders of the TIC in the Johannesburg region.

Dr Naicker and Dr Dadoo joined hands to work with the ANC and other progressive forces in the country. But the white minority National Party Government at this time started to embark on a series of repressive actions and Ponnen was one of the activists who was detained under the 90-day detention law and later banned and house arrested for five years. When the ANC, PAC and other organisations were banned in 1960 and leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and others were arrested and charged with treason, Ponnen was once again detained for 90 days and re-detained for 30 days. He was arrested and charged for refusing to give evidence in the Treason Trial in 1964. He was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment but he appealed against this sentence. He was given bail and during this “freedom” he skipped the country in 1965 to go into exile. He and his wife, Vera, went to Zambia via Botswana and for 10 years were involved in the work of the ANC and SACTU. Here in Zambia they established a clothing factory during this period to assist ANC members, refugees and their families. In 1975 the Ponnens moved to Canada where they joined their two daughters. For the next 15 years, he continued with the work of the ANC and travelled between Canada, Zambia and Tanzania. They also established a clothing factory in Tanzania to help refugees who sought the assistance of the ANC. Four years after they had settled down in Canada, his wife, Vera, died in 1979. This was a serious setback but Ponnen continued with his work for the ANC. In the late 1980s Ponnen was struck down with ill-health but despite this he followed with keen interest the political developments in his home country. There were behind-the-scenes talks between Nelson Mandela and the National Party regime and between the ANC and white business, political and social leaders. These developments led to the release of Nelson Mandela in February 1990 and the unbanning of the ANC, PAC and other organisations. Despite ill-health, Ponnen returned to the country in February 1994 to cast his vote for a free South Africa, the ANC and Nelson Mandela. Two years after visualising his dream of a free South Africa, Ponnen died in Durban at the age of 83 on 9th January 1996. His funeral was held at the David Landau Community in Asherville.

The enormous contributions made by Ponnen for the improvement of the labour conditions of workers was highlighted in a letter published in the former Leader newspaper on July 21 1995. The writer, who signed off only as: “Exploited Worker”, paid this wonderful tribute to Ponnen: “More than 65 years ago George Gangen Ponnen, familiarly known as “G” in the ANC and SACP circles and some of his comrades, especially the late Mr H A Naidoo, fought tirelessly against unfair labour practices. “He was a great Tamil stalwart who at one time was called upon to give speeches in Tamil on socialism at the Drama Hall in Magazine Barracks, Somtseu Road, Durban, because majority of the residents there were Tamil-speaking. “I believe that there are few in the history of South Africa who have done more for the proper treatment of the worker than “G” along with some of his comrades. “Their efforts were a lead-up to the Labour Relations Act, which is currently the subject of great debate. “I trust that all the harsh treatment meted out to workers in the labour field of the new South Africa will be wiped out once and for all by the efforts of their success.” Veteran stalwart, Swaminathan Gounden, described Ponnen as a great revolutionary who sacrificed his life for the freedom of South Africa. Said Gounden: “I can only pay tribute to him by saying that he lived and worked all his life for the creation of a free, non-racial and democratic South Africa. Although he sacrificed a great deal, he had no regrets. All his life and all his work had been given to the cause of freedom in South Africa.” If George Ponnen was alive today, I am certain he would have been wondering what had happened to the true values and principles for which he and his comrades had fought and sacrificed their lives for. I am certain he would have set in motion steps to revitalise and re-activate progressive organisations for the people to feel free and involved in our new, non-racial and democratic South Africa. He would not have put up with a situation where people are made to feel that they are not South Africans. – ends (subrygovender@gmail.com)