J N REDDY – A GIANT IN THE STRUGGLES FOR THE SOCIAL, ECONOMICAL, EDUCATION AND CULTURAL UPLIFTMENT OF THE PEOPLE BY SUBRY GOVENDER

One of the giants in the struggles for the social, economical, educational and cultural upliftment of the people, Dr J N Reddy, passed away at the ripe-old age of 94 at his Wyebank home on Friday, July 5. His funeral was held on Sunday, July 7 at the Claire Estate Crematorium in Durban. Hundreds of family and friends, including a number of his former colleagues in the cultural sector, business world and the former House of Delegates (HOD) during the days of the Tri-Cameral Parliament, also attended and paid glowing tributes to Dr Reddy. One of his former colleagues, Mr Narend Singh, described Dr Reddy as a leader who contributed enormously to the social, educational, economical, and cultural development of all people, irrespective of race or colour. Some of the other personalities who attended the funeral were Mr Vivian Reddy, Mr Logie Naidoo, Mr Baldeo Dookie, Mrs Thakur Rajbansi, and Mr T Palan. The KZN MEC for Finance, Mr Ravi Pillay, was also present. Veteran journalist, Subry Govender, who knew Dr Reddy since the early 1970s when he was a young journalist with the Daily News, interviewed Dr Reddy in 2012. Subry writes that Dr Reddy’s contribution to the development of the people cannot be just wished away in the new non-racial and democratic South Africa….. . "VERY HUMBLE, WORKING CLASS FAMILY" “I came from a very humble, working-class family and I was always concerned about the suffering of the people. This prompted me from an early age to become involved in community, religious, social, political and cultural organisations in order to promote the social, cultural and economic well-being of our people.” Jayaram Narainsamy Reddy, better known as “J N” to his close friends and media people like this correspondent, was speaking to me about his life and his involvement in the country’s and community upliftment work in an interview at his home in Wyebank sometime in 2012. Dr Reddy, who resigned from the House of Delegates in 1993 at a time when political negotiations for the establishment of a new non-racial and democratic order was nearing completion, was recuperating at home from an illness.

I had known Dr Reddy from the early 1970s when he was involved in the establishment of the New Republic Bank, one of the first ventures by Indian-origin business people into the banking sector. At this time, he was also executive chairperson of the South African Indian Council (SAIC), which was established by the former apartheid regime as the political representative of the people of Indian-origin. Although the SAIC and later the House of Delegates (HOD) were rejected overwhelmingly by the vast majority of the people of Indian-origin, Mr Reddy saw the SAIC and the HOD as instruments through which the people’s social, economical, and educational welfare could be advanced. “During the late 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s there were no other ways in dealing with the government in power to advance the educational and economic lives of the people,” Mr Reddy told me. “The whites had their parliament and they were in total control of the country. At this time, the National Party Government also created political platforms for the Coloured people and the homelands and local urban councils for the African people. “I joined the statutory SAIC in 1968 after I was invited by the then Minister of Indian Affairs, Mr Frank Waring. There were 30 members and some of the people in the first council were Mr P R Pather, who was the executive chairperson, Mr M E Sultan, Mr A M Rajab, Mr Y S Chinsamy, Mr Munsoor and Mr Kollakuppan. “When Mr Pather passed away within six months, Mr Rajab was elected the executive chairperson. And when Mr Rajab passed away in 1973, I was elected executive chairperson until 1980 when I resigned to concentrate on my business.”

He added: “You must understand that at this time there were a lot of people who criticised our participation in the SAIC and later in the HOD, and saw us as collaborating with the National Party Government. “But we did not see ourselves as collaborators. We saw ourselves as people who were concerned about the growing poverty, unemployment and poor living conditions of the people. We saw ourselves as people who, as concerned individuals, wanted to do something to ease the socio-economic conditions of the people. “You must understand that if we did not get involved the vast majority of the people would not have been able to upgrade their lives from the numerous tin towns, sugar estates, and other desperate living conditions. “It was only after our involvement that the vast majority of people had been able to move from the tin towns to decent homes in places like Phoenix, Chatsworth, Isipingo and Merebank. “You must also take into account that it was during our involvement that we enjoyed the highest standards of education. Our department at one time was considered as one of the 10 best in the world.”

Mr Reddy told me that he was not justifying his participation in the system. “I also had some very good relations with people who were involved in the Natal Indian Congress and other organisations at this time. In fact, at one time I made it possible for the son of one of the NIC leaders to work at New Repubic Bank. Today this person has grown to become a big businessman. “For me personally, I did not consider myself as a politician. I considered myself as a concerned individual who wanted to do something positive to overcome the social and economic deprivations that our people were caught up in. During the 1980s and 1990s I was a very successful businessman and I could have stepped aside and continued with my business enterprises. But I got involved because I also wanted to help the people to lift themselves out of the marginalised and deprived conditions they were caught up in.”

Mr Reddy’s early life was not a bed of roses. He was born in Stainbank Estate in Seaview, in the Durban south area, on October 24 1925. His father, R N Reddy, arrived in the former Natal Colony as a four-year-old boy in the early 1890s with his grand-father, Ramsamy Perumal Reddy, and grand-mother from the Chitoor District of the former Madras Presidency, which is now part of the Tamil Nadu state in south India. His grand-parents worked as indentured labourers for five years at Esperanza, near Umzinto, on the South Coast. After they completed their indentures, his grand-parents moved to Railway Barracks in Durban when his grand-father obtained a job as a labourer on the railways. His father was nine-years-old.

The family, thereafter, moved to Stainbank Estate where his grand-father and father obtained a piece of land and started small-scale farming. They grew bananas, mealies, ginger and calabash to eke out a living. While staying and working the land, Mr Reddy’s father also obtained a job at the railways. After a while, his father joined Lever Brothers at Maydon Wharf in Durban where he worked for 44 long years. Mr Reddy himself was part of a large family of five sisters and two brothers while growing up in Seaview. Only his brother, Mogambery, and sister, Poorni Reddy, are alive today. After completing his early schooling at the Seaview State-Aided Indian School in 1938, he attended Sastri College for two years. “I did book-keeping, among other subjects, and this helped me to find a job at Lever Brothers in 1941. I started work for 14 shillings and six pence a month and when I left two-and-half-years later, I was earning 17 shillings and eight pence. “I then moved at the age of 18 in 1943 to the African Shipping Company where I joined as a junior clerk at a salary of 12 pounds a month. I worked here for 16 years, learning everything about shipping. In 1959 I joined M Bloch and Company in Pine Street, Durban, at a salary of 250 pounds a month. “The experience I obtained in these companies helped me a lot and in 1965 I opened my own shipping company called SeaLandAir Shipping and Forwarding (Pty) Limited company in Goodhope Centre. I opened the company in partnership with the Paruk family. “This company grew substantially and by 1997 we had offices in Richards Bay, Jan Smuts Airport in Johannesburg, Cape Town and our Durban Head Office. We were highly-respected because of the high quality of work we provided to our clients.” Mr Reddy’s involvement in the social, educational and economical upliftment of the people began in the early 1940s in Seaview where “I found that that the discrimination against Indians was reaching its peak”.

“Many of the people were being pushed out by the municipality because it wanted to create only whites-only residential areas. As a young man I joined the Seaview/Bellair branch of the Natal Indian Congress led by Mr R A Pillay and served in FOSA and other welfare, cultural and religious organisations. “I recall that while still at high school we should all attend the meetings at Red Square in Durban and all the branch meetings. “At the meetings I recall we used to highlight the point that we are working-class people and no one is there to speak for us.” Mr Reddy was also a member of the debating team at the local Bellair Social Club in Seaview. In 1953 at the age of 28, Dr Reddy married Vijayamma from Bank Road in Bellair in what he described as an “arranged marriage”. The wedding took place at the Sardar Road Temple in nearby Clairwood. In 1968 Dr Reddy and his family moved to Silverglen after Seaview was declared a white group area. The family lived here until 1984 when they moved to Wyebank.

Mr Reddy’s involvement in the Tri-Cameral House of Delegates gained momentum in 1984 when he launched the Solidarity Party to contest the HOD elections. He launched the party with the assistance and involvement of people such as Pat Poovalingam, Yunus Moola, Kisten Moodley, Mamoo Rajab, A K Pillay and P I Devan. He served for one year as Minister of Finance under the late Mr Amichand Rajbansi. In the 1989 HOD elections, Mr Reddy’s Solidarity Party won majority of the seats and he served as the Chairperson of the HOD until he resigned in 1993.

“As I have stated earlier, I did not see the SAIC and HOD as permanent features but merely as instruments to tackle issues such as employment, housing, and education for the most disadvantaged sections of the people. “I was one of the people who appealed to the former National Party Government to negotiate with the leaders of the ANC and other organisations to bring about an environment where people will be able to live in peace, harmony, and economic and social development. “When the negotiations at Codesa began in the early 1990s I was part of it, but stepped aside in 1993 when I found that I had played my role in working for a peaceful and developing country for all people.”

Mr Reddy considers some of his achievements during his involvement in public life as being the building of schools; creating opportunities for prospective plumbers and electricians to be trained and recognised; negotiating for young people to be trained at the M L Sultan Technikon; building of houses in the Johannesburg region; creating opportunities for young people to find jobs at ISCOR in Newcastle; the training of telephone technicians by Telkom; and the escalation of opportunities for the training of Chartered Accountants. Mr Reddy also said that after the Durban top market was burnt down, they found that the lives of more than 6 000 people had been severely affected.

“We worked with the government and had been able to obtain a grant of R500 000 for the restoration of the market. This process, through the Small Business Development Corporation, helped to alleviate the lives of the people torn apart by the devastation and destruction.” Mr Reddy said his involvement in the business world since the early 1970s led him to establish the Indian Industrial Development Corporation(IIDC). After the negotiations for a new South Africa began in the early 1990s, the IIDC merged with the Small Business Development Corporation. In the business world, he also served on the Board of the S A Permanent Building Society; Standard Bank (Natal); C G Smith Sugar; and the Rembrandt company owned by Anton Rupert. Culturally, one of his major involvements was when he served as the first treasurer of the S A Tamil Federation. He also contributed generously for the training and upliftment of musicians and teachers.

Mr Reddy is survived by his three sons, one daughter and eight grand-children. One of his grand-daughters, Dr Nadia Omar paid a glowing tribute to her grand-father at the funeral on Sunday. She described her grand-father as an inspirational South African leader who always encouraged them to concentrate on education. Mr Reddy may not be known as a militant leader in the political sense of the word but he was certainly a leader who contributed enormously to the social, educational, cultural and community upliftment of all people. He was a leader who did not seek the limelight but a social activist and humanitarian who concentrated his life in the promotion of the well-being of those who found themselves in the margins of society. We cannot highlight and characterise as social leaders only those who restricted their struggles in the anti-apartheid fields. Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com