DO WE CHERISH THE RICH LEGACY OF OUR INDENTURED ANCESTORS AND ARE WE LACKING LEADERSHIP TODAY IN THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA?

 

              (Sugar estate workers in Mt Edgecombe on the North Coast in the early days)

 ON NOVEMBER 16 2022, WE, AS SOUTH AFRICANS, WILL BE OBSERVING THE 162nd ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARRIVAL OF OUR INDENTURED ANCESTORS TO THE FORMER NATAL COLONY, WHICH WAS UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE THEN BRITISH EMPIRE.  

OVER THE PAST MORE THAN 16 DECADES, THE DESCENDANTS OF OUR ANCESTORS HAVE PROGRESSED TO MAKE SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE SOCIAL, ECONOMICAL, EDUCATIONAL, RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL LIFE OF SOUTH AFRICA DESPITE THE DECADES OF OPPRESSION, DISCRIMINATION AND EXCLUSION.

THE FIRST BATCH OF OUR ANCESTORS LANDED IN THE THEN PORT OF DURBAN AS INDENTURED LABOURERS. THE FIRST GROUP OF PEOPLE ARRIVED FROM THE INDIAN CITY - THEN KNOWN AS MADRAS – (NOW CHENNAI) AND THEREAFTER FROM, MAINLY THE CITY KNOWN AS CALCUTTA - (TODAY KOLKATA).

THE INDENTURED LABOURERS WERE ALLOCATED TO VARIOUS SUGAR FARMERS AND ESTATES TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE THEN NATAL COLONY.

 

(Former indentured labourers with their children and grand-child at their home in Cato Manor)

SOME OF THE FAMOUS ESTATES THEY WORKED AS SEMI SLAVES WERE BLACKBURN, MOUNT EDGECOMBE, TRENANCE, CORNUBIA, NEW GUELDERLAND, AND HUNDREDS OF OTHER SUGAR ESTATES IN TONGAAT, VERULAM, STANGER, UMKOMAAS, ISIPINGO, UMZINTO AND PORT SHEPSTONE.

 

           BRUTAL AND HARSH CONDITIONS

 

DESPITE THE HARSH AND BRUTAL CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THEY WERE FORCED TO LABOUR - THESE PIONEERS LAID THE FOUNDATION FOR SUCCEEDING GENERATIONS BY EMPHASING THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION, CULTURE, LANGUAGE, AND SOCIAL COHESION – (NOT COERCISION). THEY BUILT EDUCATIONAL, RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS WHERE EVER THEY FIRST TOILED AND THEREAFTER WHERE EVER THEY SETTLED.

 

             (A rich legacy inherited from     our indentured ancestors. This is a               temple in Johannesburg.)
                             

 

TODAY – 162 YEARS LATER - THROUGH THE SACRIFICES OF THE EARLY PIONEERS - WE ENJOY A FREE AND DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY - BEYOND THE IMAGINATION OF THE    EARLY INDENTURED LABOURERS.

 

BUT HOW MUCH DO WE REMEMBER OUR EARLY FOREFATHERS? ARE WE PROMOTING AND PROTECTING THE RICH HERITAGE THAT THEY HAD CREATED FOR US? OR ARE WE RAPIDLY SHOWING NO RESPECT AND REGARD FOR THE VERY RICH CULTURES AND TRADITIONS BESTOWED TO US?

 

ARE WE PROTECTING OUR RICH HISTORY, ARTEFACTS, CULTURES, TEMPLES, CHURCHES, MOSQUES AND TRADITIONS?

 

DESCENDANTS MAKE A COMMITMENT TO THE NEW SOUTH ADRICA

 

FURTHERMORE, AFTER THE DAWN OF OUR FREEDOM IN APRIL 1994, SOUTH AFRICANS OF INDIAN-ORIGIN PUT THEIR SHOULDERS TO THE WHEEL TO PROMOTE A SOCIETY WHERE EVERYONE ENJOYED FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT, FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF DEVELOPMENT AND WHERE PEOPLE WOULD BE TREATED WITH EQUALITY, RESPECT AND DIGNITY.

BUT TODAY, 28 YEARS INTO OUR NEW SOUTH AFRICA, MANY PEOPLE HAVE TAKEN A BACK SEAT AND HAVE WITHDRAWN FROM THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY.

 

“FREE BUT NOT FREE” DUE TO THE HIGH RATE OF VIOLENT CRIME

 

 

THE PEOPLE HAVE STATED THAT THEY NO LONGER FEEL FREE IN A FREE AND DEMOCRATIC SOUTH AFRICA BECAUSE OF THE HIGH RATE OF VIOLENT CRIME AND THE LACK OF COMMITMENT BY RULING POLITICIANS, POLICE PERSONELL AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TO CREATE A CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT AND PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL THE PEOPLE.

 

BUT, DESPITE ALL THE SETBACKS AND THE CORRUPTION AND BRIBERY THAT GO WITH IT, SOUTH AFRICA IS STILL SEEN AS ONE OF THE BEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD.

 

DR IMTIAZ SOOLIMAN AND GIFT OF GIVERS

(Dr Imtiaz Sooliman)

 

WE SHOULD FOLLOW THE LEAD OF THE CHAIRPERSON AND FOUNDER OF THE GIFT OF THE GIVERS, DR IMTIAZ SOOLIMAN, WHO HAS REPEATEDLY STATED IN A NUMBER OF PUBLIC ADDRESSES AT VARIOUS FUNCTIONS RECENTLY THAT WE HAVE THE POWER TO DEVELOP AND CREATE A BETTER COUNTRY FOR ALL THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA.

HE HAS STATED THAT ALL SOUTH AFRICANS MUST WORK TOGETHER TO BUILD A NEW COUNTRY AND FOR BUSINESS PEOPLE TO LEND A MAJOR HAND IN IMPROVING THE INFRASTRUCTURE AND PERSONNEL IN ALL FIELDS OF LIFE SUCH AS EDUCATION, HEALTH, TRANSPORT.

 

SO, WHILE WE OBSERVE AND CELEBRATE THE LIVES OF OUR INDENTURED ANCESTORS, LET US AT THE SAME TIME COMMIT OURSELVES TO DEVELOPING, AS DR SOOLIMAN SAYS, A SOCIETY FOR ALLTHE PEOPLE.

POVERTY, UNEMPLOYMENT, INEQUALITY AND UNDER-DEVELOPMENT CANNOT CONTINUE IN A COUNTRY AS RICH AS SOUTH AFRICA.

LACK OF PROGRESSIVE LEADERS

 

WE NEED MORE LEADERS OF THE CALIBRE OF DR SOOLIMAN TO COME FORWARD AND RAISE ISSUES OF CONCERN TO ALL SOUTH AFRICANS. THEY ARE URGENTLY NEEDED TO GIVE HOPE AND ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE POOR, DISADVANTAGED AND THOSE ON THE MARGINS OF SOCIETY WHO SAY THERE ARE NO LEADERS TO REPRESENT AND TO RAISE THEIR CONCERNS IN THE NEW NON-RACIAL AND DEMOCRATIC SOUTH AFRICA.

IN THE YEARS LEADING TO THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA IN APRIL 1994, THEY HAD ORGANISATIONS SUCH AS THE UNITED DEMOCRATIC FRONT (UDF) AND THE NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS (NIC) TO TAKE UP SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ISSUES OF CONCERN. UNFORTUNATELY, THESE PROGRESSIVE ORGANISATIONS WERE CALLED UPON TO DISBAND BECAUSE THE ANC WOULD REPRESENT THEM IN THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA. ALTHOUGH FREEDOM ICON, NELSON MANDELA, AND LEADERS OF THE CALIBRE OF PROF FATIMA MEER WERE OPPOSED TO THE DISBANDING OF THE NIC, OTHER ELEMENTS INSISTED THERE WAS NO NEED FOR ORGANISATIONS SUCH AS THE NIC TO REMAIN IN THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA.

(Prof Fatima Meer with veterans of the struggles,  - her husband, Ismail, Dr Monty Naicker, M N Pather and George Singh)

BUT MANDELA WAS OF THE VIEW THAT THE NIC WAS AN HISTORICAL ORGANISATION AND IT SHOULD REMAIN. HE MADE IT CLEAR THAT THE NIC WOULD WORK WITH PROGRESSIVE ORGANISATIONS TO PROMOTE THE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY.

PROF MEER, FOR HER PART, WAS OF THE VIEW THAT ALTHOUGH THE ANC WOULD REPRESENT ALL PEOPLE, THE NIC WOULD BE THE HISTORICAL ORGANISATION TO REPRESENT THE MASSES WITHIN THE PEOPLE OF INDIAN ORIGIN.

IT SEEMS BOTH MANDELA AND MEER WERE ON THE POINT REGARDING THE NIC AND THE UDF BECAUSE TODAY THE PEOPLE FIND THEMSELVES LEADERLESS, LOST AND FORGOTTEN. THE PEOPLE DON’T REGARD THE ANC OF TODAY AS PROMOTING THE VALUES AND PRINCIPLES OF THE MANDELAS, WALTER SISULUS, GOVAN MBEKIS, AHMED KATHRADAS AND SCORES OF OTHERS. RACE, RACISM, AND PROMOTION OF RACIAL HATRED AND GENOCIDE HAVE BECOME THE NORM AMONG SOME OF THE POLITICIANS. ENDS – subrygovender@gmail.com  November 16 2022