From the canefields to great heights in the social, community and financial world for Tongaat's Balan Subramunier

By Marimuthu Subramoney
(aka Subry Govender)

The desire by a successful Tongaat financial consultant to be involved in the social upliftment of the poor and the disadvantaged has its roots in his early life as a sugar cane labourer.
When he was 12-years-old, he and his large family of three brothers, four sisters and mother found themselves in dire straits after their father died at the young age of 42.
Their plight was so heart-wrenching that they had to rely on the assistance of the Tongaat Child and Family Welfare Society and other well-wishers for survival.
"It's this assistance and help that encouraged me to become involved in social welfare, religious, sporting and political work since my early 20s," said 65-year-old Mr Pubalan "Balan" Subramunier in an interview at his offices in the Gateway business area recently.
Born in the Sandfields farming area in June 1945, Subramunier experienced extreme poverty from an early age. He was a member of a huge brood of three other brothers, four sisters and his parents. They lived on a "lease-hold" tin shanty in the farm and his father, Subramunier Pillay, worked as a sugar estate sardar and insurance agent to support the family.
"Although we were very poor, we managed to have at least one meal a day and make do with the barest of necessities. Most days our food consisted of mealie rice and dhall. In 1947 our lives turned upside down when my father died at the young age of 42. My mother then worked as a domestic for an Indian business family but the money she earned was not enough.
"My elder brother, elder sister and I worked in the sugar fields to help my mother. We had to work eight to nine hours a day for the 25 cents pittance we were paid. But because of the slave wages and grinding poverty we were forced out of our lease-hold house. We then moved to Diptown Barracks in 1958.
"It was during this period that we were assisted by the child welfare society. At this time my mother worked as a labourer for Tongaat Hullet at the golf course."
Because of the poverty situation, young Subramunier could not complete his secondary school education. He started to work in his early teens for a clothing factory and thereafter for 10 years did odd jobs at Wentworth Hospital, for a motor spares company and a scales company in Durban.
When he was 26-years-old he was recruited by a friend to work as a life assurance salesman for Prudential Life Assurance Company, which later became known as Liberty Life. He has been attached to the company now for nearly 40 years.
"When I first started work I became interested in the Tongaat Child Welfare and started to attend meetings. I used to sit at the back because I was still new in the field of social work."
Mr Subramunier has been with the Tongaat Child Welfare for more than 40 years and had served the organisation as its secretary for five years, vice-president for a year before being elected president in 1992. He held the position for four years until 1996.
"I stepped down in 1996 because I wanted to give the younger people a chance to occupy senior positions. However, I am still involved as a vice-president.
"Over the years I have found that I fully understood the plight of the downtrodden and the poor because of my own experiences as a young boy. I cannot forget where my brothers, sisters and I came from. I will continue to be involved in social work because we have to give something back to society."
Mr Subramunier is also involved with the Sandfields Temple, an institution "that is in my blood".
"The temple was part of our lives in our early years and at times I feel that I was born in the temple. After I moved back to Sandfields in the 1970s, I became fully involved with the Temple."
He served the temple as its secretary for 12 years, president for six years and currently was the Public Relations Officer.
He is also currently secretary of the Springfield Hindu Vernacular Trust, which owns the Sandfields Primary School.
In the sporting world, he played soccer for Young Callies, Hillview Rangers and was also involved in the Commercial League. Currently he is a patron of the Maidstone Football Club.
In addition to his social, religious and sporting involvement, Mr Subramunier became involved in the ANC in Tongaat after the release of Nelson Mandela and other political leaders and the unbanning of the ANC and other organisations in 1990.
"I have always been involved with the Natal Indian Congress and when the ANC was unbanned it was only natural for me to enter the fray and contribute to the transformation process. I also had the good fortune of meeting Mr Mandela four times. These meetings have encouraged me to continue with my work in the social and other fields.
"I was also influenced by Mr Billy Nair when he moved to the Tongaat area after his release from prison. My father, who was a supporter of the NIC, also infused some political awareness in me.
"Although I am a staunch member of the ANC I am somewhat disappointed that many of the current people are not following the values and principles of Nelson Mandela, Billy Nair and other leaders. The fraud and corruption has disillusioned me and many other people."
Mr Subramunier, who is the descendant of grand parents who arrived in South Africa in the early 1900s to work as indentured labourers, is proud of his heritage while at the same time emphasising that "I am first and foremost a South African".
"We have to strongly promote our cultures, religions and languages because without these we will be lost."
He has received several awards for his work in the social and civic fields. The most prestigious award being the Inaugural Mayoral Award for Community Services in 1998. In his professional life as well Mr Subramunier has been recoginised for his service by being elected as an official of the international life assurance organisation, Million Dollar Round Table, and the South African Life Underwriters Association. At the MDRT conference in Toronto, Canada, Mr Subramunier carried the South African flag during the flag ceremony on the main platform.
Mr Subramunier's life has been described best by one of his colleagues, Ms Shirley Hunsewraj, in a company newsletter. She said he was "a humble and gentle person who has been an inspiration to all".
She wrote: "Balan stirred in me a need to serve our greater community as part of our human duty, to strive towards perfection, to aim high and work towards those goals and never to lose sight of the greater person I can be."
Mr Subramunier and his wife, Sheila, have two sons and one grand-child.