SOUTH AFRICAN TAMIL LEADER CALLS FOR THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR GENOCIDE OF TAMILS IN SRI LANKA TO BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE

By Subry Govender The new president of the South African Tamil Federation has called for those resposnible of the genocide of more than 70 000 Tamils in the north and east of Sri Lanka in 2009 to be brought to justice by the Interntional Court of Justice. Mr Karthigesan Moothsamy, 48, of Benoni, near Johannesburg, who was elected along with his new set of officials recently, spoke to this correspondent during a "meet the people" tour of Durban and its surrounding areas in the second week of January. Mr Moothsamy, who is a successful businessman, said the Tamil people of Sri Lanka must be allowed to determine their own future. He condemned the continued suppression of the rights of the Tamils in the North and East of Sri Lanka. "We highly condemn to what happened to our Tamil people in Sri Lanka," he said. "We will not accept how they are being treated and we will raise our concerns. The law must take its course against those people who were responsible for the genocide against the Tamil people. In any society where there has been wrong doing, the law processes must be put into place." He said he was meeting with organisations that were concerned about the plight of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. "We will then formulate a co-ordinated approach under the banner of the SATF. We will then take this as an agenda issue to the Government and then we will say we want to be involved in a workable solution in Sri Lanka. "We will formulate something at our conference on March 1 and 2 in Johannesburg. "My personal view is that we need to look into the situation. We need to give our Tamil people the support. "In so far as the TRC that has been suggested - this must be decided by the people of Sri Lanka as to whether this will work for them. "I agree that the TRC is not acceptable by Tamil people but we must extract from it what will work." PROMOTION OF TAMIL LANGUAGE AND CULTURE IN SOUTH AFRICA During his visit to Durban and surrounding areas, Mr Moothsamy met more than 100 people, including officials and members of cultural and religious organisations, individuals and politicians in an attempt "to find out from grass-roots people" about their needs and aspirations as Tamil people. What he found was that there was a deep desire and determination among all people to promote the Tamil language, culture and tradition. Mr Moothsamy said he wanted to ensure that the Tamil language, culture and traditions were promoted and propogated among all people who had Tamil roots - irrespective of their backgrounds. RELIGION SHOULD NOT BE A BARRIER "The SATF caters for all people - irrespective of their religion," Mr Moothsamy told me. "Our (SATF) constitution speaks of language, culture, and religion and then it speaks of politics and social cohesion. We are not asking what religion you belong to. If you speak the language and you are interested in propogating the language then you must be allowed to do that. We need to bring a thinking that we need to co-exist with those around us." Mr Moothsamy, who has now taken leave from his business to administer the SATF on a full-time basis, said they found that the Merebank Tamil School Society (MTSS) was the leader in promoting the Tamil language. MEREBANK TAMIL SCHOOL SOCIETY - A MODEL THAT MUST BE DUPLICATED ALL OVER SOUTH AFRICA "Our programme to meet the people started from the Merebank Tamil School Society (MTSS) in Durban the day after we got elected early in December. "The MTSS comes to us as a model organisation. The strengths of the MTSS can be duplicated by Tamil organisations all over the country and even the world. We we want to take their model and duplicate and replicate it. "We will continue with our programme to meet the people throughout the country - to the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng. We are establishing new provinces - Mpumulanga, Nelspruit, Witbank, and Middelburg will become a new province. We are also meeting people in the Northern Cape - Kimberley and we are going to Rustenburg which is in the North-West. There is Tamil people all over the country. "We also want to say that we are producing 100 000 calendars which will create uniformity in this country so that everybody will celebrate all important functions on the same day. This calendar will be all-embracing and will cater for all events in the lives of the Tamil people." SATF TO BE PROMOTED ASA BRAND Mr Moothsamy said he and his executive officials were undertaking the "meet the people" tour because they wanted to build the SATF into a brand "that will encompass all issues that affect the Tamil people of South Africa". "We have established a full-time office because we believe there are so many issues affecting the Tamil people that they need to be attended to immediately. "Our office will be manned from 8am to 5m from Monday to Friday. We have given an assurance that within 24 hours they will get a response on any issue brought to our attention. "We want to ensure that there is uniformity between temple organisations in this country and tackle issues such as the need for bursaries, career guidance for children coming our of matriculation and the need for employment. "We also want to tackle issues such as drugs and other social evils. We will meet with organisations and work with them but we will not dictate." SATF WILL NOT BE SUBSERVIENT TO HINDU MAHA SABHA Mr Moothsamy also referred to the South African Hindu Maha Sabha(SAHMS), which is headed by lawyer, Ashwin Trikamjee. He said the SATF was an independent organisation representing all the Tamil people of South Africa and, therefore, would not be subservient to any organisation. "We have met with the SAHMS in Durban on January 15 and we spelt how we would like to have a working relationship," he said. "There was some kind of a relationship in the past and we have spelt it out to them that this will certainly change. What do we mean by this? We are the official spokes-people for the Tamil people in this country. We made it clear that anything of a Tamil nature that arrives on their desk, then they must refer it to us for us to attend to the matter." WE ARE SOUTH AFRICANS FIRST The dynamic new leader of the SATF said Tamils were first and foremost full South Africans and, therefore, must become fully involved in all aspects of South African life while mainting and promoting their language, culture and traditions. He said: "We must remember that we are South Africans first, and then we are people of Indian origin and then we are Tamilians. "What that means is that we need to embrace our society around us. We need to live in peace and harmony. We need to put in place things to effect that change that we would like to see happen. By that we are saying we should get involved, our Tamil people should get involved in structures - crime prevention programmes, community issues, and other socio-economic matters so that we can effect the change in this, our country. "High on our agenda is to hold a meeting with the President and the ruling party to discuss the issues of need for the Tamil people in our country." FROM A POSTAL CLERK TO A VERY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMAN AND CULTURAL LEADER Mr Moothsamy, who became a very successful businessman in a period of 25 years, has come a long way from the small town of Nigel, near Johannesburg, where he was born on February 1 1966. He was born into a family of four brothers and one sister at a time when life was tough. Both his father, Mr Viragul Moothsamy, and his mother, Throbayamal, worked in odd jobs in order to ensure that the children went to school and there was "food on the table". He went to primary school in Nigel and completed his matriculation in Springs in 1984. In 1985 he started work as a postal clerk and at the young age of 22, he was appointed the Postmaster of the Benoni Post Office. But, after five years in the Post Office, he entered the business world at the age of 23 when he entered the business world by opening a truck and bus spares shop. Over the next 25 years, his business expanded expotentially and he had interests in - among others - private schools, filling stations, and care dealerships. He first became interested in the Tamil culture while still a young boy when he used to attend the Nigel Vishnu Temple, which was built by his father. While working as a postal clerk, he also became an official of the Nigel Child Welfare Society at the age of 19 and became involved in the school governing body. And in the early 1990s, Mr Moothsamy became a member of the unbanned ANC and worked tirelessly to canvas for the ANC during the first democratic elections in 1994. BENONI TAMIL SCHOOL BOARD When the family moved to Benoni 20 years ago, Mr Moothsamy became involved in the Benoni Tamil School Board under the leadership of Mr Sunny Nayagar. He first served the BTSB as a councillor and then as vice-president, deputy president and then president. He also served as President of the Gauteng Tamil Federation for one term and has been involved with SATF and the GTF for the past 10 years. Mr Moothsamy, who is still involved with the Benoni Tamil School Board, was responsible for the total renovation of the Benoni Sivan Alayam and the construction of the magnanimous 20 metre Shiva/Shakti Murthi on the grounds of the temple. He was inspired to undertake the construction of the 20 metre Shiva/Shakti Murthi after he noticed a similar structure during a visit to Mauritius four years ago.

NEW TAMIL LEADER PROMISES VIGOROUS PROPOGATION OF LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND TRADITIONS

By Subry Govender The new president of the South African Tamil Federation(SATF) wants to ensure that the Tamil language, culture and traditions are promoted and propogated among all people who have Tamil roots - irrespective of their backgrounds. Mr Karthigasan Moothsamy, 48, was speaking to this correspondent in an interview in Durban while he and his executive officials were on a "meet the people" tour to KwaZulu-Natal in mid-January. Mr Moothsamy, a prominent businessman in Johannesburg, was elected as the new president of the SATF at the Federation's elective conference in Durban late last year. He defeated Ms Poomanie Naidoo, who is also from Johannesburg. During his visit to Durban and surrounding areas, Mr Moothsamy met more than 100 people, including officials and members of cultural and religious organisations, individuals and politicians in an attempt "to find out from grass-roots people" about their needs and aspirations as Tamil people. What he found was that there was a deep desire and determination among all people to promote the Tamil language, culture and tradition. RELIGION SHOULD NOT BE A BARRIER "The SATF caters for all people - irrespective of their religion," Mr Moothsamy told me. "Our (SATF) constitution speaks of language, culture, and religion and then it speaks of politics and social cohesion. We are not asking what religion you belong to. If you speak the language and you are interested in propogating the language then you must be allowed to do that. We need to bring a thinking that we need to co-exist with those around us." Mr Moothsamy, who has now taken leave from his business to administer the SATF on a full-time basis, said they found that the Merebank Tamil School Society (MTSS) was the leader in promoting the Tamil language. MEREBANK TAMIL SCHOOL SOCIETY - A MODEL THAT MUST BE DUPLICATED ALL OVER SOUTH AFRICA "Our programme to meet the people started from the MTTS the day after we got elected early in December. "The MTSS comes to us as a model organisation. The strengths of the MTSS can be duplicated by Tamil organisations all over the country and even the world. We we want to take their model and duplicate and replicate it. "We will continue with our programme to meet the people throughout the country - to the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng. We are establishing new provinces - Mpumulanga, Nelspruit, Witbank, and Middelburg will become a new province. We are also meeting people in the Northern Cape - Kimberley and we are going to Rustenburg which is in the North-West. There is Tamil people all over the country. "We also want to say that we are producing 100 000 calendars which will create uniformity in this country so that everybody will celebrate all important functions on the same day. This calendar will be all-embracing and will cater for all events in the lives of the Tamil people." SATF TO BE PROMOTED ASA BRAND Mr Moothsamy said he and his executive officials were undertaking the "meet the people" tour because they wanted to build the SATF into a brand "that will encompass all issues that affect the Tamil people of South Africa". "We have established a full-time office because we believe there are so many issues affecting the Tamil people that they need to be attended to immediately. "Our office will be manned from 8am to 5m from Monday to Friday. We have given an assurance that within 24 hours they will get a response on any issue brought to our attention. "We want to ensure that there is uniformity between temple organisations in this country and tackle issues such as the need for bursaries, career guidance for children coming our of matriculation and the need for employment. "We also want to tackle issues such as drugs and other social evils. We will meet with organisations and work with them but we will not dictate." SATF WILL NOT BE SUBSERVIENT TO HINDU MAHA SABHA Mr Moothsamy also referred to the South African Hindu Maha Sabha(SAHMS), which is headed by lawyer, Ashwin Trikamjee. He said the SATF was an independent organisation representing all the Tamil people of South Africa and, therefore, would not be subservient to any organisation. "We have met with the SAHMS in Durban on January 15 and we spelt how we would like to have a working relationship," he said. "There was some kind of a relationship in the past and we have spelt it out to them that this will certainly change. What do we mean by this? We are the official spokes-people for the Tamil people in this country. We made it clear that anything of a Tamil nature that arrives on their desk, then they must refer it to us for us to attend to the matter." WE ARE SOUTH AFRICANS FIRST The dynamic new leader of the SATF said Tamils were first and foremost full South Africans and, therefore, must become fully involved in all aspects of South African life while mainting and promoting their language, culture and traditions. He said: "We must remember that we are South Africans first, and then we are people of Indian origin and then we are Tamilians. "What that means is that we need to embrace our society around us. We need to live in peace and harmony. We need to put in place things to effect that change that we would like to see happen. By that we are saying we should get involved, our Tamil people should get involved in structures - crime prevention programmes, community issues, and other socio-economic matters so that we can effect the change in this, our country. "High on our agenda is to hold a meeting with the President and the ruling party to discuss the issues of need for the Tamil people in our country." THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GENOCIDE OF TAMILS IN SRI LANKA MUST BE BROUGHT TO BOOK Mr Moothsamy was asked about the genocide committed against the Tamil people in 2009 when more than 70 000 were massacred by Sri Lankan Government forces towards the latter part of civil war in the island country. He condemned the denial of human rights to the Tamil people in Sri Lankan and called for all those responsible for the genocide to be brought to justice. "We highly condemn as to what happened to our Tamil people in Sri Lanka. We will not accept how they are being treated and we will raise our concerns. "The law must take its course against those people who were responsible for the genocide against the Tamil people. In any society where there has been wrong doing, the law processes must be put into place." He said he was meeting with organisations that were concerned about the plight of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. "We will then formulate a co-ordinated approach under the banner of the SATF. We will then take this as an agenda issue to the Government and then we will say we want to be involved in a workable solution in Sri Lanka. "We will formulate something at our conference on March 1 and 2 in Johannesburg. "My personal view is that we need to look into the situation. We need to give our Tamil people the support. "In so far as the TRC that has been suggested - this must be decided by the people of Sri Lanka as to whether this will work for them. "I agreed that the TRC is not acceptable by Tamil people but we must extract from it what will work." FROM A POSTAL CLERK TO A VERY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMAN AND CULTURAL LEADER Mr Moothsamy, who became a very successful businessman in a period of 25 years, has come a long way from the small town of Nigel, near Johannesburg, where he was born on February 1 1966. He was born into a family of four brothers and one sister at a time when life was tough. Both his father, Mr Viragul Moothsamy, and his mother, Throbayamal, worked in odd jobs in order to ensure that the children went to school and there was "food on the table". He went to primary school in Nigel and completed his matriculation in Springs in 1984. In 1985 he started work as a postal clerk and at the young age of 22, he was appointed the Postmaster of the Benoni Post Office. But, after five years in the Post Office, he entered the business world at the age of 23 when he entered the business world by opening a truck and bus spares shop. Over the next 25 years, his business expanded expotentially and he had interests in - among others - private schools, filling stations, and care dealerships. He first became interested in the Tamil culture while still a young boy when he used to attend the Nigel Vishnu Temple, which was built by his father. While working as a postal clerk, he also became an official of the Nigel Child Welfare Society at the age of 19 and became involved in the school governing body. And in the early 1990s, Mr Moothsamy became a member of the unbanned ANC and worked tirelessly to canvas for the ANC during the first democratic elections in 1994. BENONI TAMIL SCHOOL BOARD When the family moved to Benoni 20 years ago, Mr Moothsamy became involved in the Benoni Tamil School Board under the leadership of Mr Sunny Nayagar. He first served the BTSB as a councillor and then as vice-president, deputy president and then president. He also served as President of the Gauteng Tamil Federation for one term and has been involved with SATF and the GTF for the past 10 years. Mr Moothsamy, who is still involved with the Benoni Tamil School Board, was responsible for the total renovation of the Benoni Sivan Alayam and the construction of the magnanimous 20 metre Shiva/Shakti Murthi on the grounds of the temple. He was inspired to undertake the construction of the 20 metre Shiva/Shakti Murthi after he noticed a similar structure during a visit to Mauritius four years ago.

LETTER SENT TO MINISTER YUNUS CARRIM AFTER HOLDING TALKS WITH HIM ON SATURDAY, JAN 18 2014

SOUTHSIDE FM RADIO Mr Yunus Carrim Minister of Communications Pretoria Dear Minister Carrim We, the officials of Southside FM Radio, want to thank you very sincerely for agreeing to meet us today (Jan 18 2014) at the Coastlands Hotel in Umhlanga to discuss the resolution of our urgent need for a frequency that has been dragging on for five years. We understand that you are a very busy Minister and we want to say how grateful we are that you had set aside some of your precious time to meet us. We appreciate your inputs and eagerly await your letter you said you would send on January 27 2014. We had decided to take up the issue directly with you because we believe that there needs to be urgent intervention to assist us in our long and arduous struggle to launch our radio station. As requested by you, we wish to state that we were FIRST offered the FM frequency, 93.6, in January 2011 by ICASA but this was subsequently obstructed by Sentech, who claimed that this frequency would cause interference to other radio stations. Then after meeting with Mr Monde Mbanga, Manager: Broadcasting Spectrum Engineering and Technology, of ICASA and another official in Johannesburg on June 21 2012, we were asked to supply ICASA with the co-ordinates of the four premises where we would broadcast from in Durban. We supplied the co-ordinates of the premises in Mount Edgecombe, Merebank, Chatsworth and Briardene on July 6 2012 but to date we have heard nothing about the frequency being granted to broadcast from any one of these premises. Then after the meetings initiated by Mr Eric Kholwane, the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Communications, we received the following letter from Mr Mbanga on May 27 2013: "On 5/27/13, Monde Mbanga wrote: Dear Subry, As highlighted in my previous email, there is good progress on this matter. The following has been achieved thus far: 1. Sentech has submitted a proposed solution 2. ICASA confirmed the solution's feasibility and viability 3. Now ,Sentech is engaging SABC on the Logistics of the testing and implementation of the proposed solution 4. I'll advise you of the development after my second meeting with Sentech where the implementation and the timelines of this solution for Southside FM will be finalised. 5. Your patience will be highly appreciated 6. Please refrain from including chairperson's in our operational discussions, there is enough progress and no constraints that require their intervention at this stage. Regards Monde Mbanga" But despite all the assurances from all sides, we were forced to take up the matter directly with you in late 2013. In our letter on September 17 2013 to you, we gave you a detailed account of our struggles and expressed the view that we cannot understand why, we as a progressive cultural radio station, are being frustrated in our efforts. We are fully committed to the ideals and values of our new nonracial and democratic South Africa and want to play a full role in this regard via our radio station. Since submitting the letter to you, we have received a very positive response from you and you directed us to negotiate with senior officials in your department. In this regard, we have been in constant touch with your Chief of Staff, Ms Siphokazi Shoba. Ms Shoba has been very helpful and on October 23 2013, she relayed to us the steps that were being taken to help us with our frequency. She passed on to us a letter that was sent to her. This is what the letter stated: "Dear Mr Govender Below please see below report from ICASA. I will check with my colleague Jabu Radebe w.r.t the turnaround time of the process mentioned in the below e-mail. Sincerely, Siphokazi ................................................................................. On 2013/10/23 5:13 PM, "Philemon Molefe" wrote: Colleagues, There was a meeting held at SABC on Monday to resolve the issue. The meeting was with the Acting COO of SABC, Sentech, DoC and ICASA. The meeting was held at the request of the PPCC Chairperson. The purpose of the meeting was for SABC to give Sentech a go ahead with the testing of the feasibility of releasing a frequency in Durban for use by Southside FM. Summary of outcome of the meeting is as follows: 1. SABC has agreed to allow Sentech to conduct the Tests as initially agreed at the meeting in Durban. 2. SABC to apply to ICASA by end of this week for a temporary trial spectrum Licence so as to allow Sentech to commence with the tests. 3. ICASA to process the SABC application upon receipt thereof and ultimately issue a Licence. 4. Sentech to commence the tests once temporary Licence has been issued to SABC. 5. SABC recommended Lynn Mansfield to be part of the tests. 6. The steps that follow thereafter will be as per the meeting held in Durban between SABC, Sentech, ICASA, DoC , Southside FM and PPCC chairperson. Siphokazi, DoC was represented by Jabu in the meeting held on Monday. For any further information, I believe he can fill any gaps or provide info that I might have left out. The process is currently at step 2 above. [SABC still to apply for temp trial licence]. However, there is progress in the sense that they have agreed to take the process forward]. Hope you find the above helpful. Kind regards Sent from my iPad ............................................................................ On 23 Oct 2013, at 12:52 PM, "Unathi Bangani" UBangani@icasa.org.za wrote: Dear Sipho, As far as I understand, negotiations are still underway to assist them. The matter is very complex but from the email below it does not seem like ICASA is the stumbling block here. I have copied my colleague, Phil Molefe who has been dealing with the issue at hand so that he can advise from our side what is the status update. Regards, Unathi" After we received this letter, we continued to maintain constant contact with Ms Shoba about the latest developments and progress, if any. We were to have met you on December 10 last year but due to the demise of our beloved Madiba, we were unable to do so. You had postponed all your arrangements until mid-January this year. In the meanwhile, we contacted the regional manager of Sentech in Durban and wanted to know whether he had conducted the field tests for the frequency. On January 17, he sent me the following letter: "Good morning Subry; Compliments of the new season to you and your family; You can recall that on the 26th of April 2013 we had a meeting at Elangeni hotel in Durban where this issue was discussed. During that meeting Sentech agreed to conduct desktop analysis on the feasibility of increasing the transmitter power of R2000 at Alverstone from 3000W to 5000W; the idea was to increase the power so that those areas that are receiving R2000 from Bluff transmitter could get an alternative signal from Alverstone if the Bluff frequency is switched off or allocated to Southside FM. Secondly it was resolved that if the desktop analysis become successful then ICASA and SABC will allow Sentech to do the field test by switching off Bluff transmitter for a period of a week or two. Sentech completed the desktop successfully as this was communicated to you and the team. I have not been personally involved in subsequent meetings so it will be unfair for me to state what happened there after. I can say that SABC, ICASA and Sentech must agree on the way forward before we at Operations do anything; we get instruction from Head office. I would like to suggest that you take this matter to those who have powers to make a final decision on the matter. Good luck and kind regards; Patrick " Mr Minister we have put in a lot of work over the past five years in order to get our progressive radio station off the ground. We have been made to believe since the beginning by ICASA and Sentech that there were no problems in granting us a frequency. We cannot understand why - in this day and age of modern technology - that we are being frustrated. The new non-racial and democratic South Africa has made provision for almost all cultural groups to be catered for in so far as radio stations are concerned - but we - who make up an important part of South Africa's population - are being frustrated in our attempts. We want to play not only a progressive role in the new South Africa but we also want play a developmental role in promoting the ideals, values, and principles for which leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Dr Monty Naicker and Dr Yusuf Dadoo had sacrificed and died for. When we launch we would have on our programme the teaching of isiZulu to our target market so that social cohesion - which is an important part of our new South Africa - is taken seriously. We have reached a stage where we have put on hold the construction of our studio and recruitment of our staff members until we are granted our frequency. What we are experiencing is very painful and causing frustration among members of our target market. We cannot allow this state of affairs in our new non-racial and democratic South Africa. Thanking you Subry Govender Secretary -------------------- Board of Governors: Mr Balan Gounder (chairperson), Mr Swaminathan Gounden, Mr Logan Naidoo, Ms Sally Padaychie, Ms Keresha Govender, Ms T P S Govender, Mr Richard Naidoo (deputy chairperson) and Mr Denis Naidoo Committee Members: Mr Sumeshen Moodley, Mr Richard Govender, Mr Ugen Nadasen, Mr S. Trinishen and Mr Deven Moodley

OUR RICH CULTURES, TRADITIONS, MUSIC AND LANGUAGES HIGHLIGHTED BY THE KAVAdy CEREMONIES

THAIPOOSAM 2014 KAVADY DEMONSTRATES THE RICH CULTURES, LANGUAGES, TRADITIONS AND MUSIC OF DESCENDANTS OF INDENTURED LABOURERS Our rich cultures, languages, traditions and music once again came to the fore when the annual Kavady religious ceremony was held throughout South Africa on Sunday, January 19. The Thaipoosam Kavady ceremony was held at temples all along the North Coast, in and around Durban, South Coast, Pietermaritzburg, other towns in the Midlands, Dundee, and in the Johannesburg-Pretoria region, Port Elizabeth, East London and Cape Town. I attended the Kavady ceremony at the Shree Sivia Subramaniam Alayam in Umdloti Drift, Verulam - about 40km north of Durban. Here I found more than 400 colourfully-dressed devotees, many of them with religious pins pierced in their bodies, totally immersed in the ceremony. A number of musical groups sang and danced to provide spiritual support for those devotees who carried heavy and huge Kavadies and had long pins pierced in their bodies. Despite the scorching sun all the devotees were fully overcome by the spiritual nature of the Kavady. "I have taken Kavady because it provides me time to reflect and to become more spiritual," said Mrs Natchandramah Narainsamy. "The Kavady ceremony relaxes me and takes me away from all my pains," she said. An official of the temple, Mr Barry Naicker said: "This Kavady ceremony provides spiritual upliftment for the devotees. Today we have nearly 400 devotees carrying the kavady. This past Wednesday we had more than 600 devotees carrying the Kavady. "Our temple is more than 100 years old and we are committed to ensuring that the needs of the devotees are attended to." One of the people who attended the Kavady to provide support for members of his family, Mr Richard Govender, said the commitment and spirituality shown by the people demonstrated that "we appreciate the rich cultures, languages, religions and traditions brought to South Africa by our indentured forefathers". "We must be really grateful to our indentured forefathers for blessing and leaving us with ceremonies such as the Kavady," said Mr Govender. "It was through their sacrifice, hard work and toil that we are able to continue to enjoy the Kavady ceremony. Our indentured forefathers were brought here to work as slaves on the sugar plantations 153 years ago but despite the conditions, they have managed to leave behind a rich legacy for us to follow."

COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER YUNUS CARRIM HOLD TALKS WITH SOUTHSIDE FM RADIO

SOUTHSIDE INFORMS MINISTER ABOUT THE URGENT NEED FOR FREQUENCY The Minister of Communications, Mr Yunus Carrim, has held talks with officials of Southside FM Radio about their long and drawn-out struggles for a frequency that is delaying the launch of the radio station. Mr Carrim met Southside officials at the Coastlands Hotel in Umhlanga on Saturday, January 18, afternoon. The Southside officials at the talks were Mr Balan Gounder(chairperson); Mr Swaminathan Gounden, Mrs Sally Padaychie, widow of the late Cabinet Minister, Mr Roy Padaychie; Ms Keresha Govender(treasurer); Mr Denis Naidoo; Mr Sumeshen Moodley; and Mr Subry Govender, veteran struggle journalist who is the secretary of the initiative that began five years ago. The meeting was first to have been held in early November last year but had to be postponed after one of Southside's senior officials had travelled to Mauritius to attend a world Tamil Solidarity Conference. The meeting was subsequently scheduled for Decemember 10 last year but had to postponed once again because of the sad demise of South Africa's first democratic president and freedom icon, Nelson Mandela. Minister to have more information for Southside on January 27. The Minister informed the Southside officials that "urgent investigations are being undertaken to see whether Southside can be given a frequency to broadcast via the Bluff transmitter". "We will inform you formally in a letter later this month on January 27," said the Minister. Grateful to Minister for talks For their part, Southside officials thanked Minister Carrim for making his "precious" time available to meet with them. They pointed out that the supporters, donors and sponsors of Southside are "disturbed" at the lack of a frequency for them to start broadcasting. Mr Balan Gounder, chairperson of Southside The chairperson, Mr Gounder, told the Minister that "a lot of work has been put into this project over the past five years in order to get our progressive radio station off the ground". Southside supporters and donors disturbed He said: "We have been made to believe since the beginning by ICASA and Sentech that there were no problems in granting us a frequency. "We cannot understand why - in this day and age of modern technology - that we are being frustrated. "The new non-racial and democratic South Africa has made provision for almost all cultural groups to be catered for in so far as radio stations are concerned - but we - who make up an important part of South Africa's population - are being frustrated in our attempts. In fact we make up more than 60 percent of people of Indian-origin in South Africa. "We want to play not only a progressive role in the new South Africa but we also want to play a developmental role in promoting the ideals, values, and principles for which leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Dr Monty Naicker and Dr Yusuf Dadoo had sacrificed and died for. Southside to promote values of Nelson Mandela, Dr Monty Naicker and others "When we launch we would have on our programme the teaching of isiZulu to our target market so that social cohesion - which is an important part of our new South Africa - is taken seriously." Mr Gounder also told the Minister that they had reached a stage where they had to put on hold "the construction of our studio and recruitment of our staff members until we are granted our frequency". "What we are experiencing is very painful and causing frustration among members of our target market. "We cannot allow this state of affairs in our new non-racial and democratic South Africa." The officials of Southside have been negotiating for a frequency ever since the project was first started in 2009. The officials are hoping that Minister Carrim's intervention will result in positive developments soon and they would officially launch the radio station within a short period of time. Once the frequency is finalised, the Board of Governors of Southside will formally decide on their premises, build the studio and appoint the necessary staff. Southside has been offered premises to broadcast from the Mariammen Cultural Centre in Mount Edgecombe. The officials have also received scores of applications from interested people who want to become presenters, advertising representatives, reporters and office staff. (Those who have already applied for positions and others have been asked to contact Mr Subry Govender at: subrygovender@gmail.com)