WAS THE DISBANDING OF THE NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS IN THE EARLY 1990s A GRAVE MISJUDGEMENT AND ERROR?

(BY SUBRY GOVENDER) THE CONGRESS SHOULD HAVE BEEN RETAINED AS A "SOCIAL VOICE AND BEACON OF HOPE" (Dr Monty Naicker and Yusuf Dadoo - great Indian-origin leaders of the struggles for freedom) At a time when South Africans are busy preparing for the country's fifth democratic elections since the dawn of freedom 20 years ago, there are many people within the Indian-origin community who find themselves lost, confused, disinterested and generally adopt a "I don't care" attitude. What has led to this sad state of affairs and why is there this apathy? (Nelson Mandela) When Nelson Mandela became the first democratic president in 1994 and during his leadership as head of the ruling ANC and Government over the next five years, many people I have spoken to say they really felt as being full South Africans in a free and non-racist society. But today, 20 years after freedom, they say they really don't feel "comfortable or welcome".

(Mac Maharaj)

(Professor Kader Asmal)

(Dullah Omar)

(Jay Naidoo)

(Roy Padaychie) This, despite the fact that a number of people of Indian-origin, who have paid the price fighting for freedom, have occupied positions in Government over the past 20 years. Those who occupied Cabinet positions included Mac Maharaj, Professor Kader Asmal, Dullah Omar, Jay Naidoo, and Roy Padaychie during the first 15 years of the new South Africa.

(Pravin Gordhan)

(Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim)

(Ebrahim Patel)

(Yunus Carrim)

(Enver Surty) Over the past five years Pravin Gordhan, Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim, Ebrahim Patel, Yunus Carrim and Enver Surty have occupied top government positions. These leaders are now almost certain of being back in the national parliament after the ANC included them in the national list for the forthcoming elections. With former activists like these still around, why should there be this lack of interest and apathy among many people? (WE DON'T HAVE A PROGRESSIVE ORGANISATION) "I think basically we have a situation of despair among many people today because we don't have a progressive and historical organisation like the Natal Indian Congress speaking on behalf of the people and taking up issues of concern," said Mr Jay Singh, who is the founder and official of the 1860 Documentation Centre in Verulam, on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast. The NIC, which was established by Mahatma Gandhi in 1894, and later the Transvaal Indian Congress(TIC) and the South African Indian Congress(SAIC) fought for freedom alongside the ANC right up to the first democratic elections in 1994.

(George Singh)

(Ismail Meer)

(Professor Fatima Meer) Leaders of the calbire of Dr Monty Naicker, Dr Yusuf Dadoo, Dr Kesaval Goonum, J N Singh, George Singh, I C Meer and Professor Fatima Meer dominated the struggle scene from the 1940s to the 1960s. Then after the Congress leaders were either banned, house-arrested, detained, jailed or forced into exile, we had activists such as Ahmed Kathrada, Billy Nair, Indres Naidoo, Sunny Singh, Mac Maharaj, in the underground activities of the ANC, which was banned in 1960 along with the Pan African Congress(PAC). (Sunny Singh)

(Ahmed Kathrada)

(Billy Nair)

(Phyllis Naidoo) During the period between 1960 and late 1969, there was very little above ground political activities because of the repression by the then ruling National Party of the Hendrik Verwoerds, B J Vorsters and P W Bothas. In this void emerged students and journalists who became active and took up the struggles under the leadership of the Black Consciousness Movement(BCM), the South African Students Organisation(SASO) and the Union of Black Journalists(UBJ). Some activists of Indian origin who emerged during this period were Saths Cooper, Strini Moodley, and scores of other un-sung heroes and heroines.

(Saths Cooper)

(Strini Moodley) Then in the early 1970s, a number of former banned leaders, re-ignited the struggles of the Congress movement when the Natal Indian Congress was revived at a lively meeting at the old Bolton Hall in the former Grey Street area of Durban. The leaders who were behind this new initiative were Mewa Ramgobin, Dr Dilly Naidoo, Ela Gandhi, George Sewpersadh, M J Naidoo, D K Singh, Jerry Coovadia, Farook Meer, R Ramesar, Paul Devadas David, Thumba Pillay, A H Randeree, Swaminathan Gounden and scores of others. But the apartheid regime stepped up its repression unrelentlessly of the anti-apartheid struggles and its leaders during the period of the early 1970s to the late 1980s. Leaders such as Ramgobin and Sewpersadh were either detained, banned, house-arrested and even faced a new Treason Trial along with Archie Gumede, Mrs Albertina Sisulu, and other activists at the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

(Mewa Ramgobin)

(Ela Gandhi)

(Thumba Pillay)

(Paul Devadas David)

(Jerry Coovadia)

(Paul Devadas David)

(Dr Farouk Meer) In addition to these leaders, who were prominent in the Congress movement, there were others who used the anti-apartheid sporting arena to promote the liberation struggles of the people. They included leaders of the calibre of George Singh, D K Singh, M N Pather, Morgan Naidoo, Shun David, Pat Naidoo, Harold Samuels of Stanger, Krish Mackerdhuj, Krish Govender and Paul Devadas David.

(George Singh)

(Morgan Naidoo)

(Krish Mackerdhuj)

(Krish Govender) Also, at this time, we saw the emergence of youthful Congress leaders such as Pravin Gordhan, Maggie Govender, Yunus Mahomed, and Roy Padaychie who concentrated on mobilising the people at grass-roots levels by taking up social and economic issues. They mobilised the people mainly around rent increases in townships such as Phoenix, Merebank and Chatsworth.

(Yunus Mahomed)

(Yunus Carrim) When the apartheid regime tried to impose the "ya baas" organisation, South African Indian Council(SAIC), on the community in 1978 and again in 1983, the Congress leaders came out in full force to mobilise the masses. They established the Anti-SAIC Committee with veteran struggle stalwarts such as Dr Monty Naicker and Dr Desaval Goonum taking the leading roles in opposing the tri-cameral elections.

(Dr Monty Naicker and other national leaders) Dr Naicker, a former President of the NIC and the SAIC, told a mass meeting in Durban in October 1977 that the apartheid regime's move to impose the Indian Council on the people was aimed at promoting its own salvation, rather than that of the people. (Dr Naicker: "No solution without the inclusion of the African majority) He had said: "Proposals to solve any of South Africa's problems without the African people is bound to end in disaster. It is morally indefensible to exclude the African majority and we do not wish to be a party to the oppression of the majority."

(Dr Kesaval Goonum) ("Indian-origin people will not help to entrench white minority rule") Dr Kesaval Goonam, who was one of the most dynamic women leaders at that time, also pulled no punches in warning the apartheid regime that the Indian people would play no part "in entrenching white domination and black oppression in South Africa". "We cannot achieve true freedom in taking part in cosmetics like the Indian Council. We are South Africans and, therefore, must enjoy full social, political, and economic rights with all South Africans." (Congress true representative of the people) The people saw the NIC as their true representative and rejected the Indian Council concept overwhelmingly and totally. More than 90 percent of the people refused to register as voters and more than 90 percent of those who registered did not cast their ballots. It was clear that at all times, the masses of the people of the people looked to the Natal Indian Congress for leadership and guidance about the future. (United Democratic Front) When the United Democratic Front was launched in Cape Town in 1983, it was again leaders such as Mewa Ramgobin, Billy Nair, Paul Devadas David, Thumba Pillay, Farouk Meer, Jerry Coovsdia and others who played the leading roles alongside leaders of the calibre of Dr Alan Boesak, Trevor Manuel, Archie Gumede, Mosioua Lekota and others. Archbishop Desmond Tutu also played a leading role at this time. (Free Mandela Committee) Paul David, Archie Gumede and the other activists established the "Free Mandela Committee" to broaden the struggles. (The post 94 struggle period) After the unbanning of the ANC, PAC and other organisations and the release of Nelson Mandela in February 1990, the Natal Indian Congress once again rose to the challenge to assist in the negotiations for a new South Africa as an ally of the ANC at the Congress for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa) at Kempton Park in Johannesburg. (Codesa) It was during this period that discussions took place with the ANC as to whether it was necessary for the NIC to still remain as an organisation. While some felt that the anti-apartheid forces within the Indian-origin community should join with the ANC since the ANC was a non-racial and democratic organisation, others felt that there were cultural and historic reasons for the NIC not to be disbanded.

(Dr Farouk Meer) (Natal Indian Congress should remain as an historic organisation) One of those who spoke out against the disbanding of the ANC was Dr Farook Meer, who was the secretary of the NIC at that time. In an interview with this correspondent sometime in April 1991, Dr Meer said that many people in the community felt that the Congress had a role to play in a post-apartheid society. He had said: "Initially some people felt that because the Congress espoused the same policies as the ANC it should fade away from the scene because it will merely be duplicating the work. "However, on after thought, many people are now saying that because of the multi-cultural nature of South African society, the Congress will still have a role to play on behalf of the Indian community. (Not emphasising ethnicity) "We must emphasise that this will not mean we will be emphasising ethnicity. It will merely mean that in reality the Indian community will exist in South Africa and as such they will have problems that will be peculiar to them. "The Congress had proved over the years that it has a very proud track record of promoting the interests of the Indian community as part of the broad democratic movement and, therefore, the people believe it should continue to play that role. "Many stalwart members of the Congress and many influential people in India were also opposed to the idea of disbanding the Congress." (Mandela opposed the disbanding of the NIC) Nelson Mandela, who was elected president of the ANC at this time, also felt that the NIC should not be disbanded and it infact should mobilise the people of Indian-origin as an ally of the ANC. Unfortunately, the views of Mandela and activists like Dr Meer were brushed aside and certain elements within the ANC pushed for the disbanding of the NIC. This was done for obvious reasons. Despite their misgivings, the Indian-origin activists rallied fully behind the ANC during the run-up to the first democratic elections in 1994 and a significant percentage of people of Indian-origin voted for the ANC. But after Mandela left the scene in 1999, many people became disillusioned with developments they felt were not in keeping with the ANC's policy of non-racialism and that "South Africa belongs to all who live in it". Some of the NIC activists who felt let down included people like Dr Kesaval Goonum and George Sewpersadh.

(George Sewpersadh) "Some of the people in government have forgotten the true values and principles of the Congress movement," a very disillusioned Sewpersadh told me only a few months before he passed away in May 2007. The disillusionment reached such a stage that many activists withdrew from the political scene and took a step back. By adopting this stance they unwittingly allowed opportunist political organisations to claim that they spoke on behalf of the people of Indian-origin. The leaders of these organisations were stooges of the previous apartheid regime and now were being accommodated by the ruling ANC.

(Professor Fatima Meer) Professor Fatima Meer, another leader who played a pivotal role in the struggles against apartheid and white minority rule in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, was also disillusioned with the direction that South Africa was taking after the retirement of Mandela from the political stage in 1999. "Congress represented the people" In an interview at her home in Sydenham in 2009, a year before she passed away, Professor Meer expressed her disappointment that the Indian-origin people were leaderless and called for the revival of the Natal Indian Congress once again in 40 years. She said she had even taken up the issue with former President Thabo Mbeki when he took over from Mandela in 1999. She told me: "You see the Indians had a very strong organisation in the Natal Indian Congress and I wrote to Mr Mbeki long, long ago that it had been a tragedy that the ANC had asked the NIC to be disbanded because that was an organisation founded by Gandhi in the last century. "It was an organisation that stood by the ANC always. Now the ANC had made the biggest mistake, I had pointed out to Mr Mbeki, by saying to the Indians you don't need an Indian organisation, you can belong to the ANC. Politically as a political party the ANC was fine and totally acceptable but to organise the Indian people the Indian people needed an organisation." She had said the NIC should be revived: "Yes we should revive the Natal Indian Congress in Natal and then nation-wide, the South African Indian Congress, because this is an organisation with a very rich history. You don't want to miss out on that history. You want to build on that history, so revive the Congress. It is a pity that it was disbanded at all." "A dis-service to Indian-origin people by disbanding the NIC" Professor Meer, who had written several books on indentured labourers and the Indian people in South Africa among more than 40 other socially-inclined books, said by disbanding the NIC, a great dis-service was committed on the Indian-origin people. "This was a mistake the ANC had made. It disbanded the Congress and it took over the tri-cameral leadership. I consider that to be disgraceful and disloyalty to former to former patriots and to former partners in the revolution. "The ANC deluded itself into thinking that the Minority Front party represented the Indian people and that it would have the Indian vote and the Indian support through the Minority Front. That was a mistake made by no less a person than Nelson Mandela and then it was continued thereafter. That is what I pointed out to Mbeki many years ago soon after he took over the leadership?"

(Thumba Pillay) Recently I spoke to a former activist with the NIC, who was an advocate, Thumba Pillay, about this "confusion and lack of interest" being experienced by many people as the tamasha surrounding the next general elections rolls on. (Major mistake to disband the NIC) "You know Subry I fully understand their situation because I also feel that there's no progressive organisation out there speaking about the aspirations of the people. I feel we made a major mistake by disbanding the NIC. We should have retained the NIC as a progressive force representing the people. "But now because many of us are disillusioned with the corruption, the wastage of resources, lack of proper service delivery and the degeneration of education and health, we don't know who to vote for. We feel lost." Mr Pillay said struggle stalwarts should make efforts to revive the NIC not to participate in politics but for the NIC just to be a "voice and guide" on many social, cultural and economic issues. - ends (Subry Govender)