ANGAMMA (CHAPANY) WAS PART OF A LARGE FAMILY OF FIRST GENERATION DESCENDANTS OF INDENTURED LABOURERS

A GOUNDER FAMILY'S LINKS TO DAMAL VILLAGE IN TAMIL NADU, INDIA

(Munien Govender and his wife, Kaniamma. Munien came from the village of Damal in Tamil Nadu at the age of eight to start a new life in South Africa in the 1880s.) (MR MUNIEN GOVENDER WITH HIS WIFE, KANIAMMA, AND THREE OF HIS DAUGHTERS. THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN IN CATO MANOR IN THE EARLY 1960S)

(The eldest son, Subramoney, with his mother, Kaniamma, and some older generation of the extended family)

(Chapany with her husband, Johnny Chetty)

(Mrs Angamma Chetty - known as Chapany to family members - while on holiday on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa) By Subry Govender Mrs Angamma Chetty (known as Chapany), who passed away in Phoenix, Durban, on Friday, February 12 at the age of 82, was a first generation South African descendant of Indian indentured labourers whose roots go back to a rural village in Tamil Nadu in India. A culturally-rich and traditionally-strong individual, she was born on February 1 1934 in the former mainly-Indian residential area of Cato Manor in Durban. The last of two surviving siblings of a large family of three brothers and six sisters, she mainly communicated with family and community members through the Tamil language. She understood a spattering of English but her Tamil mother tongue was the main medium.

(The daughters of Munien Govender with his eldest daughter-in-law, Mrs Salatchie Subramoney)

(Chapany with her mother, Kaniamma) Her father, Munien Gounder (Govender), arrived here in the former Port of Durban, which was then under the former British Natal Colony, at the age of eight in the early 1880s. He joined his auntie (name unknown) from the village of Damal in the Kanchipuram District of the former Madras Colony (now Tamil Nadu), which was also ruled by the British at that time. He and his auntie worked as indentured labourers on a sugar plantation near Durban for a period of 10 years before they moved to the Cato Manor area of Durban. Here Munien Govender's auntie married and started her own family, while the young man did odd jobs and even worked a small garden to earn a living. Munien also soon married a young woman, Kaniamma, introduced to him by his auntie. The young couple set up home in Cato Manor and over a period of time had nine children - three sons and six daughters. Mrs Angamma Chetty was the sixth born. Their other children were:

(Subramoney at work)

(Subramoney with his grand-daughter, Seshini) 1. Subramoney Munien (born 11th May 1918. He died at the age of 69 at his home in Lotusville, Verulam, on August 16 1987);

2. Muniamma Papathie Naidoo (born 15th October 1924. She died on 29th April 2012 at the age of 87 in her home in Unit 5, Chatsworth);

3. Poongavanam Bombie (Born 1st October 1928. She passed on at the age of 75 on October 27 2003 in her home in Tongaat); (With her is her eldest sister, Papathie)

4. Saragano Naidoo - number 1 in the pciture from the left - (who died at the age of 64 at her home in Phoenix);

5. Ganas (who died at the age of 75 at his sister, Chapany's home in Phoenix);

6. (Angamma Chapany Chetty);

7. Meenachie (at the back on the right) (only surviving child now, aged 76 (Born 15th July 1938); 8. George (who died at the very young age of 34 while at the Clairwood Hospital);

(Manna's husband, Moodley) 9. Pushpumma Manna Moodley (born 2nd April 1942 who died at the age of 64 on 17th March 2006 at her home in Phoenix).

Three of the elder children - Subramoney, Papathie and Bombie - moved out of Cato Manor in the early 1940s and 1950s after they married. Subramoney first moved to Isipingo with his family before settling in the village of Ottawa on the North Coast. He later moved to Lotusville in Verulam where he died on 16th August 1987. Papathie athaa, whose marriage was arranged at the tender at the age of 13, first lived with her husband at Magazine Barracks in Durban before finally moving to Unit 5, Chatsworth, after being affected by the notorious Group Areas Act. Indian, coloured and African people were forced out of Durban and suburbs such as Cato Manor which were reserved for whites-only by the former apartheid regime since the 1960s. Bombie athaa, who I was told married at the age of 16, started life at Brake Village, Tongaat, after tying the knot. She and her children later moved to a house in Tongaat town.

(Five of the Munien sisters at a family function) All the others - Saragano, Angamma, Ganas, Meenachie, Manna and the family of George were forced to move out of Cato Manor to finally settle in the Phoenix township. Manna and her family first stayed in Isipingo, then moved to Ottawa where they stayed at the former home of her eldest brother, Subramoney. Manna and her family, thereafter, moved to Phoenix. The first generation families expanded and grew over the next few decades with the eldest, Subramoney having seven children; Papathie six; Bombie 5; Saragano 5; Angamma Chapany 1; Ganas two; Meenachie 1; George two; and Manna three. Angamma (Chapany), who worked as a domestic assistant for white families near Cato Manor in her early teens, also used to join her mother to sell fruits and vegetables to white families. She later worked in a clothing factory in Durban where she met her husband, Johnny Chetty. Although the nephews and nieces of the extended family have moved to different suburbs and parts of South Africa and even to countries such as Australia and New Zealand, a large number of them turned up for the funeral of Angamma Chetty. The funeral was held at the home of her niece, Mrs Ambiga Govender, in Unit 10, Phoenix, where Angamma lived for the past 10 years.

(Munien's wife, Kaniamma, with one of her grand-children)

(One of the brothers, Ganas, with his sisters and Murugas Govender) One of her nephews, Mr Subry Govender, a veteran struggle journalist, paid the following tribute to her: "Do not shed tears when I have gone but smile instead, because I have lived. You can remember me and grieve that I have gone or you can cherish my memory and let it live on." "These appropriate words, by American author David Harkins, we are certain apply to our our Athaa, Auntie, neighbour and friend, Mrs Angamma Chetty. "Mrs Chetty - known to family members as Chapani - passed away peacefully early yesterday (Friday, Feb 12 2016) morning at the age of 82. "In the last few days she was not well and according to close family members and neighbours she knew that she would leave us soon. "Despite her failing health - our Athaa joined us at a family gathering two weeks ago and then a week ago, joined us to attend a memorial service and also visit the home of her late eldest sister's home in Unit 5 Chatsworth. "Mrs Chetty came from a large family of six sisters and three brothers - who were all born in the former Cato Manor area to parents who had direct roots to indentured sugar cane labourers. Her father, Munien Govender, came to South Africa from a rural village called Damal in the Kancipuram District of Tamil Nadu, India, at the age of eight, while her mother was born here in a sugar cane estate near Durban. "Mrs Chetty has now joined per parents, four sisters, her three brothers; husband Johnny Chetty; daughter, Rani, and six nephews and nieces who have passed on. "She is survived by her younger sister, Meenatchie Athaa; her grandson - Denzyl, grand-daughter - Leevashni; son-in-law - Stanley Govender; and scores of nephews and nieces. "We in the extended family - remember our Athaa as a person who possessed a friendly and warm personality and one who was always in a jovial mood.

(Ganas uncle with his eldest sisters, Papathie and Bombie) "She always joined us at family gatherings and during these occasions she interacted in a happy and boisterous way with both young and old. She enjoyed life to the full despite the hardships she had to face. "We are certain that now that she has left us she would say: 'I know your heart will be empty because I am no longer here, but still I want you to be full of the love and time we shared.' " "On behalf of the family, we want to say a big thank you to all family members, neighbours and friends who have come to pay their last respects to Mrs Chetty. "Finally I want to leave you with something very inspiring from the father of India's freedom, Mahatma Gandhi: 'Life and death are but phases of the same thing, the reverse and obverse of the same coin. Death is as necessary for man's growth as life itself.' "Gandhi also made this inspiring statement: 'We come into this world only once, whatever good we can do, we must do it now, because we will not pass this way again.' " ends - subry govender Feb 13 2016