Billy Nair – a struggle stalwart who left behind a legacy of selfless contribution for freedom

THIS IS THE SECOND RADIO FEATURE IN HIS HONOUR AFTER HIS PASSING ON OCTOBER 23 2008 In this feature, Billy Nair talks about his continued torture at the hands of the apartheid regime – after after being incarcerated on Robben Island for 20 years. He was released in February 1984.

One of the freedom fighters and struggle stalwarts who sacrificed his life for the removal of the apartheid regime in South Africa was Billy Nair, who was imprisoned on Robben Island for nearly 20 years. Nair was part of the Natal Indian Congress, South African Communist Party, the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), the Africans National Congress (ANC) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) after his release from prison in the early 1980s. Born in the district of Sydenham in the South African coastal city of Durban on November 27 1929, Nair was the son of parents who had come from the Cochin district of Kerala in south India. He was also part of the group of freedom fighters who sought refuge at the British Consulate in Durban in the mid-1980s at the time of intense protests against the apartheid regime’s attempts to co-opt Indian-origin and coloured people into the so-called tri-cameral (racial) parliament. The other freedom fighters who joined Billy Nair were Paul Devadas David; Mewa Ramgobin, who passed away recently on October 17 (2016) at the age of 84; and the late M J Naidoo; Archie Gumede, and George Sewpersadh. After Nair left the British Consulate, he continued to work with the UDF to promote the freedom struggle without any concerns for his life. He addressed community meetings and students all over the country about the need to replace the apartheid regime as soon as possible. He realised this dream when Nelson Mandela was released and the ANC and other organisations were unbanned in February 1990. He campaigned vigorously for the ANC and after 1994 served as an MP in the national parliament. He died at his home in La Mercy on October 23 2008. The then President, Kgalema Motlanthe, and the ANC leader, Jacob Zuma, paid glowing tributes to Nair at an official funeral in Durban a week later.