SUMBOORNAM PILLAY (ALSO KNOWN AS SAM MOODLEY) - ONE OF THE DOYENS OF BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS IN SOUTH AFRICA

(SAM MOODLEY AS A YOUNG ACTIVIST ADDRESSING A BC rally in Durban) In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the philosophy of black consciousness had caught the imagination of hundreds of young activists in the struggles for freedom and human rights in South Africa. One of those who became involved was Sumboornam Pillay, who later became known as Sam Moodley. In this week’s report on struggle heroes and heroines, veteran journalist, Subry Govender, brings you the life of this former Dundee High School girl who became a formidable force in the BC movement.

(SAM MOODLEY, SATHS COOPER AND VINO PILLAY IN A BLACK ON WHITE PARODY) POLITICAL AWARENESS BEGAN AT DUNDEE HIGH SCHOOL IN 1962 In 1961 when the former apartheid regime had pulled out from the Commonwealth and declared the country a Republic, all the separate Indian, white, coloured and African schools were forced to raise the new apartheid flag and show their allegiance to the white-run South Africa. At that time, Sumboornam Pillay, who later became known as Sam Moodley after marrying another Black Consciousness activist, Strinivasan Moodley, was a 13-year-old pupil at the Dundee High School in the then Northern Natal. Her school was preparing to celebrate the Republic Day. But young Sumboornam found that her cultural teachings did not allow her to celebrate something that was discriminatory in nature and against the human rights of the people. “It was the first time that we as children at school were asked to raise the flag but a number of people talked to us and called on us to stay away from the Republic Day celebrations. We stayed at home as we all refused to have anything to do with the flag-raising ceremony,” she told me in an interview. FATHER - MR V P PILLAY - A MAJOR INFLUENCE

(SAM MOODLEY'S COLLEAGUE STEVE BIKO AT A SASO MEETING IN DURBAN IN THE 1970s) In her early years her father, Mr. V. P. Pillay, had a major influence on her upbringing because of his work in school building projects, housing and welfare work in Dundee. His religious teachings in Saivism also gave direction to her social and spiritual leanings of “treating all people with the humanity they deserve”. The close-knit families in Dundee enjoyed cross-cultural engagements and black families (Indian, coloured, and African) lived side by side, sharing and protecting each other until the impact of the Group Areas Act that slowly crept in to separate the three groups. Her activist mind gained momentum when during her matriculation year in 1965 she vocally articulated her disapproval of the lack of provision of teachers at the Dundee High School. “There were no ‘political protests’ in those days. I led a delegation to the Principal objecting to substitute teachers who were sent to replace our Maths and History teachers who had resigned. “They were unqualified in these subjects and were sent as punitive measures to rural areas. They refused to teach material they knew nothing about. It was their form of protest. So we had to teach ourselves,” she said. Her father, the only breadwinner of a family of six had to get a loan to send her to University on Salisbury Island, the only University College for Indian-origin students in Durban. STRINI MOODLEY AND OTHER BC ACTIVISTS

Here she met with people like Strini Moodley, Dennis Pather, Kriba Pillay, Asha Rambally, Kogs Reddy, Ben David, Roy Tathiah, Nash Naina, and Archie Augustine. All of them became involved in a Black Theatre protest group. “We produced the first satirical review looking at the political conditions in South Africa. The review was called Black on White that ran for three years from 1966 to 1968.” It was the beginning of her life as a cultural activist, using theatre to conscientise communities about the socio-economic and political situation in South Africa. She continued with her black consciousness activism when she obtained a teaching job at the Witteklip High School in Chatsworth in 1970. However, the authorities and the notorious Security Branch at that time did not take this too lightly. She found herself being unemployed at the end of 1972 when the then Indian Education Department refused to renew her contract. She had lost her teaching job and had no support from her fellow-teachers. She said: “Generally teachers were silenced out of fear of the draconian measures taken by the State then. Nobody, not even the Teachers Association of South Africa (TASA), made representations, even when they were called to do so. WITTEKLIP HIGH SCHOOL IN CHATSWORTH, DURBAN

(SAM MOODLEY TODAY AT HER HOME IN NEWSLANDS EAST IN DURBAN) “However, the 1972 Students at Witteklip Secondary were infused with the determination to change the conditions in their communities, especially among the youth. They formed the Chatsworth Education Through Theatre(CHETT) group and in 1973, when I was banned, a few of them were arrested by the Special Branch and were forced to give evidence in a case against me, which case was eventually dropped.” For Sumboornam the years 1970 to 1973 were the most politically-active years. Within the South African Student Organisation(SASO) and Black Community Programmes (BCP), together with the protagonists of the Black Consciousness Movement like Ramphele Mamphele, Debs Mashoba, Vuyi Mashalaba, Steve Biko, Barney Pityana, and Strini Moodley, they engaged themselves in community development projects like building of schools, establishing health clinics, literacy programmes, women’s programmes and engaged in self-help projects. “This was also a time of using theatre as a form of revolt, as part of our Cultural Revolution. We held Theatre Festivals bringing theatre groups from Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and made Durban a buzz place of cultural activities. Durban was exposed to avant-garde theatre for the first time. During this time we were still under the vigilant eyes of the Special Branch who followed our every move.” When she was forcibly dismissed in early 1970s from the teaching profession by the former Indian Education Department because of her political activism, this gave her a chance to join Steve Biko, the leader and founder of the black consciousness movement in South Africa. She joined the Biko team as an assistant researcher for the Black Community Programmes(BCP). JOINED STEVE BIKO IN BLACK COMMUNITY PROGRAMMES

(SAM MOODLEY WITH ONE OF HER FRIENDS IN 2017) At this time the BCP was situated in the then Beatrice Street in Durban, the heart of what used to be known as “Little India”. “Steve and I seemed to have crossed paths at the same time because while he was expelled from UNB (University of Natal Medical School Black Section), my services were terminated and we found a home in Black Community Programmes. I became Steve’s research assistant, researching for a book called Black Review. We joined in January 1973 but Steve was banned by March 1973 and I was then banned and house-arrested in August 1973 for the next 5 years.” The years under the banning order and house arrest were difficult. “I had no employment. Seeking employment meant walking the streets, requesting for jobs even as a messenger, a filing clerk or a ‘tea lady’- I saw the dignity in labour and any job meant putting food on the table. But doors were closed on me for fear of intimidation by the Special Branch. “My heart went out to S.E. Mansoor and Co. who had the courage to employ me selling first, 3rd Party Insurance Discs (which was once a year) and then long term Insurance, which failed because one had to see to clients at night and that was impossible because I was under house arrest.” During the last year of her banning and house arrest, Sam Moodley became involved with the then Natal Indian Cripple Care Association and later with the Spes Nova School for cerebral palsy children at Clare Estate in Durban. The Special Branch at that time, however, continued with their harassment and she was forced to obtain a special permit from the Durban Magistrate to continue with her work as a speech therapist.

(ONE OF SAM MOOLDEY'S NIECES PRAISES HER FOR HER CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LIBERATION STRUGGLES) NATAL INDIAN CRIPPLE CARE ASSOCIATION “I was still under a banning order and as much as the Natal Indian Cripple Care Association had won a battle for me to get my job as a speech therapist, I was not allowed to be on an educational campus. I subsequently got permission from a Magistrate for a month before actual permission came from Pretoria. Thereafter I had to get a letter every month or else I would have been arrested. This went on until the order expired in 1978,” said Moodley. In the 1980s, Sam Moodley got involved in the Disability Movement in South Africa, the Women Teachers Movement, became the Vice President of the Tasa Women Teachers Organisation and worked with the Children and Womens’ Programmes within Umtapo. She also began the Participatory Education Through Theatre (PETT), working with students at high schools, universities and teacher training colleges. “Much of my time was also spent initiating and holding workshops, empowering and enriching the lives of people with disabilities through the Arts, under an Organisation called Very Special Arts”. BC WAS LEFT OUT OF POLITICAL NEGOTIATIONS FOR NEW SOUTH AFRICA When negotiations began between the ANC and the former National Party Government in the early 1990s, she was not too impressed because the BC movement was completely isolated from the process. A pained and hurt Sam Moodley did not vote in the first democratic elections on April 27 1994 not only because of the exclusion of BC and other political formations in the liberation struggle, but “because of the fact that candidates were calling for votes based on ethnic lines (the coloured vote, the Indian vote, the African vote)”. DID NOT VOTE IN THE FIRST ELECTIONS IN 1994 “This divisiveness was fragmenting South Africa and worked against the BC principles of ‘One Nation One Azania’. I also felt that if I voted it would give legitimacy to those in parliament who participated in apartheid structures and collaborated with an abhorrent system that kept us divided along ethnic and racial lines.” After the dawn of the post-apartheid era, Sam Moodley continued with her activist work, believing in and supporting the cause of black consciousness. She never gave up on engaging with various communities. Her passion has always been with women and youth. In fact from 2008 to the present day she has been part of a collective of women who started an organisation called Women in Action South Africa (WIASA). As a social action group, Sam Moodley and her comrades are concerned with various social issues that affect women and youth in Merebank, Wentworth, Umlazi, Sydenham and Newlands. “We help to co-ordinate discussion groups, conversations, and workshops around socio-political, cultural and ecological issues. It has always been our aim to build capacity within women so that they would empower themselves and the communities within which they work to act as agents and catalysts for change. “It has always been my dream to resuscitate a womens’ movement that is so lacking today.” DISAPPOINTED WITH THE ANC GOVERNMENT When I first interviewed Sumboornam in 2009, 15 years into the new South Africa, Sam Moodley was not too happy with the performance of the ANC Government. She told me then: “I admit, that lots have been done in terms of housing, in terms of education but I still question the fact: ‘are we free?’ Are we truly free in the sense when we ask ourselves about the type of education we have. The same question crops up regarding our health system (poor infra structures and provisions). With housing when you look at the RDP housing, these are match-box houses. Is this dignified living? “We talk about the right to life and living but can we say that we are really free when there are muggings and killings. There’s also mismanagement of funds and corruption is rife. For me the situation is not what I believed in. May be it was Utopic but the reality is that we are not truly liberated. Any way what sort of freedom are we talking about and for whom?” I met with her recently, eight years later, and today in 2017 Sam Moodley is still concerned. “Freedom is what we have sacrificed our lives for. But what has changed? “The contract to build a nation free from hunger, disease, poverty, ignorance, has not been fulfilled. The inequality gap between race, class, gender has widened. Physical and psychological oppression remain a stark reality we have to face each day. Bureaucrats cling to power, and self interests take precedent over the needs of the people of this country. There is still a need to build a nation filled with dignity, self-respect, security and peace.” Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com