Podcast Two

MLUNGISI GRIFFITHS MXENGE - A STRUGGLE STALWART WHO WAS BRUTALLY MURDERED IN NOVEMBER 1981 FOR FEARLESSLY FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHTS OF ALL SOUTH AFRICANS

Just over 11 years ago in 2008, the new democratic Ethekwini Municipality had taken a decision to recognise the contributions of struggle stalwart and Durban Lawyer, Mlungisi Griffths Mxenge. He was assassinated on November 19 1981 by members of the former apartheid regime’s dreaded security police in Umlazi, Durban. The Ethekwini Municipality wanted to re-name Mangosuthu Highway in Umlazi in memory of Mxenge but this was fiercely objected to by the Inkatha Freedom Party.

It was during this period that I compiled a radio documentary on the life of Griffith Mxenge which I am publishing here as a tribute to the struggle stalwart.

Mxenge, who was born in a village near King Williams Town in 1935, studied at the University of Fort Hare and later at the University of Natal in Durban where he obtained his law degree. While studying in Durban he was arrested, detained and charged with being a member of the ANC, which was banned in 1960. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment on Robben Island. After his release he continued with his studies in Durban and graduated to become a well-known anti-apartheid lawyer in the former “Grey Street” area of Durban. I befriended Mxenge in the early 1970s when I started work as a full-time journalist at the Daily News, situated at 85 Field Street in the city at that time. Mxenge emerged as a fearless lawyer who fought the cases of activists who were arrested and detained despite himself being harassed, detained and banned by the oppressive regime. He also participated in most anti-apartheid organisations, especially the Release Mandela Campaign, which was established to mobilise South Africa and the international community for the release of Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners. He also joined this correspondent and other activists such as Dr Khorshed Ginwala, Dr A E Gangat and Archie Gumede to spearhead the setting up of the alternative newspaper, Ukusa, in Durban in the early 1980s.

He was married to Victoria Nonyamezelo who was also brutally murdered by agents of the apartheid police in the drive way of her home in Umlazi in 1987. Griffith and Victoria Mxenge were posthumously awarded the Luthuli Award in Silver in 2006 for paying the ultimate price for “defending the rights of oppressed South Africans to exist in conditions of freedom, justice, peace and democracy”.

DHARAMRAJ KISSOON SINGH – STRUGGLE ACTIVIST OF NOTE

(D K SINGH WITH FELLOW ANTI-APARTHEID SPORTS LEADER, ARCHIE HULLEY, AT A MEETING IN DURBAN IN THE 1980s WITH OFFICIALS OF THE FORMER WHITE SWIMMING UNION) INTRODUCTION: In this in my series on Struggle Heroes and Heroines, I recall the life of the late Durban lawyer, D K Singh. Mr Singh, who passed away in 2010, was a house-hold name in the struggles against the former white minority regime in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. In addition to the written tribute, I am also publishing a radio documentary that I compiled in 2008. By Subry Govender One of the social, civic, sporting and political activists whose enormous contributions to the creation of South Africa’s new non-racial and democratic society spanned nearly 60 years was Durban lawyer, Dharamraj Kissoon Singh, who passed on in August 2010 at the age of 81. A few years before his passing, I had the privilege of interviewing D K Singh about his early life, his social and political involvement and his views about the challenges facing the new South Africa. “I became an activist during the apartheid era because I could not just sit back and allow the apartheid regime to continue with its discriminatory and repressive policies,” he told me when I asked him why and he became an activist. "I saw the injustices being done to our people and without thinking about it, I felt that I had a duty to our people both locally and nationally." Born into a humble working-class family at Umzinto on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast on May 27 1929, Mr Singh completed his early education at Umzinto and at Sastri College in Durban where he completed his matriculation in the early 1940s. Mr Singh became actively involved in the struggles for social, sporting, economic and political liberation while still a student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban. He played an active role in the Students Representative Council and came under the influence of Dr Monty Naicker, who was then president of the Natal and South African Indian Congresses in the 1940s and 1950s.

During this period, he took part in many of the campaigns initiated and led by Dr Naicker. He qualified as an attorney in 1958 and immediately became one of the progressive lawyers who made himself available to take up the legal struggles of many political activists and organisations facing harassment at the hands of the former apartheid regime. For more than two decades Mr Singh operated from the centre of the former Grey Street "Indian" area in Durban in partnership with the late Mr Pat Poovalingham and Mr Kader Vahed. The law firm was known as: "D K Singh, Poovalingham and Vahed." Over the next 40 years he became actively involved in the anti-apartheid civic, political and sporting struggles. He became an executive member of the Natal Indian Congress when it was revived in the early 1970s, served as president of the Asherville Ratepayers Association for 23 years, was one of the founding members and president of the Durban Housing Action Committee(DHAC) for 12 years, president of the David Landau Community Centre for 14 years and president of the Amateur Swimming Union of Natal for five years and executive member of the non-racial Amateur Swimming Federation of South Africa. Mr Singh was also secretary of the Durban Citizens Action Committee, which assisted activists detained by the former notorious security police; represented victims of the Group Areas Act; and provided free legal service for the Aryan Benevolent Home and the Durban Blind and Deaf Society. At the same time Mr Singh assisted trade union organisations such as the former Durban Integrated Employees Society(DIMES). Mr Singh worked very closely with veteran struggle stalwarts such as Swaminathan Gounden, Rabbi Bugwandeen, and George Sewpersadh in the Natal Indian Congress. He also worked with Gounden, the late Vasie Nair and Rad Thumbadoo in the Asherville Civic Association and the David Landau Community Centre. He also established a formidable team with Pravin Gordhan, who is now a Government Minister, and the late Yunus Mahomed and George Sewpersadh in advancing the cause of the Durban Housing Action Committee, which highlighted the plight of the homeless and the poor. D K Singh also assisted many individuals and communities when they were forcefully evicted from their homes under the notorious Group Areas Act in the 1960s. One of the groups was the Zanzibari community, who had settled in the Bluff in Durban after their ancestors had arrived from the Zanzibar Island in Tanzania in East Africa. They were also evicted from their homes and forcefully removed to Chatsworth. Mr Singh worked tirelessly to ensure that they received adequate compensation. In the sporting swimming world, he was closely associated with stalwarts such as late Morgan Naidoo, who was president of the Amateur Swimming Federation of South Africa, and Archie Hulley. One of the features of his life was that he did not charge any legal fees for the work he had undertaken on behalf of activists and social and community organisations. This correspondent, who had known Mr Singh since the early 1970s, asked him during our interview why he provided free legal service for so many individuals and organisations. He responded: "How can I even dream of charging any fees for the defence of comrades who played such an active role in promoting our freedom and in trying to get a better deal for the community generally?" D K Singh also provided free legal services for numerous social and welfare organisations, including the Aryan Benevolent Home and Natal Blind and Deaf Society. At the time of the interview in 2006, Mr Singh was confident and optimistic about the progress that had been made in the new South Africa. He was of the view that the country had come a long way although there were still many challenges. This is what he had said: "The country is doing fairly well. We still have immense problems which we have to solve - the housing backlog, the employment problems. All these things need to be attended to. But I think the Government is trying its best and I am sure given the time they will achieve much more than they have already achieved." D K Singh had great confidence in the future of the country. Mr Singh was of the view that the young people had to take an active interest in the future of the country because it was the new generation that would inherit the new democracy. "The young people must carry the struggle forward for social and economic equality. "They must take an active interest in the problems of the country. They must ensure that they make a meaningful contribution to the development of the country and to the attainment of a truly-rainbow nation where everybody has equal rights," he told me. Although D K Singh retired at that time in 2006 from active social, sporting and political work he still kept a close watch on the social and political developments. In a growing democracy like South Africa, D K Singh said it would be very difficult to be dispassionate even when one is caught up by advancing age. “We have to follow in the footsteps of our great leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Monty Naicker, Yusuf Dadoo, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu in continuing with our struggles for a society where all people will enjoy full freedom and human rights in a truly non-racial democracy,” he told me. Like other activists of his era, Mr Singh had committed his life to serving the interests of the people. His uncompromising and committed life will, no doubt, be an inspiration to the current and future generations. All of us must forever be thankful to activists of the calibre of D K Singh. There are very few of them around today. Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com May 22 2019

APPIAH SARAVANAN CHETTY ( A S CHETTY) - ONE OF THE STRUGGLE HEROES

(MR A S CHETTY HOSTING PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA DURING A VISIT TO PIETERMARITZBURG AFTER BEING ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE NEW, NON-RACIAL AND DEMOCRATIC SOUTH AFRICA) In my ongoing series on our "Struggle Heroes and Heroines", I am, in this edition, bringing you the life of Appiah Saravanan Chetty (or A S Chetty), another South African of Indian-origin who committed his entire life to the freedom of South Africa. Mr Chetty of Pietermaritzburg in the country's KwaZulu-Natal province was a dedicated member and official of the Natal Indian Congress and the African National Congress. Mr Chetty combined his involvement in the freedom struggles with his love for culture, arts, music and the Tamil language. He died at the age of 72 in 2001 when he was serving as deputy mayor of Pietermaritzburg. I interviewed Mr Chetty at his office in central Pietermaritzburg in 1996 about his involvement in the struggle for a free, non-racial and democratic South Africa. I compiled this radio documentary in 2008 at a time when some people were talking about the establishment of a lobby group within the community. Mr Chetty had expressed some interesting views about whether the Natal Indian Congress should have been allowed to continue to operate alongside the ANC.

ISMAIL CHOTA (I C) MEER – ONE OF THE GIANTS OF THE STRUGGLES FOR FREEDOM AND A NON-RACIAL DEMOCRACY.. HIS LIFE IS A LESSON FOR ALL TO CONTINUE WITH THE STRUGGLES FOR A NON-RACIAL AND DEMOCRATIC SOUTH AFRICA

BY SUBRY GOVENDER In my ongoing series on “Struggle Heroes and Heroines”, I have the pleasure of recalling the role and struggles of veteran activist, writer, journalist, trade unionist, educationist and lawyer, Ismail Chota Meer, who was popularly known as I C Meer. I am publishing a radio documentary on the contributions by I C Meer for a non-racial and democratic South Africa at a time when many former political activists and veterans are discussing the recently-held 6th democratic general elections on May 8 2019. They are especially concerned that many people decided not to vote because they were not comfortable with the political parties that contested the elections. Many, many young people also did not care to register to vote in the elections. I C Meer passed away on 1 May 2 000 at the age of 82 after serving the African National Congress in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Assembly since the dawn of our new era on April 27 1994. I had the privilege of interviewing Mr Meer for this radio documentary at his Durban home while he was still a member of the KZN Provincial Assembly. Mr Meer, who was born in 1918 in the small Natal town of Waschbank, near Dundee, completed his high school at the famous and historical Sastri College in Durban and obtained his law degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1946. While at university in Johannesburg he came under the influence of Dr Yusuf Dadoo, who was president of the Transvaal Indian Congress at this time. He also be-friended Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and other political activists. Mr Meer became involved with the Transvaal Indian Congress as its secretary in 1945, the South African Indian Congress, Natal Indian Congress and the South African Communist Party. He also participated in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and was among the Congress leaders arrested for treason in December 1956, but charges against him were dropped in early 1958. At the same time, he was a committed writer and journalist. He edited the Passive Resister during the passive resistance campaigns in 1946 and during the height of the struggles in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s he wrote under various names for the Leader newspaper in Durban and other publications because of the banning orders imposed against him by the apartheid regime. He suffered this inhumanity for nearly 40 years. Despite the restrictions and banning orders against him, Mr Meer, who was married to another struggle activist, Professor Fatima Meer, managed to run his law practice in the town of Verulam, about 25km north of Durban. It was here in Verulam that I first came into contact with him while I was a pupil at the local high school. Most people in the town and elsewhere saw Mr Meer not only as a role model but also as an inspiration against the former apartheid regime. His full life history and involvement in the struggles is contained in book, titled : "Ismail Meer - A Fortunate Man". The book was published by his wife, Professor Fatima Meer, and the Meer family. In this radio documentary published below, Mr Meer highlights, in his own words, the struggles for the creation of a non-racial and democratic future South Africa.

STRUGGLE STALWART AHMED KATHRADA'S FIRST RADIO INTERVIEW AFTER HE WAS RELEASED FROM LIFE IMPRISONMENT IN COTOBER 1989. THE INTERVIEW IS BEING PUBLISHED HERE IN THREE PARTS ON THE DAY A LIFE-SIZE STATUE OF HIM WAS UNVEILED TODAY (MAY 17 2019)

(IN THE TOP PICTURE AHMED KATHRADA IS AT THE HOME OF A FAMILY MEMBER IN LENASIA, JOHANNESBURG, AFTER HE WAS RELEASED IN OCTOBER 1989. THE PERSON NEXT TO HIM WAS ANOTHER POLITICAL ACTIVIST, CASSIM SALOJEE. UNFORTUNATELY HE IS NOT SEEN IN THE PHOTO) (IN THE SECOND PICTURE, AHMED KATHRADA IS SEEN WITH A FORMER GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON DURING A VISIT TO INDIA. KATHRADA JOINED NELSON MANDELA DURING HIS FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT TO INDIA IN 1995) One of South Africa’s veteran struggle activists, Ahmed Kathrada, was bestowed with one of the country’s highest honours today (May 17 2019) when a life-size bronze statue of him was unveiled at the Maropeng Visitor Centre, Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, west of the city of Johannesburg. Kathrada, who was imprisoned for more than 26 years after being convicted of high treason along with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, and other activists, passed away at the age of 87 on March 28 2017. The ceremony was led by the National Heritage Project, led by Dali Tambo, the son of Kathrada’s fellow Robben Island prison leader, Oliver Tambo. Kathrada’s statue formed part of other scultures erected to honour former struggle stalwarts. They include Nelson Mandela, Oliver and Adelaide Tambo, Walter and Albertina Sisulu, Helen Suzman, Mirriam Makeba, Govan Mbeki, Beyers Naude, and Joe Slovo. When Kathrada was released in October 1989 along with Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mahlaba, Elias Motsoaledi and Andrew Mlangeni, I was working for the Press Trust of India as its free-lance correspondent in South Africa. I made arrangements with some close associates and family members of Kathrada to interview him as he had his roots in India. I travelled to Johannesburg and had the privilege of talking to Kathrada about his life and his struggles for a non-racial and democratic South Africa at a family home in Lenasia. I recall that another political activist, Cassim Salojee, was present at the time I conducted the interview with M r Kathrada. In order to provide some information about the life of Kathrada, I am publishing the interview in three parts here: PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

THE VIEWS OF MEWALAL RAMGOBIN – ONE OF SOUTH AFRICA’S COMMITTED ANTI-APARTHEID LEADERS DURING THE STRUGGLES FOR A NON-RACIAL AND DEMOCRATIC ORDER - ON A FORUM OR A RESUSCITATED NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS TAKING UP ISSUES OF CONCERN TO THE PEOPLE

BY SUBRY GOVENDER Now that many South Africans of Indian-origin are discussing the political situation after the 6th democratic elections on May 8 2019 and after 25 years of democracy, I would like to bring you the views of Mewalal Ramgobin, who played a leading role in the early 1970s in the revival of the Natal Indian Congress. The revived NIC played a major role in the struggles for liberation in the absence of the ANC and other progressive organisations that were banned by the former apartheid regime. But in 1994, when South Africans were preparing for the country’s first democratic elections, the NIC was forced to shut shop after an agreement was reached that the ANC would represent and promote the aspirations of all South Africans. Ramgobin, who died at the age of 84 on Monday, Oct 17 2016, was one of the NIC leaders who supported the move for the people to throw their lot with the ANC.

(MEWA RAMGOBIN WITH ARCHBISHOP DENIS HURLEY AT ONE OF THE BRIEFINGS AGAINST THE FORMER APARTHEID REGIME) Beside the revival of the NIC, Ramgobin was best known for initiating the campaigns for the release of Nelson Mandela and other political leaders in 1971, the promotion of the values and principles of Mahatma Gandhi at Gandhi’s Phoenix Settlement Trust, north of Durban; the establishment of the UDF in August 1983, the promotion of the struggles to international levels by occupying the British Consulate for several months in 1983, isolating apartheid opportunists and for playing a major role during the negotiations process from the early 1990s to 1994 when the new democratic order was established. For his involvement in the struggles, Ramgobin was hounded, harassed, targeted with a parcel bomb, and banned and house-arrested for nearly 20 years from 1970 to 1990. He was also detained and charged with High Treason in 1985 . Ramgobin became a member of parliament for the ANC in 1994 and occupied this position until his retirement in 2009. I interviewed Ramgobin in 2008 and asked him for his views about a Forum or for a resuscitated NIC to take up issues of concern to people of Indian-origin in the new democratic South Africa. I compiled this radio documentary after talking to him about the concerns of many people. (ends - subrygovender@gmail.com May 15 2019)

THE NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO OPERATE ALONGSIDE THE ANC

ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT ANTI-APARTHEID LEADERS DURING THE DARK DAYS OF RACIAL OPPRESSION IN SOUTH AFRICA WAS PROFESSOR FATIMA MEER. A SOCIOLOGIST, ACADEMIC, AUTHOR, WRITER AND A CONFIDANTE OF WINNIE AND NELSON MANDELA AND OTHER STRUGGLE STALWARTS, PROFESSOR MEER ALSO MADE ENORMOUS CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE STRUGGLES FOR A NON-RACIAL AND DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY. DURING MY LONG YEARS AS A JOURNALIST DURING THE STRUGGLE DAYS, I HAD REGULARLY INTERACTED WITH PROFESSOR MEER AND CONTINUED TO KEEP IN CONTACT WITH HER AFTER WE GAINED OUR FREEDOM IN 1994. IN ONE INTERVIEW AT HER HOME IN DURBAN IN 2008, PROFESSOR MEER WAS OF THE VIEW THAT THE HISTORICAL NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DISBANDED. SHE WAS OF THE VIEW THAT THE NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO REMAIN AND OPERATE ALONGSIDE THE ANC IN PROMOTING THE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL INTERESTS OF ALL SOUTH AFRICANS. TODAY, AFTER THE 6TH DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS THAT WAS HELD ON MAY 8 2019, HER VIEWS ARE AS RELEVANT AS THEY WERE IN 2008. I AM PUBLISHING THIS RADIO DOCUMENTARY CONTAINING PROFESSOR MEER'S VIEWS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THE NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS:

SOUTH AFRICANS OF INDIAN-ORIGIN AND THE NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS

(BY SUBRY GOVENDER)

Now that the 6th democratic elections on May 8 2019 are over, all the political parties are taking a step back and reflecting on their performances in the elections. As expected the ruling ANC was returned to power, albiet on a lower percentage poll. A surprising development was the emergence of the Freedom Front Plus, who obtained 10 seats in the national parliament and also at least one seat in most of the nine provinces. While the political analysts and pundits are analysing the results, a number of people are discussing the road ahead for the country’s 1,5-million people of Indian-origin. These people, who launched a social site, SA Indians – RSA, before the elections, now want to organise themselves into a group against what they deem to be discriminatory practices against people of Indian-origin. Many of these people would like to see the re-emergence of an historic organisation like the Natal Indian Congress(NIC), which played a major role in the struggles for a free and non-racial democracy since the early 1900s to 1994, when Nelson Mandela was elected President of the new, non-racial and democratic South Africa. I spoke to a number of veterans of the NIC who say that they agree that many people of Indian-origin feel “lost” in the new political South Africa. They agree that discussions should be held about the revival of the NIC. They say such an organisation should work alongside the ANC like the NIC of the struggle years when for all intents and purposes the NIC was the internal wing of the ANC when Nelson Mandela and others were in prison or in exile and when the ANC was banned. In order to provide some historical perspective about the kind of organisation the NIC was during the struggle years, veteran journalist, Subry Govender, publishes a radio documentary that he produced in 2007.

The Subry Govender Column: PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA MUST ENSURE "WE GROW SA ...

The Subry Govender Column: PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA MUST ENSURE "WE GROW SA ...: By Subry Govender Most South Africans have given President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC...

PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA MUST ENSURE "WE GROW SA TOGETHER"

By Subry Govender Most South Africans have given President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC a clear mandate to embark on a programme of renewal from nearly 10 years of decay, stagnation, corruption, theft, self-aggrandisement and self-enrichment. This became abundantly visible following the announcement of the 2019 election results on Saturday (May 11) night in Pretoria where the IEC declared that the ANC had won nearly 58 percent of the national vote and the majority in eight of the nine provinces. The ANC only failed in the Western Cape. The IEC had declared that the ANC had won a clear majority of the national vote with 230 seats, next came the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 84 seats, EFF 44, Inkatha Freedom Party(IFP) 14 and the FF+ 10 seats. The other parties to gain seats in the National Parliament are: Al Jamama 1, PAC 1, AIC 2, ATM 2, Cope 2, Good 2, UDM 2, NFP 2 and ACDP 4. The voting patterns showed that many voters had split their ballots. While they voted for President Ramaphosa and the ANC in the national ballot, at the same time many cast their ballots for other parties in the provincial ballots. For instance, in KwaZulu-Natal it has been found that while many voted for the ANC nationally, they voted for either the IFP, DA or EFF in the provincial ballot. The victory of the ANC in the national poll and in eight out nine of the provinces is an indication that the most of the voters want President Ramaphosa to ensure that "we grow SA together" in a non-racial democracy. Twenty five years ago, South Africans gave President Nelson Mandela the political power to free them from racism and economic oppression. Now in 2019, South Africans have once again given their overwhelming trust to President Ramaphosa and the ANC in order to overcome the machinations of the previous regime and to bring about "a new dawn" for all people. While the people have placed their country "in safe hands", they, however, want President Ramaphosa to ensure that he must "grow our economy" and "strengthen our non-racial democracy". In this regard, President Ramapgosa and the ANC must keep to their commitment that there would be: * "More jobs, more decent jobs, * An economy for all, * Quality Health for all, * Security and comfort for all, * Safe communities and safe lives, * A skills revolution, * Capable, honest government, and * a Nation united in diversity”. President Ramaphosa must also keep to his commitment that "South Africa belongs to all who live in it" and that he would help to "bring about a new dawn" by: • Growing the economy, • fighting corruption, • sharing the country's wealth equitably, • a capable state, • effective education and skills development, • and • social cohesion. (Not social coercion) These are the major issues (listed by the ANC in one of their election manifestos) affecting our country and the people are looking forward to President Ramaphosa to navigate South Africa away from the theft, wasteful expenditure and inefficiencies of the recent past. President Ramaphosa gave an indication of his intended moves to bring about a “new dawn” when he addressed the political parties, invited guests, international observors and IEC officials at the gathering on Saturday night. He emphasised the concerned of most South Africans when he said the people had given the elected leaders a firm mandate to build a better South Africa for all. “Let us now work together – black and white, women and men, young and old – to build a South Africa that truly belongs to all who live in it, one which is united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous.” Most South Africans want a better future for all and President Ramaphosa must lead the way by appointing a trimmed down Cabinet that will work with him to bring about the "new dawn". The new Ramaphosa Cabinet must reflect people who will be committed to the true values and principles of the Mandelas, Sisulus, Tambos, Kathradas and countless others who sacrficied their lives for a non-racial and democratic South Africa. Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com (May 11 2019)