POLITICAL ACTIVIST DR KESAVEL GOONAM MADE STATELESS BY THE FORMER SOUTH AFRICAN APARTHEID REGIME

DR KESAVEL GOONAM REFUSED TO BE TREATED AS A “PARIAH”

(PHOTO TAKEN FROM DR GOONAM'S AUTOBIOGRAPOHY - COOLIE DOCTOR) INTRO: In March 1983, at a time when the struggles against white minority rule and domination was gaining momentum, one of the firebrand woman political activists, who was in exile, became stateless after the apartheid Government at that time refused to renew her passport. Dr Kesavel Goonam had gone into exile in 1977 following intense persecution by the former apartheid regime. While she was in London during this period, she had applied to renew her passport but she was informed that the South African Government at that time was not prepared to renew her passport and that her passport had in fact been destroyed. In 1983 she moved to Zimbabwe where she worked for the new Zimbabwean Government as a health officer, while at the same time interacting with other South Africans involved in the underground struggles. She returned to the country early in the 1990s after the release of Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of the ANC, PAC and other organisations in February 1990. She became active in post-apartheid work but died a very disillusioned person in 1999 at the age of 92. In March 1983, the Press Trust of SA News Agency spoke to Dr Goonam in Harare, Zimbabwe, by telephone from Durban about her life as a stateless person although she was a South African. The PTSA published this article and distributed it to the Press Trust of India and other news outlets around the world.

23 March 1983 PROMINENT INDIAN-ORIGIN WOMAN ACTIVIST STATELESS One of South Africa’s most prominent Indian-origin woman political activists, who in 1977 was chosen “Woman of the Year for Africa”, by the Madras-based Indian Cultural Group, has been made a stateless person by the South African Government. Seventy-year-old Kesaveloo Goonam was on a trip to London in 1979 when the South African Government refused to renew her passport. She was told that she would only be granted a travel document to return to South Africa but not a passport. But the fiery “old lady” of black politics in South Africa refused to be treated as a “pariah” and insisted that she should be granted a passport. She has been in exile ever since the late 1970s when she travelled to India, where she has a daughter in Madras, and to Australia and now to Zimbabwe. Dr Goonam, who is one of the most colourful Indian-origin politicians South Africa has ever produced, began her struggles in South Africa after graduating as a doctor in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1936. She was the first Indian-origin woman in South Africa to qualify as a medical doctor. She was very active in the Passive Resistance Campaign, led by Dr Monty Naicker against the Group Areas Act in the early 1940s, and was detained on more than ten occasions for her anti-apartheid work at that time. She also served a one-year jail sentence for defying the Pretoria authorities during the Passive Resistance campaigns. The outspoken woman doctor, who caused an outcry in her younger days when she openly smoked at a time when it was taboo for an Indian woman to be seen with a cigarette, was chosen Woman of the Year for Africa in 1977 by the Indian Cultural Group in Madras. In addition to being a member of the Anti-Segregation League, the Passive Resistance Movement and the Natal Indian Congress – established by Mahatma Gandhi in 1897 - Dr Goonam also served as the first chairperson of the Anti-SAIC Committee in 1977. It was largely through this committee’s work that the South African Government-created puppet organisation, the South African Indian Council (SAIC), was shunned by Indian-origin South Africans during the first SAIC election in 1981. In 1978, Dr Goonam went to London to work for the Redbridge and Waltham Forest Area Health authorities. In October 1979, while she was still in London, Dr Goonam applied for the renewal of her South African passport. After months of delay, she was told by the Pretoria Government that her passport would not be renewed and that her old passport had been destroyed. In a telephone interview from Zimbabwe, she told the independent Press Trust of South Africa News Agency that she was “alive and kicking” and was on the verge of taking up a medical appointment with the Zimbabwe Government. “I returned to southern Africa because I want to be near the struggles in South Africa. “The white minority regime is not going to last for ever,” she said confidently. Ends – Press Trust of SA News Agency March 23 1983

LALOO CHIBA – POLITICAL PRISONER WHO WAS SENTENCED TO ROBBEN ISLAND IN THE SAME YEAR AS NELSON MANDELA, AHMED KATHRADA AND OTHERS - HAS BEEN RELEASED AFTER BEING SENTENCED FOR 18 YEARS -----------AN ARTICLE WRITTEN BY THE PRESS TRUST OF SA NEWS AGENCY IN JANUARY 1983

In December 1982 when the internal struggles against the white minority regime was gaining momentum, one of the political prisoners who had his roots in Gujerat, India, was released after being imprisoned on Robben Island for 18 long years. A former member of the Transvaal Indian Congress(TIC), Transvaal Indian Youth Congress, the ANC, the South African Communist Party, and underground member of Umkhonto we Sizwe, Mr Chiba was sentenced to Robben Island for being involved in sabotage and other activities against the white minority regime. Mr Chiba was 35-years-old when he was sentenced to Robben Island. Mr Chiba served as an ANC member of parliament for 10 years after the dawn of freedom in 1994 and was awarded the Order of Luthuli in June 2004. He passed away in Johannesburg on December 8 2017 at the age of 87. He was a Board member of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation at the time of his death. A month after his release, the Press Trust of South Africa News Agency, which was operating under trying conditions during this period, interviewed Mr Chiba about his involvement and his release. This article was sent to the Press Trust of India and other outlets in India and other countries.

January 19 1983 ROBBEN ISLAND POLITICAL PRISONER FREE AFTER 18 YEARS A former South African political prisoner, Mr Lalloo Chiba, has just been released from Robben Island, near Cape Town, after being imprisoned for 18 years. Mr Chiba, now 53, was convicted and sentenced in 1964 after a marathon sabotage trial that last for nearly six months. The former Johannesburg activist of the ANC, Transvaal Indian Congress and the South African Indian Congress served his sentence alongside top-ranking African National Congress(ANC) leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada. Mandela, Sisulu, Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, and Dennis Goldberg were sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island in the famous “Rivonia Treason Trial” for plotting to overthrow the government by violent means. MISSED HIS FAMILY Mr Chiba, who is now trying to re-adjust himself as a “free” person, has taken the first step towards his re-integration into society by getting to know his three daughters and wife from whom he had been separated for nearly two decades. At the time of his imprisonment only his eldest daughter, Kaylash, who was 8-years-old at the time of his imprisonment in 1964, was big enough to know what had happened. Mr Chiba’s other two daughters, Gita, and Yasvanti, who are now 24 and 21 respectively, were too young to know that their father had gone to jail because of his struggles for a free, just and democratic South Africa. And when his two older daughters married while he was still in prison, it caused Mr Chiba a great deal of sadness; but now he is looking forward to his youngest daughter’s wedding, which will take place in May. In an interview with the Press Trust of South Africa News Agency, Mr Chiba expressed his serious disappointment and sadness at missing his children’s most cherished moments. “My wife and I,” he said, “had spent 18 years apart as parents of three little girls”. “Now that we are re-united, it is as proud grand-parents of three little boys; only she and I and those placed in similar situations know of the missing, intervening years.” Speaking of his incarceration and release, Mr Chiba, who kept fit in prison by following a programme of exercises and Yoga, said he now understood how a bird freed from a cage, felt. However, he expressed his sadness at the fact that so many of his comrades were still on Robben Island and hoped prisoners such as Mr Mandela, who he considered to be the true leader of the people, would soon be released. Mr Chiba said he was convinced that South Africa’s problems could only be solved if the true leaders (those in prison, exile, banned or restricted) were allowed to negotiate with the ruling white regime for a real non-racial and democratic new South Africa. While Mr Chiba propagated his political convictions, his overjoyed wife, Luxmi, said she hoped that her husband would now remain with her forever, so that they could bridge the gap of the lost years. Mrs Chiba said that although she had missed her husband a great deal and had to be both “father and mother” to her three daughters, she was happy that they had managed to live those 18 years with dignity and courage. Mr Chiba, who was born in Johannesburg in 1930 to parents who had arrived from the state of Gujerat in India, became politically aware from an early age when he attended the Johannesburg Indian High School and befriended activists of the calibre of Ahmed Kathrada. During the 1950s and 1960s, he became actively involved in the Transvaal Indian Congress, the ANC, the South African Communist Party and the underground movement of Umkhonto We Sizwe. He was first arrested in 1963 and again in 1964 when he was convicted for sabotage and sentenced to 18 years on Robben Island. Now that he is free, he did not talk about his future involvement in the political struggles. Ends – Press Trust of SA News Agency January 19 1983

SOUTHSIDE FM RADIO - RECRUITMENT OF DJs/PRESENTERS

SOUTHSIDE FM RADIO (NPO No: 089 - 426) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 59 Musgrave Road, Durban Tel: 031 - 568 1309/082 376 9053 email: subrygovender@gmail.com Jan 21 2020 Dear Colleagues In preparation for our launch sometime at the end of April, we are currently busy with our office and the construction of our recording and broadcast studios. In the meanwhile, we wish to bring to the attention of the public at large that we would be looking at recruiting the following personnel: 1. Deputy Station Manager 2. Seven Presenters/DJs for Monday to Friday. 3. Seven Presenters/DJs for Saturday and Sunday. 4. Six reporters/news readers. 5. Two advertising representatives/marketing agents. 6. Office secretary/Librarian. All the people we are looking for must have a passion for promoting our music, cultures, languages and traditions as full South Africans. The people must also be widely knowledgeable about our new non-racial and democratic South Africa. Those keen on joining us in our new progressive and democratic journey must send their details to: subrygovender@gmail.com. Please forward this information to all interested persons. We are hoping to launch in the middle or end of April once we have finalised all our requirements. Many thanks and kind regards. Subry Govender Secretary ----------------------------- Board of Governors: Ms Sally Padaychie (chairperson), Mr Balan Gounder (deputy chairperson), Mr Richard Naidoo (deputy chairperson), Mr Deven Moodley (treasurer), Mr Denis Naidoo (deputy treasurer), Ms V. Naidoo (assistant secretary), Mr Logan Naidoo, Mr Swaminathan Gounden, Mr Sumeshen Moodley, Mr Richard Govender, Ms Roxanne Gounden, Mr Mari Ramaya-Pillay (Johannesburg), Dr M Sooboo (Pretoria), Dr Dilly Naidoo, Mr Kiru Naidoo (PRO) and Mr Subry Govender (Secretary).

POOMANIE MOODLEY – ONE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN ACTIVISTS OF INDIAN-ORIGIN IN THE 1950s and 1960s WHO PLAYED HER PART IN THE STRUGGLES FOR FREEDOM, JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY

In August 1982 at a time when the former apartheid regime was conducting one of its most repressive campaigns against democratic forces fighting for justice, freedom and democracy, an Indian-origin women freedom fighter, Miss Poomanie Moodley, died suddenly at the age of 56. The Press Trust of South Africa News Agency, which was operating under trying conditions at this time, compiled the following article about her struggle involvement on August 12 1982. The article was distributed to the media in India and other countries. August 12 1982 POOMANIE MOODLEY – ONE OF SOUTH AFRICA’S FIRST INDIAN-ORIGIN WOMEN IN THE POLITICAL STRUGGLES DIES One of South Africa’s early Indian-origin women to be involved in the political struggles against the white minority in the country died at Durban’s King Edward V111 Hospital on Wednesday, August 11 – three days after she had taken part in the National Womens’ Day gathering in the city. Miss Poomanie Moodley, 56, died of heart attack. Miss Moodley, a top member of the Natal Indian Congress at the time of her death, became introduced to the harsh realities of South African life when as a young girl she used to join her father to protest meetings at Durban’s famous “Red Square”. They used to live in the historical Clairwood area of Durban at that time. She joined the youth wing of the Congress and later the Congress Alliance, which was made up of the African National Congress, South African Indian Congress, Coloured Peoples’ Congress and the white Congress of Democrats. As a member of the Congress Alliance she played a leading role in organising black women in the Anti-Pass Campaigns, the Defiance Campaign, protests against the Bantu Education Act and in the trade union movement. Miss Moodley, a nursing sister by profession, started a trade union for nurses at King George V TB Hospital in Durban in 1960 in order to improve the working conditions of black nurses. But her efforts were short-lived when she became one of the first persons to be detained under the “90 day Law”, without any access to lawyers, friends or families. She was detained again for 90 days in 1964 – this time for allegedly being a member of an unlawful organisation. And in 1965 she was detained under a new 10-day detention law for participating in literary classes organised by the Congress Alliance. The Pretoria Government found the literary classes to be subversive and banned the programme. Just a few days before her untimely death, Miss Moodley gave one of her rare press interviews when she spoke to the Press Trust of SA News Agency. Recalling the early struggles of the black people, especially the women, Miss Moodley said that she was heartened by the fact that the younger generation today were continuing in the same vein for liberation as their fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters in the struggle. She dismissed the latest constitutional proposals of the South African Prime Minister, P.W. Botha, and said it was not what her true leaders had been fighting for. “Botha’s grand scheme at white domination is not what our people are fighting for, dying for, imprisoned for and going into exile for. We must have a complete and full say in the Government and a fair and equal distribution of the country’s immense wealth. “I want to see our True leaders taking their rightful place in Government,” said Miss Moodley. Miss Moodley was laid to rest after a funeral service in Clairwood. She was lauded by the Natal Indian Congress, South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) and the exiled ANC for her contributions to the struggles for a free and democratic South Africa. – ends (Press Trust of SA News Agency, August 12 1982).