ANTI-APARTHEID LEADER - MEWA RAMGOBIN - WHO WAS PART OF THE GROUP WHO INITIATED THE REVIVAL OF THE NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS IN 1971 - TALKS IN 2008 ABOUT WHETHER THERE WAS A NEED FOR A FORUM FOR THE PEOPLENEED

(MEWA RAMGOBIN WITH GEORGE SEWPERSADH, AND M J NAIDOO VISITING MRS WINNIE MANDELA IN BRANDFORT IN THE FREE STATE IN 1983 AFTER THEIR BANNING ORDERS WERE LIFTED) In the late 1990s and early 2 000s, a number of former anti-apartheid leaders within the Indian-origin community discussed the question of whether a progressive Forum should be established to highlight the concerns of the people. They made their views known after a stalwart of the struggles, Professor Fatima Meer, called for the revival of the Natal Indian Congress. She was of the view that the NIC should not have been allowed to disappear from the public scene after 1994 because it was an historical organisation started by Mahatma Gandhi. She recalled that even former President Nelson Mandela did not support the disbanding of the NIC. Mandela was of the view that the NIC had played a pivotal role during the anti-aparthied days and, therefore, it could continue to play a crucial role in the new non-racial and democratic South Africa. A number of prominent leaders supported the idea of a Forum that would take up the concerns of ordinary South Africans. But one prominent anti-apartheid leader, Mewa Ramgobin, who was part of the group that revived the NIC in 1971, did not support the establishment of a separate Forum from the ANC. Ramgobin, who served as an MP for 15 years after freedom in 1994, passed away at the age of 84 on October 17 2016. Veteran struggle journalist, Subry Govender, interviewed Ramgobin in 2008 and compiled this radio documentary.