PAUL DEVADAS DAVID - ANOTHER STRUGGLE ACTIVIST WHO HAD SOME STRONG POLITICAL VIEWS IN 2008

A struggle activist who also had some strong views in 2008 about the need for a Forum or Lobby Group to work with the ruling ANC. A Radio Documentary compiled in 2008 about the political activism life of Paul David and his views about the situation at that time. By Subry Govender

Another struggle activist I had spoken to in 2008 about the political developments at that time was Paul Devadas David, who is now 80-years-old and lives in KwaDukuza, formerly Stanger, on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast. David, a senior official of the Natal Indian Congress and the United Democratic Front, was involved in anti-apartheid and anti-regime activities for most of his life. He was among the six freedom activists who sought refuge at the British Consulate in central Durban in the mid-1980s after being hunted by the then apartheid security police. The other leaders were Mewa Ramgobin, Archie Gumede, M J Naidoo, George Sewpersadh and Billy Nair. David was also among the 15 activists with Ramgobin who were charged with High Treason in 1985. The others were Isaac Duze Ngcobo, Archie Gumede, Curtis Nkondo, Sisa Njikelana, Aubrey Mokoena, Sam Kikine, M J Naidoo, Albertina Sisulu, Essop Jassat, Cassim Salojee, George Sewpersadh, Frank Chikane and Thozamile Gqweta. Born on August 26 1940 in Pietermaritzburg into a devout Catholic family, David’s grand-parents came from a little village in Tamil Nadu in South India to the then Natal Colony as indentured labourers. His father Simon David was a school teacher and principal and as such was a strict disciplinarian. He instilled the values of respect for elders and commitment to education to David and his three other sons and three daughters. One of David’s sisters, Phyllis Naidoo, was also a struggle stalwart who was called to rest on February 13 2013.

(Paul David (right) with Swaminathan Gounden (left) and another activist during a protest meeting in Durban in 2017) Paul David came under the influence of Phyllis and his brother-in-law, M D Naidoo, while still at high school and became the secretary of the Natal Indian Youth Congress in 1959. He became actively involved in the political struggles when he joined Mewa Ramgobin and other activists in the revival of the Natal Indian Congress in the early 1970s and was elected the vice-president of the NIC in 1979. He was also involved with the Release Mandela Committee and was elected its secretary in 1983 and in 1984 became fully involved with the United Democratic Front(UDF). In addition to his political involvement at all levels, Paul David also became involved in anti-apartheid work at community levels in ratepayers’ organisations in Verulam, Stanger and Durban. He was also involved in non-racial sport in organisations such as the Southern Natal Soccer Board, South African Soccer Federation, Natal Cricket Board, Natal Council of Sport, South African Council of Sport and at local levels in Verulam and Stanger. In 2009, 15 years after the advent of our non-racial and democratic South Africa I had the opportunity of talking to Paul David about his thoughts about the new South Africa at his offices in KwaDukuza (formerly Stanger), north of Durban. He was blunt in his views that there was a need for a non-racial forum to help the ruling ANC in furthering the social, political and economic development of the new South Africa. His views and thoughts expressed then were very relevant at a time when the ANC faced serious and deep divisions within its ranks over the lack of proper leadership and the hunger among some people who had joined the ruling party to enrich themselves through fraud and corruption. This is the radio feature that I had compiled after speaking to Paul David more than 10 years ago.