SUNNY SINGH – ONE OF THE STRUGGLE HEROES WHO WAS IMPRISONED ON ROBBEN ISLAND FOR 10 YEARS AND FORCED INTO EXILE FOR MORE THAN 15 YEARS FOR HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO FREEDOM

A Radio Documentary compiled in 2008 about his views about a Forum or Lobby group to work with the ANC By Subry Govender

(Sunny Singh and wife, Urmilla, with Nelson Mandela in Maputo in 1998) Sunny Singh, who is now 81-years-old and lives in Durban, is one of the backroom boys and unsung heroes of South Africa's freedom struggles. Born in 1939 in Umkumbaan in Cato Manor in Durban to working-class parents, Singh took an active role in the social and political lives of the people from an early age. He has his roots to indentured sugar cane labourers. His father came down as an indentured labourer from a village in the Bihar state of India while still a minor. Singh joined the Natal Indian Congress in 1958 and after joining the ANC’s Umkhonto We Sizwe, he became actively involved in the underground work with 18 other MK activists. He was arrested in October 1963 with his comrades, charged and sentenced to Robben Island for 10 years. His fellow comrades convicted included Billy Nair, Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim, Kisten Moonsamy, Kisten Doorsamy, Siva Pillay, Curnik Ndlovu, George Naicker and Nathoo Babania. They were all convicted of carrying out acts of sabotage. They all served imprisonment from five to 20 years. After his release in 1973 he was served with a five-year banning order. But despite this he continued with his underground activities. He went into exile in 1976 and served the ANC in several African countries and in Holland.

He returned to the country in 1991 and after 1994 he served the Intelligence Service until 2008. He’s currently a volunteer at “South Africa in the Making”, a project of the Monty Naicker Foundation. This project is based at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

After his retirement, I interviewed Sonny Singh IN 2008 about his political life and his views at that time. This is the Radio Documentary I compiled at this time: