DR FAROOQ MEER – ONE OF THE DYNAMIC ACTIVISTS IN THE STRUGGLES FOR FREEDOM AND EQUALITY IN SOUTH AFRICA

One of the veteran political activists whose involvement in the Natal Indian Congress and the struggles for a free, non-racial and democratic South Africa was ingrained in his family is Dr Farooq Meer. On the 2nd of July this year, Dr Farooq Meer celebrated his full 82nd birthday. This article has been written to pay tribute during this important milestone to an activist who stood the test of time and contributed enormously to the political and social freedom that we enjoy today. BY SUBRY GOVENDER NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS

(DR MEER WITH FORMER KWAZULU-NATAL PREMIER - WILLIES MCHUNU - AT A FUNCTION IN DURBAN A FEW YEARS AGO) “The Natal Indian Congress’s approach is to work with the community, to build the communities, to educate them on the issues, to get them to struggle around the issues, to make them become self-reliant, and to motivate them to fight for their rights. “Whereas the approach of those working with the National Party Government is to reduce the Indian community to a nation of beggars, dependant on the holier than thou organisation, House of Delegates, for the meek handouts it gives to the Indian community after the big man in Pretoria has given him his personal handouts.” This no-holds-barred statement was made during a vibrant protest meeting in Durban in 1987 at a time when the struggles against the apartheid regime and its stooges were gaining momentum. The activist who captured the attention of the people with this no-nonsense statement was Dr Farooq Meer, who was the secretary of the Natal Indian Congress at this time. Dr Meer referred to the apartheid stooges as “opportunists”, who operated through patronage and coercion. He pulled no punches when he told the cheering anti-apartheid supporters: “One method that he employs to hoodwink the people into believing that the conditions are improving, is the method of hot air. “The second method he employs is through the use of patronage. Patronage means the provision of jobs for pals. One has to only look at the teaching profession to see that promotion of a teacher depends on his or her support for the House of Delegates. “And patronage is used against businessmen as well. No licence is issued to a businessman unless he supports the House of Delegates. “He also employs the coercion method. He coerces people. He goes to pensioners and tells them, ‘listen if you don’t vote, you will lose your pension’.” Dr Meer did not mention any names of the people operating in the House of Delegates and other business and social opportunists but it was obvious to all the people who he was referring to. INVOLVED IN THE REVIVAL OF THE CONGRESS

(Dr Farook Meer (extreme right) with activists of the 1970s to 1990) Dr Meer, who was 49-years-old at this time, was fast emerging as the new dynamic spokesperson of the Natal Indian Congress. Sixteen years earlier he had become part of the Renewal Committee that was established at a meeting in the Rose Kettle Room of the David Landau Community Centre in Asherville, Durban, to revive the NIC. The NIC, which was established by Mahatma Gandhi in 1894, had escaped the oppressive actions of the apartheid regime when it banned the ANC, Communist Party, PAC and other organisations in 1960. But the NIC was made non-functional after most of its leaders, such as Dr Monty Naicker, Dr Yusuf Dadoo, Dr Kesaval Goonam, J N Singh and Ismail Meer, were either banned, house-arrested, detained or forced into exile. Dr Meer joined activists such as Mewa Ramgobin, M J Naidoo, R Ramesar, Jerry Coovadia, Paul David, Ela Ramgobin, Abdul Haq Randeree, Rabbi Bugwandeen and George Sewpersadh in reviving the NIC at a mass meeting at the Bolton Hall in the former Prince Edward (now Dr Goonam) Street in Durban in 1971. He was elected treasurer at this revival meeting. Dr Meer gave me an insight into his life and political involvement in an interview in 2008. His immersion in the political struggles as part of the Natal Indian Congress was nothing unexpected as he had been born into a family that was involved in the struggles since the late 1890s. ROOTS IN SURAT IN GUJERAT

(Dr Meer with his wife, Rasheeda, at a function in Durban a few years ago) Born on July 2 1938 in Durban, Farooq Meer was number eight in a family of six brothers and three sisters. His father, Moosa Ismail Meer, arrived in Durban from the district of Surat in the state of Gujerat in India in 1895. His father joined Mahatma Gandhi and became Editor of the Indian Views. His eldest brother, Ismail Meer, joined Gandhi’s son, Manilal Gandhi, in producing the Indian Opinion newspaper from premises situated at 137 Grey Street ( now Dr Yusuf Dadoo Street) in Durban. At this time Farooq Meer was attending primary school and he became aware of the struggles through the activities of his father, brother Ismail Meer and sister, Fatima, who was number two in the family. He attended high school in the town of Dundee in northern Natal and completed his matriculation in 1955. STUDIED MEDICINE IN IRELAND He was forced to leave the country to travel to Ireland in 1956 after he could not find a place at the Medical School in Durban to study medicine. He returned to the country in 1963 after obtaining his medical degree. He had a chance to travel to the United States for three months during this period to further his studies. On his return towards the end of 1963, Dr Meer completed his internship at the King Edward V111 Hospital in Durban. In 1968 he once again travelled to the United States to study anaesthetic. When he returned in 1969, he joined the R K Khan Hospital in Chatsworth and in 1971 he became a specialist consultant at the King Edward V111 Hospital for one year. He joined the private sector one year later in 1972. During this period, he stepped up his political activities in the Natal Indian Congress against the state-created South African Indian Council and the Local Affairs Commitees. He also came out strongly in support of students in their struggles for equal education.

(DR MEER WITH MINISTER PRAVIN GORDHAN AT HIS HOME IN DURBAN RECENTLY) DETAINED IN BENONI FOR SIX WEEKS This drew the attention of the dreaded security police and he was arrested and detained for six weeks in Benoni in 1980. When he joined the UDF after its establishment in August 1983, he once again came under the surveillance of the security police and detained for two months. He was detained again in 1985 for two months. When in 1984 his fellow NIC and UDF colleagues – Mewa Ramgobin, M J Naidoo, Archie Gumede, Billy Nair, George Sewpersadh and Paul David – sought refuge at the British Consulate in Durban to highlight the oppressive actions of the apartheid regime, Dr Meer was once again in the forefront to provide support for the Consulate 6 along with Ela Gandhi and other activists. This was the most repressive period in South Africa when the apartheid regime introduced emergency regulations and began to target resistance fighters and activists all over the country. And when three senior officials of the UDF took refuge at the American Consulate in Johannesburg in September 1988, Dr Meer once again came out to fully support them despite the severe actions the security police had taken against him. The senior UDF officials were Murphy Morobe, publicity secretary; and Mahomed Valli Moosa, acting general secretary of the UDF. The third activist was Vusi Khanyile, who was chairman of the National Education Crisis Committee. Dr Meer told me in an interview at that time: “We in the Congress salute the bold, effective and imaginative blow that the UDF officials have taken and in doing so they have struck a blow for freedom. “Their action is in keeping with the Gandhian tradition of non-violent resistance to tyranny and we completely and fully support their stay at the American Consulate. “Like the Durban Consulate Six, Vally Moosa, Murphy Morobe and Vusi Khanyile have highlighted the uncivilised and barbaric practice of putting people in jail without trial. “South Africans hope that the Government will see this as an opportunity to develop a sensitivity to local opinion and makes a serious and sincere effort to break the domestic political impasse. It could make a start by lifting the state of emergency, releasing all political detainees and bringing to an end its myriad of security laws that have made our country a police state.”

(DR MEER WITH HIS WIFE, RASHEEDA, AT A STATUE OF NELSON MANDELA AND WINNIE MANDELA) TALKS WITH THE ANC IN LUSAKA IN 1988 In late 1988 when the Pretoria regime under F W De Klerk began to consider negotiations with Nelson Mandela and the ANC, the Natal Indian Congress and the Transvaal Indian Congress organised a delegation to travel to Lusaka in Zambia to hold talks with the ANC in exile. The delegation comprised business, religious, cultural and political leaders. Dr Meer joined the delegation as secretary of the Natal Indian Congress. “The ANC,” he told me, “outlined its policies in clear terms”. “The delegates were told that Indian-origin people, like other South Africans, were full citizens and as such would enjoy full rights without any discrimination or marginalisation,” he said. And after Mandela was released in February 1991 and the ANC and other organisations were unbanned, Dr Meer played a full role as part of the Natal Indian Congress in the negotiations process. AGAINST THE DISBANDMENT OF THE NIC IN 1994 He retained the position of secretary of the NIC until 1994 when most of the NIC leaders insisted that the NIC must stop its operations and join fully with the ANC. Dr Meer was one of the leaders who cautioned against this move, saying the NIC could play a role in the new South Africa as an ally of the ANC. After the local government elections in Durban, Dr Meer was appointed to serve as a councillor in Durban for five years. He held this position until 1999 when he retired. Despite withdrawing into the background, Dr Meer still kept a close watch on the socio-political developments and when in 2007, George Sewpersadh passed away at the age of 71, Dr Meer paid this this tribute to his former President of the NIC in an interview with this correspondent: “He was a modest individual who shunned the limelight. He did not seek fame or wealth. He did not seek position. So, part of his character was in getting others to move to the foreground. He felt that no leader was indispensable, that there was plenty of leadership potential. And that others, especially the younger generation, should be given the opportunity to take up their responsibilities.”

(Dr Farooq Meer (in the background) with Dr Jerry Coovadia, Swaminathan Gounden and other activists at a meeting of the Active Citizens Movement) HIS FAMILY INFLUENCED HIS POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT When I interviewed Dr Meer about his life and political involvement, he said the Natal Indian Congress was in his family blood. “My involvement in the revival and work in the Natal Indian Congress was a natural thing for me to do because of my family background. “My father was involved, my eldest brother and also Fatima and her husband, Ismail Meer. They had a lot of influence in my political thinking for a non-racial and democratic South Africa,” Dr Meer told me. Like many former anti-apartheid activists and leaders, Dr Meer, who celebrated his 82nd birthday on Thursday, July 2 (2020), is of the view that the new South Africa has many challenges and President Cyril Ramaphosa needed all the support in overcoming the socio-economic inequalities that plagues many people. But, at the same time, there was a need for stronger action against those who mis-use the political system to indulge in looting the resources of the country. “Twenty-six years into our new South Africa, there’s a need for all the people to enjoy a better life, socially and economically. Freedom is not just for the privileged few.” Dr Meer and his wife, Rasheeda, have four children – Nadia, Razina, Ziad and Bilal – and six grandsons. Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com July 3 2020