(BILLY NAIR BEING WELCOMED BACK HOME BY THE FOOD AND CANNING WORKERS UNION AT A FUNCTION NEAR THE KING EDWARD V111 HOSPITAL AFTER BEING RELEASED ON FEBRUARY 27 1984)
On 23 October next month it will be 12 years since one of our most militant freedom fighters, Billy Nair, passed away at the age of 79. He served 20 years on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada and other stalwarts after being convicted of High Treason in 1964. When he was released on February 27 1984, many of our journalist colleagues and activists were there at the Central Prison in the city of Durban in South Africa to witness his release and welcome him home. I wrote the following article for the Press Trust of SA News Agency at that time and distributed it to India and other parts of the world.
The article was titled “Billy Nair Released” and dated February 28 1984.
(Journalist colleagues - Omar Badsha, M S Roy, Juggie Naran and Natal Indian Congress secretary, Mr R Ramesar, waiting outside the Durban Central Prison for the release of Billy Nair on February 27 1984)
BILLY NAIR RELREASED
One of the top military leaders of the African
National Congress (ANC) in the 1960s has just been released from prison after
serving a 20-year sentence.
Mr Billy Nair, (52), who was the leader
of the Natal Regional Command of the ANC’s military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe,
was released from the Durban Central Prison in the South African province of
Natal on February 27.
He was convicted with 17 others in the
Pietermaritzburg Supreme Court on February 27 1964 after being found guilty of high
treason. He was alleged to have participated in a number of guerrilla
activities between June 1962 and July 1963.
The 18 accused at the marathon sabotage
trial, which lasted 51 days, were sentenced to a total of 206 years after being
found guilty on a total of 28 counts of politically-motivated acts.
Mr Nair pleaded guilty to 13 counts, but
was found guilty on 15 of the counts.
Mr Justice Milne, the judge president of
Natal at the time, in dealing with Nair, said that there was no doubt in his
mind that Nair was involved in the events. He also claimed that Nair was a
party to authorising the sabotage.
During the trial more than 130 witnesses
were called and over 3 000 pages of evidence was taken. Two of the
witnesses were ex-members of the Natal Regional Command of Umkhonto.
(UDF leader, Archie Gumede, welcoming Billy Nair (right) and Curnik Ndlovu, who was released a few months earlier in 1983)
One of Mr Nair’s co-accused, Mr Curnik
Ndlovu, also a member of the Natal Regional Command, was released in October
1983 after serving over 19 years of his 20-year sentence.
Nair and Ndlovu were refused permission
to appeal against both sentences and their convictions.
Mr J Gurwitz, senior defence counsel at
the trial, claimed that all the men had no motive for personal gain. He said
that they became involved because “no other weapon was available to them”.
“Their right to use legal weapons of
politics, debate, argument, discussion, meetings and appeals was denied to them
when the ANC, a body politic formed to give expression to the aspirations of
the African people was banned and declared an illegal organisation.”
(Billy Nair (third from left) with fellow veterans, Sonny Singh, Thumba Pillay and another comrade)
Mr Nair’s political life began in his twenties when he became involved in the
now exiled South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU).
Born on November 27 1929, he was forced
to forego his high school education in order to take up employment to
supplement the income of his former indentured parents.
He attended night classes and attained
his matriculation and a diploma in accounting.
Billy Nair began his trade union work in
1951 by organising workers for the Natal Dairy Workers Union. He became the
full-time secretary of the union after he lost his job. He also became leader
of the Natal Indian Congress Youth League. In 1954 he served on the executive
committee of the Natal Indian Congress.
He was one of the 156 leaders who were
arrested and charged with high treason in 1956. He was detained for three
months in 1960 when the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) were outlawed
by the South African Government. He was served with a two-year banning order in
1961.
Mr Nair’s wife, Elsie, who was waiting
for her husband when he was released, said that she hoped the Government would
not harass her husband.
She said that she sincerely hoped the
authorities would not slap a banning order on him, or restrict him any further.
“Twenty years on Robben Island has been
long enough and my Billy has paid the highest price for his beliefs.
“The long incarceration has not changed
him. I pray that we are left alone to pick up the threads of our marriage.”
Billy and Elsie were married for just
three years when Mr Nair was imprisoned.
She and Billy met when he was signing up
members for his trade union movement, SACTU, at the clothing company where she
worked.
During his imprisonment, Elsie Nair has
had to take a number of jobs, often working more than 15 hours a day, in order
to keep the flat the couple shared before Billy Nair was jailed.
During his imprisonment, the only contact
the couple have had was during a once a year visit on Robben Island and the
letters which they wrote to each other.
On his release it was clear to Mr Nair
that things have not changed in the country.
In addition to the many friends and
family members who greeted him, a large contingent of security police and
members of the riot police were also present.
The security police video-taped the
joyous proceedings. The riot police marred the happy reunion by warning the
people to disperse immediately.
A new dawn broke for Mr Nair when he
stepped to freedom armed with B.Com and B.A. degrees from the University of SA
(UNISA).
He will complete his law degree next
year.
“I hope to use my qualifications earned
to get back into trade unions,” said Mr Nair.
But first he has 20 years to catch up. –
ends Press Trust of SA News Agency February 28 1984
BILLY NAIR CONTINUES WITH HIS STRUGGLE WORK
Despite sacrificing 20 years of his life on Robben
Island for freedom, Billy Nair swung straight back into the struggles when he
was released on February 27 1984.
He became involved with the newly-established United
Democratic Front (UDF) and addressed rallies at the former University of
Durban-Westville, Natal University, and at protest meetings in all the
residential areas in and around Durban and other parts of the country. He
served on the national executive committee of the UDF and became deputy
chairperson of the Natal branch of the UDF.
He once again came under the scrutiny of the security
police and was detained when the apartheid regime embarked on a massive
oppressive campaign against UDF and NIC leaders.
(Billy Nair being carried shoulder high after walking out of the British Consulate in late 1984. Activists also in the photo include Yunus Mahomed and Terror LekotA)
Sometime at the end of 1984 he joined Mewa Ramgobin,
M J Naidoo, Archie Gumede, George Sewpersadh and Paul David when they entered
the British Consulate in Durban to highlight the plight of the detainees at the
hands of the apartheid regime.
When he walked out of the British Consulate after a
month, he was given a heroes welcome by more than 10 000 people. He was
carried shoulder high in the former Field Street in Durban.
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