GREAT-GRAND-DAUGHTER OF INDENTURED LABOURERS PASSED ON AT THE AGE 84 ON JANUARY 6 2021
INTRODUCTION
Mrs Mariamma Panjala Naidoo, one of the second generation descendants of indentured sugar cane labourers, passed away on January 6 at the age 84.
Four years ago on September 29 2016 her family celebrated her 80th birthday at the Ottawa Community Hall, north of Durban in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, on Saturday, October 1 2016.
Panjala was the second eldest grand-child of Muniamma Naiken, whose parents were brought from a little village, Navalpore, in the North Arcott District of Tamil Nadu in India in the late 1860s. Panjala’s great-grand-parents were enslaved as indentured labourers on a sugar cane farm called Blackburn, north of Durban.
Panjala’s father was Mr Nadasen Govender, who was one of 14 children born to Muniamma Naiken and her husband, Coopoosamy Govender. Nearly all of the children were born in the Dayal Road of Clairwood, south of Durban, where her great-grand-parents settled after their two five-year indentures on the Blackburn sugar farm. Panjala’s mother’s name was Salatchi.
Only three of her father’s siblings were alive when her 80th birthday was celebrated by her children, grand-children, great-great-grand children and the extended family. They were Mr Ruthinsamy Isaac Govender, who was 93-years-old and lived in Northdale in Pietermaritzburg; Mrs Savundalay Padaychee, who was 89-years-old and lived in Dundee in Northern KwaZulu-Natal; and Mrs Amoy Moodley, who is younger than Panjala, lives in Chatsworth, Durban.
As a tribute to Panjala, Subry Govender compiled this historical radio feature about Panjala’s life since her birth in Clairwood 80 years ago. Most of her early life was spent in the Port Shepstone area on the south coast and her married life on farms near the town of Umzinto, also on the south coast of Durban….. .
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