MRS VICTORIA NONYAMESELO MXENGE – POLITICAL TRIALS LAWYER AND ACTIVIST WHO WAS BRUTALLY MURDERED BY APARTHEID AGENTS IN AUGUST 1985 IS TO BE HONOURED BY THE DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT........ THE KWAZULU-NATAL DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH HAS ANNOUNCED THAT IT HAS DECIDED TO CHANGE THE NAME OF DURBAN’S KING EDWARD V111 HOSPITAL TO VICTORIA MXENGE HOSPITAL. SHE STUDIED MID-WIFERY AT THE HOSPITAL IN HER EARLY LIFE

 

 

 

 

 

WHO IS VICTORIA MXENGE?

I AM RE-PUBLISHING A PROFILE OF MRS MXENGE THAT I HAD WRITTTEN A FEW YEARS AGO. IT WAS BASED ON AN ARTICLE THAT I HAD FIRST PENNED IN AUGUST 1985 AFTER HER BRUTAL MURDER

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

 

On August 8 1985, the Press Trust of SA Third World News Agency, which paid a heavy price for supplying the world with news and reports about the struggles in South Africa at that time, published a lengthy article about the life of political trials lawyer, Mrs Victoria Nonyameselo Mxenge. We at PTSA had written the profile on Mrs Mxenge  only seven days after she was brutally murdered in the driveway of her home in the Umlazi township in Durban. She was stabbed and shot to death by four unknown assailants after she got out of a car driven by the Reverend Mcebisi Xundu, who was the chairperson of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Natal at that time. 

 

 

(Mrs Mxenge with her husband, Griffith, at their law office in the former Grey Street area of Durban in 1980)

 

Her husband, political activist, political trials lawyer and former Robben Island prisoner, Griffith Mxenge, was stabbed to death brutally more than 40 times five years earlier in 1981. Her death raised suspicions that apartheid death squads were cold-bloodedly culling the ranks of black activists in South Africa. 

Mrs Mxenge, who was one of the defence attorneys in the trial in which 16 UDF leaders faced high treason charges, was the 40th black activist to have been killed brutally or to have disappeared mysteriously since the violence in the townships erupted once again in September 1984.

After our freedom in 1994, it was disclosed that apartheid security agents, led by Dirk Coetzee, had been responsible for their brutal murders. Sadly, they were granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) after they disclosed their roles in the murders of the Mxenges. 

This article, written as a tribute to Mrs Mxenge’s sacrifices and dedication to the struggle, was supplied to news organisations and radio stations around the world in August 1985. The article was based mainly on interviews that this correspondent, Subry Govender, had conducted with her after the brutal death of Griffith Mxenge in November 1981.

(SOME WOMEN STALWARTS ATTENDING HER FUNERAL IN KING WILLIAM'S TOWN IN 1985) BLACK SOUTH AFRICA LOSES ANOTHER CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER AT THE HANDS OF A DEATH SQUAD 

 

Mrs Victoria Nonyameselo Mxenge was only 43-years-old when she was brutally murdered.
She had been a widow for almost five years since the murder of her husband, prominent political trials lawyer and activist, Mr Griffith Mxenge. He was found with 45 stab wounds at the Umlazi stadium, near the port city of Durban, on 18 November 1981.
At the time of Mrs Mxenge’s murder in August 1985, the brutal murder of Griffith Mxenge remained unsolved. Mrs Mxenge had come a long way from growing up as a country girl in a little village in the Eastern Cape region of the country.
When I interviewed her in 1982, she represented the life of being a typical political widow who had been forced out of circumstances to fill the roles of mother, father, breadwinner and even a political personality in the community. 

 

                                   BORN IN TAMARA IN THE EASTERN CAPE

 Nonyameselo was born in January 1942 in the dusty village of Tamara, which was cut off from the strife, hustle and bustle of the larger towns and cities. In this little village, she grew up with a sister and two brothers who spent their young lives in carefree oblivion of the political situation developing in the rest of the country.
Nonameselo, the second child of simple and humble parents who were ordinary teachers, began her education in the local village school where she was one of the top pupils in her class. At the tender age of 12 she had to leave home to attend secondary school at Beaufort West, also in the Eastern Cape. After obtaining her matriculation certificate, she joined the Lovedale Hospital in the university town of Alice to train as a nurse. 

 

 

                                  MET GRIFFITH MXENGE

 

 

It was during her student days at the hospital that the young and idealistic Griffith Mxenge came into her life when he visited an aunt in Tamara.
The young couple became friends after their first introduction. Nonyameselo and Griffith, who was studying for his law degree at the University of Fort Hare at this time, began dating and by the time he went to Durban to complete his LLB (Bachelor of Law) degree at the University of Natal, their romance had blossomed. 

 

                                       MOVED TO DURBAN IN 1964

 

They continued to meet during Griffith’s holiday breaks and married in November 1964. In 1965, Nonyameselo moved to the then Natal province to join her husband and enrolled at the King Edward V111 Hospital for a course in midwifery.

The young couple got their first taste of Pretoria’s political repression against opponents of apartheid when in April 1966 Griffith was detained by the then dreaded security police for 190 days.
 At the end of the detention, he was charged under the Suppression of Communism Act and taken to Johannesburg where he and a friend, Albert Dlomo, were asked to be state witnesses in the trial of Durban attorney, Roley Arenstein. But Griffith and Dlomo refused to turn traitors against a fellow freedom fighter and in February 1967 were convicted for three and two years respectively.

They were imprisoned and Griffith served a part of his sentence on Robben Island with such greats as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Raymond Mahlaba, Govan Mbeki, Andrew Mlangeni and Ahmed Kathrada. While Griffith was one the island, Nonyameselo gave birth to their first child, Madasa. She told me in the interview that it was a difficult period because, although she had always known of her husband’s political views, she was not ready to be cast into the role of a “political prisoner’s widow”.

But, she said, after her first visit to Griffith on Robben Island, she was able to cope with the situation better because he himself had accepted his imprisonment cheerfully and as part of the sacrifice in the freedom struggle.


“That was typical of him. He never moaned about the unpleasant things in life. If he thought something was wrong or bad, he would fight rather than become bitter. It was for this reason that he joined the African National Congress during his student days while the organisation was still legal.”

Although life with a newly-born son and without work was traumatic, she managed to make ends meet with the help of friends. When Griffith was released at the end of his three-year term, he was served with a two-year banning order and prevented from continuing with his studies at the University of Natal. All was, however, not lost.
The head of the law department, Professor Tony Matthews, assisted him with written lectures and even helped him with his studies at his home in the Umlazi township, near Durban. Despite the pressures of security police harassment and financial problems, Griffith completed his law degree in February 1968. 

 

                         

(PROMINENT PEOPLE ATTEND MRS MXENGE'S FUNERAL IN KING WILLIAM'S TOWN IN 1985)

 

                   
GRIFFITH MXENGE JOINS RABBI BUGWANDEEN'S LAW FORM AS AN ARTICLED CLERK

 

 

And when his banning order expired at the end of 1971, Griffith joined Natal Indian Congress official, Rabbi Bugwandeen’s law form as an articled clerk.
But the security police and the apartheid system did not leave him alone. Just when he was about to complete his articles in 1973, he was slapped with another banning order. Although they had to put up with the accompanying difficulties and problems, the marriage of Nonyameselo and Griffith thrived and in December 1973 their second son, Viwe, was born.
By this time, Nonyameselo had completed her midwifery course and joined a clinic in Umlazi where she worked with a “wonderful white doctor”, Dr Wolfgang Bordenstein.

“When I went for an interview, I told the doctor all about Griff’s political activities but the good doctor accepted me without any question.
“The matter, however, did not rest there. A few days after I began work, the security police called on Dr Bordenstein and told him about my background. But since he was already aware of my position, he treated me with the greatest of respect.”
She said that the years at the clinic and her activities as a community health worker, opened her eyes to the harsh realities of the apartheid system. For the first time she realised that the diseases and sickness that beset black people were not caused by ignorance but by the socio-political factors. When she visited patients suffering from malnutrition in their shanty homes, she realised that malnutrition was caused by abject poverty and nothing else. In 1975, with the birth of their daughter, Nounhla, Griffith who had just started his own legal practice in the Grey Street area of Durban, insisted that Nonyameselo stay at home to look after the children.
At this time the Mxenges were not only supporting their own children but five others from the homes of less-privileged relatives. Nonyameselo gave up her job and stayed at home. But soon became bored and frustrated because she had nothing to do once she had completed her household chores.

In the meantime, her husband’s newly-established legal practice was booming and Griffith was finding it difficult to cope with the work-load. He was looking for someone to assist him and soon found that he could not find a better person than Nonyameselo. 

 

 

VICTORIA MXENGE JOINS HER HUSBAND'S LAW FIRM AS A CLERK

After some cajoling on her part, Griffith employed her as his clerk. From the life of a nurse-housewife, legal work was a completely new field for Nonyameselo and she found that working in a legal office gave her a completely new perspective of life. She used to regard lawyers as “cavorters of criminals” but now became intrigued and fascinated by law. Totally engrossed in her work and sometimes putting in more hours than any other staff member, Nonyameselo realised that the only way she could talk to her husband on equal terms in the legal field was by furthering her studies. She enrolled with the University of South Africa and by the end of 1979 had passed all her subjects except for one – Afrikaans. 

 

GRIFFITH MXENGE BRUTALLY BUTCHERED TO DEATH IN NOVEMBER 18 1981 BY MEMBERS OF THE APARTHEID DEADTH SQUAD

With the assistance of a friend, she passed Afrikaans in 1980 and in 1981 joined Griffith as a fully-fledged lawyer in her own right. But just when Griffith and Nonyameselo had earned the respect of the entire black community as dedicated political trial lawyers, she was woken up in the early hours of November 18 1981 and told her husband was found dead at the local Umlazi stadium.
When discussing her husband’s death, Nonyameselo conceded that she was very bitter.
“The perpetrators of the dastardly deed were not satisfied with the taking of his life only but like the butchers they are, they savaged every part of his body.

“Every vital organ in his body was savaged. His ears, stomach and even his liver was ripped open,” she whispered and the pain was clearly etched on her face.

And as if the brutality inflicted on her husband was not enough, she had to bear the further pain of seeing the confusion suffered by her children, who could not understand why their father had been butchered in such a manner.
“My six-year-old daughter wanted to know why her father, who was so young had to die when her grandfather was still alive?”

“What could I tell her?”, she asked with tears streaming down her face.
“And my eldest son, who was in the middle of his Junior Certificate examination, became a ‘zombie’ after he learnt of his father’s death. “He was completely unapproachable. He did not shed a tear but just drew into himself. As his mother I could not even talk to him because I did not know what to say to him.

“Yet he completed his examination and after writing his last paper, flew with his father’s body from Durban to King William’s Town where the funeral took place.

“Amazingly he passed his examination. Today at 16 he seems to have overcome the initial shock of his father’s death and has matured far beyond his tender years. He sees himself as ‘the man of the house’ and behaves like one.”
In 1982, almost a year after Griffith death, Nonyameselo Mxenge was picking up the pieces and building a new life for herself and her children without her beloved husband. She and her children were going about their lives in the full knowledge that Griffith had not died in vain – they were in fact confident that the freedom struggle would be won with a matter of a few years.
 “One day – in the lifetime of my children and myself – we will be free and independent.” 

 

 

                                 Some prominent people at the funeral in August 1985

VICTORIA MXENGE ALSO KILLED BRUTALLY ON AUGUST 1 1985

 

But, sadly she was not able to witness the arrival of freedom and the installation of Nelson Mandela as the first democratic president after the elections in April 1994.
Like her husband, Griffith, she too was brutally hacked to death on August 1 1985.
Nonyameselo Mxenge had come a long way from the carefree days in the dusty backdrop of Tamara in the Eastern Cape and had filled an important position in the black community.

It was a painful and sorrowful life and, one hopes that she and her husband had not sacrificed their lives in vain. Their lives should become part of our history and not forgotten in our new South Africa. Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com August 20 2020.

 

 

BEYERS NAUDE - RECALLING A PROGRESSIVE LIFE AT A TIME WHEN SOUTH AFRICANS ARE CAUGHT UP IN RACIAL DEBATES 

 

Researching through my work at the Press Trust of News Agency in the 1980s and early 1990s, I came across an article that we wrote about the life of an Afrikaner church leader who turned his back on the Broederbond and joined the ranks of the anti-apartheid movements in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.

The article was about Dr Beyers Naude who also came under the hammer of the apartheid regime even though he was a former official of the Afrikaner Broederbond.

Dr Naude passed away at the age of 89 on September 7 2004.

He was one of the leaders who stood out on the side of progressive forces who ditched the conservative background of the Dutch Reformed Church in the early 1960s to join the anti-apartheid struggles and rose to become secretary general of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) in 1985. He was one of the white leaders who attended the funeral of black consciousness leader, Steve Biko, in King William’s Town on September 25 1977.

He was banned, house-arrested, harassed and intimidated by the security police, and denied several opportunities to travel overseas prior to 1994. 

I am re-publishing an article we at the Press Trust News Agency wrote about his banning and life in November 1982 and distributed throughout the world. The article is being re-published at a time when the lives of people like Dr Naude should be brought to the attention of the people.

 

TEXT

                     

               TRUE PATRIOT OF AFRICA

 

On September 25 1977 at the funeral of black consciousness leader, Steven Bantu Biko, a prominent Afrikaner, who turned his back on his people’s bigotry and racial prejudices, joined the more than 20 000 mourners in giving the power salute and shouting: “Amandhla Awethu – Power to the People”.

A black colleague watching this historic event whispered to this correspondent:

“He is a true patriot and son of Africa.”

But 24 days later the black journalist, Mono Badela, who was serving a banning order at that time, and the people as a whole heard with shock and disbelief that the “true patriot”, Dr Beyers Naude, had been served with a five-year banning and house arrest order.

At the time of his banning, Dr Naude was Director of the Christian Institute – a peace organisation he had joined after resigning as a member of the Afrikaner secret body, the Broederbond, and as a dominee of the Afrikaner church, the Nederuitse Gereformede Kerk (NGK).

Dr Naude was silenced when the Pretoria regime in one major crackdown on October 19 1977 banned the Christian Institute, 17 black organisations and their leaders.

 

                           CHRISTIAN INSTITUTE

 

Five years later, just when his banning order was about to expire, Dr Naude, who was 66-years-old at that time, had been bestowed with an unique honour by the publication of a book, “Not without honour, Tribute to Beyers Naude”.

The book, compiled by academic Peter Randall, comprised contributions by top personalities such as the chairperson of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Southern Africa, Archbishop Denis Hurley; Professor Peter Walshe of the University of Cape Town and Peter Randall himself.

The book reflected on Dr Naude, who because of his Christian beliefs, turned his back on apartheid and chose to promote racial peace and harmony between the black and white people of South Africa. His own people, the book reflected, labelled him as a heretic, agitator, communist, fellow traveller and advocate of violence.

 

                    THE CHANGE IN LIFE

 

The change in Dr Naude’s life began in 1960 when two events shook his conservative upbringing and threw doubts about the policy of apartheid.

The first event was the Sharpeville massacre in March 1960 when 57 people, who were protesting against the “dompass” system, were shot dead by the police, and the second was nine months later, when he joined 80 South Africans and six World Council of Churches representatives to discuss the situation in South Africa.

The gathering, which was known as the Cottesloe conference, made a number of statements, including declarations that racially-mixed marriages could not be condemned on Biblical grounds; that everyone, irrespective of race, had the right to buy land where they lived, and that there could be no objection in principle to so-called coloured people being represented in Parliament by coloured people themselves.

These events prompted him to take a greater interest in reconciliation between the race groups in spite of being labelled a traitor by his fellow Afrikaners.

 

                      PRO VERITATE

 

In 1963 he started an ecumenical newspaper, Pro Veritate, to promote inter-racial dialogue and became its first editor. And when in the same year he was offered the position of Director of the Christian Institute, he broke all links with Afrikanerdom by resigning as a dominee of the NGK church in the former Transvaal.

As he came into greater contact with black people, he realised that the mere reforming of apartheid would not do and that there had to be a complete change in the status quo and the disenfranchised blacks had to be given full rights.

He also became a strong critic of white minority rule and supported the principles of the black consciousness movement in the early 1970s.

He freely associated with black people and radical leaders such as Winnie Mandela, Dr Nathatho Motlana and Bishop Desmond Tutu.

In 1973, he refused to give evidence to the Schlebusch Commission, which was set up by the regime to inquire into various organisations, including the Christian Institute. He objected to the secrecy of the Commission and the fact that it was not a judicial body.

He was subsequently found guilty of refusing to testify and instead of paying the R50 fine, he presented himself for imprisonment.  But the fine was paid for him by an anonymous person.

His open flirtation with the opponents of the white regime earned him the wrath of the white people and he became the victim of threatening telephone calls, security police harassment and intimidation. His passport was withdrawn in 1977 and in October 1978 he was banned for five years. This banning order was renewed for another two years in 1982.

During his years of banning he had been refused permission to travel to Stockholm to collect a R4 450 prize for his promotion of racial peace; refused permission to attend the funeral of a close friend; his car had been wrecked by a mysterious explosion; and in September 1982 refused permission to travel to West Germany to attend a book fair.

 

       SOUTH AFRICAN COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

 

After his banning order was lifted on 26 September 1984, joined the South African Council of Churches (SACC) as its general secretary. He succeeded Archbishop Desmond Tutu in this position and served in the Council from February 1985 until July 1988.

As chief of the SACC he played a vital role in helping progressive community-based and other organisations around the country.

After 1994, when the new South Africa was achieved following the election of Nelson Mandela as the new president, Dr Naude, in addition to receiving recognition for his promotion of justice and peace, was welcomed back into the Dutch Reformed Church. He was lauded as a prophet during a general synod of the DRC in 1994.

He was also awarded recognition by a number of universities in Europe and by the University of Natal in 1991 and the University of Durban-Westville in 1993.

One of the best-known landmarks in his honour is the Dr Beyers Naude motor way in Johannesburg.

Dr Naude, who was born in Roodepoort in Johannesburg in May 1915, passed on in September 2004 at the age of 89. Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com  May 19 2022 

RECALLING A STRANGE APARTHEID-INITIATED TERROISM CASE AGAINST TRADE UNION LEADER – SAM KIKINE – IN THE EARLY 1980s

 

(This photo of Mr Sam Kikine was taken a few years ago at a function at the Durban City Hall)

Researching through my work at the Press Trust of SA News Agency in the 1980s, I found an article on Mr Sam Kikine, a trade union leader who came under the scrutiny of the former apartheid security police. He was charged with High Treason even though the state did not have any evidence against him.

I am re-publishing this article, STRANGE CASE OF SAM KIKINE, as part of my Rich History series in order to highlight the humanitarian struggles pre-1994.

Mr Kikine, who is now 73 years-old and resides in Durban, was a leader of the South African Allied Workers Union (SAAWU) at that time in the 1980s and early 1990s.

 

THIS IS THE ARTICLE:

 

August 13 1982

                     STRANG CASE OF SAM KIKINE

 

Kikine

Mr Sam Kikine, a leading black South African trade unionist, is a person who is not easily ruffled by the problems he encounters in the course of his work but a current court action against him under the country 's Terrorism Act leaves him dumfounded.

Mr Kikine, the 33-year-old secretary general of the 95 000-strong South African Allied Workers Union(SAAWU), has already appeared four times in a Durban magistrates’ court but the authorities have not yet specified the charges against him.

He is out on bail of R500, the first time that a Terrorism Act accused has been allowed bail while the authorities frame charges. Mr Kikine, who is based in the Durban office of SAAWU ), was first brought to court with two other senior SAAWU officials in Johannesburg on June 28 after being held in detention without trial for eight months.

      Kikine was detained on November 27 1981 in Durban - two days after he played a leading role in organising the funeral of Durban political trials lawyer, Griffith Mxenge, who was brutally slain by people believed to be members of the white right-wing.

Kikine, who is a popular personality in the black community in Durban, was first held under the General Laws Amendment Act which allows the authorities to detain a person incommunicado for 14 days. He was later transferred to Section 6 of the Terrorism Act.

In March this year he was taken to a Durban hospital for psychiatric treatment and was held under police guard.

At the same time the president of SAAWU, Mr Thozamile Gqweta, was also admitted for psychiatric treatment at a Johannesburg hospital. 

Sometime after his discharge from hospital, Mr Kikine was taken to Johannesburg where on June 28 1982 he was charged with Mr Gqweta and another senior SAAWU official, Mr Sisa Njikelane, in connection with charges under the Terrorism Act.

Details of their charges were not disclosed by the authorities.  Mr Kikine was told that he  would be transferred to Durban for trial while his colleagues would be transferred to Grahamstown. But 30 minutes later he was taken back to court and told that the charges against him had been withdrawn.

However, he was immediately re-detained and taken to Durban under police escort. On June 29 he appeared in a Durban magistrates’ court court and told that he was facing charges in connection with the Terrorism Act but no specific charges were preferred against him.

He was taken into police custody once again and the authorities stated that he was being held under a section of the Internal Security Act that did not allow for bail.

But his lawyers made a successful bail application and on July 13 he was out on R500 bail. Since then he has appeared twice in court but no specific charges were put to

him. Because Mr Kikine is facing trial, he declined to grant the Press Trust of South Africa an interview for fear of breaking the sub-judice rule.

His record so far, however, shows that he, like his fellow SAAWU officials, has been a constant victim of harassment and psychological intimidation.

Late in 1981 - about twelve days before he was detained - he claimed that his telephone was being tampered with almost daily and that his offices had been broken into.

During one of his telephone calls, a third person coughed on the phone and when Mr Kikine asked who was there, a man replied :

"Don 't you know Sam? This is the security police, Cape Town,"

And on another occasion, someone telephoned him and said that there was a bomb in the building his union occupied in Durban's Victoria Street.

Not unexpectedly, the authorities and the security police denied any knowledge of the telephone interference and said they were not responsible.

Many observers in South Africa are not surprised at  Mr Kikine’s harassment because "intimidation and harassment was part of the life of all people engaged in the fight for a just society in South Africa”.

But they are, however, baffled at the action which the authorities have brought against him.

One observer said that normally when a person was charged under the Terrorism Act he was held in solitary confinement until the end of the trial.

"But in Mr Kikine 's case it seems the authorities have nothing against him and they are just trying to make his life intolerable," said the observer. Ends – Press Trust of SA News Agency August 13 1982

 

 

GEORGE GANGEN POONEN – THE SON OF INDENTURED LABOURERS WHO WAS A TIRELESS GRASS-ROOTS WORKER FOR EQUALITY AND FREEDOM OUR RICH HISTORY

 

July 2008

 

By Subry Govender

In this feature in our series on “Struggle Heroes and Heroines”, veteran journalist, Subry Govender, recalls the life of George Gangen Ponnen, the son of indentured labourers who concentrated his entire life in improving the working conditions of the labour class and who made an invaluable contribution in the political struggles through the South African Communist Party(SACP), the Natal Indian Congress and the African National Congress. Ponnen, who returned from exile in 1994 to cast his “freedom” vote, died two years later in January 1996.

 

During the course of my compilation of the profiles of struggle heroes and heroines, the veteran activists that I had interacted with came forward with the names of a string of people who played their roles in the liberation struggles.

One of those activists is George Gangen Ponnen who, despite his poor and poverty-stricken family background, immersed himself fully from an early age in the trade union movement and the political struggles of the South African Communist Party, Natal Indian Congress and the ANC.

During his involvement in the struggles, which began at a knitting mill factory in Umbilo Road in Durban in the late 1920s, Ponnen was instrumental in the establishment of 27 trade unions from 1936 to 1945.

Who is this little-known stalwart who made an indelible contribution in the struggles for a non-racial and democratic South Africa?

According to the information I had obtained from his close comrade, Swaminathan Gounden, and others such as Judge Thuma Pillay, Ponnen was a “salt-of-the-earth” person whose work at grass-roots levels consolidated and promoted the work of his leaders in the different trade union and political movements.

Ponnen was born on the June 1, 1913, to parents who had settled in an area called Rooikopjes, near Westville, west of Durban, after completing their five-year indentureship at a nearby sugar estate.

          PARENTS FROM MADRAS PRESIDENCY

His father, Ponnen, and his mother, Gangamma, had been recruited from the Madras Presidency in South India in the 1890s.

He was the seventh child in a large family of seven brothers and one sister.

He started school at the age of seven in 1920 at the St Thomas Govt-Aided Indian School and his social and political awareness began at this time whenever he and his siblings used to visit the nearby areas of Westville and Durban.

He found that the restaurants and cinemas were restricted for whites only and “Indian, coloured and Africans” were not allowed to use the best and safe parts of Durban’s beaches.

In 1921 his schooling was disrupted when his father passed on and his mother was forced to move the family to an area in Durban called Manning Place. He had to leave school and started work at the tender age of 10 at a cigar company in Alice Street, Durban, to help his family.

Although he was in and out of school whenever conditions improved in the family, Ponnen only managed to complete standard four in 1928.

            KNITTING AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY

He worked at several knitting and clothing factories in the Umbilo Road area in Durban where he came face to face with the exploitation of Indian, African and Coloured workers. It was during this period that he befriended another worker, H A Naidoo, and both of them joined together to promote the interests of the exploited workers. It was during this period that Ponnen with Naidoo was drawn into the South African Communist Party.

They were the first South Africans of Indian-origin to be accepted into the SACP as full members in 1930.

At this time he also became interested and attended meetings of the Anti-Fascist League that was established to counter a right-wing and reactionary organisation called, Grey Shirts. This organisation was affiliated to Hitler’s Nazi Organisation, that was busy holding rallies all over South Africa.

Because of his activities, life for Ponnen was made very difficult by his employers in the clothing, knitting, iron and steel and other factories. At every turn he was dismissed when his employers found that he was involved in establishing trade unions and promoting the rights of the workers. He also had to put up with reactionary elements in the Garment Workers Union, which was started by a British immigrant, J C Bolton, to cater mainly for white and some Indian and Coloured workers. Ponnen clashed openly with Bolton when he called for African workers to be also registered as members of the GWU.

He also clashed with another trade union leader who wanted to separate African workers from their fellow Indian colleagues. The African workers were told that “Indians were only shop-keepers and exploiters”.

But when Ponnen told the workers that the “Indian workers” were also part of the exploited working class and the only one who owned a shop was the “reactionary calling himself a leader”, the African workers confronted the “opportunist” and made him run for his life.

During this period, Ponnen and his friend, H A Naidoo, attended evening classes at the Indian Technical Institute in the former Cross Street, Durban, to further their studies. But he and H A Naidoo had to abandon their studies after they were overwhelmed by their trade union and political work.

  INVOLVED IN ESTABLISHING 27 TRADE UNIONS

Between 1936 and 1945, Ponnen with H A Naidoo, helped to establish 27 unions that included the Iron and Steel Workers’ Union, Sugar Workers’ Union, Dundee Glass Workers’ Union, SA Railways and Harbour Workers Union, Natal Coal Miners Union, and the Cigarette and Tobacco Workers’ Union.

When organising the various trade unions, Ponnen recruited and trained hundreds of workers who became trade union officials in a number of trade unions. They included P M Harry in the Iron and Steel Workers Union; A P Pillay in the Sugar Workers Union; L Ramsunder in the Laundry, Cleaning and Dyeing Workers Union; P T Cooppen in the Sugar Workers Union; S V Reddy in the SA Tin Workers Union; M Ramcheran in the Tobacco Workers Union; K Johnnie Naiker, Laundry, Cleaning and Dyeing Union; Sam Pillay, Food and Canning Workers Union;  N G Moodley, Brick, Tile and Allied Workers Union; M D Naidoo, Tea, Coffee and Chicory Workers Union; R R Pillay, Natal Coal Miners’ Union; E I Moola, Chemical Workers Union; Vera Ponnen, Mineral, Water and Brewery Workers’ Union; Stephen Dlamini, Textile Workers Union and the S A Congress of Trade Unions(SACTU); R D Naidoo, Bakery Workers Union; and Mannie Pillay, Biscuit and Confectionary Workers Union.

         SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY 

At the same time, Ponnen organised the workers to participate in the political struggles of the Natal Indian Congress, the African National Congress and other progressive movements. The struggles  he became involved in, included the Passive Resistance Campaign led by the Natal Indian Congress; and the Defiance Campaign and the Anti-Pass campaign led by the Congress Alliance that comprised the ANC, NIC, TIC, Congress of Democrats and the Coloured Peoples’ Congress.

Ponnen also organised the formation of the Natal Indian Youth League with H A Naidoo and Sooboo Rajah in order to counter the reactionary political leadership that captured the Natal Indian Congress at this time. (Sooboo Rajah in the 1970s was associated with the non-racial Southern Natal Soccer Board that became fully involved in the struggles against apartheid sport. Rajah was involved with sports activists of the calibre of M N Govender, R K Naidoo, Ramhori Lutchman, S K Chetty and Dharam Ramlall at that time.)

At the same time while George Ponnen and his comrade-in-arms, H A Naidoo, consolidated their struggles in the trade union movement, they also became involved in the struggles to remove reactionary elements from the Natal Indian Congress.

                           NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS

They recruited workers and campaigned vigorously with the open support of Dr Monty Naicker, George Singh, Cassim Amra, Dawood Seedat, E I Moola, P M Harry, M P Naicker, and M D Naidoo.  More than 40 000 people attended a meeting at Currie’s Fountain in the late 1940s to express their disquiet at the reactionary policies adopted by A I Kajee, P R Pather and their officials who were leaders of the NIC at this time. During the elections, the reactionary group was overthrown and Dr Monty Naicker was elected president. George Ponnen was elected as one of the vice-presidents. He occupied this position until 1950 when he was served with a five-year banning order. At this time, Dr Yusuf Dadoo and his progressive leaders toppled the reactionary leaders of the TIC in the Johannesburg region.

Dr Naicker and Dr Dadoo joined hands to work with the ANC and other progressive forces in the country.

But the white minority National Party Government at this time started to embark on a series of repressive actions and Ponnen was one of the activists who was detained under the 90-day detention law and later banned and house arrested for five years.

               FLIGHT INTO EXILE IN 1965

When the ANC, PAC and other organisations were banned in 1960 and leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and others were arrested and charged with treason, Ponnen was once again detained for 90 days and re-detained for 30 days. He was arrested and charged for refusing to give evidence in the Treason Trial in 1964. He was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment but he appealed against this sentence. He was given bail and during this “freedom” he skipped the country in 1965 to go into exile. He and his wife, Vera, went to Zambia via Botswana and for 10 years were involved in the work of the ANC and SACTU. Here in Zambia they established a clothing factory during this period to assist ANC members, refugees and their families.

In 1975 the Ponnens moved to Canada where they joined their two daughters.

For the next 15 years, he continued with the work of the ANC and travelled between Canada, Zambia and Tanzania. They also established a clothing factory in Tanzania to help refugees who sought the assistance of the ANC.

Four years after they had settled down in Canada, his wife, Vera, died in 1979. This was a serious setback but Ponnen continued with his work for the ANC.

In the late 1980s Ponnen was struck down with ill-health but despite this he followed with keen interest the political developments in his home country. There were behind-the-scenes talks between Nelson Mandela and the National Party regime and between the ANC and white business, political and social leaders. These developments led to the release of Nelson Mandela in February 1990 and the unbanning of the ANC, PAC and other organisations. 

RETURNED TO SA IN 1994 TO CAST HIS FREEDOM VOTE

Despite ill-health, Ponnen returned to the country in February 1994 to cast his vote for a free South Africa, the ANC and Nelson Mandela. Two years after visualising his dream of a free South Africa, Ponnen died in Durban at the age of 83 on 9^th January 1996. His funeral was held at the David Landau Community in Asherville.

The enormous contributions made by Ponnen for the improvement of the labour conditions of workers was highlighted in a letter published in the former Leader newspaper on July 21 1995. The writer, who signed off only as: “Exploited Worker”, paid this wonderful tribute to Ponnen:

“More than 65 years ago George Gangen Ponnen, familiarly known as “G” in the ANC and SACP circles and some of his comrades, especially the late Mr H A Naidoo, fought tirelessly against unfair labour practices.

“He was a great Tamil stalwart who at one time was called upon to give speeches in Tamil on socialism at the Drama Hall in Magazine Barracks, Somtseu Road, Durban, because majority of the residents there were Tamil-speaking.

“I believe that there are few in the history of South Africa who have done more for the proper treatment of the worker than “G” along with some of his comrades.

“Their efforts were a lead-up to the Labour Relations Act, which is currently the subject of great debate.

“I trust that all the harsh treatment meted out to workers in the labour field of the new South Africa will be wiped out once and for all by the efforts of their success.”

Veteran stalwart, Swaminathan Gounden, described Ponnen as a great revolutionary who sacrificed his life for the freedom of South Africa. Mr Gounden passed on just over a year ago on November 30 2021 at the age of 94.

This is what Mr Gounden said about Poonen: “I can only pay tribute to him by saying that he lived and worked all his life for the creation of a free, non-racial and democratic South Africa. Although he sacrificed a great deal, he had no regrets. All his life and all his work had been given to the cause of freedom in South Africa.”

If George Ponnen was alive today, I am certain he would have been wondering what had happened to the true values and principles for which he and his comrades had fought and sacrificed their lives for. I am certain he would have set in motion steps to revitalise and re-activate progressive organisations for the people to feel free and involved in our new, non-racial and democratic South Africa.

He would not have put up with a situation where people are made to feel that they are not South Africans.  – ends (subrygovender@gmail.com)