POLITICAL ACTIVIST DR KESAVEL GOONAM MADE STATELESS BY THE FORMER SOUTH AFRICAN APARTHEID REGIME

DR KESAVEL GOONAM REFUSED TO BE TREATED AS A “PARIAH”

(PHOTO TAKEN FROM DR GOONAM'S AUTOBIOGRAPOHY - COOLIE DOCTOR) INTRO: In March 1983, at a time when the struggles against white minority rule and domination was gaining momentum, one of the firebrand woman political activists, who was in exile, became stateless after the apartheid Government at that time refused to renew her passport. Dr Kesavel Goonam had gone into exile in 1977 following intense persecution by the former apartheid regime. While she was in London during this period, she had applied to renew her passport but she was informed that the South African Government at that time was not prepared to renew her passport and that her passport had in fact been destroyed. In 1983 she moved to Zimbabwe where she worked for the new Zimbabwean Government as a health officer, while at the same time interacting with other South Africans involved in the underground struggles. She returned to the country early in the 1990s after the release of Nelson Mandela and the unbanning of the ANC, PAC and other organisations in February 1990. She became active in post-apartheid work but died a very disillusioned person in 1999 at the age of 92. In March 1983, the Press Trust of SA News Agency spoke to Dr Goonam in Harare, Zimbabwe, by telephone from Durban about her life as a stateless person although she was a South African. The PTSA published this article and distributed it to the Press Trust of India and other news outlets around the world.

23 March 1983 PROMINENT INDIAN-ORIGIN WOMAN ACTIVIST STATELESS One of South Africa’s most prominent Indian-origin woman political activists, who in 1977 was chosen “Woman of the Year for Africa”, by the Madras-based Indian Cultural Group, has been made a stateless person by the South African Government. Seventy-year-old Kesaveloo Goonam was on a trip to London in 1979 when the South African Government refused to renew her passport. She was told that she would only be granted a travel document to return to South Africa but not a passport. But the fiery “old lady” of black politics in South Africa refused to be treated as a “pariah” and insisted that she should be granted a passport. She has been in exile ever since the late 1970s when she travelled to India, where she has a daughter in Madras, and to Australia and now to Zimbabwe. Dr Goonam, who is one of the most colourful Indian-origin politicians South Africa has ever produced, began her struggles in South Africa after graduating as a doctor in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1936. She was the first Indian-origin woman in South Africa to qualify as a medical doctor. She was very active in the Passive Resistance Campaign, led by Dr Monty Naicker against the Group Areas Act in the early 1940s, and was detained on more than ten occasions for her anti-apartheid work at that time. She also served a one-year jail sentence for defying the Pretoria authorities during the Passive Resistance campaigns. The outspoken woman doctor, who caused an outcry in her younger days when she openly smoked at a time when it was taboo for an Indian woman to be seen with a cigarette, was chosen Woman of the Year for Africa in 1977 by the Indian Cultural Group in Madras. In addition to being a member of the Anti-Segregation League, the Passive Resistance Movement and the Natal Indian Congress – established by Mahatma Gandhi in 1897 - Dr Goonam also served as the first chairperson of the Anti-SAIC Committee in 1977. It was largely through this committee’s work that the South African Government-created puppet organisation, the South African Indian Council (SAIC), was shunned by Indian-origin South Africans during the first SAIC election in 1981. In 1978, Dr Goonam went to London to work for the Redbridge and Waltham Forest Area Health authorities. In October 1979, while she was still in London, Dr Goonam applied for the renewal of her South African passport. After months of delay, she was told by the Pretoria Government that her passport would not be renewed and that her old passport had been destroyed. In a telephone interview from Zimbabwe, she told the independent Press Trust of South Africa News Agency that she was “alive and kicking” and was on the verge of taking up a medical appointment with the Zimbabwe Government. “I returned to southern Africa because I want to be near the struggles in South Africa. “The white minority regime is not going to last for ever,” she said confidently. Ends – Press Trust of SA News Agency March 23 1983

LALOO CHIBA – POLITICAL PRISONER WHO WAS SENTENCED TO ROBBEN ISLAND IN THE SAME YEAR AS NELSON MANDELA, AHMED KATHRADA AND OTHERS - HAS BEEN RELEASED AFTER BEING SENTENCED FOR 18 YEARS -----------AN ARTICLE WRITTEN BY THE PRESS TRUST OF SA NEWS AGENCY IN JANUARY 1983

In December 1982 when the internal struggles against the white minority regime was gaining momentum, one of the political prisoners who had his roots in Gujerat, India, was released after being imprisoned on Robben Island for 18 long years. A former member of the Transvaal Indian Congress(TIC), Transvaal Indian Youth Congress, the ANC, the South African Communist Party, and underground member of Umkhonto we Sizwe, Mr Chiba was sentenced to Robben Island for being involved in sabotage and other activities against the white minority regime. Mr Chiba was 35-years-old when he was sentenced to Robben Island. Mr Chiba served as an ANC member of parliament for 10 years after the dawn of freedom in 1994 and was awarded the Order of Luthuli in June 2004. He passed away in Johannesburg on December 8 2017 at the age of 87. He was a Board member of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation at the time of his death. A month after his release, the Press Trust of South Africa News Agency, which was operating under trying conditions during this period, interviewed Mr Chiba about his involvement and his release. This article was sent to the Press Trust of India and other outlets in India and other countries.

January 19 1983 ROBBEN ISLAND POLITICAL PRISONER FREE AFTER 18 YEARS A former South African political prisoner, Mr Lalloo Chiba, has just been released from Robben Island, near Cape Town, after being imprisoned for 18 years. Mr Chiba, now 53, was convicted and sentenced in 1964 after a marathon sabotage trial that last for nearly six months. The former Johannesburg activist of the ANC, Transvaal Indian Congress and the South African Indian Congress served his sentence alongside top-ranking African National Congress(ANC) leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada. Mandela, Sisulu, Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, and Dennis Goldberg were sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island in the famous “Rivonia Treason Trial” for plotting to overthrow the government by violent means. MISSED HIS FAMILY Mr Chiba, who is now trying to re-adjust himself as a “free” person, has taken the first step towards his re-integration into society by getting to know his three daughters and wife from whom he had been separated for nearly two decades. At the time of his imprisonment only his eldest daughter, Kaylash, who was 8-years-old at the time of his imprisonment in 1964, was big enough to know what had happened. Mr Chiba’s other two daughters, Gita, and Yasvanti, who are now 24 and 21 respectively, were too young to know that their father had gone to jail because of his struggles for a free, just and democratic South Africa. And when his two older daughters married while he was still in prison, it caused Mr Chiba a great deal of sadness; but now he is looking forward to his youngest daughter’s wedding, which will take place in May. In an interview with the Press Trust of South Africa News Agency, Mr Chiba expressed his serious disappointment and sadness at missing his children’s most cherished moments. “My wife and I,” he said, “had spent 18 years apart as parents of three little girls”. “Now that we are re-united, it is as proud grand-parents of three little boys; only she and I and those placed in similar situations know of the missing, intervening years.” Speaking of his incarceration and release, Mr Chiba, who kept fit in prison by following a programme of exercises and Yoga, said he now understood how a bird freed from a cage, felt. However, he expressed his sadness at the fact that so many of his comrades were still on Robben Island and hoped prisoners such as Mr Mandela, who he considered to be the true leader of the people, would soon be released. Mr Chiba said he was convinced that South Africa’s problems could only be solved if the true leaders (those in prison, exile, banned or restricted) were allowed to negotiate with the ruling white regime for a real non-racial and democratic new South Africa. While Mr Chiba propagated his political convictions, his overjoyed wife, Luxmi, said she hoped that her husband would now remain with her forever, so that they could bridge the gap of the lost years. Mrs Chiba said that although she had missed her husband a great deal and had to be both “father and mother” to her three daughters, she was happy that they had managed to live those 18 years with dignity and courage. Mr Chiba, who was born in Johannesburg in 1930 to parents who had arrived from the state of Gujerat in India, became politically aware from an early age when he attended the Johannesburg Indian High School and befriended activists of the calibre of Ahmed Kathrada. During the 1950s and 1960s, he became actively involved in the Transvaal Indian Congress, the ANC, the South African Communist Party and the underground movement of Umkhonto We Sizwe. He was first arrested in 1963 and again in 1964 when he was convicted for sabotage and sentenced to 18 years on Robben Island. Now that he is free, he did not talk about his future involvement in the political struggles. Ends – Press Trust of SA News Agency January 19 1983

SOUTHSIDE FM RADIO - RECRUITMENT OF DJs/PRESENTERS

SOUTHSIDE FM RADIO (NPO No: 089 - 426) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 59 Musgrave Road, Durban Tel: 031 - 568 1309/082 376 9053 email: subrygovender@gmail.com Jan 21 2020 Dear Colleagues In preparation for our launch sometime at the end of April, we are currently busy with our office and the construction of our recording and broadcast studios. In the meanwhile, we wish to bring to the attention of the public at large that we would be looking at recruiting the following personnel: 1. Deputy Station Manager 2. Seven Presenters/DJs for Monday to Friday. 3. Seven Presenters/DJs for Saturday and Sunday. 4. Six reporters/news readers. 5. Two advertising representatives/marketing agents. 6. Office secretary/Librarian. All the people we are looking for must have a passion for promoting our music, cultures, languages and traditions as full South Africans. The people must also be widely knowledgeable about our new non-racial and democratic South Africa. Those keen on joining us in our new progressive and democratic journey must send their details to: subrygovender@gmail.com. Please forward this information to all interested persons. We are hoping to launch in the middle or end of April once we have finalised all our requirements. Many thanks and kind regards. Subry Govender Secretary ----------------------------- Board of Governors: Ms Sally Padaychie (chairperson), Mr Balan Gounder (deputy chairperson), Mr Richard Naidoo (deputy chairperson), Mr Deven Moodley (treasurer), Mr Denis Naidoo (deputy treasurer), Ms V. Naidoo (assistant secretary), Mr Logan Naidoo, Mr Swaminathan Gounden, Mr Sumeshen Moodley, Mr Richard Govender, Ms Roxanne Gounden, Mr Mari Ramaya-Pillay (Johannesburg), Dr M Sooboo (Pretoria), Dr Dilly Naidoo, Mr Kiru Naidoo (PRO) and Mr Subry Govender (Secretary).

POOMANIE MOODLEY – ONE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN ACTIVISTS OF INDIAN-ORIGIN IN THE 1950s and 1960s WHO PLAYED HER PART IN THE STRUGGLES FOR FREEDOM, JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY

In August 1982 at a time when the former apartheid regime was conducting one of its most repressive campaigns against democratic forces fighting for justice, freedom and democracy, an Indian-origin women freedom fighter, Miss Poomanie Moodley, died suddenly at the age of 56. The Press Trust of South Africa News Agency, which was operating under trying conditions at this time, compiled the following article about her struggle involvement on August 12 1982. The article was distributed to the media in India and other countries. August 12 1982 POOMANIE MOODLEY – ONE OF SOUTH AFRICA’S FIRST INDIAN-ORIGIN WOMEN IN THE POLITICAL STRUGGLES DIES One of South Africa’s early Indian-origin women to be involved in the political struggles against the white minority in the country died at Durban’s King Edward V111 Hospital on Wednesday, August 11 – three days after she had taken part in the National Womens’ Day gathering in the city. Miss Poomanie Moodley, 56, died of heart attack. Miss Moodley, a top member of the Natal Indian Congress at the time of her death, became introduced to the harsh realities of South African life when as a young girl she used to join her father to protest meetings at Durban’s famous “Red Square”. They used to live in the historical Clairwood area of Durban at that time. She joined the youth wing of the Congress and later the Congress Alliance, which was made up of the African National Congress, South African Indian Congress, Coloured Peoples’ Congress and the white Congress of Democrats. As a member of the Congress Alliance she played a leading role in organising black women in the Anti-Pass Campaigns, the Defiance Campaign, protests against the Bantu Education Act and in the trade union movement. Miss Moodley, a nursing sister by profession, started a trade union for nurses at King George V TB Hospital in Durban in 1960 in order to improve the working conditions of black nurses. But her efforts were short-lived when she became one of the first persons to be detained under the “90 day Law”, without any access to lawyers, friends or families. She was detained again for 90 days in 1964 – this time for allegedly being a member of an unlawful organisation. And in 1965 she was detained under a new 10-day detention law for participating in literary classes organised by the Congress Alliance. The Pretoria Government found the literary classes to be subversive and banned the programme. Just a few days before her untimely death, Miss Moodley gave one of her rare press interviews when she spoke to the Press Trust of SA News Agency. Recalling the early struggles of the black people, especially the women, Miss Moodley said that she was heartened by the fact that the younger generation today were continuing in the same vein for liberation as their fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters in the struggle. She dismissed the latest constitutional proposals of the South African Prime Minister, P.W. Botha, and said it was not what her true leaders had been fighting for. “Botha’s grand scheme at white domination is not what our people are fighting for, dying for, imprisoned for and going into exile for. We must have a complete and full say in the Government and a fair and equal distribution of the country’s immense wealth. “I want to see our True leaders taking their rightful place in Government,” said Miss Moodley. Miss Moodley was laid to rest after a funeral service in Clairwood. She was lauded by the Natal Indian Congress, South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) and the exiled ANC for her contributions to the struggles for a free and democratic South Africa. – ends (Press Trust of SA News Agency, August 12 1982).

“MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL” - HOW THE WHITE REGIME WANTED TO ISOLATE DESMOND TUTU IN 1986

In August 1986 when one of the most radical religious leaders at that time, Desmond Tutu, was busy preparing for his enthronement as South Africa’s first black Archbishop of the Anglican Church, the white establishment was calling for his head. He had enraged the white ruling elite because of his calls for sanctions against the country. The Press Trust of SA News Agency, which was operating under extreme harassment at the hands of the security police at this time, published the following article on August 27 1986 about the anti-Tutu hysteria. “TU TERRIBLE, TU SPECTACULAR, TU TU MUCH” The run-in to the investiture of Archbishop Desmond Tutu on September 7 (1986) in St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town, has been marked by incredible virulence. He has been labelled “fat-cat, vain, impudent and transparent” and lampooned: “Tu terrible, Tu spectacular, Tu Tu much”. The pro-government Citizen newspaper of Johannesburg, which runs an almost daily campaign against the archbishop-elect, wrote in one of its editorials: “There is no greater thorn in South Africa’s flesh than this man of cloth who strides through the world like a religious pop star”, and went on to denounce the enthronement as a quest for “ecclesiastical super-stardom”. More decisively, the right-wing Afrikaner political parties have called for his arrest, prosecution and the confiscation of his passport. In the white Government circles there have been murmurs of treason. It is an unusual situation for white South Africans to be frustrated by a black Christian whose neck they would dearly love to wring. The up-market Business Day newspaper in Johannesburg neatly summed up the problem. Bishop Tutu, it said, “was taunting a blundering Government, calling for sanctions, pronouncing his hatred for capitalism and making his investiture an international showbiz event”. But the newspaper warned that if the Government took the bait and tried to play the Bishop at his own game it would lose.

“The bishop is a master of theatrical politics who has raised the consciousness of half of mankind about apartheid……. He has no need to fear Government. He has won the affection of his people, the honour of his church, the Nobel Peace Prize, and the acclaim of mankind; the only achievement that eludes him as a man of the cloth is martyrdom. “To be tried for treason, and (if the past trials are any guide) to be acquitted, would create an international circus sufficiently sensational to satisfy the lust of cameras for a year or two.” The only point on which the newspaper may be wrong is that the bishop will necessarily be acquitted. The law is specific and provides for lengthy incarceration for South Africans who call for sanctions against their country. There is little doubt that the bishop’s action verges delicately on the treasonable. From the white right-wing point of view the real issue is relatively simple. Will the satisfaction of jailing the bishop outweigh the disadvantage of a bad international Press. It is a judgement on which Bishop Tutu’s head depends. The Citizen newspaper offers some insight into the possible plans that are being made for the Bishop. It says action will not be taken against the Bishop before his installation because it would precipitate an international diplomatic incident given the high-powered guest list. “The spectacular guest list is a ploy to ensure maximum publicity and martyrdom should any steps be taken against him.” But, it adds: “Because of the hostile public opinion generated during Bishop Tutu’s latest trip abroad and the mounting pressure for action in political circles, there is now a considerable body of senior opinion in the Government that favours some form of action at an appropriate time”. This sounds ominous considering that warnings have also been issued recently by both the Minister of Manpower, Mr Pietie Du Plessis, and the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industries, Mr Kent Durr. To boot, State President Mr P W Botha suggested in a jibe at his party’s Federal Congress that the country could soon see the back of the Bishop. It is difficult to say whether the Bishop would have been reviled so bitterly had he been white? In South Africa, however, there is little reason to doubt that race colours most perspectives. In the Bishop’s case, racism has been conveniently submerged in the great debate on sanctions and the “national interest”. Most whites, if they are to be believed, are outraged by the Bishop because he has called for sanctions. The stock argument is that this will put Black people out of work, erode their living standards and increase their misery, “effects that the Bishop is unlikely to suffer because of his clerical wealth”. As the Citizen newspaper put it: “Far be it for us to suggest there should be any actions against the Bishop. But at least we can question why a man who lives so well and travels so far is unconcerned about the lot of so many blacks who are going to suffer because of sanctions.” Seldom is there ever mention that sanctions will affect whites when these arguments are trotted out. It is a remarkable testimony to white altruism which probably explains why social security for blacks in South Africa is virtually non-existent. The fact that some four million blacks in the country – 25 percent of the working population – are unemployed; that nearly two million people in the bantustans are without incomes, let alone jobs, never enters the reckoning. Moreover, in attacking the Bishop, most whites gloss over the fact that he is not the only black person who supports economic pressure on South Africa. The largest labour federation in the country, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), favours economic measures as does the black business lobby, the National African Federated Chambers of Commerce (NAFCOC). The United Democratic Front (UDF) people’s organisation, which commands the support of millions of South Africans, shares similar sentiments as do all of the extra-parliamentary black political groups. In short, the conundrum is that whites are against sanctions for the sake of blacks who favour economic measures that will pressurise the white government into vital political concessions. Those blacks who are the exception to what is very much a rule are inevitably linked to the bantustans, which are essentially and increasingly dependent on South Africa for survival. They understandably, reserve a special ire for the Bishop.

(DR FAROUK MEER - A PHOTO TAKEN WHEN HE ATTENDED A ONE YEAR MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR STRUGGLE ACTIVIST MEWA RAMGOBIN IN 2017) Dr Farouk Meer, an official of the UDF and the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), believes that part of the hostility derives quite naturally from the Bishop’s status. “He is an international figure, with an aura enhanced by the award of the Nobel Peace Prize. As such what he says commands an international audience. “The fact that his views coincide with the opinion of the black majority in the country must hurt whites. By articulating what black people really think, he is breaking a conspiracy of silence imposed on the majority through their lack of political power and through white control of the media. “Whites are quite happy to ignore black feelings as long as it does not reach the outside world. Bishop Tutu has broken the rules of the game and whites are sore.” Dr Meer adds that “deep down whites realise that the real issue is not sanctions, but apartheid”. “They are using the sanctions threat to rally around a common fear. That fear has been raised by a black man in their own backyard. “They have allowed him to grow powerful and now he is a danger. It sticks in the craw of the white minority.”

(ZWELAKHE SISULU - WHEN HE WAS EDITOR OF THE NEW NATION NEWSPAPER) Zwelakhe Sisulu, editor of the New Nation black newspaper, adds another dimension: “South Africa prides itself on being a Christian nation”. “The reality of that Christian commitment is now being questioned by a black man. He is challenging their comfortable Christianity, challenging them to come to grips with the real horror of the apartheid system on which they thrive. This is obviously disconcerting and enraging.” Sisulu says there is also another aspect in which Tutu deeply affronts most white people. “Most whites are still basically paternalistic. They believe that they have allowed Bishop Tutu to ascend in the church. Therefore, he ought to act with reticence and circumspection, indeed respect they finally believe that all blacks must show towards whites.” The white conservative Daily News afternoon newspaper in the city of Durban suggests yet another reason for the backlash against Tutu. In an editorial, it says: “With sanctions barriers going up all around us, it is quite natural for many South Africans to have intimations of paranoia. This may manifest itself in a desire to lash back at those who promote the campaign.” Whatever the psychological motivations there is little doubt that Bishop Tutu has incensed whites as few church people have done in this country. The fact that he has invited international dignitaries to his enthronement has only fuelled white jealousies, inflaming the wrath of a besieged and isolated tribe. They are calling the enthronement in St George’s Cathedral “a showbiz event”. It gives whites the opportunity for sincerely wishing the Bishop breaks a leg. Ends – Press Trust of SA News Agency August 27 1986

MOLLY BLACKBURN – AN ANTI-APARTHEID LIFE DEDICATED TO PROMOTING THE WELL-BEING ALL SOUTH AFRICANS

One of the anti-apartheid activists who played a leading role in highlighting the injustices of the former apartheid regime was Mrs Molly Blackburn. She died at the age of 55 in a tragic car accident early January 1985 at a time when she was a leading figure in the anti-apartheid struggles in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa. Despite the hatred that the apartheid regime spilled out against white opponents of apartheid, more than 30 000 people turned out to say goodbye at her funeral. The Press Trust of SA News Agency, which operated under difficult conditions at this time, published the following article on January 14 1985 about Molly Blackburn and the respect she enjoyed among black South Africans. SOUTH AFRICA: MOURNING TOGETHER The funeral of the 55-year-old white anti-apartheid activist and leader, Mrs Molly Blackburn, in the city of Port Elizabeth on January 2 1985 severely embarrassed the apartheid regime. Not only did the 30 000 black mourners, who descended on the St Johns Church in the city centre, add a dimension of township protest to the proceedings, they also made it clear that “Miss Molly” – as she was affectionately known – had a special place in their hearts. For many of the black mourners it was no easy matter to attend the funeral. They travelled long distances – on foot, by taxis, in buses – from far flung townships to be at the service. For the regime it was an uncomfortable and dangerous demonstration of mutual trust that threatened its black power myth. To avoid a repeat performance, it banned a memorial service for Mrs Blackburn two days later. It was a gross, insensitive and provocative gesture, that did nothing to reduce Mrs Blackburn’s reputation among the black people. She had already proved that it only took a sense of justice to break out of racist white society. Outside observors might find it difficult to understand how the black people can be profoundly sceptical of white society and yet offer a white politician their utmost respect. In a tribute, Mrs Ann Colvin, a colleague of Mrs Blackburn in the Black Sash civil rights group, offers an insight that helps understand the situation: “Molly Blackburn possessed a common touch very rarely found among South Africa’s ruling white classes.” In short it is a sense of justice and not race that divides South Africans – despite what the National Party says and privileged whites like to believe. More importantly “Miss Molly’s” notions of justice were not academic. She fought tenaciously to protect defenceless township dwellers from the brutality of apartheid, especially that meted out by the police and army in the smouldering townships. She stood up. When she died in a tragic car crash in which a friend, Mr Brian Bishop of the Civil Rights League in Cape Town, also died, they were returning from the small Cape Province town of Oudtshoorn. They had been visiting a black township in the ostrich farming district to collect affidavits alleging horrific police brutality following the arrest of 250 youths. It was the kind of assignment they had found themselves undertaking with increasing frequency since the police and army moved into the black townships more than a year ago. Mrs Blackburn, a mother of seven children was elected to the Provincial Council for the Walmer seat in Port Elizabeth in 1981. As the situation in the Eastern Cape took on the profile of a low scale civil war, she became immersed in the problems of the townships. Hours after the Langa massacre in March 1984 when police opened fire on a funeral procession killing 20 people, Mrs Blackburn set up a relief station; when four leading members of the United Democratic Front(UDF) in the Cradock community were murdered by alleged police agents she was there to share the sorrow of their families; when the police in the town of Uitenhage savagely beat a youth while he was manacled to a table, it was “Miss Molly” who rushed to his aid. She attended numerous funerals of victims who had died at the hands of the police in the townships and openly and sincerely shared the sorrow of the residents. Inevitably, her funeral, like those she had attended in the towships, became a political event – a rally against apartheid. It may have taken place in a white suburb in Port Elizabeth, but it was very much a township send-off. It was monitored by a large contingent of security police; the black, green and gold colours of the African National Congress(ANC) were prominent and clenched fists and freedom songs were an integral part of the funeral service.

The black township youth organisation, the Port Elizabeth Youth Congress, formed a guard of honour at the church and acted as pall bearers. The speakers at the inter-denominational service were black and white and came from both the parliamentary and extra-parliamentary groupings. It was eloquent testimony that despite differences in race, religious affiliation and political persuasion, South Africans could relate to a common sense of decency. Mrs Blackburn’s funeral is not the first instance in which black South Africans have shown their respect for white activists who have given their lives for a more just cause. When white trade unionist, Dr Neil Agett, died in police custody four years ago, his funeral in Johannesburg was also attended by thousands of black South Africans. Across the country close to a million black workers, who could not be at the funeral, downed tools to hold services in thousands of work places. Despite the profound demonstration against racism – which is what the funeral came down to – Pretoria is unlikely to stop using the immense resources at its disposal to keep racism alive and blacks out of the political processes. Thus far, however, it has clearly not succeeded in turning blacks into racists. Ends Press Trust of SA New Agency – Jan 14 1985

MUNIAMMA SOCIAL CLUB FAMILY GATHERING AT JAPANESE GARDENS IN DURBAN ON BOXING DAY DECEMBER 26 2019

More than 100 third, fourth, fifth and sixth generation members of our greater Muniamma family got together for a social function at the Japanese Gardens in Durban on Boxing Day, Thursday, December 26 2019. Family members from Port Shepstone, Johannesburg, Durban and even from Perth in Australia attended the social gathering. It was a fantastic event as the Muniamma family is also affected by the movement of family members to all parts of South Africa and the world at large. The extended family is fast becoming nuclear in character because of the demise of most of our elders. Only two aunties, Mrs Savundalay Padaychee, of Dundee, and Mrs Amoy Moodley of Chatsworth,, and one sister-in-law, Mrs Soundler Govender, wife of Percy Govender, are still around today. All of them are in their 80s and 90s. One grand-daughter who is in her 80s, Mrs Panjala Naidoo, also attended the social gathering. The gathering once again infused some inspiration for the younger generation not to forget their extended family members and their roots. THESE ARE SOME OF THE PHOTOS TAKEN AT THE GATHERING: