தென்னிந்தியாவைச் சேர்ந்த தமிழர்கள், ஆந்திரர்கள் மற்றும் ஏனைய இந்தியர்கள் மீது 1913இல் நடத்தப்பட்ட மனித உரிமை மீறல்கள். நீதிகேட்டு தென்னாப்பிரிக்காவில் போராடி வருகின்றனர்.

தென்னிந்தியாவைச் சேர்ந்த தமிழர்கள், ஆந்திரர்கள் மற்றும் ஏனைய இந்தியர்கள் மீது 1913இல் நடத்தப்பட்ட மனித உரிமை மீறல்கள்.

நீதிகேட்டு தென்னாப்பிரிக்காவில் போராடி வருகின்றனர்.

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தென்னாப்பிரிக்காவில் 158 ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்னால் குடியேறிய தமிழர்கள் இன்றைக்கு 7 லட்சம் பேர் உள்ளனர். தெலுங்கு பேசும் ஆந்திரர்கள் 2 லட்சத்திற்கு மேல் உள்ளனர். ஏனைய இந்தியர்கள் 4,50,000 பேர் உள்ளனர்.

தமிழர்கள், ஆந்திரர்கள், ஏனைய பிற மாநிலத்தை சேர்ந்த இந்தியர்கள் தென்னாப்பிரிக்காவில் கால்வைத்து 158 ஆண்டுகள் சென்ற நவம்பர் மாதத்தோடு முடிவடைகின்றது. தில்லையாடி வள்ளியம்மை, செல்வன் நாயுடு ஆகியோர்கள் உத்தமர் காந்தி அங்கிருந்தபோது அவருக்கு நெருக்கமாக இருந்தவர்கள். டர்பன், போர்ட் நேடல் போன்ற பகுதிகளில் தென்னிந்தியாவைச் சேர்ந்தவர்களுடைய செல்வாக்கு அதிகம். அவர்களுக்கு தமிழ் எழுதப்படிக்கத் தெரியவில்லை. ஆனால் தமிழர், ஆந்திரர், மலையாளி என்ற உணர்வுகளுடன் உள்ளனர். நெல்சன் மண்டேலாவோடு தென்னாப்பிரிக்காவின் சுதந்திரத்திற்காகவும் இவர்கள் போராடியவர்கள். இப்படியான தென்னாப்பிரிக்க வரலாற்றில் தமிழர்களும் முக்கிய இடத்தைப் பெற்றுள்ளனர். தென்னாப்பிரிக்காவில் 105 ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன்பாக நேடாலில் தோட்டத் தொழிலாளரான இந்திய வம்சாவளியினர் தங்களது உரிமைகளுக்காக 1913இல் போராடினர். தென்னாப்பிரிக்க காவல் துறையினர் இந்த போராட்டத்தில் செல்வன் குருவாடு என்பவர் படுகொலை செய்யப்பட்டார். இதற்கு நீதிகேட்டு இன்றைக்கு அவருடைய உறவினரான கிரு நாயுடு என்பவர் தொடர்ந்து போராடி வருகிறார். அன்று நடந்த போராட்டத்தில் தமிழர்களும், தெலுங்கு பேசும் மக்களும் மிகவும் பாதிக்கப்பட்டனர்.  இந்த பிரச்சனையை குறித்து 1980களிலிருந்து தோட்டத் தொழிலாளர்கள் போராடி வருகின்றனர். இன்னமும் நீதி கிடைக்கவில்லை. இதற்கிடையில் பிரிட்ஷார் கீழ் தென்னாப்பிரிக்கா அன்றைக்கு இருந்த காரணத்தினால் இந்த படுகொலைக்கு பிரிட்டிஷ் அரசாங்கம் 20 மில்லியன் பவுண்ட்கள் நஷ்டஈடாக தருவதாக 2013இல் ஒத்துக்கொண்டது. கரும்புத் தோட்டம், சுரங்கத் தொழிலாளர்களுடைய தொடர் போராட்டம் இந்திய – ஆப்பிரிக்க, குறிப்பாக கென்யா, மொசாம்பிகா போன்ற நாடுகளை சார்ந்தவர்கள் கடந்த நூற்றாண்டில் தாக்கப்பட்டதற்கும், ஒரு இனத்தின் மனித உரிமைகளை பிரிட்டிஷ் அரசு பறித்து நடத்திய கொடூரத்திற்கு நீதிகேட்டு இன்றைக்கு தெருவில் இந்திய வம்சாவளியினர் குறிப்பாக தமிழர்கள் தென்னாப்பிரிக்காவில் போராடி வருகின்றனர். இவர்கள் அனைவரும் ஈழத்தமிழருக்கு ஆதரவானவர்கள். அதை குறித்தான விரிவான ஆங்கிலப் பதிவும், காணொளியும் இத்துடன் இணைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

IN THEIR NAME... a 158 year commemoration of hard work and sacrifice. A tribute to the shoe, clothing & textile factory workers of our lived experience. May their soul’s journey be complete.

A raconteur I know calls Chatsworth his ancestral home. I share his claim having been raised in Unit 10 Woodhurst, a stone throw from his beloved Bangladesh (Unit 3 Westcliff). Unit 10 is my universe; my soul resides there no matter where life’s journey may take me.

Growing up in a township gives one many fond memories to recall when reflecting on life’s journey. One such tale of remembrance was a time when I was in primary school, arriving home from school with my twin brother to be fed our mid afternoon ‘snack treat’ by my neighbour’s mother. In those years, neighbours were an extended part of the family so it was not unusual to call my neighbour’s mother Ma. Ma gave us freshly baked bread, not that apartheid state fed bread that that denied us ciabatta, rye and crusty sourdough now found at Woolies. Her crusty white bread was smothered with butter and washed down with tea, sweetened with condensed milk served in a clear glass cup and saucer. My neighbour’s son (now a famous divorce lawyer) had a habit of dipping his sliced bread into his cup of tea. It’s a habit that I still cringe at, notwithstanding my simple upbringing!

Years later I figured out why we had gone to my neighbour’s house for that snack. The last remaining sister of our household had been married off with no one to treat us when we got home after learning how ‘Jan het die bal geskop’! My beloved mother was at that time working in AM Lockhart Clothing factory in Denis Hurley St(Queen St) as a seamstress. She was one of thousands of workers, all doing their bit to enhance the lives of their children. They worked tirelessly in providing life’s little luxuries like that Friday treat of queen cake that we couldn’t wait to wolf down.

This year, 158 years since our indentured ancestry stepped off the Truro at Port Natal, I would like to give thanks to the heroes and heroines of our lived experience from a not too distant past. While much has been written and still to be written on our indentured past, much too must be commemorated to champion what I refer to as the golden age of minority advancement in a place we call home.

In a hundred years from1860 to 1960, life’s journey for the majority of South African Indians was a wretched existence.  In a journal article, The 'Culture of Poverty' and the South African poor by Geoffrey H. Waters in 1978, it was estimated that 64% of Indians living in South Africa, lived below the poverty datum line.  Hopes to break that endless cycle of poverty was often dashed, as conditions to accelerate advancement was not conducive. Limited employment opportunities, job reservation (yes pre 1994), successive world wars, colonial and apartheid era depredations together with depressed economies, all contrived to keep advancement at bay. The apartheid state expropriated prime urban land that ripped the heart away from people who lived in the Magazine & Railway Barracks, Mayville, Cato Manor, Greyville, etc. These people were forcibly removed to places like Chatsworth and Phoenix, 30 to 40 km from their places of work.

To account for the high cost of living, ladies in the new townships were now forced to work to make life bearable. The number of Indian women working in factories, especially in the garment industry, grew dramatically during the 1960s. While in 1951 only 1518 Indian women were employed in industry, by 1970 this grew to 13 530. Their wages were vital to survival in the new townships, where the demands of rent, electricity and the vast amount of modern consumer goods put pressure on the family’s income.

By the 1980’s some Indian women were able break that cycle of poverty that trapped our ancestry for more than 100 years. In addition to providing for amenities and better living conditions, by far their finest hour was seen through the access of tertiary education they gifted to their children. Most of these women were most resourceful by creating a system of lotteries to pay for costs that would not normally be covered instantly. In some instances, these lotteries were collected for paying most university graduates registration fees. My Mother-in-law who worked for Twin Clothing in Umgeni Rd was able to provide for my wife’s registration fees through the generosity of other factory workers in making sure that she collects her lump sum lottery in February that year. Fortunately my wife’s school results were much better than mine, so she secured a bursary from the Textile & Garment workers union that paid for her studies at my beloved UDW. I am eternally grateful for that bursary as I met my wife at university. In this journey of our life, a set of fortunate events, together with the hard work of factory workers conspired to change our future.

Over time, and by the mid-1990s, our country threw open the doors of international trade by acceding to the World Trade Organisation. We were lauded for lowering trade barriers. Perversely, this action also marked the start of the steep decline, if not the death, of industries such as the clothing, textile and footwear sectors that our parents had so tirelessly worked in. The chilly wind of globalization was only then beginning to show its teeth. 

Saftu’s general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi once wrote, “Optimism is an important ingredient to a strategy to eliminate poverty and unemployment. But it isn’t a strategy. We need to overcome a few hurdles. Key among these is tackling the education crisis that sees dropout rates, in the poverty-stricken areas of our country such as Manenberg, as high as 80 percent. We need to align training to suit the needs of the workplace; and the government needs to strengthen the enforcement of trade laws if we are to rescue our manufacturing sector.” Added to this, I do hope we could also enjoy our sardines on a much regular basis…

Ironically the attempt to destabilize the lives of our ancestry to move them to places like Chatsworth, Phoenix and other areas provided measured success for the colonialist and apartheid administration. Success in breaking the poverty cycle that plagued our ancestry was overcome in some quarters. Life’s journey for the children of the working class residents post the 1960’s changed significantly. These children have since moved on, now living a bourgeois existence in suburbs that stock ciabatta and rye bread. Perhaps as we unpack the true dawn of ‘Thuma Mina’, we ought to take heed of Vavi’s advice and draw on the spirit of our factory working parents to rebuild this great country of ours.  Hopefully this approach too could also change the life’s journey of so many people that are stuck in the tenements of many townships across South Africa as well as those from my beloved ancestral village!

Written By Selvan Naidoo

Media Statement

Source: Kiru Naidoo

Subject: No Turning Back on Indenture Atrocities – Indian and African origins

A group of descendants of Indian indentured labourers have asked the South African Police Service (SAPS) to open an inquest into the murder of Selvan Guruvadu and others during the 1913 Natal Strike.  The strike involved Indian mineworkers and those on the sugar plantations, bringing the economy of the then Natal to a complete standstill.  Calling themselves Activists for Selvan Inquest (ASIJIKI) they lodged the charge almost 105 years to the day Guruvadu was murdered on the Mount Edgecombe sugar estate.  The named is inspired by the anti-apartheid trade union campaign of the 1980s that defied the authorities who wanted to silence worker mobilisation. Guruvadu was first stabbed with an assegai and then shot. Plantation manager Colin Campbell was charged for the murder but acquitted in the Verulam Magistrates Court. It was very unusual for cases of this type to be brought before court.  The case is also one of the few where detailed records exist in the form of court papers that will be valuable to SAPS investigators and the National Prosecuting Authority. "We owe this to our brutalized people so that their souls can rest in peace," said complainant Gary Govindsamy whose family has been in Mount Edgecombe for more than five generations. He expressed his thanks to the cordial manner in which the delegation was received by Phoenix Station commander Brigadier Bafana Ndlovu and Colonel Janusha Naidoo who took notarised the affidavit.  1860 Heritage Centre curator Selvan Naidoo who has researched atrocities committed during indenture added, "One of the factors that has encouraged us is the British government accepting responsibility for its violent actions against the Kenyan people during the anti-colonial Mau Mau Rebellion." In 2013, the British government agreed to pay £20 million in compensation to the victims and their families." The activist group believes that companies like Tongaat Hulett which have been beneficiaries of indenture have the responsibility for atonement and reparation.  Naidoo added that townships bordering Mount Edgecombe like Phoenix, Inanda, KwaMashu and Ntuzuma had great need for job creation and development that benefits the people.  He likened the massive residential and business developments on the former sugar estates to profiteering from the blood and labours of the people who worked those plantations.  “They need to put back and we hope that opening cases like draws attention to a history that some people would rather leave buried.  We must keep in mind that the people who worked the plantations were both Indian and African, some of whom were brought from as far afield as Mozambique.  All those communities need redress of one sort of the other.  The message was amplified by historian Kiru Naidoo who said, “The idea of reopening of inquests is not new.  We have seen this in the Timol case which have given a measure of belief to the families now that the matter has gone to court.”  He said that the campaign for Guruvadu should serve as a test for inquests into the deaths during the Sharpville Massacre, the Soweto Uprising, the 1946 Miners Strike and the 1946 Passive Resistance.  Stressing that indentured labour could not be seen in isolation from the migrant labour system that destroyed the African family and economic structure, he added that speaking up should serve to heal the wounds rather open new ones.  ASIJIKI is confident that their campaign will bring out more untold stories, educate the current generation of South Africans and force business to be accountable for past injustices.

கே.எஸ்.இராதாகிருஷ்ணன்.

03-12-2018

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