The Story of PR Pather, the grand old man of Indian politics in South Africa: Chapter Three - By Riashnee Pather

From the book: The Story of PR Pather, the grand old man of Indian politics in South Africa - by Riashnee Pather

Chapter Three

1945 marked a decisive turnaround in the politics of the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) and this change was to manifest itself in the ideas, strategies and actions of the organisation. Perhaps the most visible manifestation of this is the Passive Resistance Campaign of 1946. This chapter will explore the NIC after its leadership change in 1945. However Indian politics was not confined strictly to the NIC even though they had the majority support within the Indian community. Despite these developments and more especially his ousting from the NIC in 1945, PR Pather continued to be involved in public and political affairs. This chapter will trace the path that he was to follow, an extremely conservative one that saw him, AI Kajee and a few others form the rival Natal Indian Organisation (NIO). The period that I will be examining is a long one that stretches from 1946 right up until the 70's, and I feel justified in looking at it in its totality since there are so many trends and patterns that play themselves out through this period.

The land issues, which had occupied such a central role in Indian politics during the first half of the forties, continued to plague the Indian community after 1945. In January 1946 Prime Minister Smuts announced his intention to introduce the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act once the Pegging Act had expired that same year. The terms of this legislation for the most part upheld the stipulations of the Pegging Act and were to apply both to Natal and the Transvaal. The Act set up controlled and uncontrolled areas. In the uncontrolled areas there were no restrictions for any race, while in the controlled areas any transfer of property between Indians and non-Indians 'was prohibited except if a permit had been obtained from the Minister of the Interior. The Ghetto Act as it was to become known is commonly thought by many to have provided the blueprint for the Group Areas Act which was to be introduced by the Nationalist government. The Land Tenure Advisory Boards which had been set up to inform and advise the Minister of Interior was to eventually form the basis of the Group Areas Board. In return for accepting this legislation the Smuts government offered the Indians limited representation in both the central and provincial government. The Indians would have perfunctory whites representing them at both levels of government. There would be two Senators, two representatives in the House of Assembly and two other representatives in the Natal Provincial Council. The franchise was given to South African Indian Males over the age of 21 who had to be educated up until the standard six level. The potential voter had to have an annual income of more than eighty-four pounds and had to be registered owners of fixed property to the value of two hundred and fifty pounds. 1

Before discussing the reaction of the Indian community to the proposed legislation it is important to examine the reaction of the whites. Most of the whites especially those in Natal were very pleased with the legislation of segregation which for the first time had made Indian segregation compulsory. However the main complaint regarding the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act was about the provisions it made for granting the franchise to Indian males. Stallard of the Dominion Party, amongst others echoed this objection to the Act and the party subsequently expelled many of its more liberal members, in the process changing its name to the South African Party. The Labour Party actually split over the issue of Indian representation. Smuts also faced much criticism from his own United Party about the granting of the franchise to the Indians. According to Bagwandeen the only party that was to benefit from the turmoil and disorder was the National Party which used the opportunity to successfully consolidate its position. 2

The Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act also prompted much protest from the Indian community. The South African Indian Congress (SAIC) of which PR remained a member convened a conference in February 1946 in order to organise themselves to protest and deal with the proposed legislation. This conference decided to send a delegation of sixty representatives to consult with Smuts and attempt to dissuade him from introducing the legislation. Smuts refused this request as well as the SAIC's request to hold a Round Table conference between South Africa and India. The Prime Minister also reaffirmed his stance regarding the Indian franchise and Indian representation. The Cape Town Conference also produce the decision to send delegations of protest to India in order to persuade the Indian government to call up a Round Table conference. It was also decided that the SAIC would send similar delegations to Britain, the United States and to the United Nations Organisation (UNO) 3

When it became apparent that the meetings and consultations with smuts were going to be unsuccessful, the NIC organised a mass meeting at Curries Fountain in Durban and declared the 20 February 1946 as a day of prayer on which people were requested to close down their businesses and not to go to work. In March 1946 the NIC announced its decision to launch a Passive Resistance Campaign and in order to facilitate this etsblished the Passive Resistance Council. The Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC) then under the new leadership of Dr. Dadoo expressed their willingness to participate in the campaign. The Cape Indian Congress which was still under the sway of the Kajee-Pather leadership of the SAIC decided not to participate. Nevertheless there were individuals who did join the campaign.4

At this point my discussion turns to the Passive Resistance Campaign, which began in 1946. Instead of giving a general overview of the campaign I have decided to adopt an approach, which specifically suits my line of enquiry. This is part due to the fact that of all the events in the history of Indians in South Africa it is probably the best known and most widely studied one. Nonetheless a few comments are necessary. The focal point of the Resistance Campaign was in Gale Street; a piece of property that was in the midst of a predominantly white residential area and a traffic thoroughfare. The rationale behind this being the need to demonstrate to the whites the actual scope of the Indian resistance to the legislation as well as to any form of discrimination. Nevertheless as Dr. Goonam states the campaigners were unsure if this could be achieved - Few of us however, believe believed in the moral impact of our defiance; for the most part the defiance was an end itself. The campaign was organised such that groups of volunteers numbering between fifteen and sixty would squat on the restricted property and would thereby court arrest. But as Dr. Goonam states it all depended on the police, for if the police ignored the resisters then there would be no campaign. However they were not ignored and thousands were arrested, detained and fined. 5

An important theme that needs to be highlighted at this point is the increasingly visible role women were beginning to play. The dearth of sources and evidence prevents me from drawing any conclusion about the role that women were playing in public and political affairs before 1945 but it would be impossible to deny that during the period following 1945 many women came into their own. A striking example of this is Mrs. Christopher, the wife of Albert Christopher, a member of the conservative element who together with PR and others was completely opposed to the Passive Resistance Campaign. Mrs. Christopher defied her husband and was arrested. 6 But apart from courting arrest and actively protesting The women also played a central role in fundraising, an absolute necessity for the success of the Passive Resistance Campaign as money was needed to compensate those who had lost out on their wages and earnings and had families to support. By the end of September 1946 forty women had raised four thousand pounds. 7

The Passive Resistance Campaign was to last for about two years with over twenty thousand participants. Although there are a few writers who insist that the Campaign was ultimately unsuccessful there is more evidence to suggest the opposite. One of the best indicators of the success was the impression it made on the African National Conference (ANC), probably the most influential and powerful liberation movement in the country at the time. Tom Lodge asserts that even though the South African government did not retract its legislation it did compel the ANC to consider more assertive and forthright methods especially after 1948. 8 Nelson Mandela in his autobiography echoes this view of the Passive Resistance Campaign when he writes about how impressed he was by the protest action. He writes further that if I had once questioned the willingness of the Indian community to protest against oppression, I no longer could. Furthermore, for Mandela the campaign ushered in a sense of radicalism and defiance and demonstrated the value of being willing to go to prison for one's beliefs. Another important development was the rise in influence of the NIC and the TIC. Mandela writes that they reminded us that the freedom struggle was not merely a question of making speeches, holding meetings, passing resolutions and sending deputations, but of meticulous organisation, militant mass organisation and above all the willingness to suffer and sacrifice. 9

Leading on from this success of the Passive Resistance Campaign 1947 saw the signing of the Doctor's Pact between Dr. Naicker of the NIC, Dr. Dadoo of the TIC and Dr. AB Xuma of the ANC on the 9 February. The Doctor's Pact was not entirely the product of events that occurred in the 1940's. Discussions about collaboration across racial lines had been taking place since the 1920's when the Non-European Unity Front was established. It was the NEUF rather than the Doctor's Pact which first ushered in the idea. And even before 1947, ANC youth league members and the more progressive members of the NIC were addressing meetings together. Nevertheless the agreement did not produce any immediate results or plans and it was not until 1952 that there was any real collaboration when the organisations worked together during the Defiance Campaign. 10

The Passive Resistance Campaign was not the only channel of protest utilised by the South African Indians. The Indian government especially was extremely perturbed by developments in South Africa and brought the matter before the General Assembly of the United Nations. Despite pleas from the South African government that the UN had no jurisdiction over the domestic affairs of the country the international organisation went ahead with its deliberations. The meeting began on 23 October 1946 with the main protagonists being the delegations from India, South Africa and the South African Indian political organisations i.e. the NIC, TIC and SAIC. The South African delegation was headed by Smuts and was accompanied by DG Shepstone amongst others. Vijaylakshmi Pandit headed the Indian delegation, and the South African Indian delegation consisted of all their executive leaders including PR Pather. 11

In December 1946 the majority of the members of the United Nations resolved that South Africa remove all barriers and inequalities between all its races and peoples. However setting a trend that was to follow for the better part of the century the South African government chose to ignore the recommendations of the UN. This attitude of the Smuts government prompted the Indian government to withdraw its High Commission in South Africa as well as to cut of all its trading relations. This move brought to the surface the many divisions that existed within the Indian community. The conservative Kajee-Pather element was of the opinion that the High Commissioner's presence in South Africa was vital especially to oversee the implementation of the UN resolution. In this regard the conservative wing lent their support to Smuts who insisted on the return of the Indian High Commissioner to South Africa.

At this point I would like to turn my attention to what PR Pather and the conservative element were involved in. It must be remembered that PR after his ousting from the NIC he did not just disappear from the political and public forum. In April 1947 PR and his colleagues had a public meeting to decide their future on the political platform. At that meeting they realised that they had three options open to them. Firstly they could remain within the NIC, a move which they recognised would lead to much internal struggle over policy. Secondly they could establish a body along the lines of the Anti Segregation Council but which would have the same consequences as the first option. The third option open to them was to form a new organisation which would be "representative of responsible Indian opinion". PR Pather addressed the meeting and stated that he and others who opposed the leadership of the NIC and the TIC should not remain silent especially since the leaders of the congresses were under the control of the communists "who were prepared to bargain with the fate of the Indian community in order to advance the interests of the communists". He went on further to state that after the victory at the UN the NIC and TIC should have called of the Passive Resistance Campaign as a gesture of goodwill, but did not do so due to their arrogance and overconfidence after the positive turn of events. He proposed the formation of a new organisation, which would represent the interests of the Indian community but would also '^work in a spirit of co-operation and goodwill with the government, the European public and other races of the land." 12

In the meeting held on 4 May 1947 PR moved a resolution concerning the establishment of the Natal Indian Organisation (NIO). The resolution was unanimously adopted. The NIO, it was decided would seek affiliation with the SAIC. The new Organisation at its inaugural meeting put on record its opposition to the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act and the grounds on which this opposition was based was almost identical to those of the NIC. However it was expressly stated that in contrast to the NIC the NIO would "seek the repeal of the Act by all constitutional and legitimate means". The NIO also expressed its total opposition to the establishment of the Indian Board. In addition to these matters it was also decided that the NIO would send a delegation to meet with Prime Minister Smuts. At this meeting PR was appointed Honorary Secretary of the NIO. 13 The NIO at their meeting with Smuts were able to convince Smuts to do away with his plans for the establishment of the Indian Advisory Board. They proposed instead a consultative council consisting of about six or seven members who would advise the government on matters pertaining to the Indian community. For many this was a calculating move on the part of the conservative wing as they had managed to supplant the NIC leadership from this particularly important decision-making process.

In October 1947 the NIO drafted a memorandum which was to be presented to the members of the UNO. This memorandum once again reiterated the organisation's opposition to the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act. The document also mentioned the NIO's opposition to the government's practice of not adhering to its own demarcation of areas and its subsequent eviction of people who were completely entitled to be occupying the areas they were being evicted from. Furthermore opposition was registered against the boycott of Indian traders, a boycott that was encouraged by the white members of the parliament ever since the UN decision in 1946 had gone against South Africa. It was also found that the Banks and other financial institutions were becoming increasingly reluctant to give loans to Indians, whose situation was aggravated by the fact that all the commercial institutions they could appeal to were in the hands of whites. The Natal Provincial Administration and the Durban Municipality also came under attack for both cutting down drastically the employment of Indians in the city as well as for denying them the municipal franchise and any representation. According to the memorandum the proposed solution to the problem should be approached through a Round Table Conference between India and South Africa which would first require the resumption of relations between the governments of India and South Africa. 14

Although these issues were raised at the UN in 1947 there was no two-thirds majority vote and subsequently no resolution was passed. All South Africa really received was a tap on the wrist and neither this nor any of the other decisions made by the UN were ever accepted or adhered to by the South African government. Furthermore since India and Pakistan were not yet independent nations they were advised to rather have a Round Table Conference to address the issues. 15

By 1948 the conservative wing headed by AI Kajee and PR Pather had lost much of their influence in the SAIC. In March 1948 they called a South African Conference which consisted of the NIO, the newly formed Transvaal Indian Organisation (TIO) and the still conventionalist Cape Indian Congress. The Conference decided to send a delegation to India, a move that was completely rejected by the Indian government as well as the Indian congresses. Smuts whose common goal was the resumption of relations between India and South Africa however supported the conference. The South African Congress was never really taken seriously as a fully-fledged political Organisation and even the Indian government just regarded it as a breakaway clique. 16

This support from Smuts for the South African Conference proved futile eventually when he lost power in 1948. 26 May 1948 saw the coming to power of the Herenigde National Party (HNP) under the leadership of DF Malan who was to become the new leader of South Africa. 17 The new government proved to be more authoritarian and bent on establishing white supremacy in South Africa than the previous one. However it would be wrong to assert that if the HNP had lost the elections the position of the non-white population in South Africa would have been in any way ameliorated. It is clearly visible through the Smuts administration that South Africa had already embarked on a path towards white dominance and this cannot be labelled an Afrikaner Nationalist invention or innovation. 18 Nevertheless the position of the Indians in South Africa deteriorated. Malan's attitude towards the Indians was particularly harsh since there was still a residual resentment after the UN decision in 1946. Malan at one stage even discussed the possibility of a Round Table Conference based on the previous ones of 1927 and 1932, which had dealt primarily with the issue of repatriating Indians. 19

One of the more ironic developments was that Malan shared the conservative element's distrust of the NIC, TIC and SAIC on the grounds that they were communist inspired and based. However this did not lead to any co-operation between the conservatives and the Nationalist government. In September 1948 the NIO, TIO and CIC established the South African Indian Organisation (SAIO) and at precisely the same time the government confiscated the passports of Dr. Naicker and Dr. Dadoo who were due to leave to Paris. In a surprising though revealing move the government also confiscated the passports of the conservative leadership of the SAIO which was bent on a policy of accommodation and co-operation with the new government. 20

1949 was to witness one of the most horrific and violent events to ever hit Durban. These were the riots that broke out over conflicts between Africans and Indians. These events were to leave in their wake a trail of mass destruction. 142 people lost their lives while 1 087 people were injured. Furthermore thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed mainly through burning and looting. Although many explanations for this disaster, I have tended to favour the one suggested by Marks and Trapido. Their argument is that African and Indian nationalism (which I have discussed in regards to the 1920's) never developed fully and this prevented any interracial identification as well. Following on from this it is easy to see that the situation produced by the stunted nationalist feelings, had nothing to guard it against the kind of events that took place in 1949. 21

The Nationalist government immediately embarked on a policy of consolidation, not only of their rule but also of white supreme control of the country. In 1949 they set the stage for their Apartheid policy when they introduced the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act. 1950 saw the passage of the Population Registration Act and the Group Areas Act. The Nationalist government also introduced the Immorality Act and the Suppression of Communism Act among others. 22 In response to the government's barrage of legislation the Indian Congresses and the ANC embarked on a Defiance Campaign the terms of co-operation had already been laid down at the time of the signing of the Doctor's Pact in 1947. On 31 May 1952 the leadership of the ANC and the SAIC met in Port Elizabeth and announced that the Defiance Campaign would begin on 26 June 1952. On 22 June there was a mass rally in Durban which was attended by about 10 000 people. Chief Luthuli, Nelson Mandela and Dr. Naicker addressed the meeting and Mandela "emphasised that unity among black people - Africans, Coloureds and Indians - in South Africa had at last become a reality. 23

The Defiance Campaign did not proceed exactly as planned and many problems were encountered due to insufficient planning and the increasingly repressive measures being adopted by the state. The figures for the Defiance Campaign indicate that 8 080 people took part. The largest concentration of participants was in the Eastern Cape with 5 719. 24 It is at this point that I would like to turn to Masla Pather. After graduating from the Medical School at the University of the Witwatersrand, he moved to the Eastern Cape where he began a successful practice. He continued his political activities particularly his affiliation with the Communist Party. The Eastern Cape, which was generally considered to be the ANC's strongest constituency, proved a completely different place. In my interviews with the family of Masla Pather this comes out very clearly. Mavis Father commented on how their home was constantly the site of multiracial gatherings. As she stated,

... in our home when our children were growing up, we knew no colour. These children grew up not knowing colour. They would call an African man and woman auntie and uncle. And they would call a white auntie or uncle without noticing the difference 25

Their daughter Bhavani commented on this as well when she said,

... what I do remember is that we had housefuls of people together, of different colours and they were all like uncles to me, because we lived away from the family. 26

Despite the fact that the Defiance Campaign did not achieve its envisaged success it did succeed in demonstrating the possibility and the advantages of a united black opposition movement. Furthermore it established the prototype for any future protest movement and it ensured that the Indian and African liberation movements would be intrinsically linked. Leading on from the apparent beneficial nature of the Alliance, it was then extended between 1952 and 1955. This brought the South African Coloured People's Organisation and the South African Congress of democrats into the fold. These two groups, the SAIC and the ANC then became the core actors in to Congress Alliance. 27 Masla himself was very involved in the Coloured Convention in the Eastern Cape, an influential group that he was to become the secretary of. 28

Nevertheless the period between 1952 and 1954 was a quite one in terms of any open political resistance. The measures that were being introduced by the government were making it increasingly difficult to organise any resistance or protest activities and furthermore the Suppression of Communism Act ensured that many of the leaders of the black political movements were banned. The end of 1954 banned most of the SAIC executive and by the end of 1955,42 ANC leaders were under restrictions. 29

Leading on from the Congressional Alliance there developed a new movement, the Congress of People (COP). It was this movement that produced the Freedom Charter in June 1955. According to Bhana the NIC very involved in the COP campaign. When it was launched in Durban in 1954 the NIC representatives numbered 58 as compared to the 81 of the ANC. Bhana also adds that due to the lack of evidence it is almost impossible to ascertain to what extent the Indian Congresses actually participated in the drafting of the Freedom Charter but he does mention that they were not very successful in mobilising the people at the grass roots level for the same reasons that I have mentioned earlier i.e. the government's clampdown on the political organisations and their members. 30

1956 was to witness a marked decline in the activities of the NIC, TIC and SAIC. The main factor responsible for this was the government's clamp down on political resistors. This government campaign culminated in the Treason Trial where 156 of the country's leading activists were charged and tried. Some of the Indian Congress leaders including Dr. Naicker were among those arrested and during the trial which was to last for the better part of the next five years, the Congresses were forced to step down a gear. 31 The late 1950's also witnessed a bit of a dilemma in the Indian Congresses when the conventional protest tactics and strategies were being questioned. This was illustrated by the fact that Passive Resistance as a tool of national resistance was being challenged. More and more were beginning to believe that a national struggle against an increasingly harsh government required a more powerful and forthright approach. As these attitudes were crystallising it also came to be believed that despite the Indian Congress' participation in the Congress Alliance it was still too much of an Indian focussed Organisation and this ran contrary to the requirements of a national united liberation struggle. The Congresses were to also suffer after the Sharpeville Uprising in March 1960 when the ANC and other organisations were banned. Although the Indian Congresses were not banned or restricted it was almost as if they had suffered the same fate of those groups that had been banned. Most of their leaders had been banned and restricted individually and this resulted in enormous difficulties in maintaining the momentum of the organisations. 32

The period in question was to be a quiet one for PR as well. The strategy of appeasement and accommodation that he and his colleagues adhered to proved to be lost on the Nationalist government of DF Malan. He never left the political platform completely - a fact underpinned by his political activities which continued almost up until the day he died. But I shall return to this at a slightly later stage. If the 1960's were a quiet period for PR, the same was certainly not true for his son Masla. As I have stated earlier Masla had always been involved in the South African Communist Party and despite the government's stance towards the ideology and the party, he continued to be very active in that organisation as well as with the ANC in the Eastern Cape. His home in Port Elizabeth was constantly used for secret planning meetings, as Mandela writes, "We met at the house of Dr. Masla Father, who would later be sentenced to two years in prison for allowing us to meet at his home". 33

Masla's first arrest occurred in 1963 when he was charged and found guilty under the Suppression of Communism Act. He served six months on Robben Island and was then released on appeal. He was then arrested again in 1964 and under the same law and served a further three years on Robben Island. According to Masla his father was very supportive of him during this period, attending every political meeting and trial as well as constantly consulting with attorneys and advocates. He still maintained his respect for his son's beliefs and ideas regardless of the fact that they were so completely opposed to those of his own. 34

Masla's wife Mavis was also affected when she was forced to go out to work, for the first time not out of choice but out of necessity. When asked about this she displayed a kind of stoicism that what she had to do was a duty, one that had to be borne out patiently and willingly. She said,

well it seemed the most ordinary thing to do. I never thought of any depravations and things like that. We had a goal and we had to work.

The family situation was further affected when she was forced to send the children to their grandparents [PR] in Durban in 1966. And she constantly emphasises the fact they were so grateful to them for being so supportive, something that allowed her to work as well as to move between Cape Town and home at any time. She also spoke about how she kept Masla informed about what was going on and how she had to write so carefully so as not to upset Masla too much with her letters.

... I was very careful. Our letters were self-censored. Because I felt that rather than have a letter with so many lines deleted, I thought that psychologically that would have a bad effect.

What she did end up sending most of the times were letters from the children as well as school reports and other such material which the authorities should never really had problems with. 35

Their daughter Bhavani as well spoke about the move to Durban. And although she was quite young at the time, being about six years old, she remembers it as being one of the most traumatic events of her life. And although she emphasises how happy she was with her grandparents it is not difficult to sense the underlying disappointment with having to move away from the Eastern Cape and come to Durban. This comes out clearly in her discussion about her school in Port Elizabeth, which was Afrikaans medium and multiracial. She says,

... we used to stand in a queue with a tin cup at lunchtime for soup. ... And it was a nice feeling, you sat down in the ground with this tin cup and everybody had a tin cup. There were no rich Indians or rich Coloureds or rich Africans. It was all totally different to Durban.

And for her it was a massive culture shock to suddenly attend St Anthony's School where she had to attend "catechism, ballet dancing and speech and drama." 36

The period that I have covered in this chapter is a long one, but it is one that witnessed remarkable changes and events. It began in 1945 with the changing of the guard in the leadership of the Indian Congresses. Immediately after this development it became quite apparent that South African Indian politics had entered a new phase and thereby had to look to newer strategies and tactics. The Passive Resistance Campaign clearly demonstrated that this had happened. Although the NIC was to become the main vehicle of Indian protest and resistance in Natal this did not deter PR and his conservative colleagues. They continued to remain active in on the political platform and it is important to remember that they still retained much support in many rural areas and from some influential and wealthy businessmen. Up until 1948 PR devoted most of his time and energy to the cause that he believed in and despite the uphill struggle he remained with it. His business and his financial position suffered greatly but this did not inhibit his activities, something that is quite rare today regardless of political orientation. However even for him the Nationalist government that came into power in 1948 proved too much. The policy of accommodation and appeasement favoured by PR and his colleagues was undermined completely by the strong anti-Indian attitudes of Malan and his government.

And so PR was forced to occupy a position on the fringes of mainstream resistance politics. An important point that needs to be raised here is that despite the centrality of politics in the life of PR, he was always involved in community, cultural and welfare orientated projects, beginning in the 1920's and continuing almost unabated for the next fifty years. But I shall give this more attention in my conclusion. Nevertheless the Indian Congresses gravitated towards a more united resistance front with the African and Coloured liberation movements with mixed success. The 1950's saw much collaboration as demonstrated by the Defiance Campaign and the many protests against Apartheid legislation such as the Group Areas Act. However government clampdowns on the resistance movements left the Congresses crippled for the better part of the 1960's. The relative silence of the Congresses ended with a slight revival of the organisations in the 1970's, which shall be further, explored in my conclusion.

Despite the fact that the period in question was fraught with both successes and failures for the Indian Congresses, the underlying theme of this thesis is still visible that people still maintained strong convictions and were willing to get involved despite the inordinate amount of sacrifices and struggles involved. Though it would be wrong and naive to believe that everyone shared this philosophy, I certainly believe that there were more people willing to stand up for their beliefs at that time than there would be today.

1 Dowlat Bagwandeen. A People on Trial - For Breaching Racism, p 149 -155, Also Nelson Mandela. Long Walk to Freedom. [Randburg: Macdonald Purnell, 1994], p 97

2 Dowlat Bagwandeen, A People on Trial - For Breaching Racism, p 154 –155

5 Dr. Goonam. Coolie Doctor, p 107

6 Interview with Ambiga Pather. 25 September 1998

7 Surendra Bhana. Gandhi 's Legacy. The Natal Indian Congress. 1894 - 1994. p 76 s Tom Lodge. Black Poll tics in South Africa to 1945. [Johannesburg: Ravan, 1985], p 26

9 Nelson Mandela. Long Walk to Freedom, p 97 – 98

10 Dr. Goonam. Cootie Doctor, p 127 and Christopher Saunders (ed) Readers Digest Illustrated History of South Africa. The Real History. [Cape Town: The Readers Digest Association Limited, 1994], p 384

11 Dowlat Bagwandeen. A People on Trial - For Breaching Racism, p 182 -185

12 Minutes of the Inaugural Conference of the Natal Indian Organisation. 4 May 1947

13 Minutes of the Inaugural Conference of the Natal Indian Organisation. 4 May 1947

14 Memorandum of Natal Indian Organisation. To Members of the United Nations on the Treatment of Indians in South Africa. 10 October 1947.

15 Dowlat Bagwandeen. A People on Trial-For Breaching Racism, p 187

16 The Leader. 22 March 1948

17 Christopher Saunders (ed) Readers Digest Illustrated History of South Africa. The Real History, p 370

18 Henry Kenney. Power, Pride and Prejudice. The Years of Afrikaner Nationalist rule in South Africa. [Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers. 1991], p 21 - 22

19 Brijial Pachai. International Aspect of the South African Indian Question 1860 - 1971. [Cape Town: Struik, 19711, p 219

20 Brijial Pachai. International Aspect of the South African Indian Question 1860- 1971. p 221

21 Marks and Trapido. "Introduction", p 36

22 C. Saunders (ed) Readers Digest Illustrated History of South Africa. The Real History, p 375 –378

23 Nelson Mandela. Long Walk to Freedom, p 119 -120

24 Surendra Bhana. Gandhi 's Legacy. The Natal Indian Congress. 1894 - 1994. p

25 Interview with Mavis Pather. 17 November 1998. Westville

26 Interview with Bhavani Lutchmia. 17 November 1998. Westville

27 C. Saunders (ed) Readers Digest Illustrated History of South Africa. The Real History, p 387, and Surendra Bhana. Gandhi 's Legacy. The Natal Indian Congress. 1894 - 1994. p 85

28 Interview with Ambiga Pather, 25 September 1998.

29 C. Saunders (ed) Readers Digest Illustrated History of South Africa. The Real History. p 387

30 Surendra Bhana. Gandhi's Legacy. The Natal Indian Congress. 1894 - 1994. p 85- 86

31 Nelson Mandela. Long Walk to Freedom, p 186

32 Surendra Bhana. Gandhi 's Legacy. The Natal Indian Congress. 1894 - 1994. p 86 - 87

33 Nelson Mandela. Long Walk to Freedom, p 253

34 Interview with Masla Pather. 17 November 1998, Westville

35 Interview with Mavis Pather. 17 November 1998. Westville.

36 Interview with Bhavani Lutchmia 17 November Westville