Peter Moonsammy was born on 25 March 1928 in Market St, Johannesburg. Moonsamy was the elder brother of Paul and Dasu Joseph who were Transvaal Indian Congress activists. After his father died, Moonsamy went to work as a bellboy to help support a family of eleven siblings at the age of fourteen.
Moonsammy and his brothers were intimately involved in resistance politics dating back to the 1940s in the Young Communist League, the Communist Party of South Africa and the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC). They were part of many of the major anti apartheid campaigns of the late 1940s and 1950s.
During the 1960s, the Moonsamy and his brothers played critical roles in the underground activities of MK. Paul was closely tied to the underground and led one of four Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) structures operating in the Fordsburg area while Moonsammy was an important part of the support network for MK cadres. When Abdulhay Jassat and Mosie Moolla escaped from Marshall Square, by chance they came across Moonsammy, who had just returned from work in the early hours of the morning. He drove them to a safe house. Moonsamy also hid Walter Sisulu at his home for three weeks during that time. Much later, Kista Moonsamy (a TIC activist) reported that Moonsammy came to see him when he was in hiding in 1964 in the then eastern Transvaal to inform him that it was safe for him to surface.
During the difficult days of apartheid, there was constant contact between the Moonsammy and the Mandela families. Hassen Lorgat (a trade unionist and civil society activist) in his obituary of Moonsammy said:
“”¦Madiba writes in his letter to the [Moonsammy] family from Robben Island (4 June 1985: “I wonder whether Zindzi ever noticed my embarrassment last year when she told me in passing that you and Doreen had, for several years now, looked after her as her own parents, often driving all the way to Soweto. ”¦ She had taken it for granted that I knew all about this and, when asked for particulars, she literally glowed with pure joy, as she gave me chapter and verse...”
Madiba continued to write that :
“”¦ I often remembered your smiling face as we met in Avenue Road or elsewhere in the City. But the grim walls of prison kept me ignorant of your trips to Soweto. The chance remark by Zindzi completely changed the picture; it gave me an entirely different image of you and Doreen and I was seized by an acute sense of guilt when I became aware of just how greatly indebted we are to you. I sincerely look forward to seeing you and Doreen when I hope to embrace you most warmly for the good things you have done.”
During the 1980s, Moonsammy was a staunch supporter of the Transvaal Indian Congress and United Democratic Front (UDF). After the African National Congress (ANC) was unbanned, he joined the Lenasia branch of the ANC and actively supported its activities.
Moonsammy died on 25 September 2007 at the age of 79 after few months’ illness. In his obituary, Hassen Lorgat (2007:6) said:
“When we talk of Peter we will not talk of paper certificates or qualifications but a man who brought out the true humanity and virtues of the working person and the oppressed in practice. He lived the values of love, modesty, tolerance, caring and sharing, and solidarity. ”¦ He was a man without malice and characterised by a deep desire to serve others and his community.”
Moonsamy is survived by his wife Doreen, his children Kalie, Tony, Roshnie, Soobs, Rookie and Monty and twelve grandchildren.