Veteran KZN photojournalist to be honoured in India
SIXTY years ago, intrepid photojournalist Shan Pillay began writing articles and taking photographs for Golden City Post, predecessor of this newspaper.
Today he is yet to set down his camera – and at 82, the popular Pietermaritzburg personality is still a familiar figure at social, cultural, religious, business and political events, clicking away on his trusted Nikon camera.
And if his energy for photojournalism at his age is, amazing, more incredible is that he works a full day, managing three shoe factories he owns.
Pillay’s foray into journalism began in 1957 when he offered his news-gathering and writing talents to Jim Bailey, who owned Golden City Post and Drum magazine.
In the 1960s, Pillay wrote a column for The Natal Witness (now The Witness), gathering news from the Indian, African and coloured communities.
In 1971, Golden City Post was taken over by the Argus Group, which changed the newspaper’s name to POST.
At that time he held a fulltime job as the manager of a large shoe factory in the city, where he managed 1 500 employees.
He continued contributing photographs and reports covering current events and topical issues to The Natal Witness, Sunday Times Extra, Sunday Tribune Herald and several other publications – and has not stopped.
While he has attended hundreds of assignments during the past six decades, one stands out for the soft-spoken, genial man. It was when he attended the All-In African Conference in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg, on March 25, 1961, attended by 1 400 delegates from 145 religious, cultural, peasant, intellectual and political bodies.
It was at this gathering that democratic South Africa’s first president, Nelson Mandela, made his last speech before going underground. He was arrested on the road to Tweedie (near Howick) the following year on charges of treason.
This week Pillay recalled that it was a grey Saturday a f t e r n o o n , with dark rain clouds gathering, when he took a bus to
E d e n - dale.
“M y passion for politics and writing took me to the conference, which was to have taken place at the Local Health Committee Hall opposite Edendale Hospital.
“A large crowd had gathered outside and I was told the hall had been bugged by security police.
“There were no other suitable halls nearby and the venue was changed to the Arya Samaj Hall in Plessislaer.
“A t t h e hall a celebration was in progress for the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna. Dasarath Bundhoo, chairperson of the Arya Samaj, and chairperson of the Pietermaritzburg Leatherworkers’ Union, did all he could to ensure the delegates were made comfortable.
“Bundhoo got more benches and allowed the political meeting to take place although he risked attracting the attention of the brutal security police, who could arrest and hold people in jail for three m o n t h s w i t h o u t trial.”
P i l l a y was tipped off that the keynote speaker had arrived at a residence in New Scotland Road, and dashed there.
“The place was buzzing with police but there was no keynote speaker. I hastily returned to the hall in Plessislaer and found it jam packed. Although I could not get inside, I made a plan.
“My friend Creina Alcock, a journalist covering the event for an afternoon daily newspaper, had arrived late and could not get in either.
“I led her to the back of the hall and found a window ajar. I pried this open and pushed her up and through the window. She then pulled me up.
“As we entered the hall, there was loud cheering as people thought we were part of the contingent from Johannesburg.”
Pillay said Alcock, being a white woman, was given a chair at the main table. He made his way to the front of the crowd and found a seat.
Around midnight the crowd broke into dancing and singing and the unknown speaker emerged after midnight.
It was Mandela, who in a fiery speech called for nothing less than “one man, one vote”.
Pillay said that as quickly as Mandela had emerged, he was spirited away by his cohorts.
“I was fortunate that I had photos from a front-row seat and was able to file a story about the historic meeting,” he said.
The All-In African Conference was the last national meeting organised by black opposition leaders in South Africa until 1990.
Pillay said that 34 years after the meeting in Plessislaer, he was rewarded for his efforts when Rob Haswell, the Pietermaritzburg city manager, heard that he was among the few people still alive who had attended the important conference.
“In 1995, when Madiba was given the freedom of the city, Haswell arranged for me to share my experiences of that historic occasion with the then president at the very same Arya Samaj Hall in Plessislaer where that meeting had taken place.”
Recalling her long friendship with Pillay, Alcock (widow of assassinated rural development worker and anti-apartheid activist Neil Alcock) said she first met him in 1960, the year after Sharpeville.
She had just been transferred to the Daily News office in Pietermaritzburg.
“Shan was a ‘stringer’ – he’d drop in from time to time to tip us off on stories. He was working as a car salesman, but his instincts were those of a journalist. He sensed stories before they happened.
“We formed a strong partnership during the long years of political turmoil. He would lead. I would follow. He would produce the stories. I would write them.”
She said that while Pillay had a knack of getting close to the big names, he made a point of engaging with everyone.
“He never overlooked the smaller people, the street sweepers and newspaper sellers whom he knew by name.”
This week Pillay was informed by the International Tamil University in Maryland, US, that its convocation had decided to confer on him the degree of Doctor of Letters at a ceremony on December 17 at Madurai, South India.
“We have perused your accomplishments and contribution to humanity. Your endeavours are brilliant and are worthy of praise and are certainly laudable,” said Dr Selvin Kumar, president of the university, in a letter to Pillay.
Pillay said he was humbled by the recognition for his many years of promoting the Tamil language, arts, culture and religion, for his contribution to charitable causes, and for “plodding along as a journalist”.
“If I managed to bring some small measure of joy and happiness into the lives of the less fortunate, then I am happy that my life has not been worthless,” he said.