Pather: Revered man of the people
PR PATHER spent almost 50 years in public life. He was a man of great dignity and incredible gravity. He was also sometimes a misunderstood man because of the political choices he made.
What is without contest is that he had a keen sense of community responsibility. Through his life and work he contributed in no small measure to the social upliftment of people of Indian origin in South Africa. The colonial and apartheid milieu dominated Pather’s activism.
Revered as an upstanding man, he was an engine of dynamism, devoting every hour of his life to creative, constructive work. There is hardly an institution or endowment with which his name is not associated as a founder, promoter or trustee.
Poonoosamy Ruthnam Pather was born in Mauritius in 1895. His grandfather emigrated from Tanjore in India to Mauritius in the 1840s. Pather’s father was born in Mauritius and his mother was a citizen there. His father came to colonial Natal in 1891 and worked as a jeweller in Durban for a few years before returning to Mauritius.
Pather, along with his parents and brother PA Pather, arrived in South Africa in 1903. They moved to the coal mining town of Elandslaagte in northern Natal where they settled. He attended primary school there and completed his secondary schooling at a Pietermaritzburg private school run by an Indoeuropean teacher.
November 1860 saw the arrival of the first shipment of Indian indentured labour to colonial Natal. The abhorrent labour system continued until 1911. Indian merchants paid their own passage from India to conduct business in South Africa. Families like the Pathers came under their own steam from Mauritius.
Pather’s ideological beliefs were shaped by a number of political and religious influences. His religious life was aligned to the teachings of the Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar who wrote the Thirukkural. Thiruvalluvar’s Life and Message to the World by author Pundit V Natesan, states: “The first and foremost Dharma is purity of mind.’’ This is one of the prized autographed books in Pather’s collection. Thiruvalluvar stressed ethics and community service.
In his conduct, Pather was a worthy disciple. He was a bold and brave activist in the early decades of the Natal Indian Congress. He joined the NIC in the early 1920s and in 1924 was elected as joint secretary. He gained knowledge of the law while employed by a legal practice, Clark and Clark. His written and oratory skills equipped him to open his own estate agency.
In 1924 the colonial Pact government came into power. It was bent on the repatriation of Indians. In 1926 the government organised a round-table conference with leaders from the Indian subcontinent. The conference produced the Cape Town Agreement which set out a programme of repatriation of Indians and the appointment of Indian agents-general to represent the Indian community.
Few Indian South Africans were interested in repatriation. A second round-table conference was held in 1932. It established a colonisation inquiry committee to look into repatriation and colonisation. Pather, Albert Christopher and others opposed the decision to collaborate with the government and serve on Birth: Born in Mauritius to an Indian father and Mauritian mother. Brothers: PA Pather (Clairwood), PB Pather (Reservoir Hills) and IP Manickum Pather (Port Elizabeth). Children: Masilamoney, Marcus, Manimegalai, Ambigabathy, Pugalandhi, Sivapatham, Aroundhadhi (London). Business: He came from a family of jewellers and later established the firm Pather and Co, an estate agency. Politics: Rose to prominence in the 1920s in the National Indian Congress (NIC). Activism: He went on delegations to London and New York in 1946 to campaign against racial discrimination in South Africa. Trouble with the law: Sentenced to two months imprisonment for violating the Pegging Act. In his own words: “To dislodge a man from his own home is not the law of civilised society, but that of the jungle.” Character: Always cheerful, adored children, enjoyed the respect of those he differed with.