Recognizing Canadian heroes of Mandela’s rainbow coalition

Third in a series Born the same year as Nelson Mandela, she died the same day as he. A native of India, she went to South Africa in 1931 as a 13-year-old bride and came to Toronto only four years ago to be with her sons. She hailed from Porbandar, the hometown of Mahatma Gandhi in Gujarat on the Arabian Sea. Many Gujaratis sailed to Africa as indentured labour and later as traders and professionals. Gandhi, the British-trained barrister, was invited to Durban to fight for the rights of Indians. It was in his 22 years there (1893-1915) that he developed his philosophy of non-violence that Mandela would later embrace. Rambhaben Jethalal, married to a second-generation Indian in Durban, was widowed at 48. Of her eight children, only five survived. Living on the margins of a racialized society, she bore her fate with forbearance and came to admire the anti-apartheid struggle. “She revered Nelson Mandela. After she came to Canada, she was always asking us how he was doing. We find it fitting that she passed away on the same day as he — she could not have better company with whom to leave,” said her grandson Nital Jethalal, at her memorial on Dec. 15 at Vishnu Mandir, at Hwy. 7 and Yonge St., near a bronze statue of Gandhi. Rambhaben was grounded in her Hinduism — her adult Canadian grandchildren remain vegetarian, and her memorial service was mostly bhajans, songs of devotion to the deities. But her spiritual guru was a turbaned Sikh, whose framed photograph was placed next to hers, similarly garlanded. Some Christians, Jews and Muslims joined cross-legged on the carpeted temple floor. The scene would have pleased both Gandhi and Mandela. A week later, the temple and the adjoining Museum of Hindu Civilization held a multi-faith service for Mandela. He was close to Indians, most famously Ahmad Kathrada, a Muslim, a fellow inmate of his at Robben Island, and also to the Saloojee family, one of whom, Yusuf, would establish an office of the African National Congress in Toronto in 1969. (Other South African Muslims are Malay, brought to the Cape in the 17th century by the Dutch for agitating against Dutch rule of the Far East. A shrine of a Malay Muslim saint on Robben Island was visible to Mandela, who reported, “We drew deep inspiration and spiritual strength from it through the darkest times.”) In Canada, the South African community is about 37,000, as per the 2011 National Household Survey. It consists mostly of whites (Christians and Jews) and the “coloured” (Hindus, Muslims and Christians). They are prominent in the medical field and in business. Some joined the anti-apartheid struggle with other Canadians in churches, labour unions and NGOs, as outlined in my column Sunday. My colleague Royson James wrote Saturday about the contributions of the African Canadian community. It was inevitable that we’d miss some. Herewith some more heroes:

South African Canadians who helped the ANC office here, and later its branches in Winnipeg and Vancouver, included Zaheer Bhyat, Baboo Moola, John and Maggie Bizzell, Ebrahim Moola, Jabu Dube, Peter Bunting, Zuby Agjee, Caroline Mogadime and Anver Saloojee, political science professor at Ryerson and a nephew of Yusuf Saloojee. Last week, he spoke at a memorial for Mandela at the university, which is renaming Victoria St. as Mandela Way.

Rev. Jim Webb, a Jesuit priest who died last year. He badgered corporate Canada into boycotting the apartheid regime. Bonnie Greene, one of the activists from that era, recalls that Webb, “a slight fellow, who would turn up at company annual meetings to ask questions, once told me that he’d throw up every time he had to go there” — but did.

Dick Thompson, chairman of the Toronto-Dominion Bank, the first big-name banker to refuse loans to South Africa.

Moira Hutchinson, researcher for the Taskforce on the Churches and Corporate Responsibility, who later helped bring the Steelworkers Union into the anti-apartheid movement.

Vera Cudjoe, founder of Black Theatre Canada. Long before the 1986 Arts Against Apartheid festival, there was her Act Against Apartheid competition that produced one-act plays. Her initiative is what led to the larger umbrella group.

Cathy Austin, of YWCA, and Jean Ann Ledwell, who worked with the Inter-church Committee on Africa and the Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.

Public figures not given enough credit include: Stephen Lewis, Canada’s ambassador to the UN; and David MacDonald, United Church minister and one-time Progressive Conservative MP for Rosedale, who helped cut off trade in arms and spare parts to South Africa. A reader made a telling point: given how Canadians mobilized for that cause, it’s a shame they are not exercised enough about the plight of our native peoples.

Rambhaben Jethalal “revered Nelson Mandela,” her grandson said. “We find it fitting that she passed away on the same day as he”