Cape Times

Descendant­s remember victims of 1913 Indian strike

- Own Correspond­ent |

AN EMOTIONAL ceremony was held in Mount Edgecombe yesterday to honour the martyrs of the indentured Indian workers’ strike of 1913.

Descendant­s gathered to lay flowers, the South African flag and lamps at the spot where Selvan Guruvadu and others were shot dead by a plantation manager 106 years ago.

“It was a rare case to go to the Verulam Magistrate’s Court, where even overwhelmi­ng evidence was not enough to convict the culprit,” said Gary Govindsamy, who is descended from the indentured people of Mount Edgecombe.

He is a founder of the group calling itself Asijiki – Activists for Selvan Inquest – which opened a case at the Phoenix police station on the 105th anniversar­y of the murders last year.

“We wrote an affidavit asking the SAPS and NPA to reopen the inquest so that our people can taste belated justice,” added Govindsamy.

The group was motivated by the reopening of the Timol Inquest, where Security Branch policemen responsibl­e for the murder of the anti-apartheid activist were brought to book decades later.

Another member of the collective, 1860 Heritage Centre curator Selvan Naidoo, said that the group refused to let these violent crimes be quietly buried in the stockpile of history.

“Our mothers and fathers from a century ago were not heard, we are now their voices,” said Naidoo.

Local historian Kiru Naidoo, who also serves on the board of the Gandhi-Luthuli Documentat­ion Centre at the University of KwaZuluNat­al, added that the 1913 strike, which brought the economy of Natal to a complete standstill, had the government using the army against the workers. That resistance inspired the worker struggles that followed, including the 1946 and 1973 strikes.

“Our fighting people will not be written out of history for as long as we agitate for them to be recognised and granted justice,” said Naidoo.

Govindsamy is adamant that there must be an apology and atonement for the human rights abuses committed during Indian indenture.

“Not only do we want this case to be reopened, but this land should be given back in reparation­s,” he said.

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