Unassuming struggle hero dies in Dbn hospital
TRIBUTES are pouring in for former South African political prisoner and anti-apartheid activist Surinarayan “Sunny” Venkatrathnam, 84, who died in a Durban hospital today.
Granddaughter Teneille Pillay said he had taken ill at 2.30am this morning and was rushed from his Berea Road home to Entabeni Hospital.
Venkatrathnam was a teacher of English and Mercantile law in Durban, but in 1963, was dismissed from his job for protesting discrimination against Asians in the educational system.
He was a member of the African Peoples Democratic Union of Southern Africa and owned a Chatsworth butchery.
He was banned by the apartheid government until 1970, but shortly thereafter, was arrested at his home in Silverglen under the Terrorism Act.
He suffered from a deaf ear and a burst hernia as scars from his six months of torture. He was accused no 14 in a terrorism trial held in the Pietermaritzburg Supreme court in April 1971. He was sentenced to two concurrent six-year terms on Robben Island.
His wife expectant wife, Theresa, and two infant children, only saw him again when he was released in 1978. Theresa died six years ago.
Venkatrathnam was imprisoned with the likes of Nelson Mandela, Mac Maharaj and Ahmed Kathrada and Saths Cooper.
Venkatrathman began work for Amnesty International after he was unbanned in April 1983, and in an interview with the Mercury newspaper, said he felt like a human being again.
“I was not a guerrilla or a revolutionary. I just want to show how ordinary people get involved with these things,” he told newspaper journalist Melissa Michelson.
Former Robben Island prisoners signed off on sections that appealed to them.
Close friend Kiru Naidoo said: “A hero of SA freedom, he was quiet, unassuming but formidable in his argument... He never shared the gruesome details of torture and the vicious things done to him.
On Facebook, Gary Govindsamy described him as “an intellectual giant in the struggle for democracy”, while Alan Khan Such thanked him for his contribution and for making our world a better place.