Gandhi belongs next to Madiba
WHILE South Africa and the world prepare to celebrate what would have been Nelson Mandela’s 96th birthday on 18 July 2014, another momentous occasion in the life of an equally illustrious freedom fighter is going largely unnoticed.
In 2009 the United Nations declared 18 July as Mandela Day. People will again be exhorted to donate 67 minutes of their time helping others as a tribute to the 67 years Mandela spent bringing justice and social change to South Africa and the world.
Friday 18 July 2014 will also mark the centenary of the departure of Mahatma Gandhi for India after spending 21 years in South Africa where he fought for human rights and perfected his philosophy of satyagraha (truth or soul force) which laid the groundwork for the freedom of India from British domination.
Between 1893 and 1914, Gandhi mainly lived in Durban and Johannesburg where he developed political ideas which were to have a bearing not only on South Africa, but also India and the rest of the world.
Thus it is often said that while India sent Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to South Africa, he returned to India as a Mahatma (Great Soul).
As he led the resistance movement in India, Gandhi often recalled his South African experience as a frame of reference for the direction of the struggle in India.
He often said that he was an Indian and a South African at the same time. Only two days before he was assassinated on 28 January 1948, he told a prayer meeting in New Delhi: "I have myself lived in South Africa for over 20 years and I can, therefore, say that it is my country."
It is indeed fortuitous that the two greatest liberation leaders in modern history - Gandhi and Mandela - are linked to South Africa. They both achieved independence for their countries through non-violent means.
Gandhi had a deep and lasting effect on Mandela’s life. Mandela said that without Gandhi’s teachings of truth and non-violence, apartheid would not have been conquered.
It is, therefore, befitting that Pretoria must celebrate Gandhi’s life and work in South Africa in a more noteworthy manner.
A day after Mandela was laid to rest, a nine-metre high bronze statue of him was unveiled at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Reconciliation Day, 16 December 2013.
Mandela’s bust was unveiled on 28 April 2014 at Parliament in Cape Town.
Yet there is no state-sponsored memorial of Gandhi of any significance in South Africa.
On a visit to the site of Gandhi’s assassination in New Delhi last week, William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary, and George Osborne, the Chancellor, announced that a statue of Gandhi would be erected at Parliament Square in London, next to that of other statesmen, including Mandela, Sir Winston Churchill, and Abraham Lincoln.
The tribute to the Indian civil rights leader, who studied in London, will be a mark of his continuing legacy inspiring non-violent movements around the world, they said.
Osborne said: “As the father of the largest democracy in the world, it's time for Gandhi to take his place in front of the mother of parliaments. He is a figure of inspiration, not just in Britain and India, but around the world.”
Hague said: "Gandhi's view of communal peace and resistance to division, his desire to drive India forward, and his commitment to non-violence left a legacy that is as relevant today as it was during his life. He remains a towering inspiration and a source of strength.”
There are a handful of life-size statues and busts of Gandhi in South Africa such as at Pietermaritzburg Railway Station – where Gandhi was booted out of a whites-only train coach – Gandhi Square in Johannesburg, in Ladysmith, and at Phoenix Settlement outside Durban.
However, these memorials have largely been erected through the reverence and admiration of Gandhi displayed by municipalities, history societies, and cultural organisations.
There are noteworthy statues of Gandhi in Amsterdam, Netherlands; Sherborn, Massachusetts; Honolulu, Hawaii; Nicosia, Cyprus; Almaty, Kazakhstan; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Geneva, Switzerland; Ottawa, Canada; and Plaza Cinco de Mayo in Panama.
Rugbeer Kallideen, secretary of the Phoenix Settlement Trust on the Inanda Heritage Route, dreams of the day when Gandhi’s house at Phoenix – it looks fake following rebuilding after the Inanda riots in 1985 – will enjoy global fame and reverence like the sites of his birth, death, and cremation.
Pretoria must take a leaf out of the UK Government’s decision to venerate Gandhi. A meaningful monument to Gandhi must be erected next to that of Madiba at Parliament, Cape Town.