Mentor to many
Dr Ronnie Govender, an internationally acclaimed and much-awarded figure in the theatre and literature world, died from age-related illnesses last week. A long-time acquaintance, Yogin Devan, recounts his meaningful life.
EIGHTY-SEVEN years ago, on May 16, 1934, a bag lady – a traditional midwife – delivered a lanky baby boy in a simple dwelling in Cato Manor just outside Durban.
The child, Sathiseelan Gurulingam Govender, was born into a strictly Tamil household, but as was then the case among working-class families, he was also given the English nickname, Ronnie, by which he was to be more popularly known in the world of theatre and literature, locally and abroad.
Ronnie Govender’s grandparents on both sides of the family came as indentured immigrants from South India and later developed a market garden from which they hawked vegetables.
His parents were of humble stock – his father was a van driver for Debs Bakery and his mother a housewife. They had 10 children.
The family worshipped at the local Stri Muthulinganatha Easvarar Alayam, also known as the First River Temple. Govender went to primary school in Cato Manor and also attended Tamil school in the afternoons.
He enjoyed devotional and classical songs throughout his life – the Tamil song Eppadi Padinaro, by DK Pattammal, was a firm favourite – and he would often use Tamil terms of endearment such as Naina (father) and Thumby (younger brother) when speaking to friends.
He completed his high school education at Sastri College. He was forced to curtail law studies at the University of Cape Town because of financial difficulties. Govender then enrolled at Springfield College and qualified as a teacher. While teaching, he also began writing part time on sport for several newspapers, notably The Graphic and The Leader. He also wrote a boxing column as he was keen on boxing.
As a journalist, he attacked racism in sport, a stance that saw him become a leading figure in non-racial football.
He was to be later elected as an executive member of the South African Soccer Federation (SASF), the non-racial soccer body in South Africa. He was also one of the founding members of the non-racial South African Council on Sport (Sacos).
When Govender was a teacher, the salary was relatively low. After teaching for 11 years, he landed a better-paying job as a sales representative for South African Breweries. He became one of the first people of colour to hold what was then an exalted position.
More than being an educator, freelance journalist and beer marketer, Govender’s true calling lay in writing and producing plays for protest theatre.
His work did not just reflect the life of the common man – it also showed how things should or could be, and stirred the audience into introspection and action. Govender etched for himself a reputation as the doyen of community theatre.
When Krishna Shah, an eminent American director, came to Durban in 1963 to direct and stage Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore’s King of the Dark Chamber, he also ran a three-week clinic on different aspects of theatre. Govender had written a story, on one of the people who took part in King of the Dark Chamber, a remarkable dancer called Bashkar who was also a boxer.
Shah liked the story and he persuaded Govender to join his clinic where he received some clear insights on the technical aspects of theatre. At the end of this three-week course, Shah selected three plays to stage, one of which was Govender’s play, Beyond Calvary, based on a couple from two different religious backgrounds.
After this there was no looking back for Govender and he buried himself in writing to become a foremost playwright, director and theatre activist.
In 1964, he co-founded a theatre company called the Shah Theatre Academy in opposition to the liberal theatre of the day.
Growing up, the young Govender must have had sharpened senses to absorb all the details of the life of the multiracial community – especially Africans and Indians in Cato Manor – and he later made gracious mention of the democratic coexistence and mutual respect which should be a template for a future democratic nation.
Like a sponge, he absorbed all aspects of the lives of the people he mingled and grew up with. He took keen notice of their speaking mannerisms, their religious practices, the community customs, the way people dressed, what they ate, what they drank, the games and sport they played and he was even able to appreciate and understand the thoughts that pervaded their minds.
His texts powerfully recollected private and community identity even under the cloud of legislated oppression. Here is an example:
Baijnath kept in touch with Mr Peters. They were now no longer master and pupil, although Baijnath couldn’t stop calling him “Sir”.
He invited him to his shop and soon every Friday, when they closed the shop and sent the staff home, Baijnath would pull out a bottle of cane spirits. It was illegal for Indians to have liquor in their possession. They could drink at the “Indian bar” of white hotels but could not buy liquor at a bottle store to take home.
Baijnath had his way of obtaining his weekly bottle of cane spirits and once he had closed his front door, nobody could enter. Mr Peters brought some slices of roast beef for bites and although Baijnath was in many ways a good Hindu, he saw nothing wrong in having beef. He was a practical man and understood why certain things were done in religion. He felt people should not follow customs blindly but ask why they were there.
Baijnath would often bring masala fried shad, which was plentiful off the coast of Natal. At that time whites looked down upon the fish as they did on cane spirits. Baijnath observed, “Sir, it’s good. The idiots don’t know what they are missing. We will have the shad all to ourselves.”
In winter, when the sardine run was on, Baijnath’s wife would deep-fry the sardines into delicious crispy bites in a light batter made of masala, crushed ginger, curry leaf, dhania and flour. Mr Peters, sweating after four canes and a couple of sardines, would say, “Absolutely delicious, absolutely delicious!”
Some of his notable works have
included The Lahnee’s Pleasure, Swami; Black Chin White Chin, Song of the Atman,
His Brother’s Keeper and In the Manure about his personal experiences and reflections, Off Side and Inside which both lampooned participants in the tricameral parliament and At the Edge and
Other Cato Manor Stories.
The Lahnee’s Pleasure, which was one of the longest-running productions in the country, challenged workers to shake off the culture of obedience and subordination which lahnees (bosses) imposed upon them. At the Edge won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers Prize for best first book, Africa.
Interspersed with lots of humour, Govender used his plays as a tool for social change in response to the negative injustices and conditions of apartheid.
His style of drama was characterised by a domestic setting such as the family lounge, the factory floor or a bar, and the protagonist was often a common man. His laugh-a-minute comedies were based on quick, physical humour and often crude dialogue and included political themes and satire in the same package.
The writing technique and overall structure of Govender’s stories and novels are unadorned and performative, easily lending themselves to be played out on stage.
Side-by-side with his popularity as a theatre man, it was Govender’s personality that also won him many adoring fans. A dapper dresser – black being a favourite colour – and his towering figure, combined with his salt-of-the-earth nature, drew bevies of admiring females and this often landed him in trouble with his family.
In 1991, Govender was appointed marketing manager of the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town and two years later, he was appointed director of Durban's Playhouse Theatre. In 2000, Govender was awarded a medal by the English Academy of South Africa for his contribution to English literature.
He was appointed the resident director at the University of Durban-Westville’s (now University of KwaZulu-Natal) Asoka Theatre.
In 2008, the South African government conferred the Order of Ikhamanga on Govender for his excellent contribution to democracy and justice in South Africa through the genre of theatre. In 2014, the Durban University of Technology conferred an Honorary Doctor of Technology in Arts and Design upon Govender for his contribution to literature and the arts in general as well as his contribution to democracy, peace and justice in South Africa through theatre.
Govender was a mentor to many successful stage personalities, including Kessie Govender, Essop Khan, Mahomed Ali, Geevie Nadasen, Saths Cooper, Gita Pather, Jack Devnarain, Alfred Nokwe, Solly Pillay, Pat Pillai, Leeanda Reddy, Koobeshan Naidoo, Eubulus Timothy, Rubendra Govender, Jailoshini Naidoo, Warrick Frank, Maeshni Naicker and Jayshree Parasuramen.
He is survived by his wife, Kamala, daughter Pregs and son Pat.