Brijlall Ramguthee recalls the past
APRIL 1, 1969 – OCTOBER 30, 2010. The beginning and the end of a remarkable journey at this publication where lifetime memories were made, interspersed with highs and some lows.
But memories nonetheless, some of which are recalled in this piece.
After a three-year stint at The Leader, a Bramdaw family-owned weekly, sadly no longer in circulation, I joined the then Golden City Post, as a general reporter.
But not before serving time as a freelancer, doing myriad routine tasks like writing captions, telexing copy, and running errands for some of the seniors, such as buying snacks (bhajia and bhoondi) and paying their bills until my time had arrived three months later, that is April 1, 1969.
Thrust into hard news by editor Bobby Harrypersadh, the court beat became my forte.
As daunting as it was, I relished the challenge as it enabled me to sharpen my skills, while, simultaneously keeping a wary eye on the “big guys”.
The “big guys” were those who faced criminal and other charges, but who did not want their alleged “deeds” to be publicised, especially in a newspaper with a soaring circulation.
And so it came to pass that I was assigned to cover one of the biggest murder trials a few months into 1969 of the “Maharaj brothers and others” at the Supreme Court in Masonic Grove, Durban.
The victim was a popular Durban medico, Dr Rajen (Mufty) Nulliah. He ran his busy practice adjacent to the Kennedy Road/Quarry Road intersection in Clare Estate.
The court heard chilling evidence of how Dr Nulliah had been lured to his death with a false patient call to Sydenham, how one of the accused was allegedly forced to drink large dollops of salt water to get him to confess, and how the doctor’s spray-painted car was found in Cottonlands, Verulam, soon afterwards.
His brutalised body was discovered in the nearby sugar cane fields.
I recall the courtroom being packed with relatives, friends, and eager spectators for the duration of the trial – at the end of which, the red-robed judge announced his verdict.
Two of them were told: You will be hanged by your neck until you are dead, which drew gasps of cheers and also bewilderment.
The duo were brothers Krishnan (Tony), 28; and Kay Ishwar (Killer) Maharaj, 23, who were subsequently executed at Pretoria’s Central Prison towards the end of 1969.
Their other brother, Sarwan (Solly), 23; Strini Pather (no age given and who was adopted by the brothers’ father, Sadasiv Maharaj, according to newspaper reports at the time) and fellow accused Gandhi Sewraj, 37, were subsequently released after serving various prison terms for their part in being accessories to the gruesome killing.
While this was one of the many trials I had covered, the flip side also saw me hear evidence of how police trailed love-acrossthe colour line couples for contraventions under the Immorality Act.
One in particular, a Sergeant Visser, gained fame (or notoriety) for hiding in the boot of a car, which earned the tag “cop in the boot”, much to the amusement of readers.
While on this subject, I recall the incident of a banker (white), who dived into Durban Bay to escape the cops. They had followed him for an alleged contravention.
The banker had to be rescued by the very same police officers.
As a news reporter, one also often came face-to-face with families devastated by tragedies such as suicide pacts, drownings, homicides, etc, all in the line of bringing the news to readers, but it also impacted emotionally on the messenger, ie the journalist.
It was never plain sailing, but one’s byline, especially on page 1, swelled one with a certain pride … until the next big scoop, of course.
Ramguthee rose through the ranks to become Editor of POST from January 1, 1989, to October 30, 2010. He subsequently served as consulting editor up to April 2011.
Over the next few weeks, journalists and photographers will share their stories and experiences.