Memorial promises not honoured

YOUR front-page article “Squabbling mars plans for 1860 memorial” (Sunday Tribune Herald, November 13) refers.

In the early 1970s the late JP Gokool, who was then president of the 1860 Settlers Association, had grand plans to build a monument to commemorate the arrival of the first Indians to South Africa.

Gokool, and several other people who were actively involved in the campaign, had envisaged the monument should encompass a theatre, documentation centre, museum and a restaurant.

They also campaigned for November 17 to be declared a public holiday to commemorate the arrival of Indians in South Africa, as that was the day the ship, the Truro, with the first full load of indentured Indian labourers, landed in Durban in 1860.

However, Gokool encountered numerous obstacles and sadly passed away before achieving his dream.

In 1995, President Jacob Zuma, speaking at a function to mark the 135th anniversary of the arrival of the 1860 Indian settlers, called for a monument to be erected in honour of the contribution of Indians to this country.

The late Amichand Rajbansi stated at that time that the idea of erecting a monument was an old one. He said the contractors who had built Truro House were to have built a Settler’s Monument opposite Truro House.

The then Durban City Council (now eThekwini Municipality) had leased the land for the monument to the Saiva Sithantha Sungum and the late Swami Navalar performed a prayer on the site.

But nothing happened after that.

In January 2000, then ANC provincial chairman, Sbu Ndebele, speaking at the official renaming of the Lower Bridge Road in Durban North, to Soofie Saheb Drive stated that just as we have a monument for the 1820 British settlers in Grahamstown, the Indian community should be similarly honoured and proposed that a lasting monument be erected to commemorate their arrival in this country. However, nothing materialised. Now in November 2016, and nearly 50 years after the first call to erect a monument was made, we have Premier Willies Mchunu, mayor Zandile Gumede, MEC for Health Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo and members of the Indian community once again, like a stuck record, singing the same old song at a sodturning ceremony at Addington Beach to mark the arrival of the 1860 indentured labourers to Durban and announcing that a monument will be erected in our city.

It seems that the call for the erection of a monument in memory of the thousands of Indian indentured labourers is all talk and no action.

If and when the monument finally gets off the ground, we will owe a great debt of gratitude to JP Gokool and the founding members of the 1860 Settlers Association.

JAYRAJ BACHU Clare Estate