Striking a synergy in the struggle for freedom
Like the later activists of the Eastern Cape, the protests in Natal shook the country
THE COMMERCIAL greed associated with Black Friday has its origins in a much darker past. Some historians argue that on the original Black Friday, slave owners in America would sell cheaply slaves who had the least value.
In reflecting on our own history of oppression, perhaps we should jog our memories of December 1984 when Matthew Goniwe called for a boycott known as “Black Christmas”.
This infuriated the white business community in the Eastern Cape. Former United Democratic Front secretary, Paul David, recalls striking up a close camaraderie with Goniwe at the UDF’S launch in August 1983.
The boycott saw the Lingelihle community in Cradock not buying food or liquor from white-owned stores. Six months later, on June 27, 1985, Goniwe and three other anti-apartheid activists – Sicelo Mhlauli, Fort Calata and Sparrow Mkhonto – were intercepted by apartheid security police at a roadblock outside Port Elizabeth. They were abducted, killed and their bodies burnt.
They became known as the Cradock Four, activist foot soldiers who, over time, are often lost to the pages of history. Other names like Teboho “Tsietsi” Mashinini, Victoria and Griffiths Mxenge, Rick Turner, Phila Ndwandwe, Nokuthula Simelane, Krishna Rabilal, Lenny Naidu, Valliamma Moonsamy Mudaliar, Sammy Nagappan, Harbat Singh and many others also often go without mention.
Oliver Tambo delivered a speech on behalf of Nelson Mandela in accepting the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding on November 14, 1980.
Tambo said: “It is fitting that on this day, I should recall the long and glorious struggle of those South Africans who came to our shores from India 120 years ago. Within two years of entering the bondage of indentured labour, Indian workers staged their first strike against the working conditions in Natal. This was probably the first general strike in South African history.
“Their descendants, working and fighting for the future of their country, South Africa, have retained the tradition of militant struggle and are today an integral part of the mass-based liberation movement in South Africa.”
Significant among these struggles is the Natal strike of 1913, which had three underlying causes. The first being the oppressive £3 tax passed by colonialists who sought to re-indenture the poor ex-indentured and keep them bonded to plantation life for eternity. The second was the invalidity of religious marriages that degraded the legal status of Indian women. The third was the immigration laws that prevented movement within and outside South Africa. The £3 tax law, however, became the rallying call for the indentured community to fight and mobilise in a way South Africa had not seen before.
The seeds of the 1913 uprising were sprouted in Newcastle by the mineworkers’ strike. The subsequent march to Charlestown, 56km north of Newcastle, on the border of the old Natal and Transvaal saw thousands of men, women and children in solidarity, courting arrest and assault.
News of the march together with the arrest of Gandhi and the martyrdom of Valliamma brought to the surface the dormant militant potential of Natal’s South Coast plantation workers. Gandhi and an exhausted leadership, struggled to maintain the solidarity of striking workers in northern Natal. The strike’s success was ensured when it spread to the South Coast. It is worth recalling that 65% of the indentured were undergoing second or third terms of indenture. The level of discontent with colonial oppression was at its peak.
William Campbell of Mount Edgecombe estates wrote: “The men now will not listen to anyone but Gandhi or the gun.”
On November 27, 1913, at Mount Edgecombe, at least six Indians were killed and 55 wounded. One deposition tells how Colin Campbell murdered an indentured worker called Selvan with an assegai before shooting him.
By the end of November 1913, the strikes had paralysed the Durban and Pietermaritzburg fresh produce markets, closed some of the sugar mills and stripped many coastal hotels, residences and the municipality of their servants. Like the later activists of the Eastern Cape, they shook the country.
THE #1860PROJECT focuses on deepening non-racialism and highlighting the contributions of diverse communities in the struggle for freedom.
will present weekly segments. The outcome will be a pictorial published by the 1860 Pioneers Foundation in 2020 to coincide with the 160th anniversary of the first Indian indenture. Feedback from readers, especially to identify persons or events depicted or to correct the record is encouraged on kirunaidoo1@gmail.com or Whatsapp 082 940 8163.