The Indian community of South Africa has travelled a long way from their very humble beginnings as indentured labourers in the sugar cane fields, on the coal mines of northern Natal, railway lines, hospitals, dockyards, hotels, municipal services and in domestic services of the then-infant new South Africa. They came by sea, on long voyages, clutching bundles of their hopes and belongings. Sons and daughters of another soil, India. They travelled for months on rough seas to toil on a strange unknown land, full of promises and deceit, to raise crops, and hope to become prosperous.
The untold hardships, racism and cruelty that the pioneering Indian indentured labourers suffered in their early history cannot be easily forgotten. They have, over a century and a half, made tremendous progress with their readiness to pick themselves up, work hard and sincerely get on with their lives.
Their self-help and initiatives have seen the building of countless schools, places of worship, business centres and much needed amenities to improve their quality of life. The Indian people are one of the greatest examples of self-help, sacrifice, courage and survival, history has shown. They have also contributed in no small measure to the struggle for freedom from the shackles of oppression and apartheid under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders of the generations that followed.
In 1960, exactly a hundred years after the arrival of the first Indian indentured labourers, with the constitutional change that the Republic brought about, the South African government under the leadership of Prime Minister Dr H F Verwoerd finally accepted, rather reluctantly, that the Indians were citizens of the Union of South Africa. The first Minister of Indian Affairs was Mr W A Maree.
Today, after playing an important role in South Africa’s transition to democracy, Indians occupy positions in Parliament, Provincial and Local Government and Municipal Councils and are contributing immensely to every facet of life in South Africa. We stand here today as descendants of those hardworking, courageous, fearless and wonderful people, who were brave enough to risk everything for a better life for themselves, their children and generations to come and have given us our heritage. The majority of Indian South Africans are the descendants of Indian indentured labourers brought to Natal between 1860 and 1911.
Therefore, the unveiling of the monument is a symbolic gesture, celebrating the heritage of the pioneers, the courage and commitment and the wisdom, passion and determination of the Indian indentured labourers. During the colonial era, 165 years ago the colonial government recruited Indian labourers to work in the sugar cane plantations of Natal.
A life of terrible pain and extreme hardship followed as they experienced a new life in this part of the world and in Africa. History recalls a life of arduous sacrifice, selfless service and a determination to succeed despite the Odds. Hence, the monument symbolises “The Triumph of the Human Spirit”
The Midlands of Natal was occupied by settlers of English descent who actively farmed. Many of these farmers also worked as transport riders to augment their income from farming since for many years their lack of expertise of working these unknown lands meant that farming did not pay. Their life was one of constant work in order to survive and make a livelihood.
Charles John Smythe, the pioneer, Premier and Administrator of Natal was desperately short of labour. He together with Robert King were sent as a deputation to meet with Indian indentured labourers that had moved up to work in the Nottingham Road area in 1880. This was some time after the Indian indentured labourers were brought to work on the sugar cane farms.
Approximately, 2,234 Indian indentured labourers were employed by approximately 167 settler farmers in the Midlands of the fledgling Midlands of Natal. Others worked at the Creamery, Hospital, Railway Station, Railway Hotel and at Fort Nottingham. The Minister of Agriculture had employed 74 Indian indentured labourers who were stationed at various “towns” where the department had settler officers who served as advisers to the farmers.
Although Indian labour played an important part in the development of the sugar industry, this has been somewhat over-emphasised while their contribution to the overall economy has not received the attention it merits. The part played by the “special servants” brought from India, particularly from Madras, in the growth of the hotel industry in Durban deserves special mention. They provided the waiters, dhobies, doormen, carriage drivers and chefs, attired in crisp white uniforms, turbans and coloured sashes, who were a distinguishing feature of high-class establishments.
Indian indentured labourers were recruited by Michaelhouse School as Special Servants. They were employed as cleaners, gardeners, laundry men (dhobies), waiters, carriage drivers, chefs or as assistants in the hostels. The youngest being a 1 year old girl and a 3-year-old boy.
Not going into detail, some of the fourth generation of Indian indentured labourer families that are still residents in Howick include: the Bhikas; the Nihals and the Ramdhins.
The Indians have throughout the past century and beyond, toiled not only to make Natal, but South Africa what it is today. They have also preserved their culture, customs and traditions which they have brought with them from India. Even in the most dangerous hour, when the hard-line racist regime in the past insisted that the Indians were a “foreign and in-assimable element” who should be reduced to the “irreducible minimum” and offered our forefathers and mothers a few paltry shillings to return to India, Indians spurned this generosity.
“This land, which owes so much of its prosperity to our blood, sweat and tears” they retorted “is our land too”. It was an ordinary retort, pronounced by a people who had truly given their all to this country. This is the unique struggle and triumph of our people- we should be proud to belong to a hard- working, resilient, trustworthy and committed South Africans of Indian origin.
Every South African should be proud of these valiant indentured Indians. To me, the mark of my civilization is this unquenchable thirst to remember our ancestors who laid a solid foundation for us and generations to come. This monument and others elsewhere, exemplifies a continuity, an idea, a memory that can never be erased, that is worth fighting for and preserving. It reminds us of a people who are dead for hundreds of years, is as almost as though you can feel their pain, their suffering, their destruction that has transcended the limits of body and time. I see this monument as an outlet of emotion, as a deliverance of justice to my ancestors, to our ancestors who were wronged.
This monument is erected for the souls of those who have died in grace in-spite of their hardships.
To see the fruition of my envisaged monument to honour the Indian indentured men and women who laid the foundation for our future and that of the generations to come has been very fulfilling and gratifying.
* Dr Isri Bedassi is chair of the 1860 Legacy Foundation. This is an edited extract of an address he delivered at the unveiling of the new 1860 indentured Indian monument unveiled in Howick earlier this month.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.