Natal Indian Congress rightly takes its place as an anti-apartheid fighter

Extract from the last chapter of Colour, Class and Community – The Natal Indian Congress, 1971–1994

A 1990s NIC discussion document on the future of the organisation underscored that the ANC had yet to confront the challenge of reconciling non-racialism with other identities.

At one level the ANC is utterly remarkable for its non-racialism. It will be very difficult to find a parallel for the ANC anywhere in the world. At another level, sitting somewhat uneasily with this non-racialism are ethnic, regional, racial, gender, and other identities...

The ANC’S present non-racialism is somewhat abstract and coming to terms with these other identities will provide a more materialistic foundation for its non-racialism... There needs to be much more open debate within the ANC about ethnicity, race, non-racialism, and nation-building, and there is a need for appropriate strategies to be developed in this regard.

A cameo of these challenges played out when Mac Maharaj wanted to appoint Ketso Gordhan as director general of transport. He informed Nelson Mandela of his intentions, as Mandela “was conscious that I’m of Indian

origin and I was appointing a person of Indian origin, although one with an impeccable record in the ANC”.

Mandela supported him, but Maharaj recounted: “Months later I got wind of murmurings among many of the ANC comrades. I think it was in ... a black magazine ... that ministers were appointing people from similar race groups, and in particular they made a remark about me ... and then − surprise, surprise − I learned from Madiba one day during a casual chat that one of the veterans of the ANC who was in Parliament and on the transport committee had gone to Madiba to complain about the appointment of Ketso. So the matter stayed on the public agenda.”

It is revealing that in spite of all the talk of non-racialism, Maharaj had to walk on eggshells.

Of course, he could rely on Mandela’s social and political capital. Those without access to those resources felt the sting of marginalisation because of race and, unlike Maharaj, had nowhere to turn. The NIC might have collapsed into the ANC, but the wheel still bore the imprint of its racial spokes.

Marked by increasing economic disparities, poor service delivery, unemployment and corruption, the political terrain has shifted dramatically since Maharaj’s exchange with Mandela and the NIC’S discussion document. But the changing reality only reinforces and makes more urgent the issues raised. Such disparities provide fertile ground for authoritarian populists to stoke racial fires of hate.

Yunus Carrim, for example, spoke of the situation in Kwazulu-natal: “The emerging hostility

of African people, partly because of the EFF, partly because of the failure to reduce inequalities and create more spaces where we all interact... So we have this social explosion remaining in this province. Nobody is doing enough to bridge the gap and as we fail to deliver on economic growth, job creation, reducing inequality ... if you don’t reduce the gap between Indians and Africans, we are in big trouble here... All over the world you are getting the same sense of belonging, of identity, of who belongs and who doesn’t, our country is not escaping it...”

Given the ANC’S seeming inability − some might say unwillingness − to move beyond celebrating liberation as a “fancy dress parade and the blare of trumpets” accompanied by a few “reforms from the top”, the promise of a “better life for all” and an abiding non-racialism appear a pipe dream.

Some would argue that there is little likelihood of “creating identities that are broader and more integrative”. But so it appeared in the early 1970s, when the apartheid state was at its height of draconian authoritarianism and a small group of men and women at the Phoenix Settlement revived the NIC. Rather than letting the course of history determine their futures, they chose to make their own history, as part of a struggle to free all the peoples of South Africa.

The NIC was an anti-apartheid voice that not only fought and won significant battles against the co-option attempts of the apartheid regime but also kept the ideals of the ANC alive in the public domain. The NIC’S endorsement of the Freedom Charter and a non-racial inclusive nationalism spoke to people beyond the confines of its own ethnic base as it made a fundamental contribution to the UDF and the ANC underground and armed struggle. At a time when racial discrimination was ripping South Africa apart, and violence and repression were stalking the land, people were asked to step up to fight. The cadres of the NIC, whatever their shortcomings, enlisted and fought with courage and tenacity. Thus the NIC rightly takes its place in the pantheon of anti-apartheid fighters.

History will not be as kind to the present generation if they turn their backs on the ideals that powered the imagination and actions of people who came before them.

While today’s activists must find new ways of organising, new languages and new targets of dissent, and be critical of roads travelled, the memories and lessons of what went before are vital in formulating strategies and maintaining resolve.