South African Leader Praises Indian Community’s Contribution to Freedom Struggle

The premier of South African province of Gauteng has praised the role of the Indian-origin population in the country and said the community played an important part in the nation’s freedom struggle.

David Makhura, the premier of the economically important Gauteng province, who was addressing an event organized by the South African Tamil Federation, also said the Indian community has contributed to the country in many ways, including resistance movements in different eras.

“Right from our fight against colonialism and apartheid to the fight against corruption in present times, the Indian-origin community has always supported us,” news agency PTI quoted him saying.

Gauteng is home to 1.4 million South Africans of Indian origin, mostly from southern India.

Makhura praised the contribution of Thambi Naidoo and child martyr Valliamma Moodliar, both of Indian Tamil origin and part of Gandhi’s struggle against Apartheid. Makhura said, “Mahatma Gandhi learnt the concept of ‘Satyagraha’ here.”

“Many others (Indians) suffered and sacrificed their lives so that our country can be free. Many of them were tortured and detained. Many died, many were detained, and some went into exile,” the news agency quoted Makhura as saying.

Mauritius-born Thambi Naidoo was an early collaborator of Mahatma Gandhi and helped Gandhi in the South African Indian communities as they struggled against pre-Apartheid racial repression by the local white and the colonial British authorities in Durban between 1906 and 1913.

Valliamma Moodliar was born to Indian immigrant parents in South Africa and was raised in Johannesburg. She joined Gandhi when she was 10. At 16, she, her mother, and a large group of other women marched from Transvaal to Natal. In October 1913, she again joined her mother and other women to march to Natal where they were arrested and sentenced to three months of hard labor at the Pietermaritzburg prison.

When she was sent to prison, she was already sick. She died in 1914 after being released from prison.

PTI said Makhura also lauded the Indian community for its role in uplifting other groups in South Africa.