In “The Indian Africans”, Paul David, together with Ranjith Choonilall, Kiru Naidoo and Selvan Naidoo, tell a riveting story of Indian people, their heritage, struggles, and triumphs in South Africa throughout the centuries.
The long-anticipated national book tour is launching at selected venues in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal this February.
The 367-page book is jam-packed with several previously unpublished images that include actual photographs from people on-board indenture ships.
Curator of the 1860 Heritage Centre in Durban, Selvan, whose detective work uncovered the treasure trove in the records of ship captain Max de Gruyter held by his grandson in Australia, pointed out that "the photographs and diary accounts from the indenture ships break new ground in telling the history of South Africans of Indian origin".
Lawyer and president of the 1860 Pioneers Foundation, Choonilall, remarked that The Indian Africans is a story of "yesterday, today and tomorrow" as it dwells on the period of migrations from India from the first millennium to Cape slavery to indenture and current social dynamics.
“This is a story that had to be told thirty years into our democracy, but the response has taken us by surprise,” Kiru told IOL entertainment.
“The authors were inspired to write about the origins and struggles of Indian indentured labour leading to the struggle for a democratic South Africa.
“And readers can look forward to images on board indenture ships published for the very first time.
“It is a hugely emotional experience for a community that emerged from the sugar plantations of colonial Natal to take their places in every facet of South African life from politics to the professions.”
He added that he believes that the short prose explaining the scores of photographs going back more than a hundred years is a special attraction of the book.
“We've been at pains to tell the stories simply so that we could reach as many people as possible. The latest round of launches kicked off on Wednesday night at the Dainfern Estate.
“It will then move to Bramley, Midrand, and very importantly, the communities forcibly removed under the apartheid Group Areas Act to Laudium and Lenasia before heading to Ladysmith in KZN.”
According to the SAHistory.Org., the first Indians arrived during the Dutch colonial era as slaves in 1684. A conservative calculation based strictly on records shows over 16 300 slaves from the Indian subcontinent having been brought to the Cape.
In the second half of the 19th Century, Indians came to South Africa in two categories, namely as indentured workers in 1860 and later as “free” or “passenger” Indians.
The former came as a result of a triangular pact among three governments, which stated that the indentured Indians were to work for the Natal colonial government on Natal's sugar plantations.
The “free“ Indians came to South Africa mainly as traders alert to new opportunities abroad. These 'free Indians' came at their own expense from India, Mauritius, and other places. However, emigration was stopped in 1914.
(Extract for the South African History Online (SAHO)
All events are free and open to the public.
9 February: Bramley North (57 Homestead Road) at 6pm.
10 February: Midrand (The Purple Lounge) from 4pm
10 February: Laudium (Himalaya Secondary School) at 6.30pm
11 February: Ladysmith (Ladysmith Library) at 10am.
12 February: Lenasia (Impala Primary School) 10.30am.
21 February 2023: Stanger (Mozabik Restaurant) 6pm.
For more information, visit madeindurban.co.za. The book is available for purchase at R350.