Indian-origin community has always supported us: Top South African leader

A top South African leader has lauded the contribution of the Indian-origin population in the country and said the community has played a vital role in the nation's freedom struggle.

Addressing an event of the South African Tamil Federation here, the premiere of the Gauteng Province, David Makhura, said South Africans of Indian descent have played a key role in the country's 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, he said.

Gauteng, the economic hub of South Africa, has 1.4 million South Africans of Indian origin.

The first Indians arrived during the Dutch colonial era, as slaves, in 1684. In the second half of the 19th Century, Indians came to South Africa in two categories -- as indentured workers in 1860 and later as 'free' or 'passenger' Indians.

Noting the contribution of Thambi Naidoo and child martyr Valliamma Moodliar, who had joined Gandhiji in his fight against apartheid and colonialism in South Africa, 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," he said.

Thambi Naidoo is one of the most important figures in the history of the Satyagraha campaign in South Africa. He was an early collaborator of Mahatma Gandhi and fought against pre-apartheid racial repression by the local white and the colonial British authorities in Durban.

Moodliar, a South African Tamil girl, was 10 years of age when she joined Gandhiji. She died at the age of 16 in 1914 after being released from prison. She was jailed by the Britishers for her fight against apartheid.

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