Unbroken Thread of Non-Racial Unity

Hundreds of Natal Indian Congress (NIC) veterans joined with ANC, SACP and trade union activists to celebrate Saturday night's commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the founding of the NIC. ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa announced this political milestone during his January 8 statement delivered at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

The local ANC consulted with past members of the NIC executive before embarking on the glittering event that also featured the cross-cultural Surialanga dancers. Provincial ANC spokesperson Gugu Simelane-Zulu said: "The ANC and NIC have a long history of comradeship and we continue to nurture this unbroken thread of non-racialism."

Mahatma Gandhi whose 150th birth anniversary is marked this year was among those who founded the NIC in 1894. The anti-apartheid movement was active until 1990 when its membership migrated into the ANC. "As fraternal organisations in the struggle we have shared the trenches since 1947 when President AB Xuma signed the Three Doctors' Pact with Doctors Monty Naicker and Yusuf Dadoo of the Indian Congresses," added Simelane-Zulu.

She pointed out that the NIC worked side-by-side with the ANC in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People, which drafted the Freedom Charter. "In the 1956 Treason Trial, Cdes Dadoo and Naicker were in the dock with our president Inkosi Albert Luthuli and the top leadership of our movement."

Activists from the Indian community like Billy Nair, Ahmed Kathrada and Laloo Chibba served lengthy periods of imprisonment alongside Madiba, Walter Sisulu and others on Robben Island. The ANC noted that at the height of the struggle against apartheid in the 1980s, the NIC remained on the frontline of the Mass Democratic Movement.

Records of the NIC show that ANC stalwart Cde Archie Gumede served on the NIC executive in the 1980s right up until it ceased to meet as an organisation. "Our message is consistently one of uniting our people and growing South Africa together," she added.

Former United Democratic Front co-founder and secretary Paul David and ANC NEC member Cde Pravin Gordhan addressed the meeting with ANC KZN chairperson Sihle Zikalala delivering the keynote address. "We must reiterate that the ANC remains a home for all progressive forces and activists, capable of adequately representing the aspirations of the minority communities," said Zikalala.