Gangathura Mohambry "Monty" Naicker (30 September 1910 – 12 January 1978) was a South African

anti-apartheid activist Several independent sectors of South African society opposed apartheid through various means, including social movements, passive resistance, and guerrilla warfare. Mass action against the ruling National Party (NP) government, coupled with So ...

. He is best known for his tenure as president of the

Natal Indian Congress The Natal Indian Congress (NIC) was a political organisation established in 1894 to fight discrimination against Indians in the Natal Colony, and later the Natal Province, of South Africa. Founded by Mahatma Gandhi, it later served an importan ...

(NIC) between 1945 and 1963. He also served as president of the

South African Indian Congress The South African Indian Congress (SAIC) was an umbrella body founded in 1921 to coordinate between political organisations representing South African Indians, Indians in the various provinces of South Africa. Its members were the Natal Indian ...

. A medical doctor by training, Naicker rose to political prominence in his hometown of

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

as a member of the NIC's left wing. After his election as NIC president in October 1945, he led the organisation in its campaign of

passive resistance Nonviolent resistance, or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, constr ...

to the Ghetto Act from 1946 to 1948. He became an important proponent of the

Congress Alliance The Congress Alliance was an anti-apartheid political coalition formed in South Africa in the 1950s. Led by the African National Congress, the CA was multi-racial in makeup and committed to the principle of majority rule. Congress of the Peopl ...

and of the anti-apartheid movement's ascendant

non-racialism Non-racialism, aracialism or antiracialism is a South African ideology rejecting racism and "racialism" while affirming liberal democratic ideals. History Non-racialism became the official state policy of South Africa after April 1994, and it is ...

, but he was a committed

Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi,one of the prominent figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians. Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environ ...

and opposed the movement's turn to

armed struggle War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organiz ...

in 1960. Because of his activism, Naicker was jailed eight times, charged in the

Treason Trial The Treason Trial was a trial in Johannesburg in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956. The main trial lasted until 1961, when all of the defendants were found not g ...

, and subjected to banning orders that lasted, cumulatively, 14 years. Most notably, he was banned between 1963 and 1973, during which time the NIC fell into dormancy. After his return to public life in 1973, he retired from politics, though he participated in the NIC's subsequent campaign against the

South African Indian Council The South African Indian Council was a body created by the apartheid-era South African government in 1968 to make recommendations to the government about matters affecting Indians. It was the first time that Indians were granted any sort of re ...

Early life and education

Naicker was born in

in the former

Natal Province The Province of Natal (), commonly called Natal, was a province of South Africa from May 1910 until May 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. During this period rural areas inhabited by the black African population of Natal were organised int ...

on 30 September 1910. He was the eldest of four siblings in a middle-class

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

family. His parents, Gangathura Papiah Naicker and Dhanam Pillay, were both descended from Indian migrants who had arrived in Natal via

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

in the 1880s; his father (commonly known as P. G. Naicker) was a prominent trader and banana exporter in Durban. He attended the Carlisle Street Boys School from 1917 to 1922 and completed his

matric Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used now ...

education at the newly founded Marine College from 1923 to 1928. In March 1928, he left Durban for the first time to travel to the United Kingdom, where he passed university entrance examinations at

Skerry's College Skerry's College was a series of colleges which primarily prepared candidates for Civil Service examinations across the UK and Ireland. History 1878–1885 Skerry's College was inaugurated as a small training centre in Edinburgh in 1878 by Ge ...

in 1929. Thereafter he studied

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, where he was a member of the student representative council and a member of the

anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is opposition to imperialism or neocolonialism. Anti-imperialist sentiment typically manifests as a political principle in independence struggles against intervention or influenc ...

Edinburgh Indian Association. His contemporaries at Edinburgh included two other prominent South Africans of Indian descent, Doctor Goonam and

Yusuf Dadoo Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo OMSG (5 September 1909 – 19 September 1983) was a South African Communist and an anti-apartheid activist. During his life, he was chair of both the South African Indian Congress and the South African Communist ...

. Upon his return to Durban in 1934, Naicker established a medical practice, drawing the majority of his patients from the nearby Magazine Barracks. Initially attracted to community and civil organising, he joined the Hindu Youth Club. His involvement in Indian political activism came later through the Liberal Study Group, an organisation dominated by intellectuals and

trade unionists A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

, and through the so-called Nationalist Bloc, a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

faction of the

(NIC). Aged 29, he made his maiden political speech in February 1940 at

Durban City Hall Durban City Hall is a historic city hall located at Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. History The building was designed by architect Stanley G. Hudson and erected between 1906 and 1910. Description The building, which features an Edwar ...

; in his autobiography I. C. Meer recalled that Naicker "took his stand clearly and forcefully".

Presidency of the Natal Indian Congress: 1945–1963

In April 1944, Naicker became the founding chairperson of the Anti-Segregation Council, which was established by members of the NIC's Nationalist Bloc to pursue mass mobilisation against Indian

segregation Segregation may refer to: Separation of people * Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space * School segregation * Housing segregation * Racial segregation, separation of human ...

. The formation of the council was the result of the Nationalist Bloc's increasing frustration with the NIC's conservative leadership, and that frustration culminated at the NIC's congress in October 1945. In a coup for the left of the NIC, the congress elected Naicker as NIC president, with Doctor Goonam as his vice-president. Naicker served as president of the NIC for the next 18 years.

Ghetto Act resistance

At its next congress in March 1946, the NIC committed itself to a major campaign of

to the

Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act, 1946 The Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act, 1946 (Act No. 28 of 1946; subsequently renamed the Asiatic Land Tenure Act, 1946, and also known as the "Ghetto Act") of Union of South Africa, South Africa sought to confine Asian people, As ...

, popularly known as the Ghetto Act. The campaign was coordinated at a national level by the

(SAIC), with a joint Passive Resistance Council (PRC) composed of representatives from both the NIC and its

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

counterpart the

Transvaal Indian Congress The Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC) was a political organisation established in 1903 to fight discrimination against Indians in the Transvaal Colony, and later the Transvaal Province, of South Africa. Founded in 1903 as the Transvaal British I ...

(TIC); Naicker and the TIC's Yusuf Dadoo (his classmate in Edinburgh) alternated in the presidency of the PRC. The passive resistance campaign lasted from June 1946 to June 1948, and during this period, in the autumn of 1947, Naicker and Dadoo travelled together to India to meet with

Mohandas Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

, and attendees of the Asian Conference. In his diary, Naicker described their meeting with Gandhi as "like the vision of a dream". Over the course of the Ghetto Act campaign, Naicker was arrested and convicted of

trespassing Trespass to land, also called trespass to realty or trespass to real property, or sometimes simply trespass, is a common law tort or a crime that is committed when an individual or the object of an individual intentionally (or, in Australia, ...

on three occasions in 1946, but he was discharged on the first two occasions; on the third, he was sentenced to five months' imprisonment, served in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

and

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

. According to his diaries, Naicker spent much of his sentence reading '' My Experiments With Truth''. In January 1948, when he and Dadoo staged a protest at the Natal–Transvaal border in defiance of the Immigrants Regulations Act, 1913, he was arrested again at

Volksrust Volksrust is a town in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa near the KwaZulu-Natal provincial border, some 240 km southeast of Johannesburg, 53 km north of Newcastle and 80 km southeast of Standerton. History The town was laid ...

and sentenced to a further six months' imprisonment. While in prison he reportedly arranged the sale of his own car to raise money to finance the Ghetto Act campaign.

Congress Alliance

Naicker and Dadoo were also united in supporting

. In that vein, they spearheaded cooperation between the SAIC and

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

(ANC), inaugurating an alliance that was symbolised by the March 1947 Doctors' Pact, a tripartite agreement signed by Naicker, Dadoo, and the ANC's Alfred Xuma. With the onset of legalised

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

in 1948, this non-racial front led the

Defiance Campaign The Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws was presented by the African National Congress (ANC) at a conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in December 1951 in South Africa, 1951. The Campaign had roots in events leading up the conferenc ...

of 1952. As part of the campaign, on 31 August 1952, Naicker addressed a rally in

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', p=ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːɪtʲ) is one of the oldest and largest town square, squares in Moscow, Russia. It is located in Moscow's historic centre, along the eastern walls of ...

and led the crowd in occupying a whites-only waiting room at the

Berea Berea may refer to: Places Greece * Beroea, a place mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, now known as Veria or Veroia * Veria, historically spelled and sometimes transliterated as Berea and site of the ancient city of Beroea Lesotho * Berea D ...

train station (an orchestrated act of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

); he and the others were jailed. In subsequent years, continuing as NIC president and also serving two terms as SAIC president, Naicker continued to embrace the ANC and other black activists; he invited ANC leaders to open NIC and SAIC events, and he himself delivered the opening address at the ANC's national conference in Durban on 16 December 1954. He had a particularly close relationship with ANC president

Albert Luthuli Albert John Luthuli ( – 21 July 1967) was a South African anti-apartheid activist, traditional leader, and politician who served as the President-General of the African National Congress from 1952 until his death in 1967. Luthuli was bor ...

; when Luthuli was awarded the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

in 1961, Naicker organised a series of events in Luthuli's honour, and a large portrait of Luthuli reportedly hung in the lounge in Naicker's own home. Meanwhile, Naicker was served with several banning orders and therefore was not permitted to attend the Congress of the People in 1955, but in the aftermath of the congress, in December 1956, he was among the 156 activists charged with

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

in the

. The charges against Naicker were dropped on 20 April 1959, but he continued to suffer state restrictions, and a particularly stringent five-year banning order was imposed on him in 1963. With several other NIC leaders banned at the same time, the organisation fell into dormancy.

Views on armed struggle

Despite his reputation as a left-wing activist, Naicker was a committed Gandhian and a lifelong proponent of ''

satyagraha Satyāgraha (from ; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone who practises satyagraha is ...

'' and non-violent resistance. Unlike several of his political allies, Dadoo among them, he did not join the

Communist Party of South Africa The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded on 12 February 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), and tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by t ...

, nor did he support the turn to

and the formation of

Umkhonto we Sizwe uMkhonto weSizwe (; abbreviated MK; ) was the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its mission was to fight against the South African government to brin ...

. According to

Billy Nair Billy Nair (27 November 1929 – 23 October 2008) was a South African politician, trade unionist, and anti-apartheid activist. He was a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and a political prisoner in Robben Island. Nair was a lon ...

, he and

Yusuf Cachalia Yusuf Mohamed Cachalia (15 January 1915 – 9 April 1995) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. He was the secretary of the South African Indian Congress, in which capacity he played a central role in organising the 1952 Defiance Campa ...

were among "the most implacable opponents of the armed struggle" in the

Retirement and death

After a decade of dormancy, the NIC was relaunched in 1971 on the initiative of Mewa Ramgobin, George Sewpersadh, M. J. Naidoo, and others. Naicker, however, remained barred from political life; his initial five-year banning order was extended in 1968 and did not expire until midnight on 30 April 1973. Although he retired from frontline politics, he returned to a prominent position in the NIC in the mid-1970s, having been asked to support the new organisation's campaign of resistance to the

(SAIC). In November 1977, he became the chairperson of the NIC's Anti-SAIC Committee. The Anti-SAIC Committee went on to play an important role in the establishment of the United Democratic Front, but Naicker died at an early stage of its activities: after a short illness, he was admitted to St Aidans Hospital, Durban, where he died on 12 January 1978. Speakers at his funeral included

Alan Paton Alan Stewart Paton (11 January 1903 – 12 April 1988) was a South African writer and anti-apartheid activist. His works include the novels '' Cry, the Beloved Country'' (1948), '' Too Late the Phalarope'' (1953), and the short story ''The Wa ...

, who described him as "jollity personified", as well as Nokukhanya Luthuli, I. C. Meer, Doctor Goonam, and Norman Middleton.

Honours

On 24 April 2007, post-apartheid president

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the 2nd democratic president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Cong ...

admitted Naicker to the

Order of Luthuli The Order of Luthuli is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003 and is awarded by the President of South Africa for contributions to the struggle for democracy, human rights, nation-building, justice, or peace and conflict ...

in Silver for "His excellent contribution to the struggle against apartheid, for contributing to the uniting of anti-apartheid forces and for putting his medical profession at the service of the poor and downtrodden." In 2008, the City of eThekwini renamed Durban's Pine Street as Monty Naicker Road. He is also a character in Alan Paton's ''

Ah, but Your Land Is Beautiful ''Ah, But Your Land Is Beautiful'' (1981) is the third and final novel by South African author Alan Paton. ''Ah, But Your Land is Beautiful'' is set in the 1950s, after apartheid was established in postwar South Africa. The historical novel explo ...

'', a 1983 historical fiction novel about resistance to apartheid. In 2010, the Monty Naicker Commemorative Committee was launched, with NIC activist Paul David as its president. Its initiatives included ''Walk with Monty Naicker'', an exhibition about Naicker's life and work at the

Durban Art Gallery The Durban Art Gallery, situated in Durban, South Africa, holds the status of a municipal art gallery under the administration of the by eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality. Its origins trace back to its establishment in 1892, making it a longsta ...

Personal life

In 1936, Naicker married Mariemuthumal Apavoo, originally from

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

; he had attended university with her two brothers. They had a son and a daughter together, and she also participated in the NIC's passive resistance campaigns. In 1966 their family was removed from their home in Percy Osborne Road, Durban in terms of the

Group Areas Act Group Areas Act was the title of three acts of the Parliament of South Africa enacted under the apartheid government of South Africa. The acts assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a syste ...

References

External links

Dr G. M. Naicker: Timeline
via

South African History Online The South African History Project (2001-2004) was established and initiated by Professor Kader Asmal, former Minister of Education in South Africa. This initiative followed after the publication of the Manifesto on Values, Education and Democracy ...

Dr G. M. Naicker: Biographical note
via African National Congress
'Don't support apartheid sport'
by Naicker and Luthuli, via African National Congress
1956 photograph
with

Mary-Louise Hooper Mary-Louise Hooper (March 2, 1907 – August 14, 1987) was a wealthy American heiress and activist in the Civil Rights Movement and anti-apartheid movement. She served a brief imprisonment in Johannesburg, South Africa and subsequent exclusion ...

during the Treason Trial, via African Activist Archive Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Naicker, Monty 1910 births 1978 deaths South African people of Tamil descent African National Congress politicians People acquitted of treason South African prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of South Africa Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Activists from Durban South African anti-apartheid activists South African politicians of Indian descent Recipients of the Order of Luthuli Natal Indian Congress politicians Gandhians