75th anniversary commemoration of 1946 passive resistance campaign
The campaign was spearheaded by the Natal and Transvaal Indian Congresses under the leadership of doctors, Monty Naicker and Yusuf Dadoo.
The Sites of Struggle Collective marked the 75th anniversary of the 1946 passive resistance against racial segregation, on Sunday, at Depot Road Memorial Primary School in Chatsworth.
The campaign was spearheaded by the Natal and Transvaal Indian Congresses under the leadership of doctors, Monty Naicker and Yusuf Dadoo.
It drew international attention to the Ghetto Act, which confined people according to race in separate residential areas.
1860 Heritage Centre curator, Selvan Naidoo, veteran activist, Yogan Moodley, Tristal Kuppan, Danny Pillay of the Magazine Barracks Remembrance Association and Kiru Naidoo of the Sites of Struggle Collective, honoured the courageous passive resistors of 1946 at a special ceremony on the 75th anniversary.
Collective spokesperson, Zandile Qono, whose family was a key part of the campaign pointed out that the current generation needed to honour the history of the struggle for a non-racial society.
“Our activism must serve as memory against forgetting that people lost their lives, went to prison, were thrown out of their homes and had their lives destroyed by a racist government,” said Qono. The organisers will mount a photo exhibition of historic images and call on the descendants of the resistors to light a candle as a flame of hope to strengthen our democracy and non-racialism.
