The South African Indian Experience as the Other

I. Introductory Remarks

The appearance of the Indian on South African soil dates back to the days of the Dutch East India Company, when Indians were captured in India and sold as slaves to the settlers who were determined to establish a “half way house” at the Cape. Thereafter, Indians came to Natal, a province in South Africa, as indentured laborers. These were followed by the “free Indians” who settled in South Africa as traders and merchants.

That this discussion deems it necessary to describe these “Indian foreigners” as the other finds justification in the reflection that they were treated as objects and merely considered in terms of their utilitarian value. The history of the period of slavery, indentureship, and apartheid discloses the painful existence of the Indian on South African soil.

In tracing the history and condition of the Indian in South Africa, the evolutionary nature of the perception and labeling of the other is considered in the times of slavery, then during the time of indenture, then in the Gandhian and post-Gandhian time, and finally in the post-democratic era. It is the specific task in this essay to arrive at the basic tenet that negates the concept of the “other” and compels us to embrace the fundamental principle of existence that everything—animate and inanimate—has the same source or, should one prefer, the same Creator.

The case of the South African Indian is singularly interesting in that one is able to distinguish the “self” and the “other” most conspicuously and, in so doing, to find the truism that it is fallacious to contemplate existence in such artificial definitions. It must also be conceded that South Africa gave prominence to Satyagraha—as espoused and practiced by Mahatma Gandhi. South Africa also claims fame for a spirit of reconciliation lauded the globe over as encapsulated in the greatness and munificence of Madiba (Nelson Mandela).

In the introductory remarks it is necessary to place in perspective the interesting fact that the South African Indians have been successful in retaining their culture and religion to a significantly large degree, considering all the forces with which they had to contend and counteract. In this regard it is noteworthy that South Africa had severed ties with India from 1948. The restoration of diplomatic relations with India took place only after the establishment of South African democracy in 1994.

II. Slavery and Indentureship

As E. S. Reddy has pointed out, the first Indians were brought to South Africa as slaves: “Officers of ships and officials of the Dutch Indian Company returning to Holland usually took slaves or servants with them and sold them at high profit in the Cape . . . far too many of them were children, even less than ten years old, who had been kidnapped in India.” ¹

In these early times, Indians as the other were purely slaves—mere possessions to be used as the masters pleased. Although most of these slaves were children, they resented their masters and bore with stoicism the indignity and suffering inflicted on them. In terms of identity, they were not allowed, by virtue of their age and captivity, to develop an Indian identity. Despite the overwhelming odds against them—slavery, young age, forced separation from their culture—their spirits remained indomitable, as evidenced by the fact that many of them rose to prominence in the slave resistance and protest movement.

Due to the inability of the British colonialists to lure the indigenous Black tribes to provide the labor force on the sugar cane plantations, the British colonialists devised the grand scheme of “importing” labor from India. After protracted negotiations with the Indian government, the first batch of Indians arrived in Natal on November 16, 1860.

It may be contended that the other began to be defined even before the Indians arrived, for no consideration seemed to have been apportioned “to the question of how these illiterate labourers who had gone to a distant land were to seek redress if they had any grievances. No thought...