By Fakir Hassen, IANS
Richards Bay (South Africa) : A bronze bust of Mahatma Gandhi will be unveiled by Indian and South African leaders in this coastal city Saturday to mark the 60th death anniversary of the legendary leader on Jan 30.
The bust will later be placed in a museum in Empangeni amid plans to establish a Garden of Remembrance in honour of Gandhi, other Indian leaders and Zulu monarchs, including king Mpande who ruled over the Zulu kingdom when the first Indian indentured labourers were sent by the British to Durban in 1860 to work on the sugar cane plantations.
The unveiling ceremony to be hosted by Tata Steel’s Somdeb Banerjee and the uThungulu District Municipality brings to fruition an eight-year campaign, including several delegations to India, by the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Commemoration Trust in Richard’s Bay to honour the Indian political and spiritual leader.
The prime mover behind this symbolic gesture is acclaimed classical musician Subramoney Vythilingam Naicker who urged the Umhlathuze municipality in the uTthungulu district in 1998 to honour Gandhi by erecting a statue in memory of India’s “Father of the Nation”.
Gandhi spent 21 years in South Africa, leaving behind a lasting legacy of non-violent passive resistance. He had experimented with non-violent strategies against colonialism at the Phoenix Settlement near Durban since the 1890s.
Subramoney said: “Mahatma Gandhi was an all-time icon who had not only inspired his own kith and kin in South Africa, but his teachings, self-discipline, principles and philosophies had motivated a generation of liberation leaders ranging from Nelson Mandela to Martin Luther King. I felt that it was timely for my home district to pay homage to a great pacifist.”
Following Subramoney’s proposal of erecting Gandhi’s statue, uThungulu Municipality’s Deputy Mayor Ivan Naidoo signed a bilateral trade agreement with the state of Karnataka to facilitate this event.
Later, former Indian consul-general Ajit Kumar accepted a request from the then mayor B.V. Mthethwa to commission a bust for the northern KwaZulu-Natal harbour city.
“Gandhi’s bust will be registered with the Heritage Council of South Africa,” Naidoo said.