By IANS
Richards Bay (South Africa) : South Africa owes a huge “debt of gratitude” to India’s peace apostle Mahatma Gandhi, veteran leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said Saturday at a ceremony at which a bronze bust of Gandhi was unveiled here.
“South Africa owes a lot to Gandhi-ji, indeed the whole of humanity owes a lot to this timeless icon,” Buthelezi said after unveiling the bust – crafted in India and brought here under a bilateral agreement with Karnataka – in this industrial coastal city in KwaZulu-Natal province.
“We are moved by the huge debt of gratitude we owe to him. The whole of humanity owes so much to the inspirational life of one of the undisputed towering figures of the 20th century,” said Buthelezi who is the founding president of the opposition Inkatha Freedom Party and chairman of the House of Traditional Leaders.
Aligning the world-famous saint to other international luminaries who had fought for human dignity and equality such as Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela, Buthelezi said Gandhi’s “gentle persuasiveness and humility” had taught South Africans about the soul truth force – satyagraha (non-violent resistance).
The other speakers at the ceremony included South African-Indian cultural leader Subramoney Vythilingam Naicker, Indian Consul-General Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Tata Steel managing director Somdeb Banerjee.
The bust has now been housed in the Empangeni Museum, pending plans for the establishment of a ‘Garden of Remembrance’ where Gandhi’s bust will be displayed among the statues of Indian leaders and Zulu monarchs.
The bust will also be registered with the National Heritage Council amid other plans to introduce cultural exchanges and scholarships between Indians and Zulu-speaking people both here and with the support of the Indian Government.