Special Hearings — Faith Community Hearings — 1997-11-17

UNKNOWN: When one talks about lawyers and justice and so on, somehow   or the other, as lawyers are inclined to be, and I am no exception, we like   to brag about ourselves and when I think about the submissions that have been   made up until now by many South Africans across the political spectrum, across   the social spectrum and now across the religious spectrum, one can't help avoiding   telling you this little story. Because of some of the confessions that have   been made, some true, some untrue, of three accused persons being charged for   murder appearing in a court of law. And when asked by the presiding Judge which   one of them was pleading guilty two of them raised their hands and said we're   pleading not-guilty. The third one who was the smallest in size of the three,   simply said "Excuse me your Lordship, I want to plead guilty". And   the Judge looked at him and said "Are you guilty of murder?" He says   "No, no I choose perjury" and the Judge asked him why and he said   "The sentence to lie is so much more lenient than the sentence for murder". 
Mr Chair, I must preface my presentation by making the comment, and I think   Professor Meiring will confirm this, that the Hindu community was advised rather   late, through no fault of anybody, these things happen, in making this submission.   And our submission inasmuch as we've made them to you were made under a great   deal of hurry and rush and we hope that we have done as good a job as we would   have like to have done, in the circumstances. We thank you for inviting the   South African Hindu Community, represented by the South African Hindu Maha Sabha,   to make submissions to the Faith Communities Hearing here in East London today. 
As and by way of an introduction, we want to state that South Africans of Indian   origin came to this country from about the 16th November 1860 onwards as migrant   labourers to work in the sugar industry in Natal. By 1910, three years before   the immigration was finally stopped, 133 437 persons had arrived in Natal. Ninety   five percent of these were members of the Hindu faith. Today, their descendants   form the core of the South African Indian population of 1 million, the largest   Indian group outside India. There was another group as well that arrived here   and they were known as the passenger Indians who were basically traders and   merchants. The Indian immigrants laboured under slave-like conditions on the   sugar farms, working long hours from sunrise to sunset and sometimes over 12   hours on a daily basis. They lived in unfurnished barracks and on rations. Children   were not provided with education, nor were proper health and hospital care arranged   for sick people. It was therefore not surprising that thousands of sugar workers   on the farms and mills, together with their women folk joined coal miners from   Northern Natal and crossed the Natal/Transvaal border in defiance of the provincial   barriers and in protest against the three pound poll tax imposed on all adult   immigrants free from their indenture and who still remained in this country.   And then of course, we had Mahatma Gandhi. There were many Hindus, both in Natal   and the Transvaal, who took part in the first passive resistance campaign of   the 1906 and 1914 era which was launched by Mahatma Gandhi soon after his arrival   as a lawyer in South Africa. He later was to devil up Satyagraha, a non-violent   passive resistance movement in his struggle for equality, justice and human   dignity. 
On freedom, Gandhi's conception was the co-existence with the freedom of man.   To him, truth was that there was the higher nature in every human being which   is the reflection of truth or God. He had implicit trust in the goodness of   human nature. Gandhi told us of the bravery and sacrifice of the ordinary Indian   labourer, mainly Hindus, but also of other faiths who fought with courage and   bravery during the campaign of protest and voluntary jail, of assaults on the   resistors by the police and of cruel jail conditions under which they served   their imprisonment. As a preamble to this presentation, it is important to note   that Hindus regard all forms of life as being endowed with supreme spirit, but   at different levels of manifestation. The Hindus firmly uphold the doctrine   of Ahimsa, which means non-injury in any form. Thus is can be concluded from   this assumption that they are strongly opposed to any form of violence against   any living being. Hindus, together with all self respecting human beings, opposed   and still oppose all forms of discrimination. Every Hindu, generally has his   own personal relationship with God of his understanding. He or she prefers to   work and worship without putting strong emphasis on his or her Hinduism. It   is also a proselytising religion, seeking individuals to convert into his or   her own fold. Some of the frustration and anger aroused in Hindus was that they   did not get the support from the State insofar as its religion and cultural   aspirations were concerned. Even up to the recent past, Hindus were not allowed   to invite religious scholars or cultural artists to promote their values. Hindu   marriages were, and are still not given status, and are considered to be illegitimate.   The legal system was practised with some measure of bias. Punishment depended   on the colour of the skin. Such was the order of the day. 
As a community, Hindus opposed human right violations of any kind. After the   departure of Mahatma Gandhi in 1914 a number of members of the community deeply   involved in the struggle against discrimination and human rights violations,   and some of them, and I don't mean to have an exhaustive list here, were Dr   Monty Naiker, Nana Seetha, Debbie Sing, J.M. Sing, Mac Maharaj, Soonabjee Rastanjee,   Thumbie Naidoo, Dr Kay Gwinum, P.S. Joshee, just to name a few. This does not   mean that the Hindu community was not without problems. The Indian community   neither supported nor condoned the actions of the apartheid regime. In the period   between 1946 and 1948, they launched the second passive resistance campaign   after the passing of the pegging act in 1943 and the Asiatic Land Tenure Act   of 1946 when over 2000 men and women resisted passively and went to jail. However,   when the tricameral system was established, most Hindus did not offer any support   to those who took up positions in that parliament. The voting pattern during   the elections was a sufficient indication of the lack of support given by the   community to that system. However, we regret that some Hindus chose to serve   in that parliament. In its early history, colonial power responsible for Indian   immigration did not anticipate that Indians would become an economic threat   to white settlers. The land procured by Indians after the expiry of the indenture   was soon to be efficiently tilled and farmed. In a short time, they became prosperous   market gardeners, providing vegetable requirements for the whites. Debates soon   ensued in government and local circles to repatriate the Indians back to India.   This feeling resulted in the signing of the Cape Town agreement in 1927, between   India and South Africa which provided that should Indians remain in South Africa,   education would be uplifted, but this remained in breach. And those who wished   to return to India would be assisted with a free passage. 
From as far back as 60 years or so, the life of the community became severely   affected by the introduction of the periodic laws governing land tenure. Each   new enactment deprived its people of existing property rights and radically   reducing areas in which Indian occupation and ownership was permitted. The most   serious and painful of legislation was the Group Areas Act passed in 1950. Settled   communities who had built little schools and temples were rudely uprooted by   the ruling class and relocated to some distant areas or new areas with very   little facilities. Kato Manor in Durban was one of the many affected areas where   Indians settled, built homes, started their own market gardening and worked   as unskilled labourers. When this area was declared a white area, under the   Group Areas Act, the Indian Community received the biggest blow to its survival.   To name one of many, the Arian Benevolent Home, which started as a home for   the homeless in 1921, was badly affected in the grand settlement plan. It took   about 15 years to find an alternative for re-settlement at a much higher cost.   In the process, the old, the disabled and the affected children had to endure   immeasurable hardships. In all such areas, including Johannesburg, where the   Group Areas applied, temples, schools and cultural centres had to be left behind.   Some such temples were ...[inaudible] temple in Kingsgate, the ...[inaudible]   temple in Umbilo and the ...[inaudible] in College Road, Overport. 
It took the Hindu community a long time to rebuild their places of worship.   Again, since priority had to be given to providing much needed homes which were   relatively small, giving birth to the dismantling of the joint family system   and the disruption of the traditional family life. To compound the problem,   religious sites in the new areas were generally purchased by the Christian churches   because they had the necessary funds. This lead to many conversions to other   faiths, especially Christianity. No adequate provision was made for the education   of the Indian child by the State, mainly because of its policy of indifference.   Through self-help and by contributions from their meagre earnings, 261 State   aided Indian schools were built by the Indian community. In this regard, the   indentured labourers went through severe hardships in the schooling of their   children, because they had to make the effort to make contributions. It is of   interest to note that three high schools, Sustri College, Verulam Secondary,   and Umzinto Secondary were built by Indian contribution and handed to the State.   All along the state aided schools suffered from inadequate funding. A small   grant per child had to cover the salaries of caretakers, telephone expenses   if any and the maintenance of the building and purchase of furniture which was   always inadequate. There were no science and library facilities during those   difficult years.
Prior to 1984, no Indian languages, Hindi, Tamal, ...[inaudible], and Arabic   were introduced in primary schools. Even after this period, Indian languages   remained as optional subjects and are not given serious attention. They remain   as a non-examination subject and are taught in primary schools, depending on   the number. Another serious setback arose in the cultural life of the Hindu   community by the imposition of the cultural boycott by the Indian government   for almost fifty years as a result of the discriminatory laws that were passed   by parliament in this country. Hence, serious cultural deprivation occurred,   affecting the lives even to this day. A great deal of resentment and hurt lies   in the manner in which Indians were deprived access to schools which had some   of the best facilities and entry into so-called white universities. There were   many students, who at great financial sacrifice, had to study medicine and obtain   a higher education of their choice, at universities in India, Ireland and England.   If justice had prevailed, many more would have qualified locally and been added   to the list of academics holding important positions in our society. The first   university to open its doors to Indians was Fort Hare in the Cape. Dr A.D. Lazarus   became the first Indian graduate in South Africa. 
In South Africa the majority of holidays are in conformity with Western Christianism.   All of us observe Christmas day, Easter and Sunday as a day of rest. These days   are all Christo centric. If we consider that our country is a secular one, then   every religion must have its main religious day observed side by side with others.   Alternatively, there should be only one national holiday. On the Hindu holiday   of Diwali, which falls during the months of October or November, our children   at tertiary institutions are still writing examinations on this day, which goes   against the religious spirit of Diwali. In a country with a religious majority,   minority group rights must be protected. How far do we go in attaining? As a   community we are fully in line with the principles of affirmative action. The   constitution of this country states that we are a non-racial democracy which   is to us all, is in keeping with the highest noble spirit of the land. This   spirit needs to be protected at all times and in this overall spirit of non-racial   society, concern arises in the minds of our community when one group might be   placed in favour over another. This view needs to be addressed for the future.
Even today, we are experiencing gross human rights violations. Sadly, these   violations are being classified under the terminology of the word crime. Any   society with a high moral and ethical behaviour does not need the strong arm   of the law for the enforcement of strict penalties. On the other hand, when   the morality of individuals is so low, the laws must be firmly and strictly   applied to protect the rights of everyone. Therefore, the secular laws have   to be inversely proportional in punishment to the level of morality of individuals.   Although our human nature goes against this view, harsher forms of punishment   for serious transgressions and violations of the law are essential. Any severe   punishment in relation to the crime committed will act as a deterrent to other   offenders, than merely an appeal to the moral consciousness. We therefore need   to embark, together both from the government and from our side to conscientise   on our brothers and sisters on the negative impact that crime had on us. Therein   lies our hope for future stability. 
In conclusion may I wish to state that we have great faith and hope in our   new found democracy. Our strength lies in the way in which we can forget and   forgive. The healing of the past undoings, which in some cases will no doubt   take time, but our strong belief in the almighty God who protects and sustains   us, will give us his guidance and mercy to overcome the challenges that lie   ahead. Although we are a nation with differing religious, cultural and ethnic   backgrounds, our commitment and love for our country and respect for all its   diversities will lead us to peace and prosperity. Let light always shine in   our hearts and may we constantly walk the path of truth. God bless the Truth   and Reconciliation Commission!