Gandhi's Legacy To South Africa

INTRODUCTION:

Mahatma Ghandi left behind a great legacy after his assassination, not only to India and South Africa, but to the world. He made a mark on the hearts of so many universally by using his policies and beliefs of equality, unity and non-violence. By looking at the time Gandhiji, (a title earned out of respect from the Hindu Nation) spent in South Africa and his implementation of his theory of Satyagraha in South Africa, one is able to see how his beliefs and strong leadership qualities inspired and encouraged the spark of passive resistance in South Africa starting with the Indian population, and its inspirations spreading through to the Africans and the African National Congress (ANC) to spark the start of resistance and defiance against Apartheid and segregation in South Africa.

GHANDI:

Ghandi came to South Africa at the ripe young age of 25 as a lawyer, with the intentions of helping some colleagues with legal issues in 1903. The situation in South Africa inspired him to re-think his reasons for being in South Africa, thus resulting in his change of purpose in life and dedicate himself to fight passively for equal rights universally. The situation that was occurring in made him realise what was causing disrupt in India and this is when he developed his theory of Satyagraha. During his 21 years spent in South Africa he formed congresses such as the South African Indian Congress (SAIC) and the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), these were all movements to encourage a non-violent protest against the Government’s laws placed upon the Indian’s of South Africa. As Ghandi once said in an address to his people "The slogan today is no longer merely 'Asia for the Asians' or 'Africa for the Africans' but the unity of all the oppressed races of the earth." It was on this that he based his entire theory of non-violence resistance.

SATYAGRAHA:

Ghandi inspired a theory of Satyagraha derives from Sanskrit with Satya meaning truth and garah meaning effort. So together it is an effort of truth, and non-violence. Gandhi came up with the concept in 1906 . The reason for the need of something like this was because of the Asiatic Act that had been imposed on Indian South Africans to resister themselves with the government, It also did not accept Indian marriages as official as the government considered only Christian weddings legal. This was an outrage to the thoughts of Gandhiji, hence he devised his plan to rebel against the government’s reforms. He told the people that by acting with no violence it will not show weakness as the preconception of non-violence has been established, but show true commitment and will-power. He led marches and encouraged women and men to accept imprisonments in order to show that they are strong enough to stand for what they believe and their rights. There was an instance when a 16 year old girl stood her full sentence imprisonment for protesting against paying taxes, although she was immensely ill, she refused to be released until her sentence was over, and once released she died a few days after. This shows true commitment to Satyagraha and true will power. Ghandi stayed firm to the belief that passive resistance was stronger and more powerful than any form of violence and supported South Africa’s struggle until his dying day. This form of passive resistance was also the inspiration of the passive resistance in South Africa that followed in the struggle of Apartheid after his Death. This resistance was headed up by strong leaders such as Nelson Mandela of the ANC youth league. Nelson Mandela once said that “the Satyagraha conceived and tested in Africa at the beginning of this century - may well be a key to human survival in the twenty-first century.”

RELAVANCE OF NON-VIOLENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA:

South Africa has undergone some very trying times, especially in the years leading up to and the years of Apartheid. The importance of Passive Resistance that was inspired and initiated by non other that Mahatma Gandhi, was the key note in the start of any resistance or rebellion against the issues imposed on the “non-white” members of South Africa. The first actions towards passive resistance in South African was taken by the Indian Population, who as early as 1907-1914 acted against the union government who imposed immigration, residential, tax and marital laws onto them . If it had not been for Gandhiji, none of this would have happened. Later in 1943 after Gandhi had left South Africa and returned to India, other prominent leaders in the country took the stand and started parties in protest. They held silent, non-violent protests, work stay-away’s and women empowerment rallies. The ANC, which was founded in 1912 , was also inspired by this action of non-violence. They joined up with the SAIC to protest against the governments laws imposed onto the people. But the ANC was not as up to scratch and enthusiastic about passive resistance as the Indian population until the 1950’s. This is when the ANC youth League and Nelson Mandela carried on with this passive resistance by having boycotts, bus boycotts, school boycotts and many others, this persistence only resulted in imprisonment of the leaders of these campaigns, but still resistance continued from within the cells of prison and the people of South Africa. It was not only the Blacks and Indians and Coloured people who resisted, there were white people too. The fight for passive resistance did not last in South Africa, for every law that was defied by the people; a new one was implemented by the government.

"We of Umkhonto we Sizwe

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