Muhammad10
T20I Debutant
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- Jul 7, 2013
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Very detailed post regarding the dark days of Apartheid.
[MENTION=142991]TahirFan[/MENTION] is this week's Timepass POTW winner.
[MENTION=142991]TahirFan[/MENTION] is this week's Timepass POTW winner.
Hi Nostalgic
My family arrived in South Africa in 1895.
In Bombay the stories of Cape Town and the mining boom in South Africa were heard from Konkani sailors working on British vessels.
The Cape was a British colony and this facilitated the emigration from Konkan to the shore of Cape Town by several Konkanis escaping the social and economic situation in Konkan.
The majority of South African Indians are hindu and live in KwaZulu Natal arrived in South Africa from Tamil Nadu and the state of Gujarat. All the konkanis are muslim who mainly speak Urdu or Konkani. My family spoke Urdu
When I was a 6 year old boy the group areas act came into being. Whites and Indians were separated and had to move into their own areas. My family was forcefully removed from Claremont (town next to Newlands) and had to relocate to Rylands. Our goods were thrown out of the house onto the pavement by the apartheid police.
Jewish estate companies bought these houses for R10. That's less then one US Dollar . Today these same houses are valued over R5 million Rand
We were dumped into the Indian area. There were no schools at that time in the area and we were forced to study in shipping containers with no air conditioning in the hot African heat. My fathers shop was also confiscated and sold the jewish estate companies for R20
The job reservation law came into effect. Indians could only be employed as factory workers or farm labourers. We lived in extreme poverty and family survived on a glass of sugar water for a long time.
Non white education was grossly inferior to white education because we meant to be cheap labour for the white man. Low paying jobs with the government were offered to Indians only if they converted to Christianity. Many Hindus converted but I am not aware of any Muslim converting to Christianity.
A new law was passed where Indians could a shop in their own areas but could not sell their goods to white people. They had to put a sign 'Native Shop' on their shop. Many small Indian shops were opened and my father opened a little shop selling cheap clothing. Many Indian became prosperous with these shops
Many cities in South Africa became 'White by Night'. Which meant non whites could not visit big cities after 6pm and were also barred on Sundays
Muslim shopkeepers donated generously to build a good quality school in Cape Town called 'Habibia'. I attended high school at Habibia where the standard of education was far superior to that of government schools
South African Indians were barred from attending sport events from all grounds. We had no sports facilties and had to play our sports in the bush. Despite these hardships were produced many good sportman notably Basil D'oliveira who emigrated and played for England
Non whites had poor medical facilities and had low lifespans. Indians rarely reached 50. Both my parents died before they reached 50. We had poor quality state hospitals that were overcrowded. Ambulances were reserved for the white man
We could only use 'Third Class' train carriages. 'First Class' was reserved for whites and the 'second class' was an empty carriage between the two
Indians started going into politics in the 70's. Amod Timol a school teacher was actively involved in politics fighting for our rights. He was arrested taken to the John Vorster police station and thrown down the 10th floor and died.
Cape Town is one of the most beautiful places on earth but under apartheid we could not go to the beach, we were not allowed on the mountains and use any of the publics amenities
In most buildings , Indians were not allowed to use lifts and I worked for a company that was on the 12th and I had to walk up and down 12 floors every day. Some building allowed us to use separate lifts
We were not allowed in any restaurants or pizza shops in the city
At railway stations we also had to use separate stairs
Whites often shouted 'Coolie' at us. We could not complain because racism was the law.
Today 24 years after the death of apartheid, our bosses are still white racists and we are still earning salaries which are way lower than them
I once went for a job interview and the company offered me a salary way lower than what they advertised. When I enquired why they are not offering me the salary they advertised. You Indians have a much lower lifestyle than us
I can a write a book on my experiences
