Zinzile MavusoToday, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation received the sad news of the passing of a great freedom fighter, Comrade Paul David, who would have turned 80 years of age on 26 August 2020. The Foundation would like to express its sincere condolences to the family, friends and comrades of the late Paul David.
Comrade David was well known for his contribution to South Africa’s liberation struggle, both as an attorney and a political leader in the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the African National Congress (ANC).
Comrade Paul David was born in 1940 in Pietermaritzburg into a devout Catholic family. His grandparents came from a little village in Tamil Nadu, South India, to the then Natal Colony as indentured sugar cane labourers.
He became politically aware at a young age when his father and eldest sister, Phyllis Naidoo, spoke out openly against the apartheid system. He also came under the influence of his brother-in-law, comrade MD Naidoo, who with his sister, Phyllis Naidoo, were firebrand leaders of the Congress movement in Natal. David, at the tender age of 17, joined the Natal Indian Congress and became the Secretary of the NIC Youth Congress while still a pupil at the Verulam High School on the North Coast.
In 1961, David studied for a law degree at the University of Natal. He served in the Students’ Representative Council alongside Comrade Steve Biko.
In the early 1970s, Comrade David joined the ANC stalwart Mewa Ramgobin, Ela Gandhi and other Congress activists in the revival of the NIC. He was elected Secretary of the NIC in 1979. He was also involved with the Release Mandela Committee and was elected its Secretary in 1983. In the same year, he became fully involved in the UDF and its campaign against the racist Tricameral parliament.
On 13 September 1984, six UDF leaders in Natal had gone into hiding to avoid detention – Archie Gumede, Mewa Ramgobin, MJ Naidoo, Billy Nair, George Sewpersadh and Paul David. They took refuge in the British Consulate in Durban. They deliberately went to the British Consulate in protest against the British government’s support for the apartheid regime led by PW Botha. The British consular officials did not want to give the men sanctuary. They made the living conditions inside the building as bad as they could: they slept on the floor with no mattresses or pillows; they were allowed to go to the toilets under escort for half an hour each, and they were only allowed visits from doctors and lawyers. Three of the six left the Consulate after three weeks. The government arrested them immediately. The remaining three stayed inside the Consulate for 90 days. On 10 December 1984, the South African government backed down in the face of international pressure and withdrew the detention notices against the men. Two days later, the remaining three activists came out of the Consulate to be greeted by over 6 000 Congress supporters.
Comrade Paul David was among the 16 UDF and Congress leaders who were charged with High Treason at the Pietermaritzburg High Court in 1985. The others were Mewa Ramgobin, Isaac Duze Ngcobo, Archie Gumede, Curtis Nkondo, Sisa Njikelana, Aubrey Mokoena, Sam Kikine, MJ Naidoo, Albertina Sisulu, Dr Essop Jassat, Cassim Salojee, George Sewpersadh, Frank Chikane and Thozamile Gqweta. But after a trial lasting more than two years all of them were found not guilty and discharged.
Comrade Paul David was a dedicated community and civic activist. He served in various capacities in the ratepayers’ association in Verulam, Stanger and Durban. He also was involved in non-racial sport organisations such as the Southern Natal Soccer Board, the South African Soccer Federation, the Natal Cricket Board, the Natal Council on Sport and the South African Council on Sport. He used to say that people had to be mobilised and organized against apartheid and racism in sports, and sporting organisations were useful vehicles for promoting non-racialism in communities.
During the constitutional negotiations at Kempton Park in the early 1990s, Paul David was one the delegates who represented the Natal Indian Congress.
In his later years, as a resident of KwaDukuza, Comrade David kept an active eye on political developments while involving himself in several community and civic organisations. In a recent interview he mentioned that he was disillusioned with the deep divisions currently wrecking the ANC. He had hoped that the liberation movement would cleanse itself of those people who only joined to enrich themselves and to further their own nests.
He wanted leaders and activists to commit themselves to the values and principles of leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Billy Nair, Dr Monty Naicker and Dr Yusuf Dadoo. He is quoted as saying, “South Africa should not become a country where only the views of one political party becomes dominant. If this happens then all the sacrifices of thousands of activists and leaders would have been in vain.”
At his prompting a major project aimed at capturing the history of the NIC was initiated last year. The completion of this as well as that of the TIC must become part of the way that we pay tribute to him.
Hamba Kahle Comrade Paul David. Your legacy and the role you played in the liberation struggle will not be forgotten. You did our country proud!
Ahmed Kathrada Foundation
13 August 2020
