· New Accounts Marlan Padayachee Media
2011-2013 umAfrika Skills Project Durban University of Technology appointment for Marlan Padayachee
2011 Durban Imaging Congress 4-6 March SORSA RSSA Radiography & Radiology Conference Durban ICC appointment for Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications
Office of the Mayor, eThekwini Municipality, City of Durban appointment for Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications 2002-2011
AfrAsia Bank Limited Mauritius appointment for Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications2010-2011
Minister of Communications, RLL Padayachie and PricewaterhouseCoopers appointment for Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications 2010-2011
Biscotti appointment for Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications 04 Feb 2010 06:10
New appointment for Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications 04 Feb 2010 05:48
Budget Day appointment for Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications 04 Feb 2010 05:45
The Oncology Centre appoint Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications 04 Feb 2010 05:40
Media Groups Synergy for World Radiography Day, Sunday 8 November 02 Nov 2009 16:43
Society of Radiographers of SA appoints Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications 28 Oct 2009 05:29
Marlan Padayachee Media GreenGold Africa Communications gains new account 06 Oct 2009 11:47
Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications gains 2010 Miss India Worldwide Pageant account 16 Feb 2009 18:22
CK Travel & Tour appointed as official carriers in the 18th Miss India Worldwide Pageant 28 Jan 2009 06:01
Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications appointed brand marketers 15 Jan 2009 04:08
Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa appointed media strategist by PKF Chartered Accountants 15 Jan 2009 04:03
India Worldwide Pageant 2009 12 Dec 2008 11:14
Opera Kings appoints Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications 16 Dec 2008 07:57
Pageant appointment for Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications 16 Nov 2008 12:01
New account for Marlan Padayachee Greengold Africa Communications 30 Oct 2008 06:39
Imagine Durban appoints Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications 23 Oct 2008 08:09
Jullo Centre Roots Outpatients appoints Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa 25 Sep 2008 06:50
German Foundation Konrad Adeneur Stiftung Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications 03 Sep 2008 06:04
Group editing appointment Tabloid Newspapers for Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications 03 Sep 2008 05:50
Two new accounts for Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications 29 Jun 2008 07:16
Traffic Signals & Accessories appoint Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa Communications as publicist 18 Jun 2008 05:23
Marlan Padayachee GreenGold appointed publicist for the MJ Naidoo Foundation for Social Justice 18 Jun 2008 05:16
Marlan Padayachee GreenGold Africa to promote India-Africa Desk launch by PricewaterhouseCoopers 20 Apr 2008 17:01
GreenGold Africa appointed media strategist for ISRRT World Congress 2008 18 Mar 2008 05:59
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Amichand Rajbansi, What Legacy? Asks Marlan Padayachee
Legacy, what legacy? Asks Marlan Padayachee, one of the journalists who bore the brunt of Amichand Rajbansi’s vitriolic verbal attacks on scribes who reported on controversies and issues that did not go his way.
The Sunday Tribune’s coverage of the death and funeral of Amichand Rajbansi was excellent, touching on even the funeral snub by his estranged, divorced wife, and chronicling the new year’s eve departure of one of South Africa’s most controversial politicians with strong images.
However, the headline, ‘Tiger’s Legacy Burns Bright’, possibly inspired by an ode to William Blake’s ‘Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright’, has left me searching for answers: Legacy, what legacy did Rajbansi leave behind?
Dennis Pather, respected Niemen Fellow journalist and activist, who walked with iconic anti-system antagonists, Strini Moodley, Saths Coopers, Aubrey Mokoape, and other Black Consciousness adherents, all of whom had virulently opposed system politicians, like the Rajbansis, Rajabs, Reddys, Mangopes, Qozas, Hendrickse, et al, relied on his own experiences before penning his no-holds barred piece on the man who was both hated with disdain and loved with religious fervour by the Indian community, Pather dished out the brickbats and bouquets in one script.
But nowhere did Pather mention the word ‘legacy’.
Legacy is ‘something handed down or received from an ancestor or predecessor’.
Could Rajbansi’s political legacy have spawned an ethnic party for Indians who fought for freedom, human dignity and social justice alongside black compatriots in the ‘congress movement’, while striving to assimilate the spirit of nationhood, nonracialism and non-sexism in a new nation? Or did this legacy separate Indians from the mainstream of our democratic society?
Legacy also means ‘a gift by will, especially of money or personal property’.
Did Rajbansi not help the poor, working-class Indian electorate and dispossessed traders , and thereby helped himself to a legacy of a multi-million rand trust, service stations, and other businesses, when many Group Areas Act victims knocked on his door for compensation?
Surely, the legacy of the 1860 Indian indentured labourers, by their own collective action against oppression, must have inspired migrant Indians and compatriots and comrades to inculcate a strong sense of seeking justice and human rights; a legacy of doing a dint of hard work to survive the discriminatory laws; of self-education; of community-spiritedness; of volunteerism and Ubuntu; of fighting on the side of the voiceless and vote less for the liberation of our country.
Years after the darkest hours of slave-like conditions on the sugar cane plantations and the economic jealousy by colonialists of the Indian trading class, MK Gandhi emerged as a voice of hope for the disenfranchised masses. He left behind a legacy of cordial co-existence between Indians and Africans, and a rich and enviable history of Indians in liberation politics.
The conservative Pather-Kajee Pact and their successive ilk of ‘system’ political opportunists flew in the face of the pioneering Indians like Yusuf Dadoo, Monty Naicker, Kesaveloo Goonum, Amina Cachalia, Billy Nair, Ismail and Fathima Meer, and countless others, who collectively stood firm in protecting Indians from selling out to the National Party’s Tricameral Parliament (drie-kamer) elections that only garnered 12% of the ethnic vote. Coloured votes also put them into bed with the Nats.
Rajbansi worked his way to the top of ‘system’ politics, trampling all dissident voices and political ambitions and aspirations of his fellow travellers in the apartheid laager, leaving behind ‘the cock-eyed is the king of the blind’ legacy, coercing and threatening Indian civil servants to toe the line or face the consequences of losing their jobs.
He left a legacy of political patronage. Opportunistic Indians took the gap and enriched themselves or benefited from perks from his fiefdom, the House of Delegates. Hardline Indians bore the brunt of his vicious public attacks. He was often exploiting the newspaper columns to savagely attack the credibility of anti-apartheid leaders and activists.
Even in the drama of the transition from apartheid to democracy, The Raj masterminded the art of ingratiating himself with the newly-crowned ANC masters, selling out his Indian-bloc vote (mainly from working class Indians marginalized by the ANC’s affirmative action jobs reservation policy) to the ANC in a horse-trading deal that secured him the dream of being MEC for Sports. The hardliners among previously persecuted Indian activists hardened, sparking the drift and dissension away from the black ruling elite.
Rajbansi gave the ANC the edge to rule the province, but after he was discarded from the cabinet, the ‘cat with nine lives’ sulked and became the ANC’s arch-critic.
Rajbansi left a legacy of collaborationist politics. His was hardly a clear ideological platform, making it now difficult for the Minority Front to navigate the provincial political landscape, leave alone the robust affairs at the eThekwini Municipality: even while the majority vote was fait accompli to elect the Communist Party’s James Nxumalo as mayor, and Rajbansi’s nemesis Logie Naidoo as the Speaker, the ‘Bengal Tiger’ snarled from the sidelines of the city hall, lobbying and nudging his councillors to play politics with their votes.
Above this chequered career, the ‘Bengal Tiger’ blew hot and cold within the media. He unleashed verbal tirades on brave journalists and rewarded others, like putting in a good word with the Broederbond-controlled SABC for sympathetic scribes to move up the ladder.
Always on the warpath with words, he played a cunning game between editors and reporters, playing one against each other and creating distrust in the newsrooms. He went for the jugular of offending journalists, as illustrated in Greg Arde’s column, ‘Ah, the Tiger roars eternal: I’ll never forget that slap’. In the same breath, he charmed editors as a celebrated complainant, but dangled news tip-offs and government ad spend in favour of good publicity, especially published photographs.
As a rookie reporter in the 1970s, I earned the wrath of the burgeoning bulldog of ethnic politics: namely, for reflecting in a street survey that revealed Rajbansi was trading on Gandhi’s legacy when he called for Satyagraha (non-violent protest) against apartheid. In the turbulent years ahead, his anger and irritation grew and grew over a string of reports: his children ensconced at private schools during the schools boycott; shambolic affairs of the goings-on at the tricameral chamber; AWB leader Eugene Terre Blanche dislodging his toupee after slapping him on the face during the ANC’s détente with the Nats; and his divorce showdown with his wife outside the courthouse.
But if that’s all in a line of duty, so be it. However, I doffed my beret at his unofficial presence during President Mandela’s state visit to India; attended his colourful marriage to MPP Shameen Thakur and exchanged courtesies at the Twenty-Twenty cricket series.
The twilight days was setting in. The jungle was no longer burning bright for the mellowing, yet unforgiving ‘Bengal Tiger’.
Politics will never be the same again without his Jekyll and Hyde persona.
I believe in an ancient mantra, ‘it’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness’. Hamba Kahle, Mr Leveller.
Marlan Padayachee is a former political correspondent and anti-apartheid activist and works as a media strategist and political commentator
The Sunday Tribune’s coverage of the death and funeral of Amichand Rajbansi was excellent, touching on even the funeral snub by his estranged, divorced wife, and chronicling the new year’s eve departure of one of South Africa’s most controversial politicians with strong images.
However, the headline, ‘Tiger’s Legacy Burns Bright’, possibly inspired by an ode to William Blake’s ‘Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright’, has left me searching for answers: Legacy, what legacy did Rajbansi leave behind?
Dennis Pather, respected Niemen Fellow journalist and activist, who walked with iconic anti-system antagonists, Strini Moodley, Saths Coopers, Aubrey Mokoape, and other Black Consciousness adherents, all of whom had virulently opposed system politicians, like the Rajbansis, Rajabs, Reddys, Mangopes, Qozas, Hendrickse, et al, relied on his own experiences before penning his no-holds barred piece on the man who was both hated with disdain and loved with religious fervour by the Indian community, Pather dished out the brickbats and bouquets in one script.
But nowhere did Pather mention the word ‘legacy’.
Legacy is ‘something handed down or received from an ancestor or predecessor’.
Could Rajbansi’s political legacy have spawned an ethnic party for Indians who fought for freedom, human dignity and social justice alongside black compatriots in the ‘congress movement’, while striving to assimilate the spirit of nationhood, nonracialism and non-sexism in a new nation? Or did this legacy separate Indians from the mainstream of our democratic society?
Legacy also means ‘a gift by will, especially of money or personal property’.
Did Rajbansi not help the poor, working-class Indian electorate and dispossessed traders , and thereby helped himself to a legacy of a multi-million rand trust, service stations, and other businesses, when many Group Areas Act victims knocked on his door for compensation?
Surely, the legacy of the 1860 Indian indentured labourers, by their own collective action against oppression, must have inspired migrant Indians and compatriots and comrades to inculcate a strong sense of seeking justice and human rights; a legacy of doing a dint of hard work to survive the discriminatory laws; of self-education; of community-spiritedness; of volunteerism and Ubuntu; of fighting on the side of the voiceless and vote less for the liberation of our country.
Years after the darkest hours of slave-like conditions on the sugar cane plantations and the economic jealousy by colonialists of the Indian trading class, MK Gandhi emerged as a voice of hope for the disenfranchised masses. He left behind a legacy of cordial co-existence between Indians and Africans, and a rich and enviable history of Indians in liberation politics.
The conservative Pather-Kajee Pact and their successive ilk of ‘system’ political opportunists flew in the face of the pioneering Indians like Yusuf Dadoo, Monty Naicker, Kesaveloo Goonum, Amina Cachalia, Billy Nair, Ismail and Fathima Meer, and countless others, who collectively stood firm in protecting Indians from selling out to the National Party’s Tricameral Parliament (drie-kamer) elections that only garnered 12% of the ethnic vote. Coloured votes also put them into bed with the Nats.
Rajbansi worked his way to the top of ‘system’ politics, trampling all dissident voices and political ambitions and aspirations of his fellow travellers in the apartheid laager, leaving behind ‘the cock-eyed is the king of the blind’ legacy, coercing and threatening Indian civil servants to toe the line or face the consequences of losing their jobs.
He left a legacy of political patronage. Opportunistic Indians took the gap and enriched themselves or benefited from perks from his fiefdom, the House of Delegates. Hardline Indians bore the brunt of his vicious public attacks. He was often exploiting the newspaper columns to savagely attack the credibility of anti-apartheid leaders and activists.
Even in the drama of the transition from apartheid to democracy, The Raj masterminded the art of ingratiating himself with the newly-crowned ANC masters, selling out his Indian-bloc vote (mainly from working class Indians marginalized by the ANC’s affirmative action jobs reservation policy) to the ANC in a horse-trading deal that secured him the dream of being MEC for Sports. The hardliners among previously persecuted Indian activists hardened, sparking the drift and dissension away from the black ruling elite.
Rajbansi gave the ANC the edge to rule the province, but after he was discarded from the cabinet, the ‘cat with nine lives’ sulked and became the ANC’s arch-critic.
Rajbansi left a legacy of collaborationist politics. His was hardly a clear ideological platform, making it now difficult for the Minority Front to navigate the provincial political landscape, leave alone the robust affairs at the eThekwini Municipality: even while the majority vote was fait accompli to elect the Communist Party’s James Nxumalo as mayor, and Rajbansi’s nemesis Logie Naidoo as the Speaker, the ‘Bengal Tiger’ snarled from the sidelines of the city hall, lobbying and nudging his councillors to play politics with their votes.
Above this chequered career, the ‘Bengal Tiger’ blew hot and cold within the media. He unleashed verbal tirades on brave journalists and rewarded others, like putting in a good word with the Broederbond-controlled SABC for sympathetic scribes to move up the ladder.
Always on the warpath with words, he played a cunning game between editors and reporters, playing one against each other and creating distrust in the newsrooms. He went for the jugular of offending journalists, as illustrated in Greg Arde’s column, ‘Ah, the Tiger roars eternal: I’ll never forget that slap’. In the same breath, he charmed editors as a celebrated complainant, but dangled news tip-offs and government ad spend in favour of good publicity, especially published photographs.
As a rookie reporter in the 1970s, I earned the wrath of the burgeoning bulldog of ethnic politics: namely, for reflecting in a street survey that revealed Rajbansi was trading on Gandhi’s legacy when he called for Satyagraha (non-violent protest) against apartheid. In the turbulent years ahead, his anger and irritation grew and grew over a string of reports: his children ensconced at private schools during the schools boycott; shambolic affairs of the goings-on at the tricameral chamber; AWB leader Eugene Terre Blanche dislodging his toupee after slapping him on the face during the ANC’s détente with the Nats; and his divorce showdown with his wife outside the courthouse.
But if that’s all in a line of duty, so be it. However, I doffed my beret at his unofficial presence during President Mandela’s state visit to India; attended his colourful marriage to MPP Shameen Thakur and exchanged courtesies at the Twenty-Twenty cricket series.
The twilight days was setting in. The jungle was no longer burning bright for the mellowing, yet unforgiving ‘Bengal Tiger’.
Politics will never be the same again without his Jekyll and Hyde persona.
I believe in an ancient mantra, ‘it’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness’. Hamba Kahle, Mr Leveller.
Marlan Padayachee is a former political correspondent and anti-apartheid activist and works as a media strategist and political commentator
Thursday, December 29, 2011
‘You stole my work’
‘You stole my work’
JOURNALIST SUES CULTURAL LEADER FOR R500 000
CANDICE SOOBRAMONEY
Published in the front-page of POST December 28-January 1 2012 (South Africa)
A JOURNALIST is suing respected community leader TP Naidoo for half a million rands.
Marlan Padayachee, currently a media and communications strategist, claims Naidoo plagiarised his work.
Naidoo is the director of the Indian Academy of South Africa and has played an active role in promoting Indian culture in South Africa. Last year he authored the book The Settler: Tribulations, Trials and Triumph. It was published to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Indians coming to South Africa.
It included a series titled The 1946 Resisters.
Padayachee claims he wrote the series but Naidoo failed to acknowledge his contribution.
He has now filed papers in the Durban Magistrate’s Court claiming half a million rands.
Padayachee said from 1988 to 2004 he assisted Naidoo in compiling and contributing stories and profiles on community icons for the publication The Indian Annual. Until then he had complaints about working with Naidoo.
In 2009 he approached Naidoo with a proposal.
“I told him I was putting together a series of updated and rewritten articles, which previously appeared in the e Indian Annual, on the 1946 series. It was accepted for the 2010 special edition and I was subsequently paid R3 000.”
After the book The Settler was launched Padayachee realized Naidoo had taken credit for an interview he (Padayachee) did with South African anti-apartheid activist Yusuf Dadoo in London in 1983.
According to Padayachee the (then) Argus newspaper group assigned him to cover the three-day conference in London on United Nations’ sanctions against South African sport.
While there he conducted interviews with freedom fighters including Dadoo, who at that stage was in exile.
When he returned home he wrote a series of articles for the Sunday Tribune.
At a later stage some of them were rewritten, updated and published in The Indian Annual.
“I had not seen the draft (of The Settler) and was surprised when I realized I was not rightfully credited.
“Naidoo is not a journalist and was never in London in 1983. He was in Durban. I couldn’t and still cannot understand why he took credit for my work when it was previously published in The Indian Annual and I was credited for it.”
Padayachee consulted attorney Siven Samuel and served summons.
He demanded R500 000 in lieu of Naidoo’s failure to acknowledge his work.
This was followed by a second summons this month.
Padayachee said Naidoo believed the proprietorship of any article that appeared in The Indian Annual belonged to the Indian Academy of which he is the Editor.
“But he cannot claim credit for another professional’s work. He is well aware that each of the stories I submitted over the years had my copyright> then by adding his name to the Dadoo story, he erroneously gave the impression he wrote the entire series.
“I will not stand for that. He has committed plagiarism and political fraud.”
Asked if this could have been an oversight on Naidoo’s part, Padayachee remarked: “This is no oversight. He wanted credit for himself.”
Padayachee said he was writing a book on his journalistic career and feared other writers and historians would dispute his information, which Naidoo staked claim to.
“I will not allow this to go unchecked. If he continues to publish further editions of my work, he will continue to abuse my intellectual property and history will record it as that.”
Naidoo’s daughter said her father did not want to comment.
Published in Durban by Post newspaper at Independent Newspaper KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, on the 28th December 2011. Copyright Post/INKZN.
JOURNALIST SUES CULTURAL LEADER FOR R500 000
CANDICE SOOBRAMONEY
Published in the front-page of POST December 28-January 1 2012 (South Africa)
A JOURNALIST is suing respected community leader TP Naidoo for half a million rands.
Marlan Padayachee, currently a media and communications strategist, claims Naidoo plagiarised his work.
Naidoo is the director of the Indian Academy of South Africa and has played an active role in promoting Indian culture in South Africa. Last year he authored the book The Settler: Tribulations, Trials and Triumph. It was published to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Indians coming to South Africa.
It included a series titled The 1946 Resisters.
Padayachee claims he wrote the series but Naidoo failed to acknowledge his contribution.
He has now filed papers in the Durban Magistrate’s Court claiming half a million rands.
Padayachee said from 1988 to 2004 he assisted Naidoo in compiling and contributing stories and profiles on community icons for the publication The Indian Annual. Until then he had complaints about working with Naidoo.
In 2009 he approached Naidoo with a proposal.
“I told him I was putting together a series of updated and rewritten articles, which previously appeared in the e Indian Annual, on the 1946 series. It was accepted for the 2010 special edition and I was subsequently paid R3 000.”
After the book The Settler was launched Padayachee realized Naidoo had taken credit for an interview he (Padayachee) did with South African anti-apartheid activist Yusuf Dadoo in London in 1983.
According to Padayachee the (then) Argus newspaper group assigned him to cover the three-day conference in London on United Nations’ sanctions against South African sport.
While there he conducted interviews with freedom fighters including Dadoo, who at that stage was in exile.
When he returned home he wrote a series of articles for the Sunday Tribune.
At a later stage some of them were rewritten, updated and published in The Indian Annual.
“I had not seen the draft (of The Settler) and was surprised when I realized I was not rightfully credited.
“Naidoo is not a journalist and was never in London in 1983. He was in Durban. I couldn’t and still cannot understand why he took credit for my work when it was previously published in The Indian Annual and I was credited for it.”
Padayachee consulted attorney Siven Samuel and served summons.
He demanded R500 000 in lieu of Naidoo’s failure to acknowledge his work.
This was followed by a second summons this month.
Padayachee said Naidoo believed the proprietorship of any article that appeared in The Indian Annual belonged to the Indian Academy of which he is the Editor.
“But he cannot claim credit for another professional’s work. He is well aware that each of the stories I submitted over the years had my copyright> then by adding his name to the Dadoo story, he erroneously gave the impression he wrote the entire series.
“I will not stand for that. He has committed plagiarism and political fraud.”
Asked if this could have been an oversight on Naidoo’s part, Padayachee remarked: “This is no oversight. He wanted credit for himself.”
Padayachee said he was writing a book on his journalistic career and feared other writers and historians would dispute his information, which Naidoo staked claim to.
“I will not allow this to go unchecked. If he continues to publish further editions of my work, he will continue to abuse my intellectual property and history will record it as that.”
Naidoo’s daughter said her father did not want to comment.
Published in Durban by Post newspaper at Independent Newspaper KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, on the 28th December 2011. Copyright Post/INKZN.
‘You stole my work’
‘You stole my work’
JOURNALIST SUES CULTURAL LEADER FOR R500 000
CANDICE SOOBRAMONEY
Published in the front-page of POST December 28-January 1 2012 (South Africa)
A JOURNALIST is suing respected community leader TP Naidoo for half a million rands.
Marlan Padayachee, currently a media and communications strategist, claims Naidoo plagiarised his work.
Naidoo is the director of the Indian Academy of South Africa and has played an active role in promoting Indian culture in South Africa. Last year he authored the book The Settler: Tribulations, Trials and Triumph. It was published to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Indians coming to South Africa.
It included a series titled The 1946 Resisters.
Padayachee claims he wrote the series but Naidoo failed to acknowledge his contribution.
He has now filed papers in the Durban Magistrate’s Court claiming half a million rands.
Padayachee said from 1988 to 2004 he assisted Naidoo in compiling and contributing stories and profiles on community icons for the publication The Indian Annual. Until then he had complaints about working with Naidoo.
In 2009 he approached Naidoo with a proposal.
“I told him I was putting together a series of updated and rewritten articles, which previously appeared in the e Indian Annual, on the 1946 series. It was accepted for the 2010 special edition and I was subsequently paid R3 000.”
After the book The Settler was launched Padayachee realized Naidoo had taken credit for an interview he (Padayachee) did with South African anti-apartheid activist Yusuf Dadoo in London in 1983.
According to Padayachee the (then) Argus newspaper group assigned him to cover the three-day conference in London on United Nations’ sanctions against South African sport.
While there he conducted interviews with freedom fighters including Dadoo, who at that stage was in exile.
When he returned home he wrote a series of articles for the Sunday Tribune.
At a later stage some of them were rewritten, updated and published in The Indian Annual.
“I had not seen the draft (of The Settler) and was surprised when I realized I was not rightfully credited.
“Naidoo is not a journalist and was never in London in 1983. He was in Durban. I couldn’t and still cannot understand why he took credit for my work when it was previously published in The Indian Annual and I was credited for it.”
Padayachee consulted attorney Siven Samuel and served summons.
He demanded R500 000 in lieu of Naidoo’s failure to acknowledge his work.
This was followed by a second summons this month.
Padayachee said Naidoo believed the proprietorship of any article that appeared in The Indian Annual belonged to the Indian Academy of which he is the Editor.
“But he cannot claim credit for another professional’s work. He is well aware that each of the stories I submitted over the years had my copyright> then by adding his name to the Dadoo story, he erroneously gave the impression he wrote the entire series.
“I will not stand for that. He has committed plagiarism and political fraud.”
Asked if this could have been an oversight on Naidoo’s part, Padayachee remarked: “This is no oversight. He wanted credit for himself.”
Padayachee said he was writing a book on his journalistic career and feared other writers and historians would dispute his information, which Naidoo staked claim to.
“I will not allow this to go unchecked. If he continues to publish further editions of my work, he will continue to abuse my intellectual property and history will record it as that.”
Naidoo’s daughter said her father did not want to comment.
Published in Durban by Post newspaper at Independent Newspaper KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, on the 28th December 2011. Copyright Post/INKZN.
JOURNALIST SUES CULTURAL LEADER FOR R500 000
CANDICE SOOBRAMONEY
Published in the front-page of POST December 28-January 1 2012 (South Africa)
A JOURNALIST is suing respected community leader TP Naidoo for half a million rands.
Marlan Padayachee, currently a media and communications strategist, claims Naidoo plagiarised his work.
Naidoo is the director of the Indian Academy of South Africa and has played an active role in promoting Indian culture in South Africa. Last year he authored the book The Settler: Tribulations, Trials and Triumph. It was published to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Indians coming to South Africa.
It included a series titled The 1946 Resisters.
Padayachee claims he wrote the series but Naidoo failed to acknowledge his contribution.
He has now filed papers in the Durban Magistrate’s Court claiming half a million rands.
Padayachee said from 1988 to 2004 he assisted Naidoo in compiling and contributing stories and profiles on community icons for the publication The Indian Annual. Until then he had complaints about working with Naidoo.
In 2009 he approached Naidoo with a proposal.
“I told him I was putting together a series of updated and rewritten articles, which previously appeared in the e Indian Annual, on the 1946 series. It was accepted for the 2010 special edition and I was subsequently paid R3 000.”
After the book The Settler was launched Padayachee realized Naidoo had taken credit for an interview he (Padayachee) did with South African anti-apartheid activist Yusuf Dadoo in London in 1983.
According to Padayachee the (then) Argus newspaper group assigned him to cover the three-day conference in London on United Nations’ sanctions against South African sport.
While there he conducted interviews with freedom fighters including Dadoo, who at that stage was in exile.
When he returned home he wrote a series of articles for the Sunday Tribune.
At a later stage some of them were rewritten, updated and published in The Indian Annual.
“I had not seen the draft (of The Settler) and was surprised when I realized I was not rightfully credited.
“Naidoo is not a journalist and was never in London in 1983. He was in Durban. I couldn’t and still cannot understand why he took credit for my work when it was previously published in The Indian Annual and I was credited for it.”
Padayachee consulted attorney Siven Samuel and served summons.
He demanded R500 000 in lieu of Naidoo’s failure to acknowledge his work.
This was followed by a second summons this month.
Padayachee said Naidoo believed the proprietorship of any article that appeared in The Indian Annual belonged to the Indian Academy of which he is the Editor.
“But he cannot claim credit for another professional’s work. He is well aware that each of the stories I submitted over the years had my copyright> then by adding his name to the Dadoo story, he erroneously gave the impression he wrote the entire series.
“I will not stand for that. He has committed plagiarism and political fraud.”
Asked if this could have been an oversight on Naidoo’s part, Padayachee remarked: “This is no oversight. He wanted credit for himself.”
Padayachee said he was writing a book on his journalistic career and feared other writers and historians would dispute his information, which Naidoo staked claim to.
“I will not allow this to go unchecked. If he continues to publish further editions of my work, he will continue to abuse my intellectual property and history will record it as that.”
Naidoo’s daughter said her father did not want to comment.
Published in Durban by Post newspaper at Independent Newspaper KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, on the 28th December 2011. Copyright Post/INKZN.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Q&A With Mayor James Nxumalo by Marlan Padayachee
Q&A
From Mayor-elect, His Worship, Councillor James Nxumalo
1 JAMES SIKHOSIPHI NXUMALO, 46-year-old.
2 I prefer to call all the residents, the citizens of our city. Citizens may be unaware that my activist-political career that has brought to the pinnacle of city hall was actually defined by the deplorable and appalling conditions labourers worked at a big-brand chicken factory. I am a trade unionist at heart. We were a lost generation and opportunities were limited. However, I would have loved to strum the guitar like George Benson or played the trumpet like Bra Hugh Masekela. I am passionate about jazz music as the people I serve. I seek solitude in soul, rhythm and blues and jazz music and seldom end a long day without watching the breaking news and popular programmes on television. If time permits, I would like to don a white martial arts suit and practice karate to gain a balance in my impending hectic schedule as the first citizen of Durban.
3 I have an appetite for traditional food, handed down by the mothers of the Zulu nation over generations of our long history and legacy in KwaZulu-Natal. But, I will not say no to the city’s favourite cuisine, the piping-hot curry in the traditional bunny-chow that has made Durban globally famous export. My popular eating house is the Spur for juicy steaks and chips and Café Fish for a harbour view lunch of seafood. I can cook up a storm with a boiled eggs dish.
4 I am very patriotic to my city and spend quality time at the world-ranked Ushaka Marine World with my family; and we shop at the Pavilion and the Gateway because the buzz at these big malls is a microcosm of our drive for economic energy and growth.
5 I recall without bitterness my disadvantaged boyhood working hard as a gardener in Westville during weekends and school holidays. I enjoyed playing football at school level.
6 Durban’s temperate, warm weather conditions, and the multicultural vibrancy of all our people who have given new meaning to the ancient African philosophy of Ubuntu (I am because of you).The city’s cosmopolitan image and nonracial mix inspires me to go the extra mile.
7 I read William Shakespeare and its timeless tales of humanity. Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom is my reference book. I am an avid listener of radio stations that talk to the masses, such as Ukhosi FM, Metro FM, Gagasi FM, the lively debates on SAfm and PMlive, and the SABC radio jazz programmes.
8 I will remain loyal to the city’s 2020 Vision to ensure that Durban achieves the African Dream by emerging as the best African city on the continent. Our cultural diversity and cross-flow of cultures and traditions makes us unique as one of the potentially progressive cities along the Indian Ocean Rim and a city that can compete in the world rankings as one of the most non-racial metropolitans of the 21st century. I would like to see all our citizens from diverse backgrounds and demographics coming together in social harmony and unity and reinforcing the spirit of our slogan, ‘One City, Many Cultures’. I would like to see much more meaningful changes in the way we do business and how we fast-track our second economy among the street-traders, vendors and small enterprises that is best epitomized within the city city and the revamped Warwick Avenue Triangle commuter and trading landmark.
9 I am getting there soon. The technological revolution is catching up with us and our information and communication technology hub at the Smartxchange is a testimony of Durban’s appetite to navigate the world’s information highway. It will be a policy decision by the city at a council meeting to consider introducing IT solutions such as Tweeting and Face book for our councilors to interact with communities and constituencies. Just watch this space.
10 Growing up in the tranquility of the rolling, green hills of Inchanga, I am a ‘berg’ person and love the heritage site of the Drakensberg Mountain where the spirit and sketches of the San people live in the caves of the rock art. Durban’s golden beaches energise me into action. I love the treasure trove of KZN’s game reserves and the Valley of a Thousand Hills is my favourite destination to switch off and enjoy my family.
11 Soccer reigns supreme in my past-time, and I spend as much time as possible watching local and international football, followed by rugby, cricket, tennis and boxing. I play soccer and practised karate as a teenager, but guess I will have to keep fit and will be kitting out soon in my soccer strip and karate suit.
12 The late anti-apartheid leader Harry Gwala who sacrificed his life on Robben Island like many of the freedom fighters. He was my inspiration and mentor who taught the values of being people-centred, loyal and honest.
13 My morning breaks early. I enjoy a cuppa of rooibos tea, black no sugar or sweeteners. I reply to all SMSes. I ferry my children to their schools, and head straight for my office around 8am. I am surrounded by loyal personal assistants who brief me about my day’s schedule, appointments and invitations for speaking and community engagements. I then switch on my personal computer and read my emails before reading the headlines and stories of the day in the English and isiZulu language newspapers.
14 I always wanted to be a lawyer, championing the defenceless and the helpless in courts. But I cut my political teeth as a youth activist and trade union organizer and hence a career in politics in a historic time-frame.
15 Humility, Charm and Good Listening.
16 Difficult to make public, but I get irritated, frustrated and disappointed with shoddiness, laziness and people who don’t respect time and are oblivious of our people’s cultural dynamics.
17 Under my watch, I want to leave a legacy of a mayoral leadership that will take the baton of my predecessors and transform Durban into Africa’s most viable, accessible, economically prosperous and socially stimulating Indian Ocean gateway city into the rest of Africa. I will strive for the neighbouring Southern African Development Community cities being the first port of call for our socio-economic drive that will literally change the lives and livelihoods of all our citizens, including citizens who were previously economically elbowed under apartheid, and the African migrants who live and work in Durban in a post-apartheid democracy. We will make our sister-city relationship with African cities work wonders and Durban must become the world’s most non-racial and non-sexist city.
18 My leadership style will be as accessible as a phone call away, if the municipal protocol allows it. All our citizens, constituencies and communities must be assured that my doors will always be open and I will be accessible to all the people, visitors, delegations, organisations that make up the multicultural tapestry of the City of Durban. I will continue to attend meetings in all communities that occupy the urban, peri-urban and rural spaces of our 100 kilometre city limits and jurisdiction. My well-rounded mayoral team is gearing to meet these challenges with civic courtesy, homegrown hospitality, world-class protocol, the culture customer care and friendliness in the city’s spirit of the letter of Batho Pele, Putting People First.
19 Since joining the new order at the city hall as a councilor and then as a Speaker of the 200-member, politically and culturally diverse city council, I have been at the coalface of the communities and constituencies the councilors serve, some under very difficult terrains and conditions, socio-economically speaking, and I would be the first to lead as the First Citizen to place communication as the key priority in how the new and the re-elected councilors engage the community with service delivery being their most important mission when they serve the new-look city council over the next five years.
20 My message focuses on a clarion call to all our citizens, regardless of race, culture, creed, colour or economic class or status, and including all spheres of business, non-governmental organisations and community-based formations, is to put the interest of Durban and its people, first and foremost, by working together in unity and social cohesion to meet the challenges of job-creation, housing for all, poverty eradication and a quest for a safer city, with progressive greening commitment ahead of Durban hosting the COP 17 Climate Change conference.
Ends
From Mayor-elect, His Worship, Councillor James Nxumalo
1 JAMES SIKHOSIPHI NXUMALO, 46-year-old.
2 I prefer to call all the residents, the citizens of our city. Citizens may be unaware that my activist-political career that has brought to the pinnacle of city hall was actually defined by the deplorable and appalling conditions labourers worked at a big-brand chicken factory. I am a trade unionist at heart. We were a lost generation and opportunities were limited. However, I would have loved to strum the guitar like George Benson or played the trumpet like Bra Hugh Masekela. I am passionate about jazz music as the people I serve. I seek solitude in soul, rhythm and blues and jazz music and seldom end a long day without watching the breaking news and popular programmes on television. If time permits, I would like to don a white martial arts suit and practice karate to gain a balance in my impending hectic schedule as the first citizen of Durban.
3 I have an appetite for traditional food, handed down by the mothers of the Zulu nation over generations of our long history and legacy in KwaZulu-Natal. But, I will not say no to the city’s favourite cuisine, the piping-hot curry in the traditional bunny-chow that has made Durban globally famous export. My popular eating house is the Spur for juicy steaks and chips and Café Fish for a harbour view lunch of seafood. I can cook up a storm with a boiled eggs dish.
4 I am very patriotic to my city and spend quality time at the world-ranked Ushaka Marine World with my family; and we shop at the Pavilion and the Gateway because the buzz at these big malls is a microcosm of our drive for economic energy and growth.
5 I recall without bitterness my disadvantaged boyhood working hard as a gardener in Westville during weekends and school holidays. I enjoyed playing football at school level.
6 Durban’s temperate, warm weather conditions, and the multicultural vibrancy of all our people who have given new meaning to the ancient African philosophy of Ubuntu (I am because of you).The city’s cosmopolitan image and nonracial mix inspires me to go the extra mile.
7 I read William Shakespeare and its timeless tales of humanity. Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom is my reference book. I am an avid listener of radio stations that talk to the masses, such as Ukhosi FM, Metro FM, Gagasi FM, the lively debates on SAfm and PMlive, and the SABC radio jazz programmes.
8 I will remain loyal to the city’s 2020 Vision to ensure that Durban achieves the African Dream by emerging as the best African city on the continent. Our cultural diversity and cross-flow of cultures and traditions makes us unique as one of the potentially progressive cities along the Indian Ocean Rim and a city that can compete in the world rankings as one of the most non-racial metropolitans of the 21st century. I would like to see all our citizens from diverse backgrounds and demographics coming together in social harmony and unity and reinforcing the spirit of our slogan, ‘One City, Many Cultures’. I would like to see much more meaningful changes in the way we do business and how we fast-track our second economy among the street-traders, vendors and small enterprises that is best epitomized within the city city and the revamped Warwick Avenue Triangle commuter and trading landmark.
9 I am getting there soon. The technological revolution is catching up with us and our information and communication technology hub at the Smartxchange is a testimony of Durban’s appetite to navigate the world’s information highway. It will be a policy decision by the city at a council meeting to consider introducing IT solutions such as Tweeting and Face book for our councilors to interact with communities and constituencies. Just watch this space.
10 Growing up in the tranquility of the rolling, green hills of Inchanga, I am a ‘berg’ person and love the heritage site of the Drakensberg Mountain where the spirit and sketches of the San people live in the caves of the rock art. Durban’s golden beaches energise me into action. I love the treasure trove of KZN’s game reserves and the Valley of a Thousand Hills is my favourite destination to switch off and enjoy my family.
11 Soccer reigns supreme in my past-time, and I spend as much time as possible watching local and international football, followed by rugby, cricket, tennis and boxing. I play soccer and practised karate as a teenager, but guess I will have to keep fit and will be kitting out soon in my soccer strip and karate suit.
12 The late anti-apartheid leader Harry Gwala who sacrificed his life on Robben Island like many of the freedom fighters. He was my inspiration and mentor who taught the values of being people-centred, loyal and honest.
13 My morning breaks early. I enjoy a cuppa of rooibos tea, black no sugar or sweeteners. I reply to all SMSes. I ferry my children to their schools, and head straight for my office around 8am. I am surrounded by loyal personal assistants who brief me about my day’s schedule, appointments and invitations for speaking and community engagements. I then switch on my personal computer and read my emails before reading the headlines and stories of the day in the English and isiZulu language newspapers.
14 I always wanted to be a lawyer, championing the defenceless and the helpless in courts. But I cut my political teeth as a youth activist and trade union organizer and hence a career in politics in a historic time-frame.
15 Humility, Charm and Good Listening.
16 Difficult to make public, but I get irritated, frustrated and disappointed with shoddiness, laziness and people who don’t respect time and are oblivious of our people’s cultural dynamics.
17 Under my watch, I want to leave a legacy of a mayoral leadership that will take the baton of my predecessors and transform Durban into Africa’s most viable, accessible, economically prosperous and socially stimulating Indian Ocean gateway city into the rest of Africa. I will strive for the neighbouring Southern African Development Community cities being the first port of call for our socio-economic drive that will literally change the lives and livelihoods of all our citizens, including citizens who were previously economically elbowed under apartheid, and the African migrants who live and work in Durban in a post-apartheid democracy. We will make our sister-city relationship with African cities work wonders and Durban must become the world’s most non-racial and non-sexist city.
18 My leadership style will be as accessible as a phone call away, if the municipal protocol allows it. All our citizens, constituencies and communities must be assured that my doors will always be open and I will be accessible to all the people, visitors, delegations, organisations that make up the multicultural tapestry of the City of Durban. I will continue to attend meetings in all communities that occupy the urban, peri-urban and rural spaces of our 100 kilometre city limits and jurisdiction. My well-rounded mayoral team is gearing to meet these challenges with civic courtesy, homegrown hospitality, world-class protocol, the culture customer care and friendliness in the city’s spirit of the letter of Batho Pele, Putting People First.
19 Since joining the new order at the city hall as a councilor and then as a Speaker of the 200-member, politically and culturally diverse city council, I have been at the coalface of the communities and constituencies the councilors serve, some under very difficult terrains and conditions, socio-economically speaking, and I would be the first to lead as the First Citizen to place communication as the key priority in how the new and the re-elected councilors engage the community with service delivery being their most important mission when they serve the new-look city council over the next five years.
20 My message focuses on a clarion call to all our citizens, regardless of race, culture, creed, colour or economic class or status, and including all spheres of business, non-governmental organisations and community-based formations, is to put the interest of Durban and its people, first and foremost, by working together in unity and social cohesion to meet the challenges of job-creation, housing for all, poverty eradication and a quest for a safer city, with progressive greening commitment ahead of Durban hosting the COP 17 Climate Change conference.
Ends
COP 17 Letter by Marlan Padayachee December 2011
COP 17 Letter by Marlan Padayachee December 2011
AMID all the high drama, dissents, debates, discourses at the Durban COP 17 Climate Change conference, including a strong comeback to the frontline and fringes by civil society, non-governmental groups and young and old activists, it is hoped that the ‘Durban Protocol’ will give birth to a powerful commitment for a broader, worldwide movement to encourage people to get involved in green politics, issues, development and socio-economic sustainability. Within this context of the diverse landscape of this COP 17, let me share a perennial Native-American quote to inspire how we can navigate the future: : “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”
MARLAN PADAYACHEE, via email
Durban-Westville
AMID all the high drama, dissents, debates, discourses at the Durban COP 17 Climate Change conference, including a strong comeback to the frontline and fringes by civil society, non-governmental groups and young and old activists, it is hoped that the ‘Durban Protocol’ will give birth to a powerful commitment for a broader, worldwide movement to encourage people to get involved in green politics, issues, development and socio-economic sustainability. Within this context of the diverse landscape of this COP 17, let me share a perennial Native-American quote to inspire how we can navigate the future: : “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”
MARLAN PADAYACHEE, via email
Durban-Westville
Letters to the City Hall - Speeches by Marlan Padayachee for the Office of the Mayor Durban-eThekwini Municipality South Africa
By Marlan Padayachee
POST PRESENTATION PAPER AND REPORT-BACK DOCUMENT TO THE INDIAN CONSUL-GENERAL, HIS EXCELLENCY, MR ANIL SHARAN, ON THE OCCASION OF THE PARTICIPATION AT THE PRAVASI BHARATIYA DIVAS IN NEW DELHI, INDIA, 7-9 JANUARY 2011, BY COUNCILLOR FAWZIA PEER
CITY COUNCLLOR AND CHIEF WHIP OF THE ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY, CITY OF DURBAN, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
26TH January 2011
The Honourable Mr Anil Sharan
Consul-General
Government of India
City of Durban
Republic of South Africa
Dear Mr Sharan,
On behalf of the eThekwini Municipality and the people of the City of Durban, I extend our traditional greetings of Assalamu Alaikum, Vannakam, Namaste, Namaskarumu, Sawubona, Saniboni, and Molweni.
I also take this opportunity of conveying our felicitations and compliments of the season for the New Year to you, your family and your colleagues in the consular staff at the Durban Consulate of the Government of India.
This communiqué serves to confirm and record my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to you and your colleagues in the Government of India in New Delhi for the heartwarming hospitality, courtesy and high levels of protocol that was accorded to me in my capacity as the Chief Whip representing the Mayor of Durban, His Worship, Councillor Obed Mlaba, the eThekwini Municipality and the citizens of Durban during my participation at the 8th annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held recently in the capital city of the world’s largest democracy.
I also convey the similar sentiments and gratitude of my husband, Dr Peer, who had thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated pukka Indian hospitality.
I humbly salute you for your personal role and responsibility in ensuring that our visit to your ancient land of cultures and cuisines, and our attendance at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, was made all the more special and extraordinary through a programme of homemade hospitality and the humaneness of your peace-loving compatriots.
I was most heartened and delighted by the overall high standard of reception we had received in what will go down as one of our most memorable visits in recent years.
I was therefore most pleased to have represented our city and municipality at the Pravasi Bharitaya Divas, which provided some fascinating insights about the power of partnerships and the social networking of Indian communities living and working in diverse countries around the world, and yet all of us of Indian origin were sentimentally drawn to the magnetism of the beauty and splendor of India.
Furthermore, I was impressed by the amazing spirit of humanity and goodwill that prevailed over the symbolic meeting that brought together some of the most remarkable examples of Indians who have made spectacular strides in their field of business and expertise outside their motherland.
It was encouraging to note that both our countries share a common legacy of having being inspired by the teachings, principles, ethics, integrity and wisdom of one of the world’s iconic pacifists and peace gurus, the legendary Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, in our respective quest for freedom, human dignity, social justice and economic empowerment.
I was therefore particularly thrilled to have been part of a celebration that paid homage to the arrival of Gandhiji in India after having spent 21 years in South Africa, where he had helped to shape our political resistance to colonial-apartheid’s autocratic rule over the indigenous people of my country, including the 1860 Indian indentured labourers who faced the same racial and human rights discrimination meted out to our African, Coloured and Chinese compatriots.
Reflecting on my personal experience and interaction with fellow delegates at this world platform of Indians, I am therefore pleased that droves of South Africans of Indian origin have continued to attend the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas ever since the inaugural gathering of people of Indian origin took place in New Delhi in 2003.
I am overwhelmed that there has always been a strong participation by many of our leaders, entrepreneurs, academic, religious and cultural personalties, in the main, from Durban to this prestigious conference.
The high quality of the speakers and presenters and the diverse range of topics and themes have provided invaluable insights for me to ensure that Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will always enjoy the full support and goodwill of our municipality and citizens.
The collective pool of the knowledge economy and the human resources capital from the diverse delegations will certainly serve not only to guide the high standards of future conferences, but also contributes as communication tools, templates, texts and referencing point for a myriad of topics and themes that makes up the three-day programme of debates and discourses centred on the future and wellbeing of Indians.
We therefore owe a debt of gratitude to the visionaries behind the LM Singhvi Committee on the Indian Diaspora for having pioneered this celebration of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas as a global gathering of Indians while honouring the priceless life’s work of Gandhiji on the 9th of January each year.
This conference is unique, in that it may be the only gathering of nationals and expatriates that come together on a prestige platform and programme that recognizes the contributions of individuals of Indian origin who are honoured for exceptional merit and outstanding achievement in their field and profession.
The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards ceremony also serves as a classic example of how a nation can truly recognise and honour its nationals at home or abroad.
Developing democracies like South Africa can also learn from the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas that also focuses on issues and concerns that people of the diaspora face in their adopted countries, and how this programme of discourse and debate motivates people of Indian origin to assimilate to the local conditions on a socio-economic and political levels of their host adopted countries while maintaining strong linkages with India without losing touch with their motherland.
The high-level participation and support of the Government of India, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry further enhances the scope and uniqueness of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas as a broad-based social networking, business, cultural and investment facilitation platform for overseas Indians.
I am therefore impressed that an event of this high calibre, capacity and standard can only strengthen ties between India, the diaspora or non-resident communities and the people of Durban and South Africa as we embark on a journey to turn our regions into the new frontiers of economic growth, social cohesion and political stability.
Within this context, it is encouraging to note that that Durban enjoys a twinning sister-city relationship with Mumbai, and until recently the City of Chennai. It is matter of time before we embark on linking Durban to Delhi, thereby making this famous and historic host city our next port of call in our ongoing, cordial social, economic and political relations between the citizens of Durban and the people of these major Indian cities and India as a whole.
I had certainly left the conference, and as well as the culturally-enhancing melting pot that symbolizes all that is India, a much wiser and inspired visitor, delegate and friend of the people of India.
Outside the conference, we were accorded a right royal reception by support staff that ensured that the comfort and convenience of visit was not going to be compromised right down to the finest details.
The services of a professional and knowledgeable chauffeur further served to accentuate our personal joy of savouring sumptuous cuisines, old-fashioned courtesy and protocol that Indians excel in as our trip transformed into a home-from-home experience of note.
I must compliment you and the support team for the choice of superb and splendid hotels that made our stay most pleasant and unforgettable, for which we are truly grateful and thankful for.
India is a vast spectrum of cultures and a land of a multitude of languages and dialects, and our interaction with the local people brings home our attention to the importance of mother languages in India and the Indian Diaspora and the revival of ancestral languages.
The sights and sounds of India today, its beliefs and physical and economic landscapes further enriched our exploits of some of breathtaking sight-seeing landmarks.
We were taken into the labyrinthine world of Delhi’s old and the new metropolis, and other surrounding towns and villages, where some of the secrets and riches of incredible India reside.
Our sight-seeing programme was a breathtaking experience, further revealing the ancient secrets and romanticism of India. We were particularly awestruck by the majestic beauty and magnificence of the Akshardham Hindu temple complex in Delhi.
The Swaminarayan Akshardham is one of the wonders that are a repository for traditional Indian and Hindu culture, spirituality, and architecture.
We were enchanted to learn about how culture of Gandhian-inspired volunteerism involving 3 000 men and women who gave their labour of love to help 7 000 artisans to construct this holy shrine that stands as a lasting legacy to Pramukh Swami Maharaj, spiritual head of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, whose footprints are etched in a temple in London.
As a representative of a multicultural city, the tourism dimension of this holy place of worship will certainly encourage Durban to further enhance our catalogue of ancient temples, churches and synagogues that stand side by side in our local landscape.
Crafted wholly of stone, the central monument highlights the life and times of Swaminarayan and the timeless mystique of India, and beautifully enhanced by a musical fountain and landscaped gardens would surely rate as an ‘out of the world’ spectacle.
Another highlight deserves mentioning is our visit to the Kingdom of Dreams and our sheer joy and excitement at the extravagant offerings of the theme-based entertainment experiences that brought to life India’s cultural diversity, and an ambitious architectural project that blends a choreography of traditional Indian performing arts, entertainment and cultural heritage.
Durban could learn lessons from India’s portfolio of tourism landmarks and we are encouraged by the potential to open a gateway for South Africans to visit the treasure troves of an ancient civilization steeped in tradition, culture, hospitality and humanity.
In the final analysis, India’s humanity and humility left me humbled, but inspired to spread the word of a democracy where peace, respect and tolerance reign supreme, and work harder towards sharing the knowledge and experience gained at the conference with my fellow colleagues, compatriots and comrades as we prepare for another milestone in our developing democracy, the 2011 local government elections in a few month’s time.
Once again, we are eternally grateful to you and the Government of India for blessing our passage to India with your friendship, grace and charm.
We thank you.
Yours sincerely
Councillor Fawzia Peer
POST PRESENTATION PAPER AND REPORT-BACK DOCUMENT TO THE INDIAN CONSUL-GENERAL, HIS EXCELLENCY, MR ANIL SHARAN, ON THE OCCASION OF THE PARTICIPATION AT THE PRAVASI BHARATIYA DIVAS IN NEW DELHI, INDIA, 7-9 JANUARY 2011, BY COUNCILLOR FAWZIA PEER
CITY COUNCLLOR AND CHIEF WHIP OF THE ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY, CITY OF DURBAN, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
26TH January 2011
The Honourable Mr Anil Sharan
Consul-General
Government of India
City of Durban
Republic of South Africa
Dear Mr Sharan,
On behalf of the eThekwini Municipality and the people of the City of Durban, I extend our traditional greetings of Assalamu Alaikum, Vannakam, Namaste, Namaskarumu, Sawubona, Saniboni, and Molweni.
I also take this opportunity of conveying our felicitations and compliments of the season for the New Year to you, your family and your colleagues in the consular staff at the Durban Consulate of the Government of India.
This communiqué serves to confirm and record my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to you and your colleagues in the Government of India in New Delhi for the heartwarming hospitality, courtesy and high levels of protocol that was accorded to me in my capacity as the Chief Whip representing the Mayor of Durban, His Worship, Councillor Obed Mlaba, the eThekwini Municipality and the citizens of Durban during my participation at the 8th annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held recently in the capital city of the world’s largest democracy.
I also convey the similar sentiments and gratitude of my husband, Dr Peer, who had thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated pukka Indian hospitality.
I humbly salute you for your personal role and responsibility in ensuring that our visit to your ancient land of cultures and cuisines, and our attendance at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, was made all the more special and extraordinary through a programme of homemade hospitality and the humaneness of your peace-loving compatriots.
I was most heartened and delighted by the overall high standard of reception we had received in what will go down as one of our most memorable visits in recent years.
I was therefore most pleased to have represented our city and municipality at the Pravasi Bharitaya Divas, which provided some fascinating insights about the power of partnerships and the social networking of Indian communities living and working in diverse countries around the world, and yet all of us of Indian origin were sentimentally drawn to the magnetism of the beauty and splendor of India.
Furthermore, I was impressed by the amazing spirit of humanity and goodwill that prevailed over the symbolic meeting that brought together some of the most remarkable examples of Indians who have made spectacular strides in their field of business and expertise outside their motherland.
It was encouraging to note that both our countries share a common legacy of having being inspired by the teachings, principles, ethics, integrity and wisdom of one of the world’s iconic pacifists and peace gurus, the legendary Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, in our respective quest for freedom, human dignity, social justice and economic empowerment.
I was therefore particularly thrilled to have been part of a celebration that paid homage to the arrival of Gandhiji in India after having spent 21 years in South Africa, where he had helped to shape our political resistance to colonial-apartheid’s autocratic rule over the indigenous people of my country, including the 1860 Indian indentured labourers who faced the same racial and human rights discrimination meted out to our African, Coloured and Chinese compatriots.
Reflecting on my personal experience and interaction with fellow delegates at this world platform of Indians, I am therefore pleased that droves of South Africans of Indian origin have continued to attend the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas ever since the inaugural gathering of people of Indian origin took place in New Delhi in 2003.
I am overwhelmed that there has always been a strong participation by many of our leaders, entrepreneurs, academic, religious and cultural personalties, in the main, from Durban to this prestigious conference.
The high quality of the speakers and presenters and the diverse range of topics and themes have provided invaluable insights for me to ensure that Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will always enjoy the full support and goodwill of our municipality and citizens.
The collective pool of the knowledge economy and the human resources capital from the diverse delegations will certainly serve not only to guide the high standards of future conferences, but also contributes as communication tools, templates, texts and referencing point for a myriad of topics and themes that makes up the three-day programme of debates and discourses centred on the future and wellbeing of Indians.
We therefore owe a debt of gratitude to the visionaries behind the LM Singhvi Committee on the Indian Diaspora for having pioneered this celebration of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas as a global gathering of Indians while honouring the priceless life’s work of Gandhiji on the 9th of January each year.
This conference is unique, in that it may be the only gathering of nationals and expatriates that come together on a prestige platform and programme that recognizes the contributions of individuals of Indian origin who are honoured for exceptional merit and outstanding achievement in their field and profession.
The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards ceremony also serves as a classic example of how a nation can truly recognise and honour its nationals at home or abroad.
Developing democracies like South Africa can also learn from the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas that also focuses on issues and concerns that people of the diaspora face in their adopted countries, and how this programme of discourse and debate motivates people of Indian origin to assimilate to the local conditions on a socio-economic and political levels of their host adopted countries while maintaining strong linkages with India without losing touch with their motherland.
The high-level participation and support of the Government of India, the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry further enhances the scope and uniqueness of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas as a broad-based social networking, business, cultural and investment facilitation platform for overseas Indians.
I am therefore impressed that an event of this high calibre, capacity and standard can only strengthen ties between India, the diaspora or non-resident communities and the people of Durban and South Africa as we embark on a journey to turn our regions into the new frontiers of economic growth, social cohesion and political stability.
Within this context, it is encouraging to note that that Durban enjoys a twinning sister-city relationship with Mumbai, and until recently the City of Chennai. It is matter of time before we embark on linking Durban to Delhi, thereby making this famous and historic host city our next port of call in our ongoing, cordial social, economic and political relations between the citizens of Durban and the people of these major Indian cities and India as a whole.
I had certainly left the conference, and as well as the culturally-enhancing melting pot that symbolizes all that is India, a much wiser and inspired visitor, delegate and friend of the people of India.
Outside the conference, we were accorded a right royal reception by support staff that ensured that the comfort and convenience of visit was not going to be compromised right down to the finest details.
The services of a professional and knowledgeable chauffeur further served to accentuate our personal joy of savouring sumptuous cuisines, old-fashioned courtesy and protocol that Indians excel in as our trip transformed into a home-from-home experience of note.
I must compliment you and the support team for the choice of superb and splendid hotels that made our stay most pleasant and unforgettable, for which we are truly grateful and thankful for.
India is a vast spectrum of cultures and a land of a multitude of languages and dialects, and our interaction with the local people brings home our attention to the importance of mother languages in India and the Indian Diaspora and the revival of ancestral languages.
The sights and sounds of India today, its beliefs and physical and economic landscapes further enriched our exploits of some of breathtaking sight-seeing landmarks.
We were taken into the labyrinthine world of Delhi’s old and the new metropolis, and other surrounding towns and villages, where some of the secrets and riches of incredible India reside.
Our sight-seeing programme was a breathtaking experience, further revealing the ancient secrets and romanticism of India. We were particularly awestruck by the majestic beauty and magnificence of the Akshardham Hindu temple complex in Delhi.
The Swaminarayan Akshardham is one of the wonders that are a repository for traditional Indian and Hindu culture, spirituality, and architecture.
We were enchanted to learn about how culture of Gandhian-inspired volunteerism involving 3 000 men and women who gave their labour of love to help 7 000 artisans to construct this holy shrine that stands as a lasting legacy to Pramukh Swami Maharaj, spiritual head of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, whose footprints are etched in a temple in London.
As a representative of a multicultural city, the tourism dimension of this holy place of worship will certainly encourage Durban to further enhance our catalogue of ancient temples, churches and synagogues that stand side by side in our local landscape.
Crafted wholly of stone, the central monument highlights the life and times of Swaminarayan and the timeless mystique of India, and beautifully enhanced by a musical fountain and landscaped gardens would surely rate as an ‘out of the world’ spectacle.
Another highlight deserves mentioning is our visit to the Kingdom of Dreams and our sheer joy and excitement at the extravagant offerings of the theme-based entertainment experiences that brought to life India’s cultural diversity, and an ambitious architectural project that blends a choreography of traditional Indian performing arts, entertainment and cultural heritage.
Durban could learn lessons from India’s portfolio of tourism landmarks and we are encouraged by the potential to open a gateway for South Africans to visit the treasure troves of an ancient civilization steeped in tradition, culture, hospitality and humanity.
In the final analysis, India’s humanity and humility left me humbled, but inspired to spread the word of a democracy where peace, respect and tolerance reign supreme, and work harder towards sharing the knowledge and experience gained at the conference with my fellow colleagues, compatriots and comrades as we prepare for another milestone in our developing democracy, the 2011 local government elections in a few month’s time.
Once again, we are eternally grateful to you and the Government of India for blessing our passage to India with your friendship, grace and charm.
We thank you.
Yours sincerely
Councillor Fawzia Peer
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