Durban signs twinning agreement with Chennai

BY MARLAN PADAYACHEE

PRESENTATION PAPER BY THE DEPUTY MAYOR, COUNCILLOR LOGANATHAN NAIDOO, CHAIRPERSON OF THE ECONOMIC AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE, ETHEKWINI MUNICIAPLITY AT THE ANC PROGRESSIVE BUSINES FORUM TRADE DELEGATION TO CHENNAI INDIA/ SOUTH AFRICA –INDIA TRADE SEMINAR ON THE TOPIC SOUTH AFRICA – OPEN FOR BUSIUNESS 13-17 NOVEMBER 2010.

DATE: TUESDAY 16 NOVEMBER 2010

TIME: 10H20,

VENUE: PARK SHERAT0N HOTEL CHENNAI.

THANK YOU, DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMME.

· GOOD MORNING, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN; HONOURED GUESTS;

· VANNAKAM;

· NAMASTE;

· NAMASKARUMU;

· SAWUBONA;

· ASSALAMU ALAIKUM;

· SANIBONANI;

· GOEIE MORE;

· THE HONOURABLE MS SHOBANA KAMINENI, PAST PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATION OF INDIA INDUSTRY (SR) AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF APOLLO HOSPITALS GROUP;

· HIS EXCELLENCY, THE HONOURABLE REVEREND HARRIS MAJEKA, SOUTH AFRICAN HIGH COMMISSIONER TO INDIA; AND CONSULAR STAFF FROM THE SOUTH AFRICAN MISSIONS IN INDIA;

· THE HONOURABLE MR DARYL SWANEPOEL, CO-CONVENOR OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS PROGRESSIVE BUSINESS FORUM OF SOUTH AFRICA;

· MR RAJEEV RANJAN, THE IAS PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, INDUSTRIES DEPARTMENT, GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADU.

· MR SUJITH HARIDAS, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, CONFEDERATION OF INDIA INDUSTRY, SOUTHERN REGION;

· MEMBERS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS DELEGATION;

· MEMBERS OF THE INDIAN BUSINESS DELEGATION;

· ALL GOVERNMENT AND MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS;

· MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA;

· ALL PROTOCOLS OBSERVED;

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, TODAY, THE 16^TH DAY OF NOVEMBER 2010 IS AN IMPORTANT DAY IN THE LONGSTANDING RELATIONS BETWEEN THE PEOPLE OF INDIA AND THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA.

EXACTLY, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AGO, TO THIS HOUR, INDIA GAVE BIRTH TO ONE OF THE FIRST AND MOST FORMIDABLE INDIAN COMMUNITIES OUTSIDE WHAT MANY OF MY INDIAN COMPATRIOTS AND COMRADES WOULD CALL THE MOTHERLAND, THAI NADU, AS WE SAY IN TAMIL OR TELUGU.

TODAY, BACK IN MY BELOVED COUNTRY OF BIRTH, SOUTH AFRICA, MORE THAN 1, 3 MILLION INDIANS WILL START CELEBRATING AND COMMEMORATING ONE OF THE GREATEST EVENTS OF A POIGNANT HUMAN DRAMA THROUGHOUT THE CITIES AND TOWNS WHERE SOUTH AFRICANS OF INDIAN ORIGIN RESIDE AND WORK CHEEK BY JOWL TO REALIZE THE AFRICAN DREAM FOR ALL OUR CITIZENS OF MORE THAN 45-MILLION.

IT IS THEREFORE APPROPRIATE THAT I THANK OUR HOST FOR YOUR GRACIOUS WELCOME AND HOSPITALITY OF WHAT WILL CLEARLY MAP OUT AS THE REAL INDIAN EXPERIENCE ON SOUTHERN SHORES OF INDIA WHERE THE FIRST BATCH OF 340 INDENTURED LABOURERS WERE SHIPPED TO THE CITY OF DURBAN ON 16^TH NOVEMBER 1860.

SUGAR FARMING WAS SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED IN OUR REGION IN 1855 WHEN OUR SUGAR FARMERS GOT WIND OF HOW THE INDIAN INDENTURED LABOUR SYSTEM WAS GIVING NEW ECONOMIC LIFE TO THE SUGAR INDUSTRY IN MAURITIUS AND MADAGASCAR SUGAR PLANTATIONS.

SUGAR FARMING WAS SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED IN THIS REGION IN 1855 WHEN OUR SUGAR FARMERS GOT WIND OF HOW THE INDIAN INDENTURED LABOUR SYSTEM WAS GIVING NEW ECONOMIC LIFE TO THE SUGAR INDUSTRY IN MAURITIUS AND MADAGASCAR SUGAR PLANTATIONS.

THE BURGEONING BARONS OF THIS INDUSTRY THEN LOBBIED THE GOVERNMENT OF NATAL TO INTRODUCE INDENTURED INDIAN LABOURERS TO WORK ON THEIR SUGAR PLANTATIONS.

DURING BRITAIN’S COLONIAL RULE, INDIANS WERE PERCEIVED AS SUITABLE WORKERS FOR THIS JOB AS THEY WERE ALREADY USED TO THIS SYSTEM IN THE INDIAN OCEAN ISLANDS, AND THEY SOUGHT AFTER AS SKILFUL AGRICULTURISTS AND GARDENERS.

BUOYED BY AN INDOMITABLE SPIRIT OF SURVIVAL AND ENTERPRISE, THEY VENTURED INTO THE DARKNESS, ONLY TO TURN THEIR POOR PLIGHT OF INDENTURED LABOUR INTO ONE OF LIGHTNESS THAT WILL FOREVER LINK INDIA TO SOUTH AFRICA DURING THE TURBULENT PERIOD OF COLONIAL-APARTHEID HISTORY THAT CULMINATING IN GANDHIJEE RETURNING TO INDIA AS A PEACE GURU AND MANDELA BECOMING OUR NEW NATION’S FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT.

IT THEREFORE GIVES ME AN INCREDIBLE SENSE OF PRIDE, PLEASURE, PATRIOTISM AND HUMILITY TO SHARE WITH YOU THAT THIS IS CERTAINLY A GOD-GIVEN PRIVILEGE TO BE VISITING THE SEAPORT OF CHENNAI WHERE THE SS TRURO DEPARTED INTO THE DARKNESS OF THE INDIAN OCEAN TO BRING HOME OUR FOREBEARS WHO WOULD MAKE MOTHER INDIA SO PROUD AND THIS SYMBOLIC UMBILICAL CORD WILL FOREVER REMAIN BETWEEN CHENNAI AND DURBAN AS WE NAVIGATE THIS TRADING PROTOCOL TO TAKE INDIA AND SOUTH AFRICA INTO THE HEART OF THE AFRICAN 21^ST CENTURY.

MR CHAIRPERSON, DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.

AS THE DEPUTY MAYOR OF THE ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY AND THE CITY OF DURBAN, AND ALSO IN MY CAPACITY AS CHAIRPERSON OF DURBAN’S ECONOMIC AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE, I BELIEVE I WON’T BE OUT OF ORDER IF I EXTEND A COLLECTIVE BOUQUET OF GRATITUDE TO OUR DISTINGUISHED HOSTS.

FROM THE MOMENT EMIRATES FLIGHT EK 544 TOUCHED DOWN ON THE RUNWAY IN CHENNAI, WE HAVE BEEN TREATED WITH EXCEPTIONAL WARMTH AND FRIENDSHIP, AND THIS GLOBAL GOODWILL IS ONLY UNIQUE TO INCREDIBLE INDIA.

IF THE SPIRIT (IF NOT HIGH SPIRITS) AND VIGOUR WAS ANYTHING TO GO BY AT SUNDAY NIGHT’S WELCOME AND NETWORKING DINNER AT TAJ COROMANDEL HOTEL IS ANYTHING TO GO BY AS A SOCIAL-BUSINESS GAUGE OR BAROMETER, THEN OUR DELEGATION MUST BRACE ITSELF FOR A TRADE MISSION THAT WILL FOREVER BE ETCHED IN THEIR MINDS AS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING AND FASCINATION BUSINESS EXPERIENCES.

ON BEHALF OF OUR DELEGATION, I SAY ‘THANK YOU’ IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE BRITISH COLONIALISTS WHO SHIPPED US TO SOUTH AFRICA, ‘NAANDRI’ IN TAMIL AND ‘NGIYABONGA’ IN THE INDIGENOUS ISIZULU LANGUAGE OF THE KINGDOM OF THE KWAZULU, WHERE THE CITY OF DURBAN IS STRATEGICALLY POSITIONED ON THE INDIAN OCEAN RIM AS THE GATEWAY INTO AFRICA.

ON BEHALF OF THE ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY AND THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF DURBAN, I EXTEND WARM GREETINGS, GOODWILL AND GOOD WISHES TO THE CITIZENS OF CHENNAI ON THIS HISTORIC DAY THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO REDEFINE OUR MUTUALLY-ENHANCING RELATIONS ON THE SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SPHERES.

WE HAIL FROM A CITY OF GOLDEN BEACHES WHERE OUR MANTRA IS THE ‘FUN NEVER SETS’.

SO LET ME ASSURE YOU THAT OUR ESTEEMED REPRESENTATIVES FROM SOME OF OUR FINEST HOMEGROWN BRANDS HAVE MUCH MORE THAN THEIR SOCIAL STAMINA TO MAKE THIS LONG HAUL INTO A FRUITFUL AND ENTERPRISING SHARING AND EXCHANGING OF BUSINESS ACUMEN, TRADE OPPORTUNITIES AND PARTNERSHIPS.

THE ANC RULING PARTY’S PROGRESSIVE BUSINESS FORUM WAS LAUNCHED AT OUR PARTY’S HEADQUARTERS IN LUTHULI HOUSE AS A NEW VEHICLE TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMIC REVOLUTION THAT THE ANC HAD EMBARKED ON IN RECENT YEARS TO PLACE MORE AND MORE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS IN THE HANDS OF PREVIOUSLY DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES, OF WHICH INCLUDES THE INDIAN COMMUNITY.

MANY OF THESE COMPANIES ARE REPRESENTED AMONG THE 35 TO 40 COMPANIES AND CONSULTANCIES IN OUR DELEGATION.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE 1860 INDENTURED LABOURERS, WE ARE RETRACING OUR STEPS TO STRENGTHEN A NEW ERA OF ENTERPRISE WITH OUR PROVINCE AND SOUTH INDIA.

THE ONE OF THE PURPOSES OF OUR TRADE VISIT IS TO SEEK APPROVAL FROM THE CITY GOVERNMENT OF CHENNAI TO SIGN THE SISTER CITY AGREEMENT BETWEEN ETHEKWINI AND CHENNAI.

THIS MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WHICH HAS BEEN SHARED WITH THE CONSUL-GENERAL OF INDIA IN DURBAN HAS BEEN SUBMITTED TO DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND CO-OPERATION AND HAS SINCE BEEN RATIFIED AND APPROVED.

ALSO, AS THE DEPUTY MAYOR AND HEAD OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND GOVERNANCE IN THE CITY OF DURBAN, I WISH TO SHARE SOME BACKGROUND WITH YOU.

SOUTH AFRICA AND INDIA ARE STRONG TRADING PARTNERS AND HAVE ESTABLISHED MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL RELATIONS THROUGH A NUMBER OF INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS. SOUTH AFRICA AND INDIA HAVE SIGNED A NATIONAL BI-NATIONAL COMMISSION AND HAS AGREED TO COOPERATE WITH INDIA WITHIN THE IBSA AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS THAT STRIVES TO SUPPORT AND STRENGTHEN THE WORLDS DEVELOPING ECONOMIES.

IN ORDER TO GIVE ADDED MOMENTUM AND ADDED BENEFIT TO THE ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY IT HAS BEEN RECOMMENDED THAT THE MUNICIPALITY JOIN A POWERFUL BUSINESS DELEGATION TO CHENNAI INDIA.

THE DELEGATION WILL SEEK TO BUILD STRONG BUSINESS TO BUSINESS ENGAGEMENTS IN THE FIELDS OF AUTO-MOTOR, COMPUTERS, AND IT HARDWARE MANUFACTURING AND HEALTH CARE INDUSTRIES.

IN ORDER TO STRENGTHEN THE BUSINESS AND POLITICAL TO ENHANCE TRADE AND INVESTMENT, WE BELIEVE THAT SIGNING OF A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING AND LAYING OF A PLAQUE WITHIN THE CITY OF CHENNAI TO COMMEMORATE THE ARRIVAL OF INDENTURED INDIAN LABOURERS IN 1860 ON THE FIRST SHIP FROM INDIA THAT DEPARTED FROM CHENNAI, WILL BUILD SIGNIFICANT POLITICAL AND CULTURAL GOODWILL BETWEEN THE CITIZENS OF THE TWO CITIES, AND IN SO DOING FAST TRACK TRADE, INVESTMENT AND CULTURAL EXCHANGES THAT WILL BENEFIT BOTH CITIES.

IN THE PAST 16 YEARS SINCE OUR RELATIONSHIP BEGAN BEARING FRUIT AND BLOSSOMING INTO A FULL-BLOWN SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL PARTNERSHIP, WE HAVE ESTABLISHED LINKS WITH BOLLYWOOD.

ON THIS MISSION, WE WANT TO PROMOTE TRADE AND TOURISM AND CONTINUE THE CULTURAL LINK THAT BEGAN 150 YEARS AGO AND STILL CONTINUES BETWEEN OUR TWO FRIENDLY COUNTRIES.

ON THIS MISSION, WE ARE READY TO DO BUSINESS WITH OUR SOUTH INDIAN COUNTERPARTS.

WE NOW NEED TO CEMENT LINKS WITH THIS ANCIENT SEAPORT WHERE THE FOUNDING FOREBEARS OF THE INDIAN COMMUNITY SET SAIL FOR DURBAN.

OUR DELEGATION IS OVERWHELMED BY THE HISTORIC EVENT THAT COMMEMORATES AND CELEBRATES 150 YEARS OF INDIAN LINKAGE TO AFRICA.

I BELIEVE THE TWINNING OF DURBAN AND CHENNAI IS THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TONIC THAT WILL SET OUR ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP ALIGHT.

DURBAN HAS TWINNING AGREEMENTS WITH CHICAGO, AND NEW ORLEANS IN THE UNITED STATES; ROTTERDAM IN THE NETHERLANDS; LEEDS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM; BULAWAYO AND MAPUTO IN AFRICA; REUNION ISLAND IN THE INDIAN OCEAN RIM.

CHENNAI, OR MADRAS AS WE KNEW IT IN THE COLONIAL-APARTHEID ERA, IS THE FIRST CITY IN INDIA WITH WHICH WE ARE PROPOSING A TWINNING THAT WILL BUILD A BRIDGE FOR US ACROSS THE INDIAN OCEAN RIM.

WITH THE TWIN CITIES AGREEMENT IN PLACE, I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT THE BIG BLUE SKIES WILL BE MORE THAN THE LIMIT OF OUR CONSTRUCTIVE ENGAGEMENT OF ECONOMIC TOES AND SOCIAL EXCHANGES.

WE ARE CONFIDENT THAT IN THIS HEARTLAND OF TAMIL NADU, ICONIC LEADERS LIKE CHIEF MINISTER M KARUNANIDHI AND THE MAYOR OF THE CHENNAI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, HIS WORSHIP MANICKAM SUBRAMANIAN WILL HELP US NAVIGATE THIS TWINNING AGREEMENT TO BRING OUR ECONOMIES AND COMMUNITIES CLOSER TOGETHER FOR THE BETTERMENT OF BOTH SIDES OF OUR SHARED LEGACY.

OUR DELEGATION ARE FULLY BEHIND DURBAN’S INITIATIVE BECAUSE THEY ARDENTLY BELIEVE THAT CHENNAI’S WORLD REPUTATION AS BEING A STRONG HUB FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, TEXTILES, MOTOR MANUFACTURING AND THE MOVIE INDUSTRY COULD BE MATCHED WITH THE SIMILAR ECONOMIC GROWTH POINTS AND STRENGTHS DURBAN HAS TO OFFER CHENNAI.

OUR DELEGATION WILL BE LOOKING AT HOW BUSINESS BASED IN THE PORT CITY OF CHENNAI COULD TIE UP AGREEMENTS WITH OUR BUSINESSES BASED IN DURBAN.

WE ARE ALSO KEEN TO LINK SOUTH AFRICAN COMPANIES WITH SOUTH INDIAN COUNTERPARTS.

IN THE BROADER PICTURE OF OUR SOCIO-ECONOMIC JOURNEY, WE LOOK TO THE SOUTH INDIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND THE CONFEDERATION OF INDIAN INDUSTRIES TO JOIN DURBAN AND CHENNAI IN THIS BRAVE NEW JOURNEY INTO SOUTH-SOUTH TRADING AND BUSINESS SYNERGY AND JOINT VENTURE PARTNERSHIPS.

FROM OUR FROM QUAYSIDE, WE ARE READY FOR AN EXCITING NEW ECONOMIC CROSSING TO CHENNAI.

WE INVITE OUR INDIAN COUNTERPARTS TO ALSO UNDERTAKE THE CROSSING THAT CHENNAI AND DURBAN.

AS WE RELIVE AND REKINDLE OUR HISTORIC CHAPTER THAT TIES OUR DESTINATIONS AND DEMOCRACIES, LET ME DECLARE THAT SOUTH AFRICA IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS AND FULL OF OPPORTUNITY.

I AM FORTUNATE THAT THE DURBAN-CHENNAI ROUTE IS A BEATEN TRACK FOR ME.

I HAVE BEEN FORGING THIS JOURNEY FOR ALMOST A DOZEN YEARS.

EVER SINCE CONSUL-GENERAL LATHA REDDY RAISED THE INDIAN FLAG, PRE-1994, AT THE OLD STATION BUILDING WHERE MK GANDHI SET OUT ON A HISTORIC AND CONTROVERSIAL TRAIN JOURNEY TO PRETORIA THAT WAS TO RESULT IN AN INTERNATIONAL RACIAL INCIDENT IN WHICH GANDHIJEE WAS THROWN OFF THE ‘WHITES-ONLY TRAIN’ IN PIETERMARITZBURG, AND WHEN AMBASSADOR MANGALMURTHI REOPENED THE INDIAN EMBASSY IN 1994 THAT WAS SHUTDOWN IN PROTEST AGAINST THE APARTHEID GOVERNMENT IN 1940S, I CAN SHARE WITH THIS SEMINAR THAT TRADING CONDITIONS BETWEEN OUR TWO SISTER CITIES HAS BEEN BRISK.

SOME OF THE POSITIVE SPIN-OFFS OF THESE PIONEERING EARLY-YEAR VISITS HAVE BEEN THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOOTPRINTS OF RAMCO, AN INNOVATIVE THAT NOW LOOM LARGE IN THE CITY OF DURBAN AT OUR IT HUB THAT RAMCO EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT AND IT LEADERS HAD HELPED OUR MUNICIPALITY TO DEVELOP SINCE THE 1990S.

TODAY, RAMCO IS ONE OF THE PIONEERING COMPANIES THAT EMBARKED ON THE BRAVE NEW JOURNEY INTO AFRICA.

IT IS THE SAME BIG BLUE OCEAN WHERE OUR INDIAN FOREBEARS BEGAN A HORRIFIC AND HORRENDOUS JOURNEY OF LABOUR MIGRATION THAT WAS TO CULMINATE IN FUTURE GENERATIONS OF INDIANS TYING THEIR MAST TO AN AFRICAN DESTINY.

TODAY, WE HAVE GATHERED ON A DATELINE AND DESTINATION THAT WILL FOREVER CEMENT THIS HISTORIC MILESTONE BETWEEN THE PEOPLE OF CHENNAI AND THE PEOPLE OF DURBAN.

IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS OF THIS GROUNDBREAKING TRADE VISIT, WE WOULD HAVE SUCCEEDED IN UNIFYING AND SOLIDIFYING ALL OF INDIA AND SOUTH AFRICA AROUND A COMMONNESS OF OUR CULTURAL DIVERSITY, SOCIAL COHESION, ECONOMIC ADVANCEMENT AND POLITICAL EXCHANGE AND SHARING OF ECONOMIC IDEAS AND STRATEGIES.

THIS MORNING, AS WE PUSH BACK THE FRONTIERS OF A UNIQUE ECONOMIC JOURNEY THAT BEGAN 150 YEARS AGO, WE ARE UPBEAT AND CONFIDENT THAT THIS STRATEGIC SEMINAR WILL PROVIDE US WITH A FRESH, NEW ROUTE MARKER TO NARROW THE LOGISTICAL CHALLENGE BETWEEN DURBAN AND CHENNAI.

DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS AND PANELISTS, HONOURED GUESTS AND LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE WATERMARK ON ANY TRADE AGREEMENTS OR ECONOMIC PACTS THAT WE WILL ENDORSE DURING THIS TRADE MUST FOREVER BE INSPIRED BY THE INTREPID BAND OF INDIAN INDENTURED VISIONARIES.

AS A SON OF THE SLAVES, I AM PROUD TO BE STANDING BEFORE YOU BY CALLING UPON ALL THE CHENNAI BUSINESS STAKEHOLDERS TO JOIN YOUR NEW DURBAN COUNTERPARTS IN GIVING NEW MEANING TO THE SOUTH-SOUTH LATITUDE THAT COULD ENCOURAGE BOTH SIDES OF THE INDIAN OCEAN RIM TO MAKE THIS TRADE DELEGATION AN ANNUAL EVENT SO THAT MORE AND MORE ENTREPRENEURS ENJOY THE OPPORTUNITY OF WALKING THROUGH THESE NEW AVENUES OF SOUTH AFRICA-INDIA BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS AND SYNERGIES.

SURELY THE SUCCESS OF THIS BRAVE NEW JOURNEY IN WHICH WE ARE CHARTERING NEW WATERS WILL BE A FITTING HOMAGE TO THE HISTORIC HOUR WHEN ‘COOLIE NUMBER ONE’ 30-YEAR-OLD DAVURAM FROM MADRAS STEPPED OFF THE SS TRURO AND SET FOOT ON THE SHORES OF DURBAN.

THE SECOND INDENTURED LABOURER ON THE SHIP’S MANIFEST WAS 18-YEAR-OLD NAGURAM, PROBABLY HIS WIFE, AND THEIR TWO CHILDREN, FOUR-YEAR-OLD KUBAY, AND ONE-YEAR-OLD ELIZABETH.

THESE STOICAL BANDS OF INDENTURED LABOURERS WHO WERE FOLLOWED BY THOUSANDS OF ECONOMIC MIGRANT LABOURERS, TRADERS, ARTISANS WERE TO LAY A POWERFUL PLATFORM FOR MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI TO FOREVER CHANGE THE TIDE OF OPPRESSIVE COLONIAL POLITICS AS WE KNEW IT IN SOUTH AFRICA, INDIA AND OTHER COUNTRIES WHERE SUGAR PLANTATIONS WAS THE NEW GOLD OF THE 18^TH CENTURY.

THIS HISTORIC DATE, 16^TH OF NOVEMBER 1860, HAS COME TO DEFINE AND SHAPE THE DESTINY OF GENERATIONS OF OUR INDIAN CITIZENS IN DURBAN AND OTHER METROPOLITAN CITIES AND TOWNS IN SOUTH AFRICA.

TODAY, MORE THAN 800 00 OF SOUTH AFRICA’S 1, 3 MILLION CITIZENS OF INDIAN ORIGIN RESIDE IN THE CITY OF DURBAN AND CITIES AND TOWNS ACROSS THE PROVINCE OF KWAZULU-NATAL.

FOR ME, AS A SON OF INDENTURED LABOURERS, I AM GRATEFUL THAT WE ARE SHARING THIS MOMENT OF HISTORY TO CEMENT THE RELATIONS BETWEEN DURBAN AND CHENNAI AT THE UNVEILING OF A COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE LATER TODAY.

THIS COLOURFUL CEREMONY, I FIRMLY BELIEVE, MAY FOREVER STAND AS A SYMBOL OF OUR OF PAST ERA OF ADVERSITY AND OUR PRESENT JOURNEY OF ADVANTAGE AND ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION BETWEEN OUR SEAPORTS; AS A LASTING MOMENT OF OUR PRESENT AND FUTURE CO-OPERATION.

CLOSER TO HOME, AN INDIAN FLAG FLYING ALONGSIDE THE SOUTH AFRICAN OUTSIDE A LANDMARK TYRE MANUFACTURING COMPANY CALLED DUNLOP OUTSIDE THE DURBAN CBD TELLS A REMARKABLE STORY OF HOW FAR THE TRADE JOURNEY HAS COME BETWEEN INDIA AND SOUTH AFRICA.

IN THE BUSINESS HUB OF JOHANNESBURG, THE GUPTA FAMILY FROM INDIA HAS ESTABLISHED A BEST-KNOWN COMPUTER BRAND CALLED SAHARA.

THE GUPTAS ARE TO LAUNCH AN INDEPENDENT NATIONAL NEWSPAPER CALLED THE NEW AGE THAT WILL TAKE A FRESH NEW LOOK AT POLITICS, A PROGRESSIVE PEOPLE-CENTRED GOVERNMENT AND THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC REVOLUTION THAT IS TAKING PLACE IN OUR RAINBOW NATION OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY WHERE INDIAN NATIONALS ARE AT HOME IN THE HEART OF AFRICA’S ECONOMIC MELTING POT.

WITH THE SIGNING OF A SISTER-CITY RELATIONSHIP WITH CHENNAI, WE ASSURE INDIAN BUSINESSES THAT YOU WILL BE FLYING MORE THAN YOUR COLOURS IN OUR COSMOPOLITAN CITY WHERE EAST MEETS WEST ACROSS THE AFRICAN DIASPORA.

A UNIQUELY COSMOPOLITAN CITY, DURBAN CAN BEST BE DESCRIBED AS A PARADISE AND ITS PEOPLE.

A VISITOR TO DURBAN MAY STRUGGLE TO FIND A DEFINITE PHRASE THAT FITS THE CITY AND ITS SUBURBS.

FOR DURBAN, OR ETHEKWINI (THE CITY BY THE WATER IN THE ISIZULU LANGUAGE), AS IT IS ALSO CALLED, CONTAINS SUCH A VAST SPECTRUM OF CULTURES, BELIEFS AND PHYSICAL AND ECONOMIC LANDSCAPES, THAT IS INDEED DIFFICULT TO ENCAPSULATE THE PLACE IN A WELL-WORDED PHRASE.

BUT IT IS PRECISELY IN THIS DIFFICULTY OF FINDING A CENTRAL METAPHOR OR DESCRIPTION THAT THE SECRETS AND RICHES OF THIS LIVELY AFRICAN CITY RESIDE.

FOR DURBAN IS A CITY OF FUSION, CROSS-POLLINATION, OF WILD ECLECTICISM.

HERE AFRICA, EUROPE, AMERICA AND THE EAST MEET AT A SINGLE GEOGRAPHICAL POINT.

DURBAN HAS A SUMMERY CLIMATE WITHOUT BEING SWELTERING.

AS A BEACH PARADISE, THE DURBAN GOLDEN MILE, WHERE WE ARE PLANNING A BOLLYWOOD/HOLLYWOOD TYPE FILM STUDIO, IS A STRETCH OF GOLDEN SANDY BEACHES AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE, COMPLEMENTED BY ALL YEAR ROUND WARM INDIAN OCEAN, SUNNY CLEAR AFRICAN SKIES AND AS NEW ARRIVALS YOU WILL ENJOY ALL THAT TROPICAL PARADISE AND VIBE OF OUR COLOURFUL CONTINENT.

WE ARE HOME TO SOUTH AFRICA’S BIGGEST PORT, IS HOT AND SOMETIMES HUMID, A BEACH PARADISE.

NOW, YOU WILL UNDERSTAND WHY INDIAN BUSINESS LEGACY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP REIGNS SUPREME IN THE CITY OF DURBAN, WHETHER IT’S THE FOOD MECCA OF THE JEWEL OF INDIA THAT ENSURED THAT THE CHENNAI SUPER KINGS WERE WELL FED WITH INDIAN CUISINES DURING THEIR RECENT CRICKET SERIES TOUR, OR HOW THE BANK OF BARODA IS PROVIDING INDIAN NATIONALS WITH WORLD CLASS BANKING SERVICES IN OUR CULTURALLY DIVERSE CBDS.

THERE ARE MANY OTHER INDIAN MULTINATIONALS FLAGS FLYING HIGH IN THE CITY OF DURBAN.

DURBAN IS AN INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT FRIENDLY CITY AND THE STATISTICS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

RESEARCH BY MCGREGOR INFORMATION SERVICES SHOWS THAT SINCE 1993 INDIAN INVESTMENT HAS GROWN FROM NOTHING TO R2, 7BILLION SINCE 1994 IN THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA.

ESTIMATES NOW PUT THE NUMBER OF INDIAN COMPANIES, WHICH ARE TRADING IN SOUTH AFRICA AT MORE THAN 500, OF WHICH 20 HAVE ESTABLISHED LOCAL SUBSIDIARIES AND A FURTHER 100 HAVE APPOINTED LOCAL AGENTS AND DISTRIBUTORS.

EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF INDIA RELOCATED ITS AFRICA OFFICE FROM ABIDJAN TO JOHANNESBURG AND RECENTLY SIGNED AN AGREEMENT WITH STANDARD BANK TO EXTEND A $10M CREDIT LINE TO FINANCE EXPORTS FROM INDIA TO SOUTH AFRICA.

OTHER INDIAN BANKS ACTIVE IN SOUTH AFRICA ARE BANK OF BARODA AND THE STATE BANK OF INDIA, WHICH HAS OPENED A BRANCH IN DURBAN TO AUGMENT ITS JOHANNESBURG OFFICE IN THE COUNTRY’S COMMERCIAL CAPITAL.

DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, AS THE DEPUTY MAYOR OF ONE OF AFRICA’S LEADING, DEBT-FREE CITIES WITH ONE OF THE BEST CITY ADMINISTRATIONS, LET ME ROUND UP MY ADDRESS BY TOUCHING ON SOME VERY ATTRACTIVE HIGHLIGHTS THAT WILL ENCOURAGE SOUTH INDIAN BUSINESSES TO INVEST IN THE CITY OF DURBAN.

OUR MUNICIPAL AREA IS LOCATED ON THE EASTERN SEABOARD OF SOUTH AFRICA WITHIN THE PROVINCE OF KWAZULU-NATAL, COVERING ABOUT 2 297 SQUARE KILOMETRES.

WHILE OUR TOTAL MUNICIPAL AREA IS ONLY 1.4% OF THE TOTAL AREA OF THE PROVINCE OF KWAZULU-NATAL, JUST OVER A THIRD OF OUR PROVINCIAL POPULATION AND 60% OF ITS ECONOMIC ACTIVITY ARE CONCENTRATED WITHIN OUR ETHEKWINI MUNICIPAL AREA.

OUR REGION IS CHARACTERIZED BY DIVERSE TOPOGRAPHY, FROM STEEP ESCARPMENTS IN THE WEST TO A RELATIVELY FLAT COASTAL PLAIN IN THE EAST.

WE HAVE ALMOST 100KM OF COASTLINE, 19 RIVERS AND 17 ESTUARIES. THIS DIVERSE LAND FORM SUPPORTS A WIDE VARIETY OF TERRESTRIAL, FRESH WATER AND MARINE NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS.

OUR PEOPLE

OUR CITY IS A MIX OF RACIAL AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY, WITH ITS AFRICAN, INDIAN/ASIAN AND EUROPEAN INFLUENCES CREATING A VIBRANT COSMOPOLITAN SOCIETY. OUR MUNICIPAL AREA HAS AN ESTIMATED POPULATION OF JUST OVER 3 MILLION PEOPLE.

THE BLACK AFRICAN COMMUNITY MAKES UP THE LARGEST SECTOR (65%) OF THE POPULATION FOLLOWED BY THE INDIAN/ASIAN COMMUNITY (21%). THE AGE PROFILE REVEALS THAT, THE WORKING AGE GROUP COMPRISES 68% OF THE POPULATION; WE ALSO HAVE A RELATIVELY LARGE YOUTHFUL POPULATION, WITH 38% UNDER THE AGE OF 19 YEARS.

OUR ECONOMY
DURBAN IS SOUTH AFRICA’S MAJOR PORT CITY WITH A DIVERSE A DIVERSE AND VIBRANT LOCAL ECONOMY.

DURBAN IS SOUTH AFRICA’S SECOND LARGEST INDUSTRIAL HUB BEHIND GAUTENG.

DURBAN HAS A LARGE CONCENTRATION OF MANUFACTURING ACTIVITY DIRECTLY AND INDIRECTLY LINKED TO OUR STATUS AS A PORT CITY.

DURBAN IS ALSO THE COUNTRIES KEY TRADING GATEWAY WITH ACCESS TO IMPORTANT TRADING ROUTES TO THE EAST AND THE SUB-CONTINENT.

DURBAN’S PROXIMITY TO THE GAUTENG MINERAL-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX AND THE COMMERCIAL CAPITAL OF JOHANNESBURG, AND AN ECONOMIC LINK INTO SOUTHERN AFRICA, MAKES IT AN ATTRACTIVE INVESTMENT DESTINATION.

WITH THE FOUR MAJOR SECTORS OF THE ECONOMY BEING MANUFACTURING, TOURISM, FINANCE AND TRANSPORT, WE HAVE A STRONG PRESENCE IN ADVANCED SECTORS OF THE ECONOMY.

MANUFACTURING, WHICH CONTRIBUTES ABOUT 30% OF THE LOCAL ECONOMY, HAS HISTORICALLY BEEN LOCATED TO THE SOUTH OF OUR CBD IN OUR IDUSTRIAL BASIN.

MORE RECENTLY, THIS HAS BEEN SPREADING TO THE WEST AND EXTENT TO THE NORTH OF THE CITY WHERE MODERN SHOPPING MALLS AND BUSINESS CENTRES SERVES OUR ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE.

TOURISM, ANOTHER STRONG SECTOR ADDS 24% TO THE LOCAL ECONOMY AND IS CONCENTRATED ALONG THE COAST.
DURBAN IS THE HOME OF THE ANNUAL INDABA TRAVEL TRADE AND TOURISM EXHIBITION THAT ATTRACTS MORE THAN 20 000 DELEGATES, VISITORS AND INVESTORS EACH YEAR.

COMMERCIAL SERVICES SUCH AS BANKING, INSURANCE AND OTHER FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES ARE WELL DEVELOPED.

TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION IS THE FOURTH BIGGEST SECTOR CONTRIBUTING ABOUT 14% TO THE ECONOMY OF OUR REGION.

WE HAVE SUBSTANTIAL AND FAST GROWING LESS FORMAL ECONOMY ALTHOUGH MUCH OF IT¹S CURRENT GROWTH IS FOCUSED IN LOWER INCOME JOBS. WE HAVE A GROWING ‘SECOND ECONOMY’ MADE UP OF STREET VENDORS, COTTAGE INDUSTRIES AND BEAD MAKING AND HANDICRAFTS RUN MAINLY BY RURAL WOMEN.

THE FINANCIAL ENVIRONMENT: LOCAL GOVERNMENT WITHIN OUR MUNICIPAL REGION OPERATES FROM A SOUND FINANCIAL FOOTING WITH STRONG FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS IN PLACE.

OUR CITY COUNCIL CURRENTLY HOLDS ASSETS OF ALMOST R8.8 BILLION AND HAS AN ANNUAL EXPENDITURE OF CLOSE TO R8 BILLION. ABOUT R1.3 BILLION OF THE CITY COUNCIL EXPENDITURE IS DEVOTED TO CAPITAL INVESTMENT WITH THE BALANCE USED FOR OPERATING EXPENSES.

THE TWINNING OF DURBAN AND CHENNAI COULD MARK A FOLLOW UP JOURNEY AKIN TO THE ENTERPRISING SPIRIT OF THE FIRST BATCH OF ECONOMIC MIGRANTS WHO ENTERED THE AFRICAN LANDSCAPE TO ENSURE THAT THIS EVERLASTING RELATIONSHIP TAKES ON A NEW MEANING OF SOUTH-SOUTH AND CITY-TO-CITY SOCIO-ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION.

IN MY CLOSING REMARKS, I ONCE AGAIN THANK OUR HOSTS FOR GIVING ME THIS WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY TO ADDRESS YOU ON BEHALF OF OUR DELEGATION AND THE CITY OF DURBAN.

MAY OUR RELATIONSHIP AND SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TOES TAKING PLACE ON THIS HISTORIC DAY PAVE THE WAY FOR PROSPEROUS PARTNERSHIPS THAT WILL CREATE AN ENABLING CLIMATE BETWEEN THE PEOPLE OF CHENNAI AND DURBAN.

I THANK YOU.

Presentation Paper researched and written for the Office of the Deputy Mayor and Councillor Logie Naidoo , eThekwini Municipality, City of Durban, South Africa on the ANC PBF South Africa-India Trade Delegation to Chennai, South India from 13-17 November 2010 and the Twinning of Durban and Chennai and unveiling of 1860 plaque by Marlan Padayachee, in association with Amanda Cele, Sally Nene-Mbhele, Pinky Naidoo, Sibusiso Ngema, all of GreenGold Africa Communications: greengold@mtnloaded.co.za/ (031) 266 2134/ 073 625 8247/ 078 076 8121/ 078 2453579/fax 00 27 31 266 8592.

Language is one of the main seeds of a person’s ethnic identity.

By Marlan Padayachee and Rita Abraham

Language is one of the main seeds of a person’s ethnic identity

GOPIO CONFERENCE TOPIC: ‘THE IMPORTANCE OF MOTHER LANGUAGES IN THE INDIAN DIASPORA AND THE REVIVAL OF OUR ANCESTRAL LANGUAGES’ PRESENTED BY MS RITA ABRAHAM, SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESSWOMAN, FINANCIAL ADVISOR, FOUNDER OF WOMEN’S GROUP FORTE SOUTH AFRICA, PHILANTHROPIST, INTERFAITH, HUMANITARIAN AND CHARITY WORKER

Mr President

Honourable Conference Chairperson

Distinguished Delegates, Guests, Stakeholders, Role-players

All Protocols Observed

Ladies and Gentlemen, I come from the land of Nelson Mandela where Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi taught us the language of love, peace, tolerance, respect, self-dignity and Satyagraha (nonviolent protest).

South Africa is much as a cultural melting pot as India, the ancient land of mother tongue and ancestral languages and dialects, except that the scale of economies is much smaller as compared to the great cultural bastion that sits majestically in the South Asian bloc of culturally-enriched nations like China.

It is therefore with a deep sense of pride and patriotism that I wish to greet you in the indigenous languages of our rainbow nation that so many of you in Indian and the Diaspora communities revere and admire because of our historical ties, our love for secularism and cultural diversity and our propensity for peace, freedom and human rights.

Let me begin in my own mother tongue languages:

· Vannakam

· Namaskarumu

· Namaste

Coming back to the country of diverse languages and dialects, let me share some traditional greetings with you.

In the language of our colonial rulers, I would say to this global gathering:

· ‘Hello, how are you?’ – in English.

· ‘Hello, hoe gaan dit, boetie or sissie?’ – in the language of our apartheid rulers – Afrikaans.

Imagine, how the Gandhian teaching of tolerance has taught us to respect the two languages that were the currency of oppression, exploitation and human suffering.

Along with English and Afrikaans, we have nine other indigenous African languages.

Alongside English, isiZulu is the currency of our social cohesion, economics and politics in my homeland of Kwazulu Natal.

So, I will continue to greet, by saying ‘Sawubona, unjani? – in isiZulu.

Again, it’s ‘Hello, how are you?’

· In Xhosa, I would say: ‘Molo, kunjani?’

· Lotjhani, Unjani? – in Ndebele.

· Dumela, O kae? – in Sepedi, and the same in Sotho or Tswana.

· Sawubona, kunjani? – in Swati

· Ndaa, vho vuwa hani? – in Venda

· Avuxeni, Ku njhani? – in Tsonga.

Ladies and Gentlemen, our march to freedom and human dignity began with much frenzy and fanfare on the 27^th of April 1994.

Our political leaders who were engaged in dialogue, despite the differences of languages, drew a great deal of wealth and knowledge from how Gandhi, along with Jawharlal Nehru and other distinguished Indian and African leaders had mapped out the road to self-rule from colonialism and later apartheid.

There was quite uproar, an air sceptism and cynicism when the constitutional writers and lawmakers of our fledgling, new democracy emerged with a resolution that the new South Africa shall be governed by 11 languages, including the colonial-apartheid currency of English and Afrikaans.

As some of the leading linguists and academics gathered here will attest that post-colonial India, like post-apartheid South Africa, had embarked on a major reformist agenda of realigning the local and national landscapes of our nations whose ancient history, ancestral footprints, cultural heritage, indigenous languages, were bombarded, if not bastardised, by the language of cultural imperialism.

As newly independent India began the process of creating Indian states at the start of self-rule in 1947, languages played a part in redefining the geo-political landscapes.

A bunch of some the present-day India’s states boundaries created were based on the boundaries of the main Indian languages as recognized by the Indian constitution.

But, the Indian constitution uses the term ‘mother tongue’ instead of language or dialect.

We have legislated it as ‘languages’ as opposed to ‘mother tongue’.

By definition and description, ‘mother tongue’ is the language first learned by a child; and a language from which another has evolved.

Like India, independent South Africa placed a high premium of languages and dialects as a key driver of constitutional reform and political changes.

We, too, as much as we celebrate of our sea of colour, cuisine and cultural diversity, have come to recognise and respect ‘language’ as one of the main seeds of a person’s ethnic identity.

The Indian Constitution recognizes 18 official Indian languages.

Though the process of creating states based on languages began in 1953, I understand that up to the present day, there are still demands for new states for different language speakers in India.

The South African Constitution recognizes 11 official languages that is spread over nine provinces, and each or more that is unique to a particular geo-political region of our small, but yet vast country that stands as the gateway to a multi-lingual Africa.

Why, may you wonder or ponder that a community that has played such a powerful role in South Africa’s freedom struggle do not have any of the one Indian languages recognized in our national language framework?

I can assure you that the Indian languages that define the South African Indian, such as Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Gujerati and Urdu are fully recognized in the South African Constitution alongside religious freedom and practice in our secular society.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I hail from a province where the common currency is isiZulu, the dominant language of the majority Zulu-speaking people whose forebears were led by the legendary King Shaka.

In terms of the dynamics of this particular language that is home to millions of Zulu-speaking Africans, it is therefore imperative and important for my fellow Indian compatriots that make up the majority Indian concentration in KwaZulu-Natal to learn to speak the language of a region where the majority of South Africa’s 1, 3 million Indians reside in the City of Durban.

Like in India, provinces in South Africa are defined on regions whose boundaries are based on languages, for example isiZulu for KwaZulu, or Sotho, Xhosa or Ndebele for Gauteng, the country’s economic and infrastructural hub, and in the Indian context, Kerala for Malyalam speakers; Tamil Nadu for Tamil speakers; Karnataka for Kanadda speakers; Andra Pradesh for Telugu speakers; Maharashtra for Marathi speakers; Orissa for Oriya speakers; West Bengal for Bengali speakers; Gujarat for Gujarati speakers; Punjab for Punjabi speakers; Assam for Assami speakers, etc.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have shared this component of our culturally enriching nation, in comparison with India, and the context of ‘THE IMPORTANCE OF MOTHER LANGUAGES IN THE INDIAN DIASPORA AND THE REVIVAL OF OUR ANCESTRAL LANGUAGES’ to bring home the point that as members of the Indian Diaspora, South African Indians can no longer survive by living and working in a void or an ethno- cultural bubble of their own.

The very nature of South Africa’s constitutional and cultural reform calls on Indian South Africans to assimilate to the national psyche of an evolving, emerging, nonracial, non-discriminatory and democratic society.

We have to blend our language spectrum in order to share of legacy of language with our fellow citizens and compatriots.

If at all, we have succeeded in making a Zulu-speaking citizen, Patrick Ngcobo to sing and play carnatic music in the Indian vernacular language, then we have made a small beginning to towards sharing the richness of our language with African people.

However, Indian South Africans are a unique and colourful community which has the capacity, in line with the Indian Government’s progressive, nation-building and cultural exchange policies and programmes, to share our legacy of language with the rest of South Africa’s diverse population tapestry.

We need the global platform of GOPIO and to an extent the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas programme that honours the day Gandhiji returned to India from South Africa to ensure that a free India will transcend the barriers of language and culture so that all Indians will speak in one language, the language of progress, peace and prosperity.

So, what a better time in history it has been to share the Indian language and legacy with the rest of our nation.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 2010 marked the 150^th year of the arrival of the Indian indentured labourers in South Africa.

This milestone was celebrated and commemorated throughout the country in a colourful pageantry of song, dance, culture and cuisine in which everyone spoke the language of cultural diversity, nation-building, peace and prosperity.

When ‘Coolie Number One’ 30-year-old Christian-Indian Davuram from Madras stepped off the SS Truro and set foot on the shores of Durban, a new language was born of the shores of Durban.

And when the second indentured labourer on the ship’s manifest, 18-year-old Naguram, probably his wife, and their two children, four-year-old Kubay, and one-year-old Elizabeth, the seedlings of a whole new cultural identity was to spread across the province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Hidden in the treasure troves of the trunks they carried into a brave new beginning, the semi-slaves cherished the books of religious studies and teachings, the Holy Bible, the Sanskrit template, the Bhagavad Gita, the Kurrukal, and ancient literature, folklores, scripts and musical scores.

By the time the last Indian touched our soil, more than 200 000 Indians had arrived in Durban, all carrying with them the cultural and literary wealth of India.

Therefore, with much pride, on Tuesday, 16^th November, 2010, Indian communities all over South Africa celebrated and commemorated these founding pioneers, who together with the other batch of Indians on board the ships, have today been judged by history for the enormous contribution to building and sustaining one of the most dynamic Diaspora communities outside India.

To the indigenous local people or the colonialists, this stoical band of sugar cane cutters spoke a strange, foreign language as they toiled from dawn to dusk under the African sun.

Through the ancient language of Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Gujarati and Urdu, these Indian sub-groups survived the most horrendous human drama in living history to maintain and sustain these ancient languages and dialects; galvanise the community against naked racism and exploitation, erect monuments of worships to the Gods of language, peace, love, build schools to teach in the vernacular, sing in the vernacular and play from vernacular musical notes.

Even Christian-Indians prayed, praised, worshipped and sang in the vernacular, rendering religious songs and hymns in Tamil and Telugu.

In the broader picture of one community’s struggle to hold on to its language. not even the language restriction of apartheid for Indians to learn and speak the language of Afrikaans did not deter Indian South Africans from excelling in the mother tongue language.

English was, and still is, a currency of the economy to earn a living and get a better education.

But running almost parallel to the foreign languages and dialects of Africa, Indian South Africans continued to maintain the cultural link with Mother India or Thai Nadu, as we say in Tamil or Telugu, and we continue to seek religious and cultural succour from what many of Indian South Africans may still refer to India as the ‘motherland’.

Despite successive attempts to take Indian languages off the curriculum of the South African education system, the promoters and purveyors of the Indian languages and dialects have become the diehard custodians of an ancient language that defined the arrival and survival of Indians in South Africa – thanks largely to the skilful communication of the language the indentured labourers used to articulate their fears, hopes and expectations during one of the darkest periods in modern civilisation when indenture replaced slavery.

As part of the Indian Diaspora, we need to look to India and the 20-million Diaspora communities to maintain the language of our indentured and trading forebears.

India gave us more than a new nation outside the ‘motherland’.

Collectively and culturally, we have benefited from somen of the Indian languages that have a long literary history, such as Sanskrit, literature that is more than 5 000 years old, and my own mother tongue, Tamil that is 3 000 years old.

Therefore, Mr Chairperson, ‘THE IMPORTANCE OF MOTHER LANGUAGES IN THE INDIAN DIASPORA AND THE REVIVAL OF OUR ANCESTRAL LANGUAGES’ has to provide us with a new road map to navigate how generations of Indians to follow will learn to embrace the ancient languages and dialects that have come to define our progress, peace and prosperity in the post-modern economy and civilization.

We therefore have a moral or socio-religious responsibility and civic duty to hand down the legacy of this language that was first heard on the shores of the Bay of Durban on 16^th November 1860 to future generations of Indian South Africans.

After all, India is extremely rich in languages.

India is blessed by an uncountable number of languages and dialects that are spoken in towns, villages and cities across the sub-continent.

There are no less than 30 different languages along with 2 000 dialects that shapes and define India’s uniqueness as a cultural melting pot.

Like South Africa and many nations in the world, commercialism, industrialization and a bustling influence of multinationals in the local economy has made English into the most common language, after Hindi, from Sikkam to the Silicone Valley.

Quite fascinatingly, Hindi is spoken by more than 337 million people in India. The second most spoken Indian language is Bengali, being spoken by 70 million people.

In his evaluation and assessment of the Tamil Language and Murukan Worship in South Africa, Professor S Subramaniyan, wrote: “The life and breath of every individual are his mother language. This may be identified with signs or words which help to communicate. Language attains its real strength, power and divinity by its relationship with the Supreme One through prayer and the philosophy of worldly life.

This relationship between the individual and God guides one to attain power and strength for material and spiritual purposes, for which language helps. It also becomes an effective tool to all people in their various walks of life.”

I trust through my story-telling and narration that I wish to conclude that the topic of ‘THE IMPORTANCE OF MOTHER LANGUAGES IN THE INDIAN DIASPORA AND THE REVIVAL OF OUR ANCESTRAL LANGUAGES’ is as relevant and appropriate for the Indian Diaspora, alongside India and South Africa, to embark on a cultural journey across the world to promote and perpetuate the ancient languages, mother tongue and dialects that have come to define our collective cultural richness.

I thank you for this privilege of addressing you and may I leave these inspiring words with you: “As I age with, my maturing and wisdom has inspired me to read Buddhist teachings, the compassionate chapters of the Holy Qu’ran, the parables of the Bible and beautiful verses of the Bhagavad Gita.”

Language is one of the main seeds of a person’s ethnic identity.

Thank you

Nandrie

Dhanyavadalu

Dhanyavaad

Shukriyaa

Ngiyabonga

Ends

Speech researched, conceptualised and written for Rita Abraham, managing-director of South Africa Insurance, founder of Forte, South Africa’s women empowerment lobbying group, and leading motivational speaker, member of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), by Marlan Padayachee and GreenGold Africa Communications, greengold@mtnloaded.co.za, marlan.padayachee@gmail.com, + 00 27 31 266 4293; 266 2134; facsimile: 00 27 31 266 8592; PO Box 346 Pavilion 3611 South Africa.