Debi Singh

Born: 1913
Died: 1970
Updated: 21 Jul 2026

Summary

Teacher, farmer, secretary of the Anti-Segregation Council, secretary of the Passive Resistance Council of the Natal Indian Congress. He was imprisoned during the passive resistance campaign and again during the Defiance Campaign&nb

He was born in 1913 and became a teacher and later a farmer near Durban. As secretary of the Anti-Segregation Council in the mid-1940s he was instrumental in bringing Yusuf Dadoo and G M Naicker to positions of leadership in the South African Indian Congress. In 1946 he served as secretary of the Passive Resistance Council of the Natal Indian Congress. He was imprisoned during the resistance movement of that year and again during the Defiance Campaign of 1952. An advocate of closer African-Indian cooperation, he was among the leaders of the Congress movement charged with treason in December 1956. Charges against him were dropped in December 1957. Afterwards he was placed under ban and was again imprisoned during the 1960 emergency. He died in 1970.

How we know this

01From Protest To Challenge, Political Profiles Volume 4

Last updated · 21 Jul 2026

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, February 17). Debi Singh. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/nso/ref/B-0009064

South African History Online (2011) 'Debi Singh', South African History Online, 17 February. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/nso/ref/B-0009064 (Accessed: 22 July 2026).

South African History Online, Debi Singh [website], https://sahistory.org.za/nso/ref/B-0009064, (accessed 22 July 2026).

"Debi Singh." South African History Online, 17 Feb. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/nso/ref/B-0009064. Accessed 22 July 2026.

South African History Online. "Debi Singh." South African History Online. February 17, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/nso/ref/B-0009064.