A Documentary History of Indian South Africans edited by Surendra Bhana and Bridglal Pachai

Updated: 26 Aug 2019

A Documentary History of Indian South Africans edited by Surendra Bhana and Bridglal Pachai

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It is common knowledge that Indians came to South Africa in two categories, namely as indentured Indians and as 'free' or 'passenger' Indians. The former came as a result of a triangular pact among three governments; and the latter, mainly traders ever alert to new opportunities abroad, came at their own expense from India, Mauritius, and other places.

Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Preface
PART 1: ALIENS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1860-1914
Social situations
Introduction
1. The whole Coolies petition the Durban Corporation for better wages
2. Moothen pleads for his wife to be returned
3. Charge of assault against an estate manager
4. Complaint of ill-treatment on an estate
5. Muslims of Durban complain about the vexatious curfew law
6. Tonight, have your door open
7. Madras merchants protest against an order to uncover and remove their boots in court
8. Pillay and others petition the Viceroy of India
9. In search of better employment
10. Seedat writes to his brother in India
11. A Brahman seeks work in Natal
12. The pickled money-order receipt
13. Wife lays bigamy charge
14. Suicide among indentured labourers
15. My son Gyapershad was decoyed
16. Advice to a son about coming to Natal
17. Latief insists on his right to travel by any train
18. Narayanan searches for his wife and child
19. Lawrence asks for exemption from discriminatory laws
20. Johannesburg Parsees claim special status
21. Pariah constables pollute Hindus
22. Natal sirdars regarded in India as pariah
Trade and residence
Introduction
23. Durban merchants plead for Sunday trading
24. Muslim traders petition against Free State law of 1884
25. ‘Free State’ implies equality, declare traders
26. Johannesburg merchants answer their detractors
27. Transvaal Indians respond to the 1895 arbitration decision
28. The Dealer’s Licences Act is an attempt to weed out smaller traders
29. Removal to locations: the people are terrified
30. Potchefstroom traders: we please the poorest class of customers
31. Cape traders protest against the Hawkers’ Licences Act
Immigration
Introduction
32. An unjust and uncalled-for Immigration Bill, 1894
33. Restrictive legislation against Indians not warranted, 1897
34. Further immigration restrictions, 1903
35. Colour legislation in the Orange River Colony
36. The fault of Indian immigrants is their poverty and their skin
37. Deputation to Lord Selborne, 1905
Constitutional and political issues
Introduction
38. The Natal Franchise Bill, 1894: Do not make our sons pariahs
39. Second report of the Natal Indian Congress, 1899
40. 1903 reviewed by Indian Opinion
41. Statement of Indians to the Transvaal Constitution Committee, 1906
42. Petition from Indians at the time of Union
43. Resolutions adopted at a mass meeting of the Natal Indian Patriotic Congress, 1909
Satyagraha
Introduction
44. Gandhi explains ‘satyagraha’
45. Mass meeting at the Empire Theatre, Johannesburg, 1906
46. The Gandhi-Smuts compromise explained
47. The assault on Gandhi
48. Breach of the compromise
49. The certificates are burned
50. The campaign resumed in 1913
51. The ‘Satyagraha’ campaign ends
52. Gandhi: my experiences, 1914
53. The significance of the settlement for the colonial-born India
Part II: The search for equality, 1914-1982
Compromise on trial, 1914-1946
Introduction
54. South African Indian Congress: first annual report, 1924
55. S.A.I.C. deputation sees the Minister of the Interior, 1925
56. The Cape Town Agreement is welcomed
57. The Agreement does not touch the root of anti-Asiaticism
58. Congress has sold our rights
59. The South African Federation challenges Congress over the settlement
60. Congress and the Non-European Co-operation Conference, 1927
61. Segregation reduces our people to helotry
62. Congress defends its stand on the colonisation scheme
63. Colonisation scheme: the colonial-born Indians respond
64. Congress addresses the Union Parliament, 1946
Protest and emerging defiance, 1947-1960
Introduction
65. Letter from the Natal Indian Congress to Smuts, 1945
66. G.M. Naicker: We will not colloborate
67. The Xuma-Naicker-Dadoo Pact, 1947
68. Indian passive resistance, 1946-7
69. ‘Moderate Indians’ form the Natal Indian Organisation
70. The Durban riots, 1949
71.The Group Areas Act
72. The Defiance Campaign, 1953
73. The Congress of the People, June 1955
74. The Freedom Charter, 1955
75. 1960: We are at a turning-point in the history of our country
76. The Indian people are an integral and permanent part of South Africa
Towards a common cause, 1961-1982
Introduction
77. The South African Indian Council: an assessment from within, 1978
78. The Natal Indian Congress calls for a national convention
79. Indian Parliament: separate can’t be equal
80. Local affairs committees: a means to an end
81. The People’s Candidates Party and the Lenasia Management Committee
82. The President’s Council
83. South African Indian Council elections, November 1981: To vote or not to vote
83. South African Indian Council elections, November 1981: To vote or not to vote
84. The South African Indian Council: A. Rajbansi’s opening speech, 1982
85. Charter for Change, 1981
86. Non-racial sport
87. Today’s lessons are tomorrow’s weapons for students
88. Gandhi’s legacy
Bibliographical note and further reading

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2012, January 13). A Documentary History of Indian South Africans edited by Surendra Bhana and Bridglal Pachai. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/R-0072076

South African History Online (2012) 'A Documentary History of Indian South Africans edited by Surendra Bhana and Bridglal Pachai', South African History Online, 13 January. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/R-0072076 (Accessed: 22 July 2026).

South African History Online, A Documentary History of Indian South Africans edited by Surendra Bhana and Bridglal Pachai [website], https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/R-0072076, (accessed 22 July 2026).

"A Documentary History of Indian South Africans edited by Surendra Bhana and Bridglal Pachai." South African History Online, 13 Jan. 2012, https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/R-0072076. Accessed 22 July 2026.

South African History Online. "A Documentary History of Indian South Africans edited by Surendra Bhana and Bridglal Pachai." South African History Online. January 13, 2012. https://sahistory.org.za/xh/ref/R-0072076.