years Diwali celebrations held in Chatsworth
11 November 2007
Protocol
This year we are commemorating the 40th anniversary of the death of Inkosi
Albert Luthuli. Next year we will remember 180 years since the death of Inkosi
uShaka in 1828. We will also commemorate King Dingane and the Battle of Ncome
of 1838. We will also commemorate the centenary of the trial and imprisonment
of King Dinuzulu in 1908. We will also commemorate the death of Inkosi Cyprian,
the father of the reigning Monarch.
Last year we also commemorated 100 years of the Bhambatha Resistance as well
as historic contribution of the Mahatma.
Today we are here to celebrate Diwali. As we celebrate we are also mindful
that this year marks 100 years of Diwali celebrations in this country. The
KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government celebrated 100 years of the Bhambatha
rebellion, 100 years of the concept of Satyagraha, and it is appropriate that
we celebrate 100 years of the celebration of Diwali in South Africa.
Significance of Diwali
Diwali is significant in Hinduism because it signifies goodness. That is why
lamps are burned throughout the day and into the night to ward off darkness and
evil. Today as we confront a myriad of problems such as teenage pregnancy,
women and child abuse, HIV and AIDS, poverty and increasingly violent crime,
Diwali becomes significant for all South Africans.
Diwali provides us hope that good can and does triumph over evil. In Diwali
there is, however, a more local story of persistence, sacrifice and victory
which must be told to all South Africans and the rest of the world. In reading
a recent book by Professor Goolam Vahed and Dr Ashwin Desai called Inside
Indenture; one reads how much of a struggle it was to put Diwali on the map in
colonial South Africa.
We know of the many struggles of ordinary people in this country. Included
in this were the struggles of the Indian working classes who were imported to
labour on the sugar plantations in this very province. Their struggles were not
confined to working conditions and wages but included the right to celebrate
their culture and religion. One of the central struggles was to get time off to
observe Diwali.
The visits of religious leaders like Professor Bhai Parmanand and Swami
Shankeranand from India were important in igniting the struggle of the
indentured and their descendents for full religious and cultural rights. One of
the noble sons of India was Professor Bhai Parmanand whose main legacy was in
forming Hindu Young Men's Societies throughout Natal in 1906. By the following
year they were organising important communal activities like Diwali.
One report in the African Chronicle of this period stated that the Sydenham
Hindu Young Men's Society celebrated Diwali in a 'fitting manner'. The children
met at 10h00 the Society's Hall and marched to Overport where a sports meeting
was organised, toys were handed out to children and lunch served to around 500
people. The officiating pundit, Chickurie Maragli, said that in the three
decades he had been in Natal, this was the first time that he had seen
Deepavali celebrated in this manner. After lunch, a special haven was
performed, and a concert held.
Hinduism in the form of the wonderful architecture of old and more recent
temples is written into the very landscape of our province. By paying homage to
Professor Parmanand and Swami Shankeranand we also recognise the 100 years
which have passed since Durban first bore witness to Diwali. It is our wish
therefore to recognise the long march of those who fought for Diwali and to
celebrate the sacrifices of those who have ensured that Hinduism and its
teaching remain alive in 21st century Africa.
We are here because we believe that all communities of KwaZulu-Natal have a
right to their culture and heritage. The story of Diwali is the story of the
people of KwaZulu-Natal. It is this story that was behind the active
participation of members of the Indian community in the struggles of our people
for their liberation. It is this story, of goodwill for all, which spurred the
signing of the "Three Doctors' Pact" between Dr's; Xuma, Dadoo and Naicker with
the express purpose of liberating all our people regardless of race, gender or
class. Diwali therefore is story of the people of South Africa.
Unity: Legacy of Inkosi Albert Luthuli
It is therefore no accident of history that in the year in which we
commemorate 100 years of Diwali we also commemorate 60 years of the "Three
Doctors' Pact". It is also by no means an accident that this is also the same
year in which we remember the death of Inkosi Albert Luthuli 40 years ago, in
1967.
Luthuli's guiding philosophy was that of unity in the quest to build a new
country in which all could live as they pleased subject to the laws of a
legitimate state. Inkosi Luthuli was a unifier. Kenneth Wilburn of the
Department of History at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina,
notes that during Luthuli's time as President, the African National Congress
(ANC) formed alliances with Indian, white and coloured organisations.
I quote: "The ANC soon made an alliance with the South African
Indian Congress (SAIC), whose activism between 1893 and 1914 had been led by
Mohandas Gandhi, the Mahatma." Wilburn states further that "alliances were also
made with the South African Coloured People's Organisation, the white Congress
of Democrats and the South African Congress of Trade Unions. Together these
groups came to be called the Congress Alliance."
The Congress Alliance was instrumental in the development of the Freedom
Charter, which was ratified at the Congress of the People, in Kliptown, in June
1955. The Congress of the People was a historic gathering that included men and
women of all races, liberals, believers and non-believers, communists and
capitalists. They represented black (ANC), white (Congress of Democrats),
Indian (SAIC) and coloured (Coloured People's Congress) compatriots, including
the multi-racial South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). The congress
was held to develop a new vision for a future South Africa that reached beyond
protest politics.
This congress built on the foundation for co-operation and non-racial unity
set earlier by doctors AB Xuma, president of the ANC, GM Naicker, president of
the Natal Indian Congress and YM Dadoo, president of the Transvaal Indian
Congress. It is on this foundation that as the government and people of
KwaZulu-Natal we are actively building a peaceful, democratic and prosperous
province.
A stable province
As government goodwill stands at the centre of our efforts towards building
a better KwaZulu-Natal. The stability which results from these collective
efforts in turn attracts the goodwill of others who see our province as a place
in which they can do business, play sport and visit as tourists. It is
precisely as a result of this that on 25 November 2007 we will be hosting the
2010 preliminary draw right here in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
Representatives of 204 of the 208 members of Federation of International
Football Association (Fifa) will be here in what will be the first ever
official 2010 Fifa event and the first to be held in Africa. Only four members
of Fifa, the Philippines, Bhutan, Brunei and Laos are not entering the
qualifying rounds for 2010.
This is the largest event of its kind in the history of Fifa. For instance,
in the inaugural World Cup in 1930, 13 nations battled for the trophy. In 1998
the Fifa World Cup in France attracted 172 countries for the qualifying rounds.
The 2002 World Cup in Korea drew 195 countries in the qualifying rounds and
there were 197 countries which entered the qualifiers for Germany 2006.
So, a record 204 out of 208 Fifa member countries are in the qualifying
rounds for 2010. We are dealing here with the largest ever event held in the
history of Fifa and it is being staged in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. We have been
given this opportunity and responsibility precisely because we have
demonstrated that we are ready to live together.
We understand that as a Martin Luther King Junior once said we have to live
together as brothers and sisters or perish together as fools. We are not
prepared to perish together or individually, so together and individually we
are prepared to do everything necessary to build a better KwaZulu-Natal. We
will not allow anything, including crime to stand in our way.
Crime remains one of the factors which undermine progress in our country. In
KwaZulu-Natal we have called for a partnership in the fight against crime and
we have established what we call a "Popular Front against Crime". This is
coupled with our "Communities in Dialogue" programme and the "State of the
Village" concept. "Communities in Dialogue" provides a forum where the police,
the education sector, transport sector, religious organisations, senior
citizens, youth and women are represented.
We come together and say "No to crime in our street and No to crime in our
village". Criminals are born of families and communities. It is at this level
where the real fight against crime begins and will be won. A murderer is a
criminal; a hijacker is a criminal and a person who buys stolen goods, is not
only a criminal, but makes crime viable.
Celebrating Diwali therefore, should spur us to move to a higher plane of
moral uprightness, increased determination to fight against crime and a greater
desire to end poverty and build a prosperous KwaZulu-Natal.
Namaste!
Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
11 November 2007
Source: SAPA
