Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Acronyms and Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Repression, Revelation and Resurrection: The Revival of the NIC
- 2 Black Consciousness and the Challenge to the ‘I’ in the NIC
- 3 Between Principle and Pragmatism: Debates over the SAIC, 1971−1978
- 4 Changing Geographies and New Terrains of Struggle
- 5 Class(rooms) of Dissent: Education Boycotts and Democratic Trade Unions, 1976−1985
- 6 Lenin and the Duma Come to Durban: Reigniting the Participation Debate
- 7 The Anti-SAIC Campaign of 1981: Prefigurative Politics?
- 8 Botha’s 1984 and the Rise of the UDF
- 9 Letters from Near and Afar: The Consulate Six
- 10 Inanda, Inkatha and Insurrection: 1985
- 11 Building Up Steam: Operation Vula and Local Networks
- 12 Between Fact and Factions: The 1987 Conference
- 13 ‘Caught With Our Pants Down’: The NIC and the Crumbling of Apartheid 1988−1990
- 14 Snapping the Strings of the UDF
- 15 Digging Their Own Grave: Debating the Future of the NIC
- 16 The Ballot Box, 1994: A Punch in the Gut?
- 17 Between Rajbansi’s ‘Ethnic Guitar’ and the String of the ANC Party List
- Conclusion: A Spoke in the Wheel
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
9 - Letters from Near and Afar: The Consulate Six
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Acronyms and Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Repression, Revelation and Resurrection: The Revival of the NIC
- 2 Black Consciousness and the Challenge to the ‘I’ in the NIC
- 3 Between Principle and Pragmatism: Debates over the SAIC, 1971−1978
- 4 Changing Geographies and New Terrains of Struggle
- 5 Class(rooms) of Dissent: Education Boycotts and Democratic Trade Unions, 1976−1985
- 6 Lenin and the Duma Come to Durban: Reigniting the Participation Debate
- 7 The Anti-SAIC Campaign of 1981: Prefigurative Politics?
- 8 Botha’s 1984 and the Rise of the UDF
- 9 Letters from Near and Afar: The Consulate Six
- 10 Inanda, Inkatha and Insurrection: 1985
- 11 Building Up Steam: Operation Vula and Local Networks
- 12 Between Fact and Factions: The 1987 Conference
- 13 ‘Caught With Our Pants Down’: The NIC and the Crumbling of Apartheid 1988−1990
- 14 Snapping the Strings of the UDF
- 15 Digging Their Own Grave: Debating the Future of the NIC
- 16 The Ballot Box, 1994: A Punch in the Gut?
- 17 Between Rajbansi’s ‘Ethnic Guitar’ and the String of the ANC Party List
- Conclusion: A Spoke in the Wheel
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Ongoing and intensifying anti-tricameral protests in 1984 prompted the state to marshal its repressive arsenal. Activists across the country were detained in an effort to stem mobilisation. An NIC court application resulted in some of those detained in the lead-up to the elections being released on 12 September 1984, but the state immediately issued orders for their rearrest. Among those released were six senior leaders of the NIC/UDF: Archie Gumede, George Sewpersadh, Mewa Ramgobin, M.J. Naidoo, Billy Nair and Paul David. In a dramatic move these six activists took refuge in the British Consulate in Durban on 13 September 1984. This occupation would span three months, as the last of them only left the Consulate on 13 December 1984.
The immediate aim of the Consulate Six, as they came to be known, was to attract maximum international publicity because P.W. Botha was to be inaugurated as state president on 14 September. Ramgobin's short press conference following the occupation revealed this intention:
I appeared at the door just below the British Consulate seal and, to the clicking of cameras, read out my hand-written statement as to why we were in the Consulate … Those few minutes provided the democratic movement in South Africa with invaluable international exposure for weeks on end. Having upstaged his inauguration, I don't think P.W. [Botha] ever forgave us.
While Ramgobin may have overstated the impact of the group's actions on Botha's inauguration, the incident certainly created a buzz in the country and once more dragged the apartheid state's heavy-handedness into the international spotlight.
The occupation proved a masterstroke, as it demonstrated the resilience and unity of purpose of these veteran activists. There also appeared to be smooth coordination between the Consulate Six and their families and fellow activists on the outside, who provided both personal and political support.
A closer look suggests that the plans for occupation were somewhat hastily put together. This is hardly surprising under the circumstances, but it meant that long-term strategies and goals had not been worked out. As we will see, the correspondence in this period between Mewa Ramgobin and Ela Gandhi reveals a complicated and insightful picture of intertwining family strains and bitter recrimination over political ideology and tactics.
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- Colour, Class and CommunityThe Natal Indian Congress, 1971-1994, pp. 153 - 170Publisher: Wits University PressPrint publication year: 2021