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The Natal Indian Congress (NIC)

The Natal Indian Congress (NIC) came into being on 22 August 1894 and was formed by Mahatma Gandhi to fight discrimination against Indian traders in Natal. The NIC, Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC) and the Cape Indian Congress later went on to form the South African Indian Congress (SAIC). Thereafter, many joint activities between the SAIC and African National Congress (ANC) were organised.

During the 1950s and 1960s several of the NIC leadership were jailed. Although the NIC itself was not banned, this harassment of its leadership and the repressive conditions at that time, led to a halt in its activities. It was only in 1971 that the NIC was revived with a main focus on civic work.

In the 1980s the most striking of the campaigns embarked on by NIC was the Anti-South African Indian Council campaign of 1981 and the Anti-Tricameral Parliament Campaign against the establishment of the House of Delegates in 1984. The NIC was also a founding member of the United Democratic Front (UDF), and remained an affiliate until the disbandment of the UDF. After the ANC was unbanned in 1990, the NIC and the TIC, had various meetings with the ANC to strategise on the role of the two Indian Congresses. Both were subsequently disbanded.

Source: http://www.wits.ac.za/saha/al2421.htm

Explore the following annotated links to inform yourself on the history of the NIC:

http://www.wits.ac.za/saha/al2421.htm is a brief historical background to the NIC by the South African History Archive housed at the University of the Witwatersrand.

http://cyberspacei.com/jesusi/authors/gandhi/autobiography/mgbio2_019.htm is a text on the NIC by its founder, from his book The Story of My Experiments with Truth – An Autobiography

http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/people/gandhi,m.htm is a biography of the NIC founder, Gandhi on the SAHO site

http://khozi2.nu.ac.za/ead/Indians.html has an inventory of records of Indians in Natal for the period 1862 – 1979, held by the Killie Campbell Africana Library

http://www.mkgandhi-sarvodaya.org/biography/youngp.htm for a pic and history of the early NIC, as associated with Gandhi