Mewa Ramgobin was born on 10 November 1932 in Inanda, Natal. He was President of the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) that was founded by Gandhi in 1894 and is married to Ghandi’s granddaughter, Ela. During his life he has done much to honour Gandhi, including establishing a Gandhi museum and library, organising the Annual Gandhi Lecture and educating people from different race groups on Gandhian thought. He also played a role in training leaders of the struggle.

Ramgobin started becoming aware of the political situation in South Africa when he was a teenager and he saw the difference in how he was treated compared to the Pondo children. This idea was strengthened when he finished Primary School, but could not get a space in the only Indian school in Natal. The Natal Indian Congress (NIC) stepped in and started a new school. It was at this point that Ramgobin became aware that there was an Indian Congress and that as an Indian he could not do as he liked. When he was seventeen, a bus driver of one of his father’s busses was killed by a group of blacks. After this his father moved them from the area, and Ramgobin found it difficult to be separated from his Pondo friends. It was at this time that he began to realise that he could not complain about discrimination towards Indians if he discriminated towards blacks.

When at the University of Natal he became more politically involved. He was active in NUSAS, headed the non-European SRC and in 1960 joined the fast at the Phoenix Settlement. In 1965 he received his first banning order, but this did not affect his political involvement. In 1970 his banning order expired and he founded the South African Committee for the release of Political Prisoners, and began to work towards the a revival in the NIC. By the end of the year he was president of the NIC.

In September 1971 Ramgobin was banned again after he organised a petition for clemency to political prisoners. He remained under house arrest until February 1973. In March 1973 he received a parcel bomb, the first time in South Africa, which exploded in his office in Durban. The government then restricted him, meaning he could no longer work in Durban, so he moved his office to Verulam. In 1975 he was banned for another five years, but was unbanned in 1983.

In 1983 he became the treasurer of the United Democratic Front (UDF), and was arrested in 1984 and released after 19 days. He went in hiding after his release, and sought refuge in the British consulate, but was arrested again on 6 October and accused of high treason after the 1984 people’s riots. He was acquitted in December of 1985. He continued his work with the UDF. He is presently a Member of Parliament for the ANC and Chairperson of the Phoenix Settlement Trust. He has also written and published some books.

Link to speech made on Ramgobin’s banning in 1971:
http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/people/gandhi/hurley.html
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Sources:

Meer, F. (ed)(1989). Treason Trial – 1985, Durban: Madiba Publishers.
http://www.indiaday.org/nri/hallof-fame.htm (FICCI site on the Indian diaspora)
http://www.rediff.com/chat/meercht1.htm (Interview with Dr Fatima Meer, 1996)
http://www.librairie-compagnie.fr/afrique-sud/auteurs/ramgobin.htm (French library review)
http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/people/gandhi/hurley.html (details on MPs)