George Sewpersadh | |
---|---|
Born | Chanderdeo Sewpersadh 7 October 1936 |
Died | 18 May 2007 | (aged 70)
Alma mater | University of Natal |
Known for | President of the Natal Indian Congress |
Chanderdeo "George" Sewpersadh OLS (7 October 1936 – 18 May 2007), also spelled Sewpershad, was a South African lawyer and anti-apartheid activist. He was a former president of the Natal Indian Congress and a defendant in the 1985 Pietermaritzburg Treason Trial.
Sewpersadh was born on 7 October 1936 in Cato Manor, an Indian area on the outskirts of Durban in the former Natal Province. [1] His father was a newspaper vendor and his mother was a housewife. [2] Their family moved to Reservoir Hills during his childhood, and he matriculated at Sastri College in Durban. [2] Thereafter he attended the University of Natal from 1955 to 1960, completing a BA in 1957 and an LLB in 1960. [2]
While a BA student, in December 1956, Sewpersadh joined the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), inspired by opposition to apartheid but also by the Indian independence movement and its heroes, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. [2] He became the founding chairperson of a new NIC branch in Cato Manor. [2] However, the NIC fell into dormancy in the mid-1960s. Sewpersadh instead focused on establishing his practice as a lawyer in the Durban suburb of Verulam. [1]
When the NIC was relaunched in June 1971, Sewpersadh was elected as its president; the presumptive president, Mewa Ramgobin, was banned at the time and therefore was unable to stand. [3] Jerry Coovadia said that Sewpersadh was an appealing candidate because he was "an old school type liberal: big on due process, civil rights and liberties, human rights." [4] As leader of the NIC he faced arrest and banning orders on several occasions; [2] during a prolonged banning from 1973 to 1978, M. J. Naidoo replaced him as NIC president. [3]
In spring 1984, Sewpersadh was one of the so-called Durban Six who evaded arrest by taking refuge in the British Consulate in Durban. [5] On 6 October 1984, after three weeks in the consulate, Sewpersadh and two of his NIC colleagues – Naidoo and Ramgobin – voluntarily left the consulate and were immediately re-arrested on the pavement outside. [5] They were subsequently charged with treason in the Pietermaritzburg Treason Trial, [6] though the charges against them were dropped in December 1985. [7]
He died in Durban on 18 May 2007 after a short illness; [8] he had cancer. [9] He was unmarried. [8] His memorial service was held at Kendra Hall in Durban, and speakers included Constitutional Court Justice Pius Langa. [9]
In October 2008, [10] President Thabo Mbeki admitted Sewpersadh posthumously to the Order of Luthuli, awarding him the order in silver for "Opposing the apartheid regime and striving for the ideals of a non-racial, non-sexist, just and democratic South Africa." [1] Also in 2008, the City of eThekwini renamed Verulam's Moss Street as George Sewpersadh Street. [11]