The story of Nana Sita and the Group Areas Act

Christina Landman

doi:10.4102/hts.v77i2.6323

Abstract

Nana Sita (1898–1969) is best known for being the secretary of the Transvaal Indian Congress and for his leadership in the passive resistance movement for which he was incarcerated three times. This article focusses specifically on three more times he was sentenced to hard labour for refusing to submit to the Group Areas Act and to leave his (business and) house at 382 Van Der Hoff Street in Hercules, Pretoria. The main sources for telling the story of Nana Sita’s resistance are interviews with his 93-year-old daughter, a chapter written on him by E.S. Reddy and other unpublished material placed at the author’s disposal by Maniben Sita herself. The focus of the article will be on the religious arguments against the Group Areas Act put forward by Nana Sita himself in his defense during his final trial in 1967.Contribution: Historical thought and source interpretation are not limited to historic texts but include social memory in the endeavour of faith seeking understanding. People of faith in South Africa can only come to grips with reality by engaging with the stories of the past, like that of Nana Sita.

Highlights

Finding Nana Sita StreetDriving on the M1 highway from Johannesburg to Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, one enters Pretoria through Kgosi Mampuru Street
On entering the city, one finds on the left Kgosi Mampuru Management Area, previously known as Pretoria Central Prison
Religious expressions of liberation and freedom were restricted in the South Africa of Nana Sita’s time. He was able to drive it as a political argument in his court cases where he was convicted of transgressing the Group Areas act

Summary

Introduction

Driving on the M1 highway from Johannesburg to Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, one enters Pretoria through Kgosi Mampuru Street. Roshni Bhoolia (interview 26 December 2019) tells that Maniben gave her kidney to her brother in 1974 when she was 48 years old, doubling her father who was said to be a staunch family man The sources of this part of the article on Nana Sita’s life from a family point of view, are: 1. Important to note for our topic is Reddy’s descriptions of how Nana Sita referred to Nanabhai Reddy in terms of endearment – who defied the Group Areas Act by refusing to leave his home in the white-designated area of Hercules in Pretoria Every time he was sentenced to prison, he refused to pay the fine as an alternative and went to prison in spite of his poor health. The Indian Congress, which had become dormant, was resuscitated in later years and helped to build the powerful Unite Democratic Front. (Reddy 1995:127)

Background to his defence

Conclusion

The Group Areas Act is a systemic sin against God