Abstract
The author who served on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), focuses on the Hindu experience in South Africa during the apartheid years. At a special TRC Hearing for Faith Communities (East London, 17-19 November 1997) two submissions by local Hindu leaders were tabled. Taking his cues from those submissions, the author discusses four issues: the way the Hindu community suffered during these years, the way in which some members of the Hindu community supported the system of apartheid, the role of Hindus in the struggle against apartheid, and finally the contribution of the Hindu community towards reconciliation in South Africa. In conclusion some notes on how Hindus and Christians may work together in th
Highlights
The moment had come for the Hindu community to have their say
The author who served on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), focuses on the Hindu experience in South Africa during the apartheid years
It was on the second day of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), that Mr Ashwin Trikamjee, president of the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, took his place at the podium
Summary
The moment had come for the Hindu community to have their say. It was on the second day of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), that Mr Ashwin Trikamjee, president of the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, took his place at the podium. “South Africans of Indian origin came to this country from 16 November 1860 onwards as immigrant labourers to work in the sugar industry in Natal,” Trikamjee told the TRC in his opening statement. He commenced: “By 1910, three years before immigration was stopped, 133 437 had arrived in Natal, 95% were of the Hindu faith. Today their descendants form the core of the South African Indian population of one million, the largest Indian group outside India” (Trikamjee 1997:289). In the same census 12 871 Black, 2 282 Coloured and 1 697 White South Africans indicated that they, too, belonged to the Hindu community (Hendriks & Erasmus 2002:14-19, 27)
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