Introduction

The emergence of Gandhi was a watershed moment in the history of Indian nationalism. Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1915. During his early years, he spent his time at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, which was relatively unknown to the general public. In taking his political stance, he sought advice from Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Gokhale advised Gandhi to first thoroughly research the socio-political situation in the country and then act accordingly. However, Gandhi quickly rose to prominence in the political arena as a result of his capable leadership in a number of local conflicts.

Early Career of Gandhi

• On October 2, 1869, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar, Gujarat’s princely state of Kathiawar. His father was a state diwan (minister).
• After studying law in England, Gandhi traveled to South Africa in 1893 in connection with a case involving his client, Dada Abdullah.
• In South Africa, he witnessed the ugly face of white racism, as well as the humiliation and contempt, showed to Asians who had come to South Africa as laborers.
• He chose to remain in South Africa in order to organize the Indian workers and enable them to fight for their rights.
• Gandhi spent 20 years of his life (1893 – 1914) in South Africa working as an attorney and a public worker.
• There he developed the idea of Satyagraha and used it against the Asiatic Registration Law. It also resulted in the first jail sentence in Mahatma Gandhi’s life.
• Although it couldn’t stop him from evolving into one of the most impactful and respected leaders in South Africa.
• He remained there until 1914 when he returned to India.

Gandhi in South Africa(1893-1914)

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi worked as an attorney and public servant from 1893 to 1914 in South Africa before leading the Indian freedom movement to fight injustice and class division. Within ten years, Gandhi had spread the Satyagraha philosophy throughout the country, propelling the country toward a society free of class and ethnic discrimination. In 1893, Gandhi arrived in Durban aboard the SS Safari. Gandhi quickly rose to prominence as the leader of the South African Indian community. His involvement in the nonviolent movement in South Africa had such an impact that he is still regarded as a leader there. Gandhi stated at a meeting in New Delhi that he was born in India but raised in South Africa.

Gandhi’s Association with South Africa

• As Gandhi himself stated, South Africa was critical to his personal success.
• This timid young man who had just passed the bar examination became the man who would lead India to independence and instigate the global decolonization movement during the 21 years he spent in South Africa, from 1893 to 1914, interrupted by a few visits to India and England.
• Gandhi’s arrest for defending his right to travel in the whites-only waggon at the Pietermaritzburg train station – a routine procedure at the time – would later change the world.
• This event sparked Gandhi’s interest in racial discrimination and marked the beginning of his philosophy of nonviolent protest and numerous arrests in defence of the Indian people.

Gandhi’s Contribution to South Africa

• Despite having a first-class ticket, Gandhi was thrown off a train to Pretoria by authorities because a white man complained about an Indian sharing the space with him.
  • It was this incident that marked the beginning of active non-violence by Gandhi.
• It is fair to say that at the time, Indians in South Africa were primarily concerned with their status as traders, and many lacked not only education but also political sophistication.
  • Gandhi raised political awareness through regular comments in Indian Opinion (his newspaper) and petitions to the governments of Natal, India, and Britain.
• Gandhi formed the Natal Indian Congress in response in 1894. This organisation led nonviolent protests against white people’s oppressive treatment of native Africans and Indians.
• In 1896, he visited India briefly and gathered 800 Indians to serve alongside him in South Africa. An enraged mob greeted them, and Gandhi was injured in the attack.
• During the outbreak of the Boer War in 1899, Gandhi gathered approximately 1,100 Indians and organised the Indian Ambulance Corps for the British, but ethnic discrimination and torture against Indians persisted.
• Gandhi was inspired by English artist John Ruskin’s book Unto This Last, and he established Phoenix Farm near Durban.
  • Gandhi would come here to train his cadres in nonviolent Satyagraha, or peaceful restraint. Satyagraha is said to have begun at Phoenix Farm.
• Satyagraha, on the other hand, was shaped into a weapon of protest at the Tolstoy Farm, Gandhi’s second camp in South Africa.
• Gandhi organised the first Satyagraha campaign in September 1906 to protest the Transvaal Asiatic ordinance, which was enacted against the local Indians. In June 1907, he held another Satyagraha against the British.
• He was imprisoned in 1908 for organising nonviolent movements. He was released, however, after meeting with General Smuts, a British Commonwealth statesman.
• However, he was later attacked for this and sentenced to prison again, prompting him to organise Satyagraha once more.
• He was also in long-term negotiations with the Attorney-General of Transvaal, Jan Smuts, first on behalf of Indians in that Province, and later, after the Union was established in 1910, on behalf of all South African Indians.
• He was sentenced to three months in prison in Volkshurst and Pretoria in 1909. Following his release, Gandhi travelled to England to seek the help of the Indian community there.
• In 1913, he also fought against the nullification of non-Christian marriages.
• Gandhi organised yet another peaceful resistance campaign in Transvaal against the oppression of Indian minorities. He led a group of approximately 2,000 Indians across the Transvaal border.
• Gandhi spent a total of 21 years in South Africa. By the end of his stay, the government had passed the Indian Relief Act, which granted many of Gandhi’s and his colleagues’ demands.
• For the first time in the 1950s, all racial groups banded together to protest the apartheid government through the Defiance Campaign, which was also the largest nonviolent resistance movement ever seen in South Africa.
• This historic campaign also saw the emergence of a new generation of African National Congress leaders, including Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, and Oliver Tambo.