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8 April 2009

Comrade Mewa Ramgobin friend, author and Member of Parliament, Dr Zweli Mkhize MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Leader of Government Business and Chairperson of the African National Congress (KwaZulu-Natal)
Comrade Willis Mchunu, speaker of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature
Professor Jerry Coovadia Victor Daitz, Chair in HIV and AIDS Research, Nelson Mandela School of Medicine
Professor Dasarath Chetty, Corporate Relations, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Mr Vrij Harry, Director of Iqula Publishing
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen

I am privileged to stand before you today and recognise and commend a comrade, and a political activist, whom I can also say is my friend, Mewa Ramgobin.

I got to know Comrade Mewa when I was released from prison in 1987 and engaged with him in the political and social movement. I will not read out his accomplishments, merits or his curriculum vitae. Many speakers before me have aptly done so.

The discourse, agreements, discussions and experiences we have shared with each other, and him and me with many others, had been so vibrant and lively that when I learnt he was writing Prisms of Light, I knew it would be an interesting read.

Comrade Mewa is a fun person often very easy to laugh with and can easily laugh at himself. He even recognises (from reading his foreword) that he writes in a light-hearted, most often, mischief manner reminiscing about how people wore their clothes, their eating habits and, overall, their different styles.

The privilege to be different was the very essence of the relationships we shared, with each other, in the liberation movement. And this is neatly packaged in the Prisms of Light. In his own words, Comrade Mewa says, “it is always ‘snapshots’ that come into the clearest focus and give me strength and moral messages about my country and myself. These are the Prisms of Light or all of us.”

Write and not regret

As a son of a preacher, I always tell those around me, some may call it “preaching”, that if your thoughts and views are not written, then it is folklore, thus I encourage people to write. It is encouraging that Comrade Mewa has written about the repression, depression and oppression that we have faced as people who fought for a democratic South Africa. He has documented very well the discussions, discourse and challenges we encountered as we worked towards this milestone of a non-racial and non-sexist South Africa. To reach 15 years of democracy is a milestone in the life of South Africa.

This collected book is the experience of an extraordinary man of courage and principle. He writes in a personal way, sharing his experiences, his troubles and the triumphant milestones we have made as South Africans.

Many people view Comrade Mewa’s contribution to the struggle in very different ways. He has not made a contribution on behalf of Indians, because he is of Indian descent or on behalf of himself only. The banning, house arrest, detention and imprisonment, he suffered, was endured for the people of South Africa. Thus, when he writes in this book, he writes as a son of KwaZulu-Natal.

It is the words of Nadine Gordimer, our well-known South African writer, which best describes the character of Comrade Mewa. This is included in the summary of her note in Prisms of Light, “For Mewa Ramgobin, to be Indian is to be everyman and everywoman. Some in the restless, searching encounters and relationships of his life related in the book, remarks that Ramgobin is gregarious, and the reader, believe me, must thank whatever Gods may be, that he is. Where else would you overhear that passed between him and Steve Biko, Harry Oppenheimer, Nelson Mandela to name a few, and Ramgobin unafraid to contest frankly with anyone?”

Committed to a legacy

Comrade Mewa is strikingly unwavering in what he sets out to do. It was under his leadership and guidance that, today, we have the Phoenix Settlement, which is now part of the Heritage Route on the North Coast of our province and a must see for tourists.

This settlement has become a centre of resistance where the historical experience of the liberation movement has been handed down to new generations of fighters starting from Mahatma Gandhi to Nelson Mandela.

The Phoenix Settlement has inspired a legacy. The very nature of the settlement, which housed a newspaper, symbolised an ethos of dialogue, dialogue among comrades, dialogue between adversaries, dialogue between the past and the present, dialogue between the present and the future.

In Prisms of Light, Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr Pallo Jordan, in his note in the book, writes, “He (Mewa) has pursued the public good in years of open and secret political activity, not once dishonouring the banner of freedom. As part of a living and vibrant movement, he owes his life to the many whom he debated, argued, but also worked and struggled to bring change to his motherland.”

At his 70th birthday celebration in Verulam, not so long ago, guests asked for a present from Mewa Ramgobin, His Memoirs. I was at his birthday.

Today we will read that in Prisms of Light, which is not only about himself, he acknowledges the role played by people in the growth and development of his own personality. These are “vignettes of memory and reconciliation,” he says in one of the chapters.

For democracy to deepen, the book attempts to encourage South Africans to reflect on how we look at each other. It also shows our need to reflect on our common humanity.

As part of a living and vibrant movement, Comrade Mewa says he owes his life to the many with whom he shared the trenches to those with whom he debated, argued, but also worked and struggled to bring change to his motherland.

Today we are here to launch Prisms of Light and I am glad to be awakened, and enlightened, by this well researched historical work.

Thank you.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
8 April 2009