Billy Nair
Encyclopedia
Billy Nair was a South Africa
n politician, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa
, an anti-apartheid activist and a political prisoner
in Robben Island
.
Nair is best known for being one of the famous Rivonia Trial
ists as well as a long-serving political prisoner on Robben Island
along with Nelson Mandela
in the 'B' Block for political prisoners. His Prison card is the copy used in the post-reconciliation prison tours to illustrate the conditions of the prisoners of the time. He was elected to the African National Congress
(ANC) executive committee in 1991 and was a South African member of parliament for two terms prior to his retirement in 2004.
in the then province of Natal, to Indian
immigrant parents on 27 November 1929. His parents were Pravathy and Krishnan Nair who belonged to Kerala
, India. He was one of five children; his siblings were Joan, Angela, Jay and Shad. His youngest brother died of typhoid in 1942. His father was an illiterate ship cargo man and mother supplemented the income by owning a vegetable stall in the market.
He attended school in Essendene Primary School in Sydenham and Natal Technikon or M.L. Sultan Technical College (see Durban University of Technology
), Durban at night and completed his matriculation in 1946 and diploma in accounting in 1949. During his school year, he also worked part-time as a shop assistant from 1946 - 48 for a timber merchant of Indian origin and as a bookkeeper for an accounting firm.
(NIC) meetings becoming a member of its executive in 1950.
Billy Nair continued his string of jobs and matriculation. After the National Party
government came to power in 1948, the position of the authorities towards the protesters became very hostile. After six months stint as a dairy worker at Clover
(see Clover (dairy)
Dairy earning 24 pounds a month, he was fired in 1950 as a result of his trade union activities. As he explained in an interview in 1984 about this period, "We had to politicize workers. A means to establish a link between political struggle and the struggle for higher wages had to be found". He continued his trade union activities, eventually becoming the full time secretary of the Dairy Worker's Union in 1951. He was banned from political activities as part of the ban imposed in Natal of all that had served as secretaries of 16 trade unions under the Suppression of Communism Act
.
Nair came under the influence of Dr. G. M. "Monty" Naicker, president of the Natal Indian Congress. In the resistance again the Ghetto act, no fewer than 2000 prisoners were arrested. Nair was among the first group of resisters who were arrested at the Berea station with 21 other fellow-protesters for entering a “Europeans only” waiting room. He was imprisoned for one month.
In 1953 Nair joined the secretly reconstituted South African Communist party and was a leading member of South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) when it was formed in 1955 and served on its national executive committee.
Nair was among the 150 activists arrested with Mandela on 5 December 1956 and charged with treason. The marathon Treason Trial
of 1956–1961 followed. Two months into the trial, the initial indictment was dropped, and immediately a new indictment was issued against 30 people, all ANC members. He was acquitted of all charges. Speaking of the incident, Nair later remarked, "The State wanted to actually bottle us up, thinking that the struggle will die out..."
(MK) which was led by Mandela. Nair went underground for two months before being arrested and detained for 3 months. He was banned f0r 2 years bwhich was subsequently extended to 5 years in 1961. Between 1961 and 1963, he participated in the armed struggle as part of MK and was involved in the bombing of Indian Affairs Department. On 6 July 1963, Nair was arrested and charged with sabotage and attempting to overthrow the government by violent means and sentenced for 20 years in Robben island along with Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada
, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki
, Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi
, Raymond Mhlaba
and Dennis Goldberg.
Billy Nair, as Prisoner 69/64 (the 69th prisoner of 1964) served in the same block as Mandela and Kathrada.
Billy Nair was assaulted multiple times in prison quite seriously and he joined multiple efforts including a five day hunger strike to bring about reforms at the prison. In this, he partially succeeded. He was punished severely for his efforts by isolation and removal to the common block. He was also denied food and educational privileges for various periods of time. There was controversy on which groups were instrumental in making the changes in Robben island, including the provision of beds of prisoners, permission to study and improved meals with various groups claiming credit. Upon release, he remarked on this, "when I came out of prison in 1984 I actually publicly said that these Coopers, the AZAPOS, the Strini Moodley
s and the whole shoot of them actually came into a five star hotel. We changed the conditions so much that they were living in milk and honey virtually."
Whilst in prison, Nair was an active participant of the "University" which was informal education system run by prisoners; he also obtained study privileges in time and completed B.A. (in English), and B.COM degrees through the University of South Africa. Even though he completed most of the required classes toward a B.PROC degree, he had to abandon it after several detentions. Sonny Venkatratnam, a fellow prisoner smuggled a copy of Shakespeare into the prison in which all the leading prisoners marked their favorite passages; this copy was later called the Robben Island Bible. Billy Nair chose Caliban's lines from The Tempest: 'This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother'.
He was released on 27 February 1984 from prison. Thereafter he joined the United Democratic Front
(UDF) office and participated in the anti-election campaign of 1984. The UDF was an umbrella organization that brought together hundreds of organizations to protest against the Nationalist governments policies and the new constitution. He was again detained in August, just before the elections for the House of Delegates
under section 29 of the internal Security Act.
Upon his release Nair went into hiding. He and 5 other UDF leaders Archie Gumede
, Mewa Ramgobin, Paul David, George Sewpershad and MJ Naidoo – sought refuge in the British Consulate until 12 December.
In 1990, after De Klerk lifted the State of Emergency in July, Nair was re-arrested along with 40 members of ANC accusing them as conspirators in Operation Vula to overthrow the government.
. He was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee in July 1991.
In the first all-inclusive democratic South African elections in 1994, Nair was elected as a member of parliament for the ANC; he was placed 39 in the list of 400 candidates proposed by the ANC. He served two terms as an MP with distinction until 2004. He was a member of the following Parliamentary Committees: Joint Standing Committee Finance, Constitutional Comm. Theme 3, Constitutional Comm. Sub Theme 2 & Theme 6 and Joint Standing Committee Public Accounts. Millions of renters and landlords owe a big debt to Nair for the passage of Rental Housing Act 50 of 1999, and for establishing the provincial Rental Housing Tribunals.
Nair was married to Elsie Nair and they have one daughter, Saro Nair, who lives in England.
He was also awarded a Doctorate of Social Science posthumously for the advancement of human rights and democracy in 2009 by the University of KwaZulu-Natal
.
He was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs
in 2007. The Gandhi Development Trust and Satyagraha award was also presented to him in August 2007.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n politician, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa
National Assembly of South Africa
The National Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape Province. It consists of no fewer than 350 and no more than 400 members...
, an anti-apartheid activist and a political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
in Robben Island
Robben Island
Robben Island is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 km west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. The name is Dutch for "seal island". Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, 3.3 km long north-south, and 1.9 km wide, with an area of 5.07 km². It is flat and only a...
.
Nair is best known for being one of the famous Rivonia Trial
Rivonia Trial
The Rivonia Trial was a trial that took place in South Africa between 1963 and 1964, in which ten leaders of the African National Congress were tried for 221 acts of sabotage designed to overthrow the apartheid system.-Origins:...
ists as well as a long-serving political prisoner on Robben Island
Robben Island
Robben Island is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 km west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. The name is Dutch for "seal island". Robben Island is roughly oval in shape, 3.3 km long north-south, and 1.9 km wide, with an area of 5.07 km². It is flat and only a...
along with Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
in the 'B' Block for political prisoners. His Prison card is the copy used in the post-reconciliation prison tours to illustrate the conditions of the prisoners of the time. He was elected to the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
(ANC) executive committee in 1991 and was a South African member of parliament for two terms prior to his retirement in 2004.
Early life
Nair was born in Sydenham, DurbanDurban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
in the then province of Natal, to Indian
Asians in South Africa
The majority of the Asian South African population is Indian in origin, most of them descended from indentured workers transported to work in the 19th century on the sugar plantations of the eastern coastal area, then known as Natal. They are largely English speaking, although many also retain the...
immigrant parents on 27 November 1929. His parents were Pravathy and Krishnan Nair who belonged to Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, India. He was one of five children; his siblings were Joan, Angela, Jay and Shad. His youngest brother died of typhoid in 1942. His father was an illiterate ship cargo man and mother supplemented the income by owning a vegetable stall in the market.
He attended school in Essendene Primary School in Sydenham and Natal Technikon or M.L. Sultan Technical College (see Durban University of Technology
Durban University of Technology
The Durban University of Technology is a University of Technology in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was formed in 2002 by the merger of Technikon Natal and ML Sultan Technikon and was previously known as the Durban Institute of Technology. It has four campuses in Durban, and two in Pietermaritzburg...
), Durban at night and completed his matriculation in 1946 and diploma in accounting in 1949. During his school year, he also worked part-time as a shop assistant from 1946 - 48 for a timber merchant of Indian origin and as a bookkeeper for an accounting firm.
Early Political Activism
During his education days, he was politicized as a participant in the students union. Like many of his fellow leaders in the future, the "Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act", also known as the "Ghetto Act" galvanized his political beliefs. In 1949, he became a member of the Indian Youth Congress and was elected as its secretary in 1950. He started attending Natal Indian CongressNatal Indian Congress
The Natal Indian Congress was an organization that aimed to fight discrimination against Indians in South Africa. The Natal Indian Congress was started by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, later known as the Mahatma...
(NIC) meetings becoming a member of its executive in 1950.
Billy Nair continued his string of jobs and matriculation. After the National Party
National Party (South Africa)
The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...
government came to power in 1948, the position of the authorities towards the protesters became very hostile. After six months stint as a dairy worker at Clover
Clover
Clover , or trefoil, is a genus of about 300 species of plants in the leguminous pea family Fabaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution; the highest diversity is found in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but many species also occur in South America and Africa, including at high altitudes...
(see Clover (dairy)
Clover (dairy)
Clover Industries Limited is a leading South African dairy and milk production company.Founded in 1898 in Weenen, KwaZulu-Natal as the Natal Creamery Ltd, the company was a co-operative until 2003, trading first as Natal Creamery and, since 1943, as National Co-Operative Dairies Ltd...
Dairy earning 24 pounds a month, he was fired in 1950 as a result of his trade union activities. As he explained in an interview in 1984 about this period, "We had to politicize workers. A means to establish a link between political struggle and the struggle for higher wages had to be found". He continued his trade union activities, eventually becoming the full time secretary of the Dairy Worker's Union in 1951. He was banned from political activities as part of the ban imposed in Natal of all that had served as secretaries of 16 trade unions under the Suppression of Communism Act
Suppression of Communism Act
The Suppression of Communism Act, No. 44 of 1950 was legislation of the national government in South Africa, passed on June 26 of that year , which formally banned the Communist Party of South Africa and proscribed the ideology of communism, defined by the government as any scheme that aimed "at...
.
Nair came under the influence of Dr. G. M. "Monty" Naicker, president of the Natal Indian Congress. In the resistance again the Ghetto act, no fewer than 2000 prisoners were arrested. Nair was among the first group of resisters who were arrested at the Berea station with 21 other fellow-protesters for entering a “Europeans only” waiting room. He was imprisoned for one month.
In 1953 Nair joined the secretly reconstituted South African Communist party and was a leading member of South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) when it was formed in 1955 and served on its national executive committee.
Nair was among the 150 activists arrested with Mandela on 5 December 1956 and charged with treason. The marathon Treason Trial
Treason Trial
The Treason Trial was a trial in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956....
of 1956–1961 followed. Two months into the trial, the initial indictment was dropped, and immediately a new indictment was issued against 30 people, all ANC members. He was acquitted of all charges. Speaking of the incident, Nair later remarked, "The State wanted to actually bottle us up, thinking that the struggle will die out..."
Arrest and Imprisonment
After the banning of ANC in 1960, Nair became a member of the underground organization Umkhonto we SizweUmkhonto we Sizwe
Umkhonto we Sizwe , translated "Spear of the Nation," was the armed wing of the African National Congress which fought against the South African apartheid government. MK launched its first guerrilla attacks against government installations on 16 December 1961...
(MK) which was led by Mandela. Nair went underground for two months before being arrested and detained for 3 months. He was banned f0r 2 years bwhich was subsequently extended to 5 years in 1961. Between 1961 and 1963, he participated in the armed struggle as part of MK and was involved in the bombing of Indian Affairs Department. On 6 July 1963, Nair was arrested and charged with sabotage and attempting to overthrow the government by violent means and sentenced for 20 years in Robben island along with Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada
Ahmed Kathrada
Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada is a South African politician and former political prisoner and anti-apartheid activist....
, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki
Govan Mbeki
Govan Archibald Mvuyelwa Mbeki was a South African politician, and father of the former South African president Thabo Mbeki and political economist Moeletsi Mbeki...
, Andrew Mlangeni, Elias Motsoaledi
Elias Motsoaledi
Elias Motsoaledi was one of the eight men sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial.-Early Life and Family:...
, Raymond Mhlaba
Raymond Mhlaba
Raymond Mhlaba was an anti-apartheid activist and leader of the African National Congress .Mhlaba spent 25 years of his life in prison. Well known for being sentenced, along with Nelson Mandela, in the Rivonia Trial, he was an active member of the ANC and the South African Communist Party all his...
and Dennis Goldberg.
Billy Nair was assaulted multiple times in prison quite seriously and he joined multiple efforts including a five day hunger strike to bring about reforms at the prison. In this, he partially succeeded. He was punished severely for his efforts by isolation and removal to the common block. He was also denied food and educational privileges for various periods of time. There was controversy on which groups were instrumental in making the changes in Robben island, including the provision of beds of prisoners, permission to study and improved meals with various groups claiming credit. Upon release, he remarked on this, "when I came out of prison in 1984 I actually publicly said that these Coopers, the AZAPOS, the Strini Moodley
Strini Moodley
Strinivasa Rajoo "Strini" Moodley was a founding member of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa...
s and the whole shoot of them actually came into a five star hotel. We changed the conditions so much that they were living in milk and honey virtually."
Whilst in prison, Nair was an active participant of the "University" which was informal education system run by prisoners; he also obtained study privileges in time and completed B.A. (in English), and B.COM degrees through the University of South Africa. Even though he completed most of the required classes toward a B.PROC degree, he had to abandon it after several detentions. Sonny Venkatratnam, a fellow prisoner smuggled a copy of Shakespeare into the prison in which all the leading prisoners marked their favorite passages; this copy was later called the Robben Island Bible. Billy Nair chose Caliban's lines from The Tempest: 'This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother'.
He was released on 27 February 1984 from prison. Thereafter he joined the United Democratic Front
United Democratic Front (South Africa)
The United Democratic Front was one of the most important anti-apartheid organisations of the 1980s. The non-racial coalition of about 400 civic, church, students', workers' and other organisations was formed in 1983, initially to fight the just-introduced idea of the Tricameral Parliament The...
(UDF) office and participated in the anti-election campaign of 1984. The UDF was an umbrella organization that brought together hundreds of organizations to protest against the Nationalist governments policies and the new constitution. He was again detained in August, just before the elections for the House of Delegates
House of Delegates
The House of Delegates is the name given to the lower house of the legislature in three U.S. states – Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.House of Delegates may also refer to:...
under section 29 of the internal Security Act.
Upon his release Nair went into hiding. He and 5 other UDF leaders Archie Gumede
Archie Gumede
Archibald Gumede was a South African anti-apartheid activist, lawyer and politician. Gumede was born in Pietermaritzburg to James Gumede, an early African National Congress leader. Archie Gumede led the Natal delegates at the 1955 Congress of the People in Kliptown during which the Freedom...
, Mewa Ramgobin, Paul David, George Sewpershad and MJ Naidoo – sought refuge in the British Consulate until 12 December.
In 1990, after De Klerk lifted the State of Emergency in July, Nair was re-arrested along with 40 members of ANC accusing them as conspirators in Operation Vula to overthrow the government.
Activities After Release
After the unbanning of the ANC in February 1990, Nair served on the interim leadership committees of both the ANC and the South African Communist PartySouth African Communist Party
South African Communist Party is a political party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa by the joining together of the International Socialist League and others under the leadership of Willam H...
. He was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee in July 1991.
In the first all-inclusive democratic South African elections in 1994, Nair was elected as a member of parliament for the ANC; he was placed 39 in the list of 400 candidates proposed by the ANC. He served two terms as an MP with distinction until 2004. He was a member of the following Parliamentary Committees: Joint Standing Committee Finance, Constitutional Comm. Theme 3, Constitutional Comm. Sub Theme 2 & Theme 6 and Joint Standing Committee Public Accounts. Millions of renters and landlords owe a big debt to Nair for the passage of Rental Housing Act 50 of 1999, and for establishing the provincial Rental Housing Tribunals.
Nair was married to Elsie Nair and they have one daughter, Saro Nair, who lives in England.
Honours and awards
Nair received the “Moses Kotane Award” for his outstanding contribution to the SACP while still in prison.He was also awarded a Doctorate of Social Science posthumously for the advancement of human rights and democracy in 2009 by the University of KwaZulu-Natal
University of KwaZulu-Natal
The University of KwaZulu-Natal or UKZN is a university with five campuses all located in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2004 after the merger between the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville.-History:-University of...
.
He was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman is an award constituted by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India in conjunction with the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas , to honor exceptional and meritorious contribution in their chosen field/profession...
by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
in 2007. The Gandhi Development Trust and Satyagraha award was also presented to him in August 2007.
Death
Nair was admitted to the intensive care unit of St Augustine's Hospital in Durban in October 2008 suffering from a combination of cardiac problems and other complications and after one week, died on 27 October 2008. He was given a Provincial funeral in KwaZulu-Natal attended by premier S'bu Ndebele. His death was mourned by ANC, SACP and COSATU and by people from all walks of life. His funeral was held on the 29th of October at the Durban Exhibition Center.See also
- Pravasi Bharatiya SammanPravasi Bharatiya SammanThe Pravasi Bharatiya Samman is an award constituted by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India in conjunction with the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas , to honor exceptional and meritorious contribution in their chosen field/profession...
- Pravasi Bharatiya DivasPravasi Bharatiya DivasPravasi Bharatiya Divas , is celebrated in India on 9 January each year to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community to the development of India. The day commemorates the arrival of Mahatama Gandhi in India from South Africa...
- South African Communist PartySouth African Communist PartySouth African Communist Party is a political party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa by the joining together of the International Socialist League and others under the leadership of Willam H...
- African National CongressAfrican National CongressThe African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...