Minister assures continued help to revive Phoenix

By M.S. Prabhakara

DURBAN, SEPT. 2. The Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr. Omar Abdullah, who is leading the Indian delegation to the World Conference against Racism (WCAR) currently underway in Durban, today renewed the commitment of the Government of India to continue extending financial support to the rebuilding of the Phoenix Settlement, a historic site associated with Mahatma Gandhi, outside Durban.

The commitment was first made by Mr. Inder Kumar Gujral during his visit to South Africa as Prime Minister in October 1997, when he pledged $1,00,000 towards the repair and improvement of `Gandhi sites' in South Africa.

Speaking on the occasion, South Africa's Minister for Public Enterprises, Mr. Jeff Raedebe, referred to the ``destruction of this hallowed ground'' during the apartheid regime, describing it as a ``mark of shame''. Mr. Abdullah said he had come to Phoenix not because of any ``obligation'' but because every Indian visiting the country wanted to see Phoenix, the place where Gandhiji devised his strategies of non-violent struggle against injustice.

Mr. Abdullah was accompanied by his wife and other members of the Indian delegation to the WCAR.

Phoenix, a settlement established by Gandhiji in 1904 in an area which was predominantly African-inhabited, was both his home and workplace. It was from here that Gandhiji published his newspaper, Indian Opinion, which later became Opinion.

`Sarvodaya', his home, was part of the complex. The place continued to serve as the focal point of South African Indian social and political mobilisation long after Gandhiji returned to India in 1914. Following the coming together of the African National Congress and the Indian Congresses of the Transvaal and Natal and, even more so, after the adoption of the Freedom Charter, the character of Phoenix became more inclusive. It also became a focal point of the intensified struggle against the apartheid regime in the post-Soweto period. As a brief history of the Phoenix settlement notes, the first national executive meeting of the United Democratic Front was held here in September 1983.

The settlement was vandalised and destroyed in August 1985 in racially-motivated riots. A squatter settlement grew in its environs. It was only after the advent of democratic government that steps could be taken to resurrect the settlement, to enable the Phoenix to rise from its ashes.

At a formal ceremony ``re-inaugurating'' the settlement on February 27 last, the President, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, said, ``The Phoenix Settlement is an integral part of our history and our present... It is yours, it is mine, it belongs to all our children and grandchildren and those who are yet to enter our world.'' Indirectly drawing attention to the tragic events that accompanied its destruction in 1985, he said: ``Here in Phoenix we are faced with the challenge of demonstrating to the rest of our country that it is possible for people who come from diverse cultural backgrounds to live together in harmony, to learn from one another's cultures.''

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