Partners in apartheid fight, Indian South Africans facing racism again

Racial targeting has cast the spotlight on relations between communities in the country that seeded Mahatma Gandhi's campaign against oppression and injustice, writes Edwin Naidu

- Edwin Naidu

LAST December, a rather unsavoury video went viral. In it, a South African woman a former airline employee - is seen hurling a stream of invective at a man, telling him to "go back to India".

"Indians and the Taj Mahal smell like sh*t," she said.

In the video, which quickly racked up views on social media, the woman's heard saying: "I work at the airline... Every time there are Indians on the Durban flights, you guys smell like sh*t. Go back to India."

The airline, confirming the woman was indeed a former employee, condemned the video and her sentiments.

Another incident from the same time a TikTok video targeting Indian South Africans around the time of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit for a G20 summit added to the ongoing narrative against Indians, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, where most of the country's 1.5 million Indians live.

The recording, which claimed South Africans of Indian origin "have another country to go to", was dismissed as "racist and ignorant" by ANC KZN spokesperson Fanle Sibisi.

More than three decades after South Africa's 1994 transition to democracy, the Indian community - descendants of indentured labourers and traders who had moved there starting in the 1860s find themselves at a crossroads, questioning their role and relevance in the country. Despite their vital contributions to the nation's social, economic and political fabric, the persistence and evolution of racism highlighted by recent viral incidents and political events - reveals both progress and enduring challenges.