1860 Heritage Centre dismisses claims of exclusion and division

STORY OF INDENTURE

- NADIA KHAN [e-mail]

THE 1860 Heritage Centre in Durban has strongly refuted claims that it excluded the Indian/Girmitiya community and created division through language.

Selvan Naidoo, director and curator at the centre, said their approach aimed to be inclusive of all South African histories related to indenture.

The claims were shared on a WhatsApp group called the African Hindu Party, by Praneal Singh, who is affiliated to the Hindu Unity Forum South Africa.

In the message, Singh said: “It’s unfortunate that (the) 1860 Heritage name excludes Indian/Girmitiya. Further to say that they also create a division among us based on language.

“It’s about time (the) entire board and management be dissolved, and we the SA Indian/Girmitiya nominate democratically a proper board and management. Which can’t be based on dividing us.”

Naidoo said the centre, which was an agency museum of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, covered a range of history from slavery, indenture, culture and heritage to the freedom Struggle.

He said the centre brought together all these histories under one roof with a focus on telling the story of indenture as one part of the many stories that made up South Africa’s collective history.

“Including Indian/Girmitiya to the centre excludes people based on ethnicity and race, creating an ethnocentric museum. The use of the Bhojpuri word Girmitiya is widely used for describing indentured workers from the north of India.