Remembering Coolie Mary: a call to honour our ancestors

THE column by scholar and activist Selvan Naidoo, recounting the horrific murder of “Coolie Mary” (the POST, July 16-20), is as chilling as it is necessary.

- DR JONATHAN ANNIPEN

It is a stark reminder of the violence, indignity and exploitation that our forebears endured under the brutal yoke of colonial domination.

Her story, one among thousands, paints a vivid picture of a time when Indian indentured labourers were stripped of their humanity and dignity — yet refused to be broken.

In 2025, as we approach the 165th anniversary of the arrival of Indian indentured labourers in South Africa (1860 — 2025), it is not just fitting but essential that we revisit and reflect on the suffering and sacrifices of those who came before us.

These were men and women who toiled in sugar cane fields under harsh conditions. They were often subjected to physical abuse, and were treated as subhuman by an inhumane system of empire. Yet despite these circumstances, they laid the foundation for a proud, dynamic and resilient community.

The indenture system, also known as the “new slavery” by many historians, was a tool of imperial exploitation.

As documented by Professor Ashwin Desai and Goolam Vahed in Inside Indenture: A South African Story, 1860-1914 (2007), these labourers were deceived, coerced and shipped across the Indian Ocean with little understanding of the fate that awaited them.

Once in South Africa, they faced a system designed to oppress: low wages, poor living conditions and racial discrimination at every turn. Still, they endured. They resisted. They built.