The Inanda 1985 riots: a community's struggle and resilience

The Inanda 1985 riots marked a tragic turning point in the relationship between Indian and black communities in South Africa. Narendh Ganesh recounts the events leading up to the riots, the devastating aftermath, and the resilience of those affected, highlighting the importance of unity in the face of division.

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IN THE main, Inanda, just north of Durban, was a fairly peaceful enclave inhabited primarily by Indian and black citizens, but relegated a distance away from the Durban CBD by the then apartheid regime, in terms of the dastardly Group Areas Act.

Two communities, “far from the madding crowd”, lived in relative harmony as neighbours and as friends, until a few fateful days that shattered the tranquillity and harmony which devastated an entire community, leaving lives and livelihoods in ruins.

My father, Deochand Ganesh, was the president of the then Inanda Child and Family Welfare Society that assisted many families, Indian and black alike, with solving domestic problems and indeed aiding in food relief to the very indigent and other assistance where needed.

Considered “rural” at the time, Inanda had farmers, transport operators, a few shop owners, market gardeners, three schools - one named after the wife of Mahatma Gandhi, namely Kasturba Gandhi Indian Government Aided Primary School, Wyld Memorial Government Aided Primary School and Inanda Government Aided Indian School - and most of the other Indian residents were weekly or wage earners, oftentimes eking out a meagre living.

The black community, by and large, were generally labourers, a few transport operators as well as a few businessmen.

My father, who had not realised it at the time, had become a pivotal figure in the aftermath of what ensued, related a story of what one petrol station owner, Mr Ramgobin (brother of NIC stalwart, the late Mr Mewalall Ramgobin) had told him.