Indians Under the African Sun — But No Statue to Show for It

This is a bittersweet saga of how Indians, under the harsh African sun, helped shape the heartland of KwaZulu-Natal.

Today, on the cusp of commemorating 165 years of Indian arrival, on Sunday, 16 November, Durban still has nothing tangible to show for this monumental contribution to the provincial economy. There is no statue on the shoreline where the first batch of semi-slaves landed.

Toiling from dawn to dusk, these men and women turned green into gold for their colonial masters — hence the term “green gold” and “girmitiyas” for the indentured labourers.

Now, fifteen years and R10 million later, successive premiers and city mayors have lacked the political will to erect a statue befitting the pioneering people from the East.

That will finally change in 2026. According to Prince Ishwar Ramlutchman Zulu, president of the Sivananda World Peace Foundation, the long-delayed Indentured Labourer Statue project — symbolising a family of labourers — has been endorsed by Premier Thami Ntuli, Mayor Cyril Xaba, and the provincial multicultural committee.

Ramlutchman, a descendant of indentured labourers and the first Indian adopted into the Zulu Royal Family by the late King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu, had once opposed a proposal to erect a bell tower, arguing that the bell evoked the oppressive colonial controls imposed on workers.

“The statue project,” he explains, “has evolved into a new symbol — a family of indentured labourers representing the spirit of those early pioneers. The statue will rise on the shores of the Indian Ocean Rim in a colourful ceremony next year.”

As the Africa coordinator of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin, an influential diaspora movement based in the USA and India, with an outreach of 35-million Indians in 35 countries, Ramlutchman saluted the island-nations that have  honoured the milestone anniversaries of Indian indentured labourers’ arrival, though in distinct ways reflecting local history and demographics:

Mauritius commemorates the arrival of first indentured labourers (2 November 1834), with a public holiday, ceremonies and cultural performances. The site of arrival, Aapravasi Ghat in Port Louis is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Trinidad and Tobago commemorates Arrival Day on Fatel Razack (30 May 1845) with a public holiday with re-enactments, parades, religious and cultural programmes nationwide.

Suriname commemorates Arrival Day on Lalla Rookh (5 June 1873), with a national holiday with cultural festivals, museum exhibitions, and homage at the Lalla Rookh monument in Paramaribo.

Guyana commemorates: Arrival Day on Whitby (5 May 1838), in a national holiday celebrating all immigrant groups, with special focus on Indian heritage, with wreath-laying, cultural shows, exhibitions, and academic seminars.

In these island-nations, national holidays and monuments honouring ancestors with cultural pride through song, dance, and food festivals, [are] a reflection on migration, resilience, and nation-building contributions, and celebrating in distinct ways reflecting local history and demographics.

Ramlutchman said another custodian of indentured history is the Indian Diaspora Council, based in Port O’ Spain and New York.

However, there is general displeasure and dissent among SA’s 1,5-million Indians that the ANC government provincially and nationally and the eThekwini Municipality in Durban have been dragging their feet on the memorial statue project that would honour the footprints of a community that broke the ground for KZN’s standing in the sugar industry and other allied industries and products – including a popular alcoholic cane spirit drink enjoyed by Indians and other race groups, and now a flavoured global product.

However, Ramlutchman, closely connected to KZN’s IFP-aligned Premier, Thami Ntuli, reassured the community that the symbolic statue will rise from the site where Indentured labourers set foot on the Golden Mile.

This is the poignant back story: 

The Journey from Madras to Durban: On 16 November 1860, the SS Truro arrived in Durban from Chennai (then Madras) with 342 Indian indentured labourers. A second ship, the SS Belvedere, soon followed. Over five decades, nearly 200 000 Indian men, women, and children were brought to Natal’s shores to work the sugarcane plantations after local Zulu labourers had resisted colonial exploitation, while paying traders and merchants boosted local business.

The indenture system ended in 1911, freeing Indians from bondage. Many became market gardeners, trading their produce in towns and cities across the colony.

Meanwhile, similar waves of Indian labour were shipped to Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname, and Mauritius — where colonial planters meted out cruelty, persecution, and even death to those who resisted. Yet, in those former colonies, the descendants of indentured workers have been honoured with statues, plaques, and national holidays.

In South Africa, by contrast, the story remains unmemorialised. The only visible tribute is the 1860 Indian Heritage Centre in Durban’s city centre — a proud yet solitary repository of this shared history. Curator Selvan Naidoo has kept the flame burning, often organising symbolic gestures such as the recent marigold-laying ceremony at the very site where the semi-slaves first disembarked.

Ironically, the land where they once toiled has been transformed into casino complexes — glittering reminders of how easily history can be commodified or forgotten.

A Community’s Enduring Legacy: The descendants of those labourers have come far — from cane cutters to cabinet ministers, from fishermen to financiers, from teachers to technocrats.

They:
• Preserved rich cultural and religious traditions through temples, rituals, and festivals.
• Excelled in cuisine, music, and classical dance across dozens of Indian languages.
• Participated in the freedom struggle — from Gandhi and Luthuli to Mandela.
• Migrated beyond Natal, helping build the commercial and industrial heartlands of Johannesburg (eGoli).
• Balanced progress and prosperity with ongoing challenges of unemployment and inequality.

As King Zwelithini once observed: “Our province is at the crossroads of change. The Zulu, Indian, English, Afrikaner, and German histories are intertwined. The story of the Zulu nation cannot be told without the story of the Indian communities.”

From Indenture to Independence – Rishikesh Durban, from servitude to self-realisation, the Indian community’s journey mirrors South Africa’s own — one of endurance, innovation, and integration.

A commemoration of this journey, from sugarcane fields to high office, is not merely about remembrance. It is about reaffirmation — of resilience, of belonging, and of a shared South African identity still in search of unity.

Yet, the irony endures: 165 years later, there is still no national monument or public holiday to honour the Indian indentured labourers who helped build this old nation. 
It is a story of triumph — a journey from history to harmony, under the same African sun. 

When the statue finally rises in 2026, it will not only stand as a symbol of the past — but as a beacon of harmony for the future. Because the story of the Indian in Africa is not merely about survival.

Marlan Padayachee, veteran journalist, specialist writer and researcher, is a third-generation  descendant of the indentured labourers, and has written a series of published articles, including a presented paper in Trinidad and Tobago and the 1860 Indian Heritage Centre, and continues to campaign for a statue to honour his forebears.