Nashen Moodley
Political parties in KwaZulu-Natal are making last-ditch efforts to woo a largely apathetic Indian electorate, using remarkably similar strategies.
Opposition parties are attempting to convince the Indian population that it is a marginalised minority and are fuelling insecurity within a community already fearful of the triumvirate of crime, affirmative action and Africanism.
Indian fears intensified with the publication of a diatribe in the Inkatha Freedom Party-owned newspaper, Ilanga. In a March editorial, the editor, Amos Maphumulo – since suspended – accused Indians of fuelling black-on-black violence by supplying African youth with weapons with the aim of exterminating the African race.
He truculently ended his attack with a now notorious, barely veiled call for ethnic cleansing: “Maybe here in South Africa as well an African mother will be blessed to give birth to another Idi Amin.”
Although the IFP hastily distanced itself from the editorial, its message sparked discussion around the racial division between Africans and Indians in the province.
Affirmative action and its supposed danger to the Indian community has been another issue bandied about to influence the Indian vote. The Democratic Party took on as its cause clbre the case of Privani Reddy, a student who was refused admission to the University of Natal medical school. Full- page advertisements were taken out by the DP in newspapers targeting the Indian community, insisting that Reddy was refused admission simply because she is Indian.
According to sociologist Dr Ashwin Desai, the DP campaign has done much to perpetuate the idea that the Indian community is under siege. “The campaign has led to a heightened sense of tension. Your sense of individual choice is diminished; you are voting for a community. If you vote wrongly, you jeopardise the future of your community.”
The DP’s Omie Singh, a Durban Metro councillor, denies that the campaign was aimed particularly at Indians: “We do not have a separate strategy for different communities and the campaign was not a focused strategy aimed at the Indian community in particular.”
Singh maintains the campaign pointed out that merit should be the only factor in determining appointments. The fact that Reddy is Indian and that the advertisements appeared in newspapers with a predominantly Indian readership is “coincidental”.
Oddly enough, the Freedom Front (FF) has also targeted the Indian electorate in its “minority under siege” free-for-all, albeit with a low-key campaign. In its advertisements the FF claims to have “extended its power base to include all people within the pioneer group of South Africa”.
Defining the term pioneer as “one who goes before to prepare the way for another” the advertisement warns: “Let’s protect and develop our country and not sit back and see it turned into another banana republic.”
FF leader General Tienie Groenewald says: “We’re making the Indian electorate aware of self-determination and indicating that they will have to look at their own minority rights. We would like to form an alliance with Indian parties; the idea is to form a strong alliance to oppose the ANC in the 2004 election.
“They [Indians] have helped create South Africa, specifically in terms of business, and were obviously not acknowledged under apartheid. That is what has really impressed us: the role they played in economic development and the business world.”
Aside from a coalition based on business acumen, the FF is quite happy to “support them [Indians] in terms of cultural self- determination”.
The general is treading on Amichand Rajbansi’s turf. The Minority Front leader has repeatedly urged Indians to become part of the majority, adopting what is perceived by many to be an increasingly pro-ANC stance.
Among the Indian electorate, Rajbansi has been constantly in the limelight, particularly by insisting that his wife is possessed by demons or making staged “spontaneous” appearances at theatrical productions satirising his less than amicable separation from Ashadevi Rajbansi.
Despite his dubious past (or perhaps because of it), Rajbansi is widely considered to be an astute politician, a survivor who seems to subscribe to the belief that no publicity is bad publicity.
The ANC has been the only party that has tried to win Indian votes without instilling fear. Citing Indian contributions to the struggle against apartheid, the ANC has taken to reminding the Indian electorate of Indian anti- apartheid stalwarts. In addition, both President Nelson Mandela and his deputy, Thabo Mbeki, have met with members of the Indian community in the last few weeks.
This week, the ANC won a Durban High Court interdict against the New National Party, preventing it from distributing election material claiming that the ANC did not have the interests of Indians at heart.
The ANC’s premier-designate for KwaZulu- Natal, S’bu Ndebele, bemoans the “large divisions” between Indians and Africans in the province. He finds it “hurtful” that affirmative action is constantly being thrown back at the ANC, especially considering the large number of Indians represented in government.
The organisation doing the most to allay Indian fears around affirmative action and crime is only a fortnight old. The Concerned Citizens Group, a group of prominent Indians that includes anti- apartheid stalwart Professor Fatima Meer, well-known film producer Anant Singh, sports boss Sam Ramsamy and playwright Ronnie Govender, is urging Indian voters to reject the DP and the NNP.
A statement announcing its formation says: “Your single vote can either condemn us as a people who side with our former oppressors, or it can redeem our reputation, established by our forefathers, as a people who stand with the oppressed and the poor. Let us reaffirm our loyalties to the country of our birth and to the vast majority of her people.”
Meer says: “We are most keen that our people do not vote for the former oppressors.”
Whether this attempt to counter the tried- and-tested methods of swart gevaar will be successful remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that the tenuous political space Indians find themselves in will remain problematic far beyond June 2.