My name is Anand Chandra and I am a member of the Natal Indian Congress and the

representative of the Asian/ Indian people of South Africa in these peace talks. My heritage is a

very old and long one, one that I am proud to say that has been resisting colonial oppression.

Throughout generations, my family has been involved in fighting against apartheid and racism.

My great-grandfather was involved with the burning of passports with Mahatma Gandhi and

even went to jail for his part in protests. Consistently my family has spoken out about the abuses

of apartheid and was a leading voice in the Indian community of Durban fighting against the

establishment of racial parliaments.

The NIC wishes to create a non-racial and non-sectarian constitution that does not

discriminate against anyone based on their race, ethnicity or religion. We are also devoted to

respecting the rights of everyone in South Africa. Everyone in South Africa deserves to have

their rights respected and protected and that is a goal we wish to achieve. Another topic that is

important to the NIC is the preservation of the free market economic system that currently exists

in South Africa. We want this because we want to ensure private industries and private

ownership of natural resources.

The NIC wishes to keep this free market economic system because there are many people

in South Africa who own a private business or are private traders. With this free market

economy, people are able to own private businesses and trade to earn a living. If the free market

economy is taken away, then people will no longer be able to provide the same living that they

currently have with the free market. A free market allows businesses and traders to buy and sell

to whomever they wish. If this market is taken away, then the government will control where the

goods come from, how much of the goods to distribute and at what cost. The government may

also choose to stop trade with other countries entirely which could break some international
relations. With a non-free market, the government will become a monopoly of all the goods that

are currently being distributed by private owners. Not only will this cause all private ownerships

to disappear, but it will also cause inflation.

A large majority of Indians that live in South Africa decide to reside in Durban (Eby &

Morton pg.52). In Durban there are many Indian businesses that are family owned and managed.

Ownership of these businesses are passed down from generation to generation and are also being

expanded upon with each new generation (Jithoo, pf. 367). With the removal of a free market

economy and an implementation of a centralized economy, all of these family businesses will

disappear and this will force people to find new jobs that are possibly in different areas. Many

South Africans, during and after World War II, that were living in rural areas were forced to seek

job opportunities in urban areas (Clark & Worger, p. 38). This causes people to not be able to see

or spend much time with their families due to commute distances or even force families to move

in order for the parents to be closer to work. As we saw during this time, parents were not able to

see their families much due to commute distances, so the implementation of this economy may

cause people to move away to seek job opportunities to support their family.

If there is an implementation of a centralized economy, private businesses would not be

the only thing that disappeared. Private property would disappear as well. Inorder for a private

business to continue to grow and develop, they need to have private property to run out of. If a

business does not have a private property, then the business could be kicked out of the building

and the business would fail.

The Indian community in South Africa has had its challenges from the late 1890’s to the

mid 1950’s with legislation that were trying to make it difficult to develop Indian business and

housing. Some of these legislations were aiming to make it difficult for Indians to receive
dealer's licenses. Others made restrictions on trading and occupation of land and denied loans for

properties outside of Indian areas (Jithoo, pg. 366). Even though this legislation was passed, the

Indian community was able to build businesses and be able to produce a good living wage for

themselves.

Another large issue the NIC wishes to address is the respect of all people as well as the

respect of all cultural identities. The NIC wants there to be a distinction between race and

ethnicity because a person's ethnic identity is very important to their personal identity. Racial

identity is just mentioning a person's skin tone as well as the geographical location of where they

are from. When talking about ethnicity, that can cover many different things. Religious beliefs,

cultural origin and family traditions could all be a part of someone's cultural identity. There are

many different cultures all over the world and even in Africa. Bophuthatswana is one example of

a different culture within Africa that wishes to preserve their culture since it is so important to

them. Cultural identities are one part of a person's life that makes them different from everyone

else. Everyone deserves to have their cultural identity protected as well as respected.

One of the main issues that the INC wishes to preserve in South Africa are the

preservation of the free market economic system. The INC wishes to maintain this economic

system because without it many people will lose their private businesses that have been in their

families for generations, lost private property as well as cause inflation. The other main issue

discussed was the respect and distinction between people’s racial and cultural identities. A

person's cultural identity is very important to their personal identity so this needs to be distinct

from their racial identity as well as protected and respected.

 References

Eby, J. C., & Morton, F. (2017). The collapse of apartheid and the dawn of democracy in

South Africa, 1993 (3rd ed.). Reacting Consortium Press.

JITHOO, S. (1985). Indian Family Businesses in Durban, South Africa. Journal of

Comparative Family Studies, 16(3), 365–376. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41601561

South Africa: The rise and fall of apartheid. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2022, from

https://my.aui.ma/ICS/icsfs/Clark___Worger-
South_Africa_The_Rise___Fall_of_Apa.pdf?target=9c1558a1-d579-4092-95c9-
3515d0e3fb3d