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MEMONS IN AFRICA

BY MR. EBRAHIM C. MOOMAL

The reader must have observed that I have laid a great deal of stress on the subject of Memons in this dissertation. But then, were it not for them, the history of this country, nay the world, might have been different. They were responsible for introducing Gandhiji into the country and his twenty years of stay here enabled him to master the philosophy of Satyagraha and Passive Resistance which aroused the aspirations of the indigenous population in South Africa and eventually led to the liberation of India and the disintegration of the mighty British Empire. When India gained her independence in 1947 the rest of the colonies fell like nine pins from the clutches of Britain at some stage or another.

 

It is difficult to pin-point precisely when the first Memon might have landed in South Africa, although it would be safe to state that it could have been at anytime immediately after 1843, when the British first annexed Natal. It is an established fact that the Memons were known to follow the British in their quest for business and commercial expansion. They were also during this period engaged in navigational pursuits between the ports of Western India and the coast of the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. The ports of Zanzibar and Mombasa were traded with from as far back as the time of Vasco da Gama. This is recorded in history. It is quite likely that the Memons were already on African soil when the merchant ship s.s. Truro landed the Indentured migrants from India in the year 1860. This claim is sure to cause many an eye-brow to be raised. There is no concrete instance or proof to be cited except for the circumstantial evidence stated above. It is recorded by one P.S. Joshi in his book “The Tyranny of Colour”.

 

The year 1834 is a memorable one in the history of modern Asia. In that year, the Asiatics bade farewell to their mother continent to emigrate to distant foreign lands. India was the first nation to give the globe a glimpse of culture and Indians were the first among the Asiatic peoples to sail to other countries. This emigration however, was not for the dissemination of Indian culture; it was purely and solely an economic mission by Indian countrymen in search of the means of living’. The Indians labourers went to the British Guiana. Then the Indians emigrated to Trinidad, Jamaica and South Africa.

 

This book ‘Tyranny of Colour, incidentally was banned in South Africa until recently.  

 

 

There was no particular incident which could have highlighted the presence of Memons in that period. It was only when a political, social or an economical event occurred wherein the Memons were prominently involved that they were brought into the limelight. Thus, it was first in the year 1875 when one Aboobaker Amod set up a business on the corner of West Street and Plowright Lane in Durban much to the chagrin of then English merchants. Thereafter, Amod, with one Abdullah Karim Hajee Adam and another Joosub Abdul Carim set up the firm of Dada Abdullah & Co. at 427, West Street, Durban. By the year 1890, they had 15 branches all over Durban. They had two steamers s.s. Courtland and s.s. Naderi plying between India and Durban. The stores that they had founded attracted a high-class clientele, including many Whites, who appreciated the range of goods and the reasonable prices. White trading interests, however, were threatened by Indian competition and became hostile. White merchants began using their power in the political and social institutions of the town to defend their position; they were clearly reluctant to share the fruits of their white skinned privilege and feared replacement as a privileged class. Anti-Indian agitation began to centre around trade licenses. It is interesting to note that most of the proprietors of the principal white-owned businesses of the town held office on the town council  at this time and operated from premises in West Street in close proximity of the Indian owned stores – for example George Payne, J. Ellis Brown, Charlie Henwood, Walter Greenacre and G.A. Champion.

 

Moosa Hajee Adam had been in residence in Durban for over thirty-five years, he had been denied licences to trade and was forced to close his businesses; and his numerous properties in the borough were vacant as a result of his tenants being denied licences. There was some relief when in 1908, on an application by one Habib Motani, a Memon of Johannesburg, the Supreme Court overrode the decisions of the Licensing Boards and curbed their authority. This was, however, short-lived as subsequent legislation eliminated the Supreme Court intervention.

 

The above facts are introduced merely to authenticate and substantiate the advent and presence of Memons in Durban and hence Natal and South Africa.

 

Extract from: “End of the Road”