S. AFRICAN INDIAN COMMUNITY REJECTS APARTHEID On 4 November 1981 the Indian community in South Africa showed clearly and decisively that it opposed the imposition of segregated political institutions on the black community as a whole.
A massive boycott of the first elections to the apartheid regime's South African Indian Council (SAIC) was the culmination of a campaign distinguished by the breadth of its support and by the militancy of its demand for political equality for all. Only 10.5 per cent of those entitled to vote did so, in spite of extensive government efforts to promote participation (Obs 8.11.81).
The government has nevertheless declared that it will recognize the Council as the only representative body of the Indian community (RDM 6.11.81. For an account of the political institutions of apartheid, and the constitutional plans, see Briefing Paper No. 3, IDAF November 1981).
The SAIC was set up by the government in 1964 as a nominated advisory body. Part of the apartheid system of racially segregated political institutions, it was intended by the regime to be the only avenue for political participation by the Indian community. Attempts by the regime to hold elections to it, dating from 1978, were postponed several times mainly because of community opposition.
The elections in November were the first to be held for members of the SAIC. With registration made compulsory, there were 300,000 registered voters, 80 percent of those members of the 800,000 Indian community entitled to vote (RDM 4.11.81).
Most of the 87 candidates for the 40 seats stood as independents, an effect of opposition amongst Indian political parties to the SAIC and to the election. None of the candidates 'expressed the slightest support for the SAIC as an acceptable political institution' (GN 4.11.81).
As the boycott campaign gathered force several candidates withdrew from the elections, and others said they would resign immediately if elected to the SAIC. One candidate explained that 'mounting opposition to the elections by Muslim organisations' had compelled him to withdraw 'for the sake of Muslim unity'. Another said that he had 'come to realise that 85 per cent of the community was opposed to the council' (RDM 26.10.81, 3.11.81).
ANTI-SAIC CAMPAIGN The boycott campaign was led and co-ordinated by ad hoc committees set up in all the areas in which there were Indian voters. Formed mainly on the initiative of Indian political organisations, they enjoyed the support or participation of trade unions, and civic, religious, youth and student organisations (FM 14.8.81; SASPU National August 1981).
Support for the campaign was evident well before the elections, from the numbers of people and organisations participating in anti-SAIC meetings, 3,000 people were at a rally in Lenasia on 1 November. The Transvaal committee said that it was 'staggered by the support' in country areas (RDM 20.8.81, 2.11.81; Voice 11.10.81; Daily News 12.10.81).
The campaign was also significant for the degree of unity displayed and for the nature of the demands made. As in the case of the boycott of the Republican celebrations in May 1981, ad hoc organisations gave organisational form to, and promoted, joint political campaigning across the lines drawn by the apartheid system (GN 4.11.81; FOUCS 34 p. 12, 35 p.1).
As well as embracing every section of the Indian community, the campaign drew support and active participation from across the whole black community. It included a firm rejection of any political scheme which would be aimed at drawing the Indian and Coloured communities into a political alliance with whites to the exclusion of Africans (GN 4.11.81).
The political demands of the anti-SAIC campaign were expressed in terms of the Freedom Charter. The Transvaal anti-SAIC Committee (TASC) was selected at a mass meeting of 2,000 on the basis that 'only the principles of the Freedom Charter can serve as a guideline for the creation of a non-racial and democratic South Africa'. A declaration in similar terms was adopted at a National Anti-SAIC Conference attended by over 89 organisations in Durban on 10/11 October 1981 (FM 14.8.81; Voice 11.10.81; DN 12.10.81).
