Last Dec, a rather unsavoury video went viral. In it, a South African woman \u2014 a former air\u00adline employee \u2014 is seen hurling a stream of invective at a fellow passenger on an aircraft, asking the per\u00adson to \u201cgo back to India\u201d. \u201cIndians and the Taj Mahal smell like sh*t,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
In the video, which quickly racked up views on social media, the woman\u2019s heard saying, \u201cI work at the airline\u2026 Every time there are Indians on the Durban flights, you guys smell like sh*t. Go back to India.\u201d The airline, confirming the woman was indeed a former employee, condemned the video and her sentiments.<\/p>\n
Another incident from the same time \u2014 a TikTok video targeting Indian South Africans around the time of PM Naren\u00addra Modi\u2019s visit for a G20 summit \u2014 added to the ongoing narrative against Indians, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, where most of the country\u2019s 1.5 million Indians live. The recording, which claimed South Africans of Indian origin \u201chave another country to go to\u201d, was dismissed as \u201cracist and ignorant\u201d by African National Congress (ANC) KwaZulu-Natal spokes\u00adman Fanle Sibisi.<\/p>\n
More than three decades after South Africa\u2019s 1994 transition to democracy, the Indian community \u2014 descendants of indentured labourers and traders who\u2019d moved there starting in the 1860s \u2014 find themselves at a crossroads, questioning their role and relevance in the country.<\/p>\n
Despite their vital contributions to the nation\u2019s social, economic, and political fabric, the persistence and evolution of racism \u2014 highlighted by recent viral inci\u00addents and political events \u2014 reveals both progress and enduring challenges.<\/p>\n
Racism In A Democratic Era<\/p>\n
The South African constitution protects Indians living in the country, yet many feel discomfort about their standing due to sporadic cases of racism and affirma\u00adtive action laws which, some say, bar them from govt jobs or public education.<\/p>\n
The aircraft incident underlines the challenges facing Indian South Africans \u2014 and all minority communities \u2014 after three decades of democracy. It highlights the prevalence of racial prejudice, the fragility of social cohesion, and the need for institutional reform and community action to combat them.<\/p>\n
The Institute for Justice and Reconcili\u00adation\u2019s 2025 South African Reconciliation Barometer, based on 2,006 interviews, reveals a nation marked by democratic re\u00adsilience but showing deep public fragility. Despite a peaceful transition to multi-par\u00adty coalition governance after the 2024 elec\u00adtions, public trust in political leaders and institutions remains low. Social cohesion indicators suggest that national identity remains strong, yet interpersonal trust is low, particularly among South Africans across racial and linguistic groups.<\/p>\n
ANC\u2019s Sibisi emphasised South Afri\u00adca\u2019s constitutional democracy, grounded in equality, dignity, and non-racialism, and condemned attempts to pit commu\u00adnities against one another. He also noted India\u2019s prominent role in the fight against apartheid. India was the first country to break trade ties with South Africa in 1946, supporting the passive resistance cam\u00adpaign and calling for international sanc\u00adtions against apartheid.<\/p>\n
Historical Context<\/p>\n
The Indian community\u2019s arrival in South Africa dates to 1860, when the Britishers brought indentured labour to work on sugarcane plantations. Later, \u201cpassenger\u201d Indians arrived as traders. Over genera\u00adtions, Indians have shaped South African culture, politics, and cuisine, maintaining diverse religious and linguistic identities. During apartheid, Indians were classi\u00adfied as a separate racial group, facing discrimination but with a legal standing distinct from Black Africans. The com\u00admunity played a significant role in the anti-apartheid struggle, with figures like Ahmed Kathrada, Yusuf Dadoo, and Ma\u00adhatma Gandhi standing out.<\/p>\n
Democracy in 1994 brought hopes of a \u201crainbow nation\u201d, with constitutional guarantees of equality and non-racial\u00adism. Indians, alongside other communi\u00adties, contributed to nation-building and the liberation struggle. However, the legacy of apartheid \u2014 segregation, suspicion, and structural inequality \u2014 remains deeply embedded.<\/p>\n
When Nelson Mandela formed South Africa\u2019s first democratic govt, five indi\u00adviduals of Indian descent were appointed to his cabinet, reflecting a commitment to diversity and recognising the commu\u00adnity\u2019s contributions. This number fluctuated under subsequent presidents, with only two deputy ministers in the current ANC-led Govt of National Unity.<\/p>\n
Community Voices<\/p>\n
Racism in South Africa has not disappeared after 30 years of democracy, notes Sham Maharaj, a respected voice in Phoenix, north of Durban. Racism, he feels, exists among all races, and minority com\u00admunities are increasingly victims of hate speech and racism. Pointing to the Indian community\u2019s role in the liberation struggle and nation-building, he said tribal politics, nationalist parties, and corruption had led many to lose faith in the country\u2019s leadership even as he called for participa\u00adtion in democracy to rebuild the nation.<\/p>\n
Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi of Minority Front, a political party, said that while overt racism has been outlawed, latent prejudice persists and has worsened in the last decade. Social media has ampli\u00adfied racism, and politicians often play the race card during elections. Thakur-Rajbansi says Indians \u2014 though politically and economically marginalised \u2014 are integral to South Africa\u2019s democracy.<\/p>\n
Ela Gandhi, granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, says comments against the Indian community signal a disturbing trend of prejudice based on ethnicity, class, and religion. She advocates self-reflection, empathy, and bridge-building across groups, to realise the dream of a rainbow nation.<\/p>\n
ANC member Ravin Singh highlights South Africa\u2019s constitutional protection and regards affirmative action and Black economic empowerment as forms of positive discrimination intended to address historical injustice. He acknowledges legitimate concerns about empowerment but stresses the need for deliberate intervention to overcome entrenched power structures. Singh notes that South Africa remains deeply unequal, thereby making social cohesion difficult, but points to everyday coexistence and the enduring spirit of ubuntu (a South African philosophical concept meaning \u201chumanity towards others\u201d) across several communities.<\/p>\n
Social Cohesion, Role Of Youth<\/p>\n
Singh believes there is greater social cohesion among younger South Africans, who do not carry the same historical baggage as older generations. While prejudice persists, it is important to distinguish between latent prejudice and open, explicit racism. Young Black profes\u00adsionals, including Indians and Coloureds, are actively involved in addressing community challenges and directly confronting prejudice, he says.<\/p>\n
Neeshan Balton, executive director of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, says racism against any community is an as\u00adsault on democracy and emphasised the long-standing contributions of Indian South Africans to the struggle against apartheid and the building of democracy.<\/p>\n
Publisher Nirode Bramdaw, a former ANC official, notes that Indians played a pivotal role in the anti-apartheid struggle, recognised by Mandela\u2019s first cabinet. He argues that race relations have worsened, with the ANC mired in tribalism.<\/p>\n
Identity And Belonging<\/p>\n
Perhaps the answer for Indian South Afri\u00adcans lies not in choosing one or the other but embracing both aspects of their heritage. Paige-Emma Murugan, a teenage schoolgirl of Indian descent in Johannesburg, provides a personal perspective. \u201cSouth Africa\u201d, she says, \u201cis where I was born. My identity is layered \u2014 Indian roots, South African soil, and people from different backgrounds guiding me into the world. That\u2019s why I struggle when people ask me to choose between being Indian first or South African first. My birth itself shows that I\u2019m both. South Africa gave me life, but India gave me heritage. One is the ground I stand on; the other is the history I carry. Together, they make me whole. If I try to separate them, I lose something important. So, I don\u2019t choose. I blend. I balance. I carry all of it proudly. And what makes me whole is the mix of all these in my South African melting-pot life \u2014 my Christian faith, and my Indian heritage, living side by side within me. That\u2019s who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edwin Naidu is head of Higher Education Media Services in Johannesburg. This article was published by the Times of India. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Partners in apartheid fight, Indian South Africans facing racism again<\/a> appeared first on KBC Digital<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last Dec, a rather unsavoury video went viral. In it, a South African woman \u2014 a former air\u00adline employee \u2014 is seen hurling a stream of invective at a fellow passenger on an aircraft, asking the per\u00adson to \u201cgo back to India\u201d. \u201cIndians and the Taj Mahal smell like sh*t,\u201d she says. In the video, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140063\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}