George Sewpersadh

{{Infobox person | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=ZAR|OLS}} | birth_name = Chanderdeo Sewpersadh | birth_date = {{birth date|1936|10|7|df=yes}} | birth_place = Cato Manor, Natal Province<br />Union of South Africa | death_date = {{death date and age|2007|05|18|1936|10|7|df=yes}} | death_place = Durban, South Africa | alma_mater = University of Natal | known_for = President of the Natal Indian Congress }}

'''Chanderdeo "George" Sewpersadh''' {{post-nominals|country=ZAR|OLS}} (7 October 1936 – 18 May 2007), also spelled '''Sewpershad''', was a South African lawyer and anti-apartheid activist. He was a former president of the Natal Indian Congress and a defendant in the 1985 Pietermaritzburg Treason Trial.

== Early life and education == Sewpersadh was born on 7 October 1936 in Cato Manor, an Indian area on the outskirts of Durban in the former Natal Province.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Chanderdeo George Sewpershad (1936 – 2007) |url=https://www.thepresidency.gov.za/chanderdeo-george-sewpershad-1936-2007 |access-date=24 June 2024 |website=The Presidency}}</ref> His father was a newspaper vendor and his mother was a housewife.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=17 February 2011 |title=George Sewpersadh |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/george-sewpersadh |access-date=2024-06-24 |website=South African History Online}}</ref> Their family moved to Reservoir Hills during his childhood, and he matriculated at Sastri College in Durban.<ref name=":1" /> Thereafter he attended the University of Natal from 1955 to 1960, completing a BA in 1957 and an LLB in 1960.<ref name=":1" />

While a BA student, in December 1956, Sewpersadh joined the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), inspired by opposition to apartheid but also by the Indian independence movement and its heroes, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi.<ref name=":1" /> He became the founding chairperson of a new NIC branch in Cato Manor.<ref name=":1" /> However, the NIC fell into dormancy in the mid-1960s. Sewpersadh instead focused on establishing his practice as a lawyer in the Durban suburb of Verulam.<ref name=":0" />

== Career and activism == When the NIC was relaunched in June 1971, Sewpersadh was elected as its president; the presumptive president, Mewa Ramgobin, was banned at the time and therefore was unable to stand.<ref name=":42">{{Cite journal |last1=Vahed |first1=Goolam |last2=Desai |first2=Ashwin |date=2014-01-02 |title=A case of 'strategic ethnicity'? The Natal Indian Congress in the 1970s |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17532523.2014.911436 |journal=African Historical Review |language=en |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=22–47 |doi=10.1080/17532523.2014.911436 |issn=1753-2523 |s2cid=143932497 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Jerry Coovadia said that Sewpersadh was an appealing candidate because he was "an old school type liberal: big on due process, civil rights and liberties, human rights."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Desai |first1=Ashwin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=didLEAAAQBAJ |title=Colour, Class and Community: The Natal Indian Congress, 1971-1994 |last2=Vahed |first2=Goolam |date=2021 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-1-77614-716-8 |language=en}}</ref> As leader of the NIC he faced arrest and banning orders on several occasions;<ref name=":1" /> during a prolonged banning from 1973 to 1978, M. J. Naidoo replaced him as NIC president.<ref name=":42" />

In spring 1984, Sewpersadh was one of the so-called Durban Six who evaded arrest by taking refuge in the British Consulate in Durban.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Riveles |first=Susanne |date=1989 |title=Diplomatic Asylum as a Human Right: The Case of the Durban Six |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/761937 |journal=Human Rights Quarterly |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=139–159 |doi=10.2307/761937 |issn=0275-0392 |jstor=761937|url-access=subscription }}</ref> On 6 October 1984, after three weeks in the consulate, Sewpersadh and two of his NIC colleagues – Naidoo and Ramgobin – voluntarily left the consulate and were immediately re-arrested on the pavement outside.<ref name=":02" /> They were subsequently charged with treason in the Pietermaritzburg Treason Trial,<ref name=":43">{{Cite news |date=1984-12-11 |title=12 released by South Africa, then 6 of them are arrested |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/11/world/12-released-by-south-africa-then-6-of-them-are-arrested.html |access-date=2023-04-29 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> though the charges against them were dropped in December 1985.<ref name=":14">{{Cite web |date=1985-12-09 |title=South Africa Clears 12 of Treason: Charges Against Most Prominent Foes of Apartheid Dropped |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-12-09-mn-15272-story.html |access-date=2023-04-29 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

He died in Durban on 18 May 2007 after a short illness;<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Govender |first=Ravi |date=18 July 2012 |title=George was a 'humble man' |url=https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/post-south-africa/20120718/281809986013126 |access-date=24 June 2024 |work=Post}}</ref> he had cancer.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2008-04-22 |title=An enigmatic leader and hero |url=https://witness.co.za/archive/2008/04/23/an-enigmatic-leader-and-hero-20150430/ |access-date=2024-06-24 |website=The Witness |language=en-US}}</ref> He was unmarried.<ref name=":2" /> His memorial service was held at Kendra Hall in Durban, and speakers included Constitutional Court Justice Pius Langa.<ref name=":3" />

== Honours == In October 2008,<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 April 2008 |title=National orders for prominent people |url=https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2008-04-23-national-orders-for-prominent-people/#google_vignette |access-date=24 June 2024 |work=Sowetan}}</ref> President Thabo Mbeki admitted Sewpersadh posthumously to the Order of Luthuli, awarding him the order in silver for "Opposing the apartheid regime and striving for the ideals of a non-racial, non-sexist, just and democratic South Africa."<ref name=":0" /> Also in 2008, the City of eThekwini renamed Verulam's Moss Street as George Sewpersadh Street.<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 May 2008 |title=Durban street renaming proposals |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/durban-street-renaming-proposals-400532 |access-date=24 June 2024 |work=IOL}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links ==

* [https://disa.ukzn.ac.za/gandhi-luthuli-documentation-centre/oral-history-project-interview-george-sewpersadh 2002 interview] via University of KwaZulu-Natal Category:1936 births {{DEFAULTSORT:Sewpersadh, George}} Category:2007 deaths Category:20th-century South African lawyers Category:South African anti-apartheid activists Category:Recipients of the Order of Luthuli Category:Natal Indian Congress politicians Category:People from eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality Category:South African people of Indian descent Category:University of Natal alumni