History Synopsis Indian Que (Colin Webb Natal & Zululand Series, No 5)

Dr Y.M. Dadoo and Dr G.M. Naicker were close friends from the medical student days in Edinburgh. They were also political associates in the struggle against anti-Asian legislation. They made a significant contribution to bringing Indian politics out of its ethnic enclave into the wider arena of the resistance movement. Dr Naicker's pamphlet, published by the Anti-Segregation Council of the Natal Indian Congress, provides an historical overview of those acts, ordinances and regulations which restricted the rights of South African Indians. Dr Dadoo's pamphlet, published by the Communist Party of South Africa, deals with what was possibly the most notable of these restrictions, the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act (No 28, 1946). The value of these pamphlets lies in their reflection of the duality of the authors' political roles as they sought, from an ethnic base, to wean not only their own constituencies, but all South Africans, from the politics of colour.