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Phyllis Naidoo

Phyllis Naidoo Born 05 January 1928, Estcourt,Pietermaritzburg, Natal Died 13 Feb 2013 Cause of death Heart Failure Occupation Apartheid Activist,lawyer, Author Organization Natal IndianCongress, ANC,umKhonto weSizwe. Husband(s) Willie Joseph Mooroogiah D. Naidoo Children 4, including Sukhthi

Personal Information

Phyllis Naidoo was born on January 5th, 1928, in Estcourt, Pietermaritzburg, Natal. Her father, Simon David was a teacher and principal and later became an inspector. However, due to his occupation, he was never actively involved in politics and instead was a Methodist agnatic. There were lots of stimulating discussions taking place in Phyllis's home, which gave rise to her attitude of skepticism. Her devoted Catholic mother raised her 10 children as a stay-at-home mom, starting with Phyllis, then Romesh, Ronnie Peter, John (AJ), Matron Regina Maharaj, Sinthi Qoto, Vassie (Joan), Ben, and Devadas Paul David, the eighth child born on August 26, 1940. Ben David also became politically conscious at a young age as a result of his sister's outspoken criticism of the Apartheid system. Her brother became engaged in the political struggle only at the age of 17 when he decided to join the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), where he later rose to the position of secretary in 1979. (NICYL).  Her family relocated to Tongaat when she completed her matriculation in 1945. Phyllis married Willie Joseph, who was only a few years younger than Phyllis's youngest brother, Ben at the age of 19, respecting her family's wishes, and they had a son named Nersen. However, their marriage did not endure very long, and it ended shortly after Willie departed for the United States. Nersen spent a lot of time in Phyllis' parents' Verulam house. When he was ten years old, Nersen visited his father in the United States and never went back. Before Phyllis and her other child, Sukhthi fled to exile in Lesotho in the middle of the 1970s, Nersen would talk to his mother in Durban while he was still in his 20s. Nersen wrote his mother a letter during this period requesting that she help him join Umkhonto we Sizwe so that he could have a closer relationship with her. Due to the present circumstances at the time, it was decided in a meeting that Phyllis should cut off all contact with him because it was likely a CIA plant. After trying unsuccessfully to reunite with his mother, Nersen left for West Africa to join Charles Taylor's ragtag army. He died there in the middle of the 1980s. She joined the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), where she authored speeches for comrades like Nandah (Steve) Naidoo, George Sewpersadh, and Dr. Randeree, and among those comrades was her second husband, Mooroogiah D. Naidoo. They were married in 1958 and had three children together, including Sahdan, who was assassinated in Lusaka, Zambia, in 1989 because he was associated with the ANC. She returned from exile in 1990 with her daughter Sukhthi, in 1994, five years later after the passing of her second son in 1989, Saradh also passed away from an anesthetic allergy.

Educational background

Phyllis Naidoo went to Pietermaritzburg's Woodlands High School. After completing her matriculation, she began working as a trainee TB nurse for the Friends of the Sick Association (FOSA) at the King George V Hospital. While in high school, she began working for the FOSA organization in 1944. Mr. H.W. Steal, a teacher at the school, persuaded some of his students to knit garments for the children of ill patients, and Phyllis participated in that course. She was performing her daily duties of praying, cleaning, and scrubbing when she saw a patient in excruciating pain and suffering. Rev. Sykes informed her of the disease's rapid spread throughout the nation, and it was that which made her aware of how this was affecting people. She was forbidden from working or traveling after being discovered to be on the wrong side of the Apartheid government in 1966 due to her public involvement with her husband, MD Naidoo. A temporary home arrest was placed on her. She completed her law degree during those 10 years, becoming admitted to the bar in 1973, but she was unable to practice because the court was one of the locations, she was forbidden from entering. That persisted after the ban was overturned and she was permitted to practice until 1976. In her exile journey, she also went on a seven-year stay in Zimbabwe, she became a teacher at the Law Department of the University of Zimbabwe.

how she joined politics

The person who contributed to Phyllis's strong feeling of civic duty was Mr. H.W. Steal, Phyllis witnessed people like Poovalingam, Nadas, and Athie Pillay who dedicated themselves to changing the reality of going to prison during a period of passive resistance in Durban in 1946. Phyllis had nothing but admiration for the passive resisters. She joined the NEUM (Non-European Unity Movement), got into arguments with Enver Hassim and Abdool Karim Essock, and discovered how politics worked. She decided to effect change after reading the Natal Mercury article on the arrest of Dorothy Shanley and Errol Shanley, SACP members and parents of three young children. She signed up for NIC. She joined the SACP in 1961. A few years later, while in exile, she got associated with the Umkhonto weSizwe and the African National Congress.

Political Affiliation.

Phyllis became a member of the NEUM (Non-European Unity Movement). She began working with Dorothy Nyembe, Florance Mkhize, and Moses Konate to combat Bantu education after becoming a member of the Natal Indian Congress and getting married to an SACP activist. She got involved with the SACP as well. Alongside Govan Mbeki, she also provided underground assistance to individuals in need. She organized and delivered food packets for people who lived in remote areas during the apartheid era. She was a participant in the Lesotho exile. While in Lesotho, she worked as the country's chief legal aid counsel before being removed in 1983. She left for Zimbabwe, where she remained an integral part of uMkhonto weSizwe, taught law at the University of Zimbabwe, and wrote speeches for other members. She spoke out against the abuse of authority by the apartheid government. Both political prisoners and others who were on death row were of concern to her.

Role in politics

After being freed from Robben Island, activists sought jobs in Naidoo. She once had five former Robben Island inmates working as couriers at her legal company, including President Jacob Zuma. Phyllis aided those in danger of leaving the country, and she also assisted Moses Mabhida in fleeing. Her home was raided fourteen times when she was under house arrest in 1966. She defended Harry Gwala, who was found guilty of treason and condemned to life in jail when her house detention was freed in 1976. Together with Joseph Nduli, she devised a new escape route to Swaziland, and Shadrack Maphumlo was successfully transported out of the country. She worked in the ANC party's welfare department, assisting ANC and SACP members fleeing and settling in Lesotho and caring for children who had fled South Africa. Rev. Osmers was her co-worker. She was appointed Lesotho's Chief Legal Aid Counsel. While in Zimbabwe, she drafted speeches for her allies and ran an anti-government abuse campaign. She was writing books and compiling a chronicle of the difficult times she faced in her own country and while living in exile before she passed away in 2013.

Awards and Novels

In 2003 she was Awarded Silver, the second category with The Order of Luthuli in honor of her contribution to human rights and struggle against apartheid

Author of Waiting to die in Pretoria (1990), Izinyanya: A Millenium diary of the Year of Older Persons (1992), Le Rona re batho (1992), Footprints in Grey Street (2002), 156 Hands that built South Africa (2006), Footprints beyond Grey Street (2007), Enduring Footprints (2009)