Title: A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF ANTI-INDIAN RACISM IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA Student Name: ANNSILLA NYAR Student No: 441715 Supervisor: DR STEPHEN LOUW Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). Department of Political Studies Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) 15 March 2016 1 DECLARATION The candidate hereby confirms that the dissertation submitted is her own unaided work and that appropriate credit has been accorded where reference has been made to the work of others. Signed: Annsilla Nyar Student # 441715 2 A Critical Examination of Anti-Indian Racism in Post-Apartheid South Africa Abstract: This dissertation is a critical examination of anti-Indian racism in post-apartheid South Africa. While racism presents an intractable problem for all racial groups in South Africa, this dissertation will show that Indian South Africans are especially framed by a specific racist discourse related to broad perceptions of economic exploitation within the context of redistributive and resource-allocation conflicts, political corruption, insularity and general lack of a socio-cultural ‘fit’ with the rest of South African society. This is not unique to present day South Africa and is (albeit in evolving ways) a long standing phenomenon. Key concerns addressed by the dissertation are: the lack of critical attention to the matter of anti-Indian racism, the historical origins of anti-Indian racism, the characteristics and dynamics of anti-Indian racism and its persistence in post-apartheid South Africa despite an avowed commitment of South Africa’s new post-apartheid dispensation to a non-racial society. This dissertation argues that a particular set of structural circumstances largely due to the confluence of the ‘racial state’ (Goldberg, 2001) with social forces of culture and identity have located Indian South Africans in a space of ‘in-betweenity’ (Bulhan, 1980) and that anti-Indian racism is promoted and continually reproduced by the status of Indian South Africans as ‘in-betweeners’. The idea of ‘in-betweenity’ used in this dissertation is an adaptation of Bulhan’s concept of ‘cultural in-betweenity’ in 3 order to describe the different aspects (political, economic and socio-cultural) of the intermediary role played by Indian South Africans in South Africa’s socio-political order. The space of ‘in-betweenity’ occupied by Indian South Africans is seen to be one which is characterised by uncertainty, ambiguity and a perpetual testing of Indian South Africans in terms of their loyalty to South Africa as well as their authenticity in relation to indigenous South Africans. Within the constraints of the methodological challenges posed by investigating sensitive research terrain, certain data sources were deployed in order to help critically understand and analyse anti-Indian racism in post-apartheid South Africa. The data sources help to support the overall argument advanced by this dissertation, i.e. that a set of structural circumstances engineered by the ‘racial state’ (Goldberg, 2001) in combination with forces such as identity and culture, have trapped Indian South Africans into a state of ‘in-betweenity’ (Bulhan, 1980) which has contributed to the continued development of anti-Indian racism in post-apartheid South Africa. Furthermore the dissertation argues that a general environment of hostility and threat has forced Indian South Africans to imbibe negative perceptions and stereotypes in ways which reinforce a ‘vicious cycle’ of racism and continues to imprison Indian South Africans into the space of ‘in-betweenity’. A phenomenological approach was used in the dissertation to guide the methodology and ensure a commitment to qualitatively understanding the subjective nature of anti-Indian racism. 4 This dissertation contributes to the state of academic knowledge on anti-Indian racism by illuminating the historical origins of anti-Indian racism, the dynamics of contemporary anti-Indian racism and the reasons for its continued persistence in post-apartheid South Africa. In particular, the findings in this dissertation about the extent to which negative perceptions and stereotyping shapes and continues to sustain anti-Indian racism is an original contribution to academic knowledge about racism. 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to kindly acknowledge the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) and the Ahmed Kathrada (AKF) Non-Racialism Project for use of the data sources cited in the study. Professor David Everatt, former Executive Director of the GCRO, is particularly acknowledged in allowing me the opportunity to work on this project. The GCRO/AKF Non-Racialism Project in its entirety remains a rich data source which will provide a wealth of critical insights for future generations of social scientists in the years to come. Indeed it is hoped that a future iteration of the GCRO/AKF Non-Racialism Project may be possible. During the course of this work I worked with two supervisors. I was firstly supervised by Professor Rupert Taylor, formerly Head of the Political Studies Department at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and later on, Dr Stephen Louw, Senior Lecturer at Wits. From earliest inception of this work Professor Taylor has been a constant source of encouragement and support. I am grateful to Dr Louw whose thoughtful guidance and insights have deeply enriched this work and ultimately enabled its completion. I would like to thank those who shared all manner of resources with me, including their books and key pieces of literature which enriched this work. I am unable to thank each person individually as there are far too many to thank. I am especially indebted to all those who participated in my study, even despite time and scheduling 6 constraints as well as general reservations about the process and possible adverse consequences of participating in a research study about anti-Indian racism. My love of learning and the faculty for critical thought and scholarship was inculcated in me by my four guiding stars, all of whom are now late: my parents (Mrs Selvarani Nyar and Mr Gopalan Ramakristnan Nyar) and maternal grandparents (Mr Kasava Maistry and Mrs Saradembal Maistry). Therefore I ultimately owe this work to them. This dissertation is dedicated to them. 7 ABBREVIATIONS ANC African National Congress ANCYL African National Congress Youth League BCM Black Consciousness Movement BEE Black Economic Empowerment CBIC Cape British Indian Council CPC Coloured People’s Congress CoD Congress of Democrats CRT Critical Race Theory EEA Employment Equity Act DoL Department of Labour DP Democratic Party HoD House of Delegates IDC Indian Development Corporation IFP Inkatha Freedom Party KZN KwaZulu-Natal MK Umkhonto we Sizwe NDP National Development Plan NIC Natal Indian Congress NNP New National Party NP National Party PAC Pan African Congress PIO Persons of Indian Origin SACP South African Communist Party SAIC South African Indian Congress SAHRC South African Human Rights Commission TBIA Transvaal British Indian Association TRC Truth and Reconciliation Commission UDF United Democratic Front WCAR World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance 8 CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: THE POSITIONING OF INDIAN SOUTH AFRICANS IN POST- APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA ............................................................................................ 11 Introduction to the study ...................................................................................................... 11 Concepts of Racism ............................................................................................................ 31 CHAPTER TWO: ‘IN-BETWEENITY’: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING ANTI-INDIAN RACISM IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA ........ 54 The conceptual basis of ‘in-betweenity’ ............................................................................... 57 How is ‘in-betweenity’ created? ........................................................................................... 63 CHAPTER THREE: HISTORICAL CONTEXTUALISATION OF ANTI-INDIAN RACISM IN SOUTH AFRICA ................................................................................................................. 83 The early history of Indian settlement in South Africa .......................................................... 85 Political mobilisation for Indian South Africans in response to anti-Indian legislation ........... 93 CHAPTER FOUR: METHODOLOGICAL DESIGN FOR THE STUDY .............................. 122 Key Epistemological Considerations ................................................................................. 131 An Outline of the Phenomenological Approach ................................................................. 137 CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF DATA FINDINGS ON ANTI-INDIAN RACISM ............................................................................................................................ 154 Summary of findings on anti-Indian racism ........................................................................ 156 CHAPTER SIX: TOWARD AN EXPLANATORY FRAMEWORK FOR ANTI-INDIAN RACISM IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA ........................................................................... 201 Revisiting ‘in-betweenity’ as a defining characteristic of anti-Indian racism ....................... 202 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................