The story of indentured labour on the North Coast is an important, yet little appreciated part of our history.
It was not so long ago that sugarcane was a thriving industry, attracting the first British settlers to The Colony of Natal.
The industry grew at a rapid rate, and every town along our coastline was eventually founded on the back of sugarcane speculation.
The need for labour was so great that the majority of Indian South Africans are the descendants of indentured workers brought to Natal between 1860 and 1911 (South African History Online).
In 1911, this came to an end when India prohibited indentured labour to Natal because of the ill treatment of its citizens.
Indentured labour contracts were initially served for three years, extended to five in 1864. After 10 years under contract, immigrants were allowed to remain in the colony as ‘free’ Indians, or were entitled to a free passage back to India.
Freedom had a high price however, and achieving it was made as difficult as possible by the British through heavy taxes and limited job opportunities.
The big picture can be enlightening, but the numbers often lack the true weight of each person’s story. Real people who loved and bled, just as we do. Only, they were trapped in a system that was determined to exact as much as possible from every person’s pound of flesh.
The compelling and profoundly moving 2021 novel Children of Sugarcane by Durban author and established media personality Joanne Joseph, certainly brought the story home for me.
Well researched and spanning four decades and two continents, the novel casts a harrowing light on what life was really like for the indentured labourers.
Through her fictional character, Shanti, you feel the angst of what it might have been like to be shipped to a foreign country on a promise and a hope, only to be treated worse then your master’s dog.
While not labelled as slaves, the conditions they suffered and the pittance they were paid made them slaves in almost every sense. Many did not make it to the end of their indentured service, dying on the ships from disease or in the fields from abuse and hard labour.
Shanti, looking to escape the potential misery of an arranged marriage at 15, fakes her age and sneaks away in the dead of night from her village in India with the help of a dubious local immigration agent.
Once she takes those tentative first steps there is no escape as the fast flowing river of the system sweeps her along, whether she likes it or not. A system where everything is pitted against her.
As a women she is paid half of what her male counterparts receive despite working the same hours, making it almost impossible to save for a better life after the indenture is over.
The threat of rape and abuse from supervisors is a constant one and the living conditions are a far cry from what was promised.
As dark as these realities were, the novel is an inspiring one, demonstrating the human ability to overcome, to love sacrificially and to form deep bonds across racial and faith lines.
The novel is worth picking up, if just to gain a little perspective on a superbly local story.
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