The presence of Indians in South Africa dates as far back as November 16, 1860. This is when the first contingent of Indians from Madras landed on the shores of Durban to work in the sugar-cane plantations.
The contribution of Indian labour in South Africa cannot be told without emphasising the contribution of Mahatma Gandhi towards the political transformation of the country. Gandhi, who arrived in South Africa in 1893, remains a global icon who inspired many anti-apartheid leaders in South Africa.
His Satyagraha movement, which started more than a century ago, for example, brought the government of India closer to the struggle for freedom and justice in South Africa. India therefore, joined the international community in the fight against apartheid as both a moral concern and the fact that South Africa has the highest number of people of Indian descent on the continent of Africa.
India was the first country to cut off trade relations with apartheid South Africa, in 1946. India also imposed a full diplomatic, commercial, and socio-cultural embargo against apartheid South Africa. It also worked relentlessly to put the abomination of apartheid under the spotlight in a supranational organisation such as the UN.
India’s efforts attracted severe international sanctions against apartheid South Africa. The ANC therefore established a representative office in New Delhi in the 1960s as a result of India’s role in the fight against apartheid.
Today, India has a lot of success stories which South Africa can emulate. For example, the government of India has progressively moved towards a pragmatic people-centric inclusive governance. This move has made it possible for structural transformation to take place across various sectors of Indian society and the economy.
It is without any doubt that India has risen to prominence among the strongest democracies in the current global order. This is the path to becoming a “superpower” in the 21st century. One key element that signals India’s progress towards becoming a superpower is the steady rise of indicators of the human development index (life expectancy, education and per capita income).
For example, looking at health care as a component of life expectancy. It is noted that access to quality health care has undeniably improved in India as a result of the country’s improved medical services. It is estimated that more than 100 000 Africans from the East African sub-region alone travel to India for medical services annually.
The number excludes Africans from the west, north, south, and central sub-regions who also visit India for a similar purpose. The success story of medical services in India could therefore serve as “food for thought” for the South African medical sector. Part of the reason medical services in India are more attractive is because of the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the delivery of medical services.
ICT remains a critically needed skill in South Africa. India, on the contrary, has successfully deployed ICT in various rural pockets across the country since the late 1990s. There is evidence of the positive impact of ICT on the lives of millions of rural inhabitants in India. ICT has equipped many rural communities in India with appropriate information and communication tools that enable them to share and transmit knowledge and to run applications, which has led to social, cultural and economic empowerment in rural communities.
South Africa can learn from India’s ICT success story in order to empower its citizens in the townships. This is because ICT could add value to the “township economy” of South Africa. It is a key area of socio-economic transformation. ICT can also quicken developmental interventions in various townships by creating communications links between development agencies across provincial and national levels.
It is a fact that the economy of India will surpass that of the UK and Germany by the year 2028. This, therefore, implies that India could serve as an economic compass for South Africa. With a huge population of Indian descent in the continent of Africa, South Africa stands a chance to benefit more from India, especially in the area of trade and investment in both the public and private sectors.
India for example, does not need to hypnotise the media in South Africa to create pro-Indian content in order to boost its image in South Africa. The country’s upward economic trajectory alone, which is free of abusive trade agreements, can serve as motivation.
Furthermore, Indian engineers are cited among the engineers who have worked towards the construction of Dubai as a point of attraction. It is certain that South Africa can also benefit from the skills of Indian engineers in enhancing infrastructural development in the country.
South Africa can also learn from India’s style of “objective diplomacy”, which over the past two decades has increased the influence of India as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and one of the pillars of the newly industrialised nations in the globe. India’s strength is derived partly from the progress that comes from its culture of innovation, which has produced some original and creative solutions locally.
For example, in the first decade of the 21st Century, India has become a world leader in the development of high-quality, low-cost vaccines and other biopharmaceuticals, which are playing a huge role in improving health, not only in South Asia, but also in Africa and elsewhere. For example, India was officially removed from the list of polio-endemic countries because there have not been any recent incidents of polio in the country.
India has also made much progress in combating the spread of HIV/Aids, which is one of the main challenges facing post-apartheid South Africa. With 5.7 million citizens infected with HIV/Aids, South Africa can therefore learn from India how to effectively confront the spread of HIV/Aids.
*Atabongwoung Gallous is a PhD Candidate and Research Scholar in the Department of Development Studies at the University of Pretoria.
**The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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