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Abstract
One of the most significant contact between India and the African continent which was to become historic and landmark achievement for India’s relations with Africa in general and South Africa in particular was the visit of India’s Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi to South Africa and his remarkable stay there . The first permanent political organization to maintain the rights of the Indians in S. Africa was formed due to efforts o Mahatma Gandhi on August 22, 1894 as the Natal Indian Congress. Gandhi returned to India in 1901 after serving as the leader of the Indian corps of stretcher bearers on the side of the British forces in South African War. In 1902 he returned to South Africa and in 1903 founded ‘the Indian Opinion’ newspaper. The newspaper promoted passive resistance campaign. Gandhi was instrumental in opening of Phoenix self help settlement scheme near Durban. The British Indian Association (BIA) was launched by Gandhi to prevent proposed evictions of Indians in Transvaal under British leadership. Arthur Lawley, the then Lt. Governor remarked that the whites were to be protected against Indians in a struggle between East and West for the inheritance of the semi vacant territories of S. Africa’ as quoted by him. In 1913, Gandhi initiated a new campaign in Natal to protest against the 3 pound tax imposed on ex-indentured Indians. Thambi Naidu the leader of the Johannesburg based Tamil benefit Society wanted to gain support of the working classes and the mobilization of merchants there. Gandhi was arrested along with other leaders like P. K. Naidoo but later released. The contribution of Mahatma Gandhi in awakening the people of S. Africa is unparallel. Many leaders in Africa implemented non-violent strategies in their struggle for independence like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, opafemi Awolowo of Nigeria, Julius Nyrere of Tanzania and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia.