The Mahatma Gandhi Remembrance Organisation, in conjunction with Lenasia Legacy, hosted a family walk and hike at Tolstoy Farm on Tuesday. 16 June to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Soweto Students’ Uprising.
Tolstoy Farm, situated about five kilometres south of Lenasia, is an important historic settlement where Mahatma Gandhi and supporters of the passive resistance campaigns of 1911 to 1914 were based.
The event also marked the 80th anniversary of the 1946 Passive Resistance Campaign, led by Dr Yusuf Dadoo and the Transvaal Indian Congress in opposition to the “Ghetto Bill”, which sought to enforce stricter racial segregation and control over Indian South Africans.
Speaking at the commemoration, Neeshan Balton, chief executive officer of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, drew links between the struggles led by Gandhi and Dadoo and the student uprising of 1976.
He said these struggles formed “part of a single tradition of opposition to racial discrimination and apartheid.”
Balton also warned against current anti-migration campaigns, saying they could lead to racial and ethnic profiling – something South Africans had fought against during apartheid.
Javie Ravjee of the Gandhi Remembrance Organisation outlined recent efforts to revive Tolstoy Farm, saying its legacy should never be forgotten by residents of Lenasia and surrounding areas.
He also expressed concern over a recent robbery at Tolstoy Farm, which resulted in damage to parts of the property.
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