David Makhura said South Africans of Indian descent have played a key role in their resistance movements.
A top South African leader has lauded the contribution of Indian-origin population in the country and said the community has played a vital role in the nation's freedom struggle.
Addressing an event of the Tamil Federation of Gauteng on Saturday, the premier of the Gauteng Province, David Makhura, said South Africans of Indian descent have played a key role in the country's resistance movements in different eras.
Right from our fight against colonialism and apartheid to the fight against corruption in present times, the Indian-origin community has always supported South Africans, he said.
South Africa has 1.4 million Indian-origin population. About 7,60,000 of them live in KwaZulu-Natal province. Gauteng, the economic hub of South Africa, has 3,60,000 South Africans of Indian origin. The rest are spread thinly across the other seven provinces.
Noting the contribution of anti-apartheid activist Thambi Naidoo and child martyr Valliamma Moodliar, who had joined Gandhiji in his fight against apartheid and colonialism in South Africa, Mr Makhura said, "Mahatma Gandhi learnt the concept of 'Satyagraha' in Johannesburg."
"Many others (Indians) suffered and sacrificed their lives so that our country can be free. Many of them were tortured and detained. Many died, many were detained and some went into exile," he said.
Thambi Naidoo is one of the most important figures in the history of the Satyagraha campaign in South Africa. He was an early collaborator of Mahatma Gandhi and fought against pre-apartheid racial repression by the local white and the colonial British authorities in Durban.
Moodliar, a South African Tamil girl, was 10 years of age when she joined Gandhiji. She died at the age of 16 in 1914 after being released from prison. She was jailed by the Britishers for her fight against apartheid.
Mr Makhura also lauded the Indian community for its role in uplifting other groups in South Africa.
The first Indians arrived in South Africa as slaves in 1684 during the Dutch colonial era. In the second half of the 19th century, Indians came to South Africa in two categories -- as indentured workers in 1860 and later as 'free' or 'passenger' Indians.