Veteran South Coast political leader and former KZN MEC, Ravi Pillay, who bypassed a controversial job at the trouble-torn Ugu District Municipality for a planning post at the provincial government, was recently honoured as the chief guest at the Shri Mariammen Temple’s annual Ammen Awards ceremony in Mount Edgecombe.
“The mayoral job at the Ugu District Municipality is off the table and I am now part of an excellent team of role-players in the planning division of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature,” said Pillay in an interview after presenting awards to high-achieving community personalities in the seven categories including the sports award which went to Amanzimtoti cricket protégé, Seshni Naidu.
Sources say the Port Shepstone-born lawyer-turned-political activist had set some pre-conditions on the mayoral post of a municipality that has been plagued by community protests over deteriorating service delivery and sit-ins that had brought the local council to a standstill in recent weeks.
As a back story, Pillay had resigned as the MEC in 2022 following a dramatic ANC election shake-up that ushered a new, more youthful and militant leadership – bizarrely named the Taliban faction – into a provincial hierarchy that was previously plagued by internal factional battles and controversies; including the persona non-grata status of controversially-axed mayor Zandile Gumede over R320 million Durban Solid Waste fraud charges.
Though he resigned on principle, Pillay held multiple portfolios as MEC and had replaced Nomusa Dube-Ncube, currently the Premier, as the MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs in 2020 following a Cabinet reshuffle. However, Pillay pointed out that he had not served the Premier as a special advisor after his resignation.
The vacancy at the South Coast municipality was recommended by the ANC in KZN, but this latest redeployment was subjected to ANC national leadership’s approval at Luthuli House. However, Pillay is widely respected by Durban Indians and was made to feel at home at the 23rd edition of the prestigious awards event.
He delivered a stirring speech, in which he encouraged the community not to let up in their quest to continue playing roles in the new democracy ahead of its 30th anniversary celebrations in 2024.
While the ANC Government’s repertoire of fraud and corruption scandals grow at state levels – particularly in KZN as the home of 600 000 Durban Indians with deteriorating service delivery, infrastructure neglect, crime, car-jacking, social ills, drug trafficking, money laundering, loadshedding, racial tensions during the looting spree and a myriad of headline-making socio-economic issues, protests, high cost of municipal services and glitches – the former MEC traced the poignant history of the indentured working class over the successive decades.
He saluted the 1860 people and Indians for their collective culture of “hard work, passion, discipline and sacrifices”, admitting to the government’s poor handling of issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic, looting and the devastating, killer floods; and encouraged Indians to “claim your space” – saying that nobody is inferior or superior to each other and that with “each revolution there are betrayals”.
“The Ammen Awards has become one of the most respected community awards in our province. Recognition is important. It inspires awardees to more and inspires others so that they too can achieve and do more great things in their lives. The Ammen Awards is a truly auspicious occasion and through the sheer power of the history of its consistent organisation and commitment, it has achieved quite an unmatched standing in the life of our community activities.
“This is a significant tribute to 133 years of this historic temple and the work and struggles of our indentured labourers and every generation since 1860,” said Pillay.
Having experienced the crisis at the frontline of government service delivery, Pillay recounted: “We’re still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, the July 21 unrest and the 2022 floods, and sadly affected by what happens in the world like the Ukraine-Russia war.”
Regarding the home front, he said: “Our electricity crisis, the battle against corruption, water issues and crime are threats to our social cohesion and all too often lead us to despair. At the frontlines, the cutting-edge of this struggle has been people such as the Ammen awardees representing the talent, strength and resilience in our community.”
Pillay said that there were 50 community-based organisations in Phoenix alone yet the Indian community represented 8% of KZN’s population of 10 million people; 17% of the 3.9 million people in Durban, eThekwini, adding that from the lessons of history and the past, the community must “claim our space” and “neither more nor less of our equitable share”.
“Of course, our community’s history is a broader one of struggle against oppression, poverty and of sacrifices to create community value in education, religion, culture, sport, business, workers’ rights and freedom. The struggle is never over,” Pillay told the 200 guests, sponsors and award recipients.
