Own Correspondent
EMINENT South African journalist and author Gonny Govender died on Monday in a London hospital at the age of 85 after a short illness.
One of the first black investigative journalists in the country, Govender was head-hunted while working for The Leader newspaper by publisher Jim Bailey for Drum Magazine in the early 1950s. He went on to write telling exposés on crime, and on political and social evils.
A nephew of the late District Six hotelier, Chin Govender, Gonny spent some time recently at the home of his sister, Mrs Gonum Pillay, in Rylands.
A prolific writer, Govender’s book on the ill-fated Congolese leader, Patrice Lumumba, was banned by the apartheid regime. The Shadows Grow Taller, regarded as a classic in its genre, was published in the early 50s.
Attacking the heinous caste system, Govender included evidence of how the caste system was introduced into the Hindu religion after the conquest of the very advanced Dravidian Civilisation by the Aryans.
The Dravidians gave the world the concept of nought and the world’s oldest living language, Tamil.
The book caused a storm among conservative sections of the Indian community in South Africa.
His telling exposé of the terrible conditions of workers on Natal’s sugar plantations was greeted with outrage by sugar barons, including Indian farmers.
Govender worked with the likes of Bob Gosani, Can Themba and Henry Nxumalo.
After his spirited campaign for equal pay for the black and white staff of Drum met with stubborn refusal from Bailey, Govender left for London, where he was snapped up by the BBC.
While there he interviewed the likes of Louis Armstrong, the Indian emissary to the UN, Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, singer Eartha Kitt and boxer Muhammad Ali.
He also wrote booklets on Commonwealth boxing champion Jake Ntuli and MI Yusuf, who hit 410 not out in a first-class cricket match in the then Rhodesia.
He leaves behind his son, Krishie Govender, his granddaughter, Shanthi, brothers Ronnie and Kenny Govender, and his sisters, Gonum and Kasturie Pillay.
His younger brother, an award- winning playwright and author, Cape Times columnist Ronnie Govender, said: “Gonny was an inspiration to us. The humanitarian values he espoused live on in his nephews and nieces, most of whom live in Cape Town.
"The cremation will take place in London on June 7 and his ashes will be flown to Cape Town, where they will be interred after a 16-day havan ceremony to be performed by Guru Krishna. The date will be announced later.”
For further information please contact Ronnie Govender on 082 573 0077.