Opinion - During his 20-year imprisonment on Robben Island, Billy Nair continued with his studies and completed his BA and BCom degrees.
He also completed 10 courses in law.
Soon after he was released on February 27, 1984, Nair re-integrated himself into the Struggle against the apartheid regime by joining the United Democratic Front.
He was elected as a national executive member of the UDF.
Because of his involvement in the anti Tri-cameral campaigns, he came under the scrutiny of the security police once again and was detained in July 1984.
After he was released on a court order, he sought refuge at the British Consulate in Durban along with Mewa Ramgobin, Archie Gumede, Paul Devadas David, MJ Naidoo and George Sewpersadh.
He walked out of the British Consulate after three months in December 1984.
Nair was thereafter elected vice-chairman of the UDF and continued with his activities against the apartheid regime.
But during the state of emergency in 1985, Nair was arrested once again and tortured and assaulted by members of the security branch in Durban.
He singled out one member as Sergeant De Wet.
His lawyers took up the assault case and laid a charge against the security police.
When he was released, he once again went underground to continue with his activities.
He told me: “I continued with my political activities because our Struggle was to bring down the apartheid regime. There was no other alternative.
“We wanted a South Africa of the people, for the people, by the people. A South Africa whose destiny that will not be determined in the drawing rooms of the National Party, its caucus or the NIS (National Intelligence Service) in secret or by roping in a few of the puppets and saying ‘ye you take this’ and you find the puppets dancing to the tune of their masters in Pretoria.”
He only emerged from the underground in late in 1989 when Ahmed Kathrada, Govan Mbeki and Walter Sisulu were released from life imprisonment.
Although there was some respite after Nelson Mandela was released in February 1990, Nair was once again arrested in 1992 along with Mac Maharaj, Siphiwe Nyanda and Pravin Gordhan and charged with being involved in “Operation Vula”.
He was held for another two-and-half-months and during this time suffered two heart attacks.
The charges against him and the others were withdrawn and they were granted indemnity from prosecution in 1993 after Mandela warned that the political negotiations would be halted if they were not released.
Nair fully involved himself in the run-up to the 1994 democratic elections and was elected to Parliament as number 38 on the ANC list.
He served in Parliament until his passing in October 2008.
Nair told me that all the detentions and torture at the hands of the security police after his release in October 1984 only strengthened his resolve to continue with the struggles.
“In the first place six months after I was released from Robben Island, I was actually detained for opposing the Tri-cameral elections but ultimately detention orders were withdrawn after almost four months of detention and after my stay in the British Consulate with some of my colleagues. Ultimately I was released.
“Now this indicates that the state was persecuting me. When the security branch came in they actually assaulted me. I laid a charge of assault against the security police. I was assaulted and subjected to quite a humiliating experience in prison and in fact one could say that it was a torrid experience.
“I accepted the torture and persecution at the hands of the security police as part of the price we had to pay for our greater goal of a free South Africa.
“We had indicated that as long as the National Party Government remained intransigent and refused to meet the authentic leaders of the people, the Struggle would continue.”
Nair remained totally dedicated to the full political, social and economic emancipation of all South Africans, without expecting anything in return.
He had followed in the footsteps of many other great freedom leaders.
One hopes that at a time when racism rears its ugly head and when some leaders have forgotten the values and principles of the Struggle, Nair’s rich life would be a constant reminder of the kind of South Africa he and others had fought and sacrificed their lives for.
The new generation of leaders must be able to learn from the unselfish lives of Nair and scores of others.
When he had passed on in October 2008, he did not leave behind millions or billions of rand in bank accounts, but only a life of sacrifice for the betterment of all South Africans, including the poorest of the poor.
Those who are now bent on promoting inter-racial conflict and violence must understand that activists such as Nair had sacrificed their lives not for any particular group or to further their own nests, but for all South Africans to better their lives and to live in peace and harmony.
I firmly believe that the following statement he made in one of our several interviews aptly demonstrate the kind of society he would like to see today:
“Notwithstanding all the harassment that I have been subjected to, I can assure the world at large that I would continue the struggles for a free, non-racial democratic South Africa for both blacks and whites as long as I live.”