Manonmoney Ama Naidoo OLS (née Pillay; 30 November 1908 – 25 December 1993) or Ama Naidoo was a

South African __NOTOC__ South African may relate to: * The nation of South Africa * South African Airways * South African English * South African people * Languages of South Africa * Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the Afric ...

anti-apartheid activist.

Family and early life

Naidoo was of South African Indian

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

descent and was born in Asiatic Bazaar

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

. She had her primary school education in the Pretoria primary school. She was the only daughter and had 8 brothers. Her parents had a family business. She had to care for the family and home and hence she did not pursue an independent career. In 1934 at the age of 26 she married

Naransamy Roy Naidoo Thambi Naransamy Naidoo or Roy Naidoo (1901-1953) was a South African political activist. He was of South African Indian Tamil descent. He is the son of an early collaborator of Mahatma Gandhi, Thambi Naidoo. He was married to another activist Amma ...

. He was the son of one of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

’s closest friends and a dedicated Satyagrahi,

Thambi Naidoo Thambi Naidoo (1875 - 1933) was an early collaborator of Mahatma Gandhi. Born in 1875 in Mauritius to Tamil migrants from India, he migrated to Kimberley (then part of the Cape Colony) in 1889. He moved to Johannesburg in 1892 where he worked as ...

. He sent his children to live and learn under the tutelage of Gandhi at the

Tolstoy Farm Tolstoy Farm was an ashram initiated and organized by Mohandas Gandhi during his South African movement. At its creation in 1910 the ashram served as the headquarters of the campaign of satyagraha against discrimination against Indians in Transvaal ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. Roy Naidoo was among the children who went to

where he received training in simple living and self-sufficiency. In 1914 after Gandhi finally left

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, Roy Naidoo together with the Phoenix boys went to

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

’s Ashram,

Shantiniketan Santiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by his son ...

where they lived for two years and received some training in arts and crafts as well as Indian culture and language. The party then moved to

Sabarmati Ashram Sabarmati Ashram (also known as Gandhi Ashram) is located in the Sabarmati suburb of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, adjoining the Ashram Road, on the banks of the River Sabarmati, from the town hall. This was one of the many residences of Mahatma Gandh ...

Political activism

Naidoo's husband Roy returned home to South Africa in 1928. He began work with the trade union movement and joined the

Communist Party of South Africa The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

CPSA. Naidoo worked closely with him. She joined him in the 1946 Passive Resistance campaigns and courted imprisonment which she served bravely. In 1952 she again joined the defiance campaign and was again imprisoned. In 1954 she joined the

Federation of South African Women The Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) was a political lobby group formed in 1954. At FEDSAW's inaugural conference, a Women's Charter was adopted. Its founding was spear-headed by Lillian Ngoyi. Introduction The Federation of South Afric ...

(FEDSAW) and was elected on to its executive committee. She attended the Kliptown People’s Congress and participated in the adoption of the

Freedom Charter The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies: the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats ...

. In 1956 she marched to the Union buildings with 20,000 women against the pass laws. She participated in almost all the campaigns and marches held in Johannesburg. There were candlelight processions, night vigils, and in 1963 she marched to the Union Buildings in protest against the formation of the

South African Indian Council The South African Indian Council was a body created by the apartheid-era South African government in 1968 to make recommendations to the government about matters affecting Indians. It was the first time that Indians were granted any sort of re ...

created by the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

government. She was outspoken and ready to participate in political activity. She watched all her children ( Shanthie, Indres, Murthie, Ramnie and Prema) being imprisoned, detained, tortured and harassed by the apartheid security police but remained steadfast right to the end. The Naidoo home was always a hive of activity. Leaders such as

Moses Kotane Moses Mauane Kotane (9 August 190519 May 1978) was a South African politician and activist. Kotane was secretary general of the South African Communist Party from 1939 until his death in 1978.

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

Walter Sisulu Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu (18 May 1912 – 5 May 2003) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress (ANC). Between terms as ANC Secretary-General (1949–1954) and ANC Deputy President (1991–1994), h ...

and many others were constant visitors. Mandela enjoyed her crab

curries A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included. There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in tradit ...

Death

On 25 December 1993 she died, just under two years prior to South Africa's first multiracial elections held under a

universal franchise Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stance ...

. Naidoo was posthumously awarded an

Order of Luthuli The Order of Luthuli is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003, and is granted by the President (government title), president of South Africa, for contributions to South Africa in the following fields: (i) the struggle for ...

in Silver in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naidoo, Ama 1908 births 1993 deaths Anti-apartheid activists South African people of Tamil descent People from Pretoria South African politicians of Indian descent Members of the Order of Luthuli