Gandhi Timeline 

EVIDENCE OF MAHATMA GANDHI'S RACISM AGAINST BLACK AFRICANS

The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi is a 100 volume series among the biggest multivolume
project in the world. The writing, speeches, letters, interviews and telegrams collected in these
volumes cover the period of 1884-1948 of Gandhi's life.

This is where the dark side of Gandhi's racism against black Africans was sourced from, as the
Indian government only recently made the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi publicly
available to the world in digitized format.

In Malawi, we have been resisting the installation of his statue because in these documents, one
can clearly see that Gandhi actively fought for the rights of Indians and not Africans while he
was in South Africa. We have collected his own words which show that he had nothing but
contempt for the black race and to erect his statue in Malawi, would be an abomination for the
black African man and woman whether living or dead.

May 1893 - Arrival in Durban, Natal, South Africa

August 1894 - Founds the Natal Indian congress

December 1894 - Correspondence with Government

“I venture to point out that both the English and the Indians spring from a common stock, called
the Indo-Aryan…. A general belief seems to prevail in the Colony that the Indians are little
better, if at all, than savages or the Natives of Africa. Even the children are taught to believe in
that manner, with the result that the Indian is being dragged down to the position of a raw
Kaffir.” — ​Open Letter

May 1895 - Correspondence with Government

“The question affects a very large Indian population in South Africa…. By persistent
ill-treatment they cannot but degenerate, so much so that from their civilized habits they would

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be degraded to the habits of the aboriginal Natives, and a generation hence, between the progeny
of the Indians thus in course of degeneration and the Natives, there will be very little difference
in habits, and customs, and thought. The very object of immigration will be frustrated, and a
large portion of Her Majesty's subjects, instead of being raised in the scale of civilization, will be
actually lowered.” — ​Petition to Lord Ripon

August 1895 - Successful Demand for Racial Segregation of Durban Post Office
“Correspondence was carried on... with the Government in connection with the separate
entrances for the Europeans and Natives and Asiatics at the Post Office. The result has not been
altogether unsatisfactory. Separate entrances will now be provided for the three communities.”
— ​Report of the Natal Indian Congress

“I may further illustrate the proposition that the Indian is put on the same level with the native in
many other ways also. Lavatories are marked “natives and Asiatics” at the railway stations. In
the Durban Post and Telegraph Offices, there were separate entrances for natives and Asiatics
and Europeans. We felt the indignity too much and many respectable Indians were insulted and
called all sorts of names by the clerks at the counter. We petitioned the authorities to do away
with the invidious distinction and they have now provided three separate entrances for natives,
Asiatics and Europeans.” — ​The Grievances of the British Indians in South Africa: An Appeal to
the Indian Public

September 1896
“Ours is one continual struggle against a degradation sought to be inflicted upon us by the
Europeans, who desire to degrade us to the level of the raw Kaffir whose occupation is hunting,
and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with and, then, pass
his life in indolence and nakedness. The aim of the Christian Governments, so we read, is to raise
people whom they come in contact with or whom they control. It is otherwise in South Africa.
There, the deliberately expressed object is not to allow the Indian to rise higher in the scale of
civilization but to lower him to the position of the Kaffir.” — ​Speech at Public Meeting, Bombay

​ tatute-books describe the Indians as belonging to the 'aboriginal or semi-barbarous races of

“S
Asia’, while, as a matter of fact, there is hardly one Indian in South Africa belonging to the
aboriginal stock. The Santhals of Assam will be as useless in South Africa as the natives of that
country.” — ​Speech at Public Meeting, Bombay

October 1896
“There is a bye-law in Durban which requires registration of coloured servants. This rule may be,
and perhaps is, necessary for the Kaffirs who would not work, but absolutely useless with regard
to the Indians.” — ​Speech at Meeting, Madras

November 1896
“The Colony was desirous of securing all possible benefit from the Indians as labourers, because
the natives of the country do not work in the fields, and the Europeans cannot.” — ​Interview to
“The Statesman”

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April 1898
“The Indians in South Africa belong to the Indo-Germanic stock or, more properly speaking, the
Aryan stock. I do not know that there is any authority that has opposed this view.” — ​Notes on
the Test Case

May 1899 - Correspondence with Government

“Your Petitioner has seen the Location intended to be used by the Indians. It would place them,
who are undoubtedly infinitely superior to the Kaffirs, in close proximity to the latter.” —
Petition to Chamberlain

May 1902
“The natives of the soil, 400,000 in number, were found to be too lazy to work. The climate was
too trying for the white men to do much out-door work.” — ​India and Natal

“The indigenous people, that is, the Zulus, are a fine body of men, but they are very lazy, and
will with difficulty work at a stretch for six months.” — ​Notes on the Indian Question

March 1903
“The Municipality of the Borough of East London received in 1895, when there was a very small
Indian population there, power to pass bye-laws preventing Coloured people from walking on the
foot-paths…. The bye-law has its origin in the alleged or real, impudent and, in some cases,
indecent behaviour of the Kaffirs. But, whatever the charges are against the British Indians, no
one has ever whispered that the Indians behave otherwise than as decent men. But, as it is the
wont in this part of the world, they have been dragged down with the Kaffir without the slightest
justification.” — ​Indian Position in New Colonies

March 1903 - Support for White Supremacy & Opposition to Race-Mixing

“We believe as much in the purity of race as we think they do, only we believe that they would
best serve the interest, which is as dear to us as it is to them, by advocating the purity of all the
races and not one alone. We believe also that the white race in South Africa should be the
predominating race.” — ​The Labour Question in the Transvaal

May 1903 - Regarding Petitions to Government

“The community, therefore, appealed to Lord Milner for protection on the following ground….
The £3 tax is merely a penalty for wearing the brown skin and it would appear that, whereas
Kaffirs are taxed because they do not work at all or sufficiently, we are to be taxed evidently
because we work too much, the only thing in common between the two being the absence of the
white skin.” — ​Position in the Transvaal

June 1903 - Correspondence with Government

“The Indian community has followed, not without a great deal of pain, the debate in this
Honourable House on the clause in question, in that they have been treated on a footing of
equality with the Natives of South Africa.” — ​Petition to Natal Legislature

July 1903 - Refers to Africans as “children” needing “compulsion” to work

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“We, therefore, have no hesitation in agreeing with the view that in the long run assisted Asiatic
immigration into the Transvaal would be disastrous to a white settlement…. It would be equally
unfair to the Natives of the soil. It is all very well to say that they would not work, and that, if the
Asiatics were introduced, that would be a stimulus to work; but human nature is the same
everywhere, and once Asiatic labour is resorted to, there would not be a sustained effort to
induce the Natives to work under what would otherwise be, after all, gentle compulsion.…
Natives themselves, used as they are to a very simple mode of life, will always be able to
command enough wages to meet their wants; and the result will be the putting back of their
progress for an indefinite length of time. We have used the words ‘gentle compulsion’ in the best
sense of the term; we mean compulsion of the same kind that a parent exercises over children.”

December 1903 - Opposition to Race-Mixing

“The petition dwells upon ‘cthe commingling of the Coloured and white races’. May we inform
the members of the conference that, so far as the British Indians are concerned, such a thing is
practically unknown? If there is one thing which the Indian cherishes more than any other, it is
the purity of type.” — ​The Transvaal Chambers and British Indians

February 1904 - Correspondence with Government Demanding Racial Segregation

“Why, of all places in Johannesburg, the Indian Location should be chosen for dumping down all
the kaffirs of the town passes my comprehension…. Under my suggestion, the Town Council
must withdraw the Kaffirs from the Location. About this mixing of the Kaffirs with the Indians, I
must confess I feel most strongly. I think it is very unfair to the Indian population and it is an
undue tax on even the proverbial patience of my countrymen.” — ​Letter to Dr. Porter

“I venture to write you regarding the shocking state of the Indian Location…. There is, too, a
very large Kaffir population in the Location for which really there is no warrant.” — ​Letter to
Dr. Porter

April 1904
“The proposal of the Pretoria Town Council will, if carried out, not only leave the Indians
entirely to its tender mercy, but would subject them to all the regulations to which the Natives
are exposed. While it may be that the regulations that have been framed regarding the control of
the Native Locations are necessary in that the Natives are all, or almost all, of the labouring
class, they would be dangerously irksome for the British Indians.” — ​There Pretoria Town
Council and British Indians

May 1904
“The Bill also authorises the municipalities to make bye-laws establishing a system of
registration of persons belonging to ‘uncivilised races’…. It is one thing to register Natives who
would not work, and whom it is very difficult to find out if they absent themselves, but it is
another thing and most insulting to expect decent, hard-working, and respectable Indians, whose
only fault is that they work too much, to have themselves registered and carry with them
registration badges.” — ​What is a “Coolie”

October 1904 - Demand for Racial Segregation of “warmbaths” (hot springs)

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“A correspondent from Warmbaths in the Transvaal writes to us in Gujarati, complaining that the
authorities do not provide facilities for British Indians to make use of these famous healing
waters. He says that, if any Indian wants to make use of them, he is merely directed to go to the
rooms set apart for the Kaffirs. It appears that he offered to build a place for Indians, but the
offer was not entertained. We are sure that, if there is any truth in the statement made by our
correspondent, the Government will remedy the difficulty at once, and provide suitable facility
for those Indians who may wish to make use of these waters.” — ​Warmbaths in the Transvaal

November 1904 - Demand for Racial Segregation of Railway Carriages

“Lord Milner has assured the Rand Pioneers that henceforth no Natives, except those holding
certificates of exemption, will be allowed to travel first or second class on the railways, and that
the inspectors and station-masters have been instructed to separate Coloured passengers from the
white passengers…. We imagine that it will be necessary to have three distinct compartments,
namely, for Europeans, Natives and Asiatics.” — ​Coloured Passengers on the Transvaal
Railways

September 1904 - Support for Racial Segregation of Foot-Paths

“To a certain extent, it is difficult to withhold sympathy from the Boksburg Council. They do not
want to see any Coloured people on their foot-paths…. The bolder and honester policy would
certainly have been for the Government to delete from the Statute-book that portion of the
regulation which unnecessarily subjects Coloured people other than Natives to the indignity.” —
Foot-paths in the Transvaal

January 1905 - Opposition to Race-Mixing

“The Indian community in South Africa does not desire and has never demanded social
intercourse with the whites believing it to be unnecessary and and inadvisable.” — ​Some More
Potchesfroom Inaccuracies

February 1905 - Demand for Racial Segregation of “Plague Hospitals”

“We are informed that, at the plague hospital, no distinction is made between Indians and
Kaffirs, all being herded together indiscriminately. Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of
Indian habits and prejudices will at once see how great a factor this negligence is in impeding the
good work initiated by the authorities. We can only say that, so long as no separate
accommodation is allotted to Indians as such, and so long as no differentiations of creed and
caste are made amongst the Indians themselves, with due regard to religious customs and
traditional beliefs, so long will the authorities cope in vain with many of the difficulties that
could, with a little foresight, be easily avoided.”

March 1905
“Aryanism would have been a better descriptive word than Hinduism.” — ​Hinduism

March 1905
“Clause 200 makes provision for registration of persons belonging to uncivilised races, resident
and employed within the borough. One can understand the necessity for registration of Kaffirs
who will not work; by why should registration be required for indentured Indians who have

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become free, and for their descendants about whom the general complaint is that they work too
much?” — ​The Natal Municipal Corporations Bill

March 1905 - Demand for Racial Segregation in Firearms Regulations

“A Bill is published regulating the use of fire-arms. Part 4 of the Bill deals with the use of
fire-arms by Natives Asiatics…. Evidently the framers of the Bill have associated the Asiatics
almost instinctively with the Natives, and it is that attitude of mind against which we have
always firmly and respectfully protested. Since distinctions are made between one class and
another, justice will never be done to the Asiatic unless he is treated as apart from the Natives.
The Native question is a big question in South Africa. The Native population is very large. The
Native civilisation is totally different from the Asiatic or the European. The Native, being the son
of the soil, has a right to fair treatment, but being what he is, perhaps some legislation, which
may be of a restrictive character, is necessary. It can, therefore, never apply to Asiatics. In this
instance of the fire-arms, the Asiatic has been most improperly bracketed with the Native. The
British Indian does not need any such restrictions as are imposed by the Bill on the Native
regarding the carrying of fire-arms. The predominant race can remain so by preventing the
Native from arming himself. Is there the slightest vestige of justification for so preventing the
British Indian? … Why should he, then, be insulted by being placed in the same category with
the Native?”

April 1905
“The whites have begun to feel the need for Indian labour right from the beginning, for the
Kaffirs are of no use and all the available Chinese are absorbed in the mines. Indian labour, is,
therefore, in general demand.” — ​Suggestion by Barberton Agricultural Council

June 1905
“While the Kaffir hardly works for six months, the Chinese have to do so continuously for three
years. Moreover, the Chinese being more active than the Kaffirs, much more work can be taken
from them than from the latter.” — ​The Chinese and the Kaffirs: A Comparison

April 1905 - Correspondence with Government Regarding Firearms Regulations

“Your Petitioners think that the Indians with the Natives is hardly justified. The Indian is a very
docile Colonist, and has never given any trouble, and your Petitioners venture respectfully to
point out that to bracket Indians and Natives together, and to compel the former to deal with the
Native Department before they can obtain a permit to own a fire-arm, which may be required for
self-protection, would be extremely degrading.” — ​Memorial to Natal Legislative Assembly

September 1905
“The British Indian Association naturally protested against Indians being classed with all sorts of
Coloured people, including the Natives of South Africa. It resented the application of regulations
aimed at the Natives of the soil to the Indians who may go to the Colony.… The utility of the
registration of servants has never been questioned.” — ​Indian in the O.R.C.

September 1905 - Correspondence With Government Regarding Segregation of Schools

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“We have come to know that it is the intention of the Government to change the Higher Grade
Indian School at Durban into a school for Coloured children generally…. We humbly submit that
the decision to open the school for all Coloured children is unjust to the Indian community, and
is a departure from the assurance given by the then Minister of Education, as also Sir Albert
Hime and Mr. Robert Russell, that the school will be reserved for Indian children only…. It is
only fair that British Indians should have in the largest town in the Colony a school reserved for
them.” — ​Letter to Minister of Education

January 1906
“The Boer Government insulted the Indians by classing them with the Kaffirs. Now there is no
occasion to perpetuate a needless insult.” — ​Indians in the O.R.C.

February 1906 - Opposition to Hiring Africans

“I believe it would be better, in so far as it is possible, to have Indians working with us instead of
Kaffirs.” — ​Letter to Chhaganlal Gandhi

April 1906 - On Participation in War Against Zulus

“​The region in which Bambata is operating as an outlaw is in difficult terrain full of bushes and
trees, where the Kaffirs can remain in hiding for long periods. To find them out and force a fight
is a difficult job…. What is our duty during these calamitous times in the Colony? It is not for us
to say whether the revolt of the Kaffirs is justified or not…. We have already declared in the
English columns of this journal that the Indian community is ready to play its part…. The
common people in this country keep themselves in readiness for war. We, too, should contribute
our share.” — ​The Natal Rebellion

April 1906 - On Participation in War Against Zulus

“The Kaffirs in Natal rose in revolt against the poll-tax. Sergeants Hunt and Armstrong​1 ​were
killed in the revolt; martial law was declared in Natal and the Kaffirs were severely dealt with.
Some Kaffirs were prosecuted under the martial law, and twelve of them were condemned to
death and blown up at the mouth of a cannon…. That some Kaffirs were killed will soon be
forgotten. We cannot say for certain whether or not they have received justice.” — ​Political
Turmoil in Natal

April 1906 - On Participation in War Against Zulus

“The meeting held under the auspices of the Natal Indian Congress the other day is to be
congratulated on having passed a resolution offering the services of Indians in connection with
the Native revolt.” — ​An Indian Offer

May 1906 - Support for Racial Segregation of Trams

“You say that the Magistrate’s decision is unsatisfactory, because it would enable a person,
however unclean, to travel by a tram and that even the Kaffirs would be able to do so. But the
Magistrate’s decision is quite different. The Court has declared that the Kaffirs have no legal
right to travel by the trams.… Thanks to the Court’s decision, only clean Indians or Coloured
people other than Kaffirs can now travel by the trams.” — ​Johannesburg Letter

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“It was a gross injustice to seek to place Indians in the same class as the Kaffirs.” —
Johannesburg Letter

June 1906 - On Participation in War Against Zulus

“The Durban Women’s Association has started a special fund for the soldiers who have gone to
the front to fight the Kaffirs. All leading men have contributed to the Fund and some Indian
names are seen among the contributors. It is our advice that more Indians, traders and others,
should subscribe to the Fund.” — ​Soldiers’ Fund

June 1906 - On Participation in War Against Zulus

“Much discussion has been carried on in this journal regarding whether or not the Indians should
participate in the war. The Government has agreed to accept a corps of twenty stretcher-bearers,
and the Congress has got that number together. This has produced a very favourable impression
on the minds of prominent whites….
“The Stretcher-Bearer Corps is to last only a few days. Its work will be only to carry the
wounded, and it will be disbanded when such work is no longer necessary. These men are not
allowed to bear arms. The move for a Volunteer Corps is quite different and much more
important. That Corps will be a permanent body; its members will be issued weapons, and they
will receive military training every year at stated times. For the present they will not have any
fighting to do. A war breaks out, roughly speaking, once in twenty years. It is now more than
twenty years since the last Kaffir rebellion broke out. There is, therefore, absolutely no risk in
joining the Volunteer Corps. It can be looked upon as a kind of annual picnic.” — ​Indian
Volunteers

June 1906 - On Participation in War Against Zulus

“Why, then, should we fear the death that may perhaps overtake us on the battle-field? We have
to learn much from what the whites are doing in Natal. There is hardly any family from which
someone has not gone to fight the Kaffir rebels. Following their example, we should steel our
hearts and take courage. Now is the time when the leading whites want us to take this step.” —
Should Indians Volunteer or Not?

July 1906 - On Participation in War Against Zulus

“At about 12 o’clock we finished the day’s journey, with no Kaffirs to fight…. We were given
about 20 Kaffir levies to help us. They did so with much difficulty over part of the way.… The
Natives in our hands proved to be most unreliable and obstinate. Without constant attention, they
would as soon have dropped the wounded man as not, and they seemed to bestow no care on
their suffering countryman.” — ​Indian Stretcher-Bearer Corps

July 1906 - On Participation in War Against Zulus & Demand for Weapons
“The Corps was called upon to do the work of disinfecting the camp at Mapumulo, of dressing
injuries and wounds, and of marching with the troops and doing stretcher work….
“Members of the Corps were all untrained and untried men; they were called upon, too, to do
responsible and independent work, and to face danger unarmed. If the Government would form a
permanent Ambulance Corps, I think that special training is absolutely necessary, and that they
should all be armed.” — ​Letter to Principal Medical Officer

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August 1906 - On Participation in War Against Zulus

“Controversy is going on in England about what the Natal army did during the Kaffir rebellion.
The people there believe that the whites of Natal perpetrated great atrocities on the Kaffirs….
There is no reason why there should be such an outcry in England against the Natal outrage.” —
Egypt and Natal: A Comparison

November 1906
"As you were good enough to show very great sympathy with the cause of British Indians in the
Transvaal, may I suggest your using your influence with the Boer leaders in the Transvaal? I feel
certain that they did not share the same prejudice against British Indians as against the Kaffir
races but as the prejudice against Kaffir races in a strong form was in existence in the Transvaal
at the time when the British Indians immigrated there, the latter were immediately lumped
together with the Kaffir races and described under the generic term ‘Coloured people’. Gradually
the Boer mind was habituated to this qualification and it refused to recognize the evident and
sharp distinctions that undoubtedly exist between British Indians and the Kaffir races in South
Africa.” — ​Letter to W.T. Stead

November 1906
“Mr. Stead has boldly come out to give us all the help he can. He was therefore requested to
write to the Boer leaders that they should not consider Indians as being on the same level as
Kaffirs.” — ​Deputation Notes II

February 1907
“It is certain that the Asiatic Ordinance will be re-introduced. When that happens, there should
be only one thought in the mind of every Indian: never to accept such a law. And, if it is
enforced, he will rather go to gaol than carry a pass like a Kaffir.” — ​Indians in the Transvaal

February 1907 - Opposition to Hiring Africans

“From these views expressed by a White we have a lesson to learn: We must encourage the
Whites too. It is a short-sighted policy to employ, through sheer niggardliness, a Kaffir for
washing work. If we keep in view the conditions in this country and patronize the Whites,
whenever proper and necessary, then every such White will serve as an advertisement for the
Indian trader.” —​ Indian Traders in natal

December 1907 - On Participation in War Against Zulus

“There is again a rebellion of Kaffirs in Zululand. In view of this, hundreds of white troops have
been dispatched. The Indian community must come forward at such a time without, however,
thinking of securing any rights thereby. They must consider only the duty of the community…. It
will be only proper for the Indian community to make the offer that was made last year.… Those
who went to the front last year can do so again. Most of them are seasoned people and familiar
with the nature of the work.” — ​Volunteers for Natal

December 1907

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“If registration is made compulsory, there will be no difference between Indians and Kaffirs, and
the neighbouring Colony will be tempted to adopt it as a precedent.” — ​Ritch’s Services

February 1908
“The British rulers take us to be so lowly and ignorant that they assume that, like the Kaffirs​ ​who
can be pleased with toys and pins, we can also be fobbed off with trinkets.” — ​Blue Book

March 1908 - Support for Racial Segregation of Prisons

“We had fondly imagined that we would have suitable quarters apart from the Native.…
Degradation underlay the classing of Indians with Natives. The Asiatic Act seemed to me to be
the summit of our degradation. It did appear to me, as I think it would appear to any
unprejudiced reader, that it would have been simple humanity if we were given special quarters.
The fault did not lie with the gaol authorities. It was the fault of the law that has made no
provision for the special treatment of Asiatic prisoners. Indeed, the Governor of the gaol tried to
make us as comfortable as he could within the regulations. The chief warder, as also the head
warder, who was in immediate charge of us, completely fell in with the spirit that actuated the
Governor. But he was powerless to accommodate us beyond the horrible din and the yells of the
Native prisoners throughout the day and partly at night also. Many of the Native prisoners are
only one degree removed from the animal and often created rows and fought among themselves
in their cells…. It is quite clear that separation is a physical necessity.” — ​My Gaol Experiences

March 1908 - Support for Racial Segregation of Prisons

“​​We were then marched off to a prison intended for Kaffirs….
“There, our garments were stamped with the letter “N”, which meant that we were being
classed with the Natives. We were all prepared for hardships, but not quite for this experience.
We could understand not being classed with the whites, but to be placed on the same level with
the Natives seemed too much to put up with. I then felt that Indians had not launched on passive
resistance too soon….
“It is indubitably right that Indians should have separate cells. The cells for Kaffirs were
adjacent to ours. They used to make a frightful din in their cells as also in the adjoining yard. We
were given a separate ward because we were sentenced to simple imprisonment; otherwise we
would have been in the same ward [with the Kaffirs]. Indians sentenced to hard labour are in fact
kept with the Kaffirs.
“Apart from whether or not this implies degradation, I must say it is rather dangerous. Kaffirs
are as a rule uncivilised—the convicts even more so. They are troublesome, very dirty and live
almost like animals….
“Apart from us, there were hardly three or four Indian prisoners in the whole gaol. They were
locked up with the Kaffirs and, to that extent, they were worse off than we.” — ​My Experience
in Gaol

June 1908 - Correspondence With Government Regarding Segregation of Trams

“In your Petitioner’s humble opinion, the above provisions are open to serious objection… to
frame regulations prohibiting British Indians respectably dressed and well conducted from
travelling upon municipal tram-cars, thus imposing humiliation upon a highly civilized

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community and debasing it to the level of the aboriginal native of the country.” — ​Petition to
Transvaal Legislative Assembly

January 1909 - Support for Racial Segregation of Prisons

“I think my experience in gaol this time was better than in January 1908….
“When we entered the gaol, Indians were lodged in three bed- rooms. In this gaol, Indian and
Kaffir prisoners were always lodged separately.
“There are two wards in the prison for males; one for the whites and one for the Kaffirs—the
gaol [also] accommodates other non- whites. Though they were free thus to lodge the Indians in
the Kaffir ward, the gaoler had made provision for them in the ward for the whites.” — ​My
Second Experience in Gaol

“​I was not taken where I could be among other Indians. I was given a bed in a cell of the prison
where there were mostly Kaffir prisoners who had been lying ill. I spent the night in his cell in
great misery and fear. I did not know that the very next day I would be taken among our own
people, and, thinking that I would be kept in this place all the time, I became quite nervous. I felt
extremely uneasy….
“I have, though, resolved in my mind on an agitation to ensure that Indian prisoners are not
lodged with Kaffirs or others. When I arrived at the place, there were about 15 Indian
prisoners…. These prisoners were generally lodged with Kaffirs. When I reached there, the chief
warder issued an order that all of us should be lodged in a separate room. I observed with regret
that some Indians were happy to sleep in the same room as the Kaffirs.… This is a matter of
shame to us. We may entertain no aversion to Kaffirs, but we cannot ignore the fact that there is
no common ground between them and us in the daily affairs of life.”

“So long as Indian prisoners are classed with the Kaffirs, the danger will remain.” — ​My Second
Experience in Gaol

January 1909 - Successful Demand for Racial Segregation of Prisons

“I acquainted the Governor with what had happened and told him there was urgent need for
separate lavatories for Indians. I also told him that Indian prisoners should never be lodged with
Kaffirs. The Governor immediately issued an order for a lavatory for Indians to be sent on from
the Central Gaol. Thus, from the next day the difficulty about lavatories disappeared.” — ​My
Second Experience in Gaol

July 1909 - Support for Racial Segregation of Prisons

“The prison life has been anything but tolerable. Indian prisoners are classed and accommodated
with the South African Natives.” — ​Statement of Transvaal Indian Case

November 1909 - Correspondence with Government Regarding Segregation of Prisons

“The complaints received by me and passed on to the Colonial Office appear to me, in the main,
to be substantial….
“It is likely that Indian prisoners are now invariably housed in cells by themselves, but it is
within my own knowledge that, up to the month of May, Indian prisoners have been housed in
the self-same cells as the Natives.” — ​Letter to Undersecretary for Colonies

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February 1910 - Opposition to Race-Mixing

“Some Indians do have contacts with Kaffir women. I think such contacts are fraught with grave
danger. Indians would do well to avoid them altogether.” — ​Johannesburg

February 1910 - Correspondence with Government Regarding Segregation of Railways

“You will notice that the draft keeps the practice hitherto observed as to the travelling of
Asiatics, without making any racial distinctions and thereby offering insult… If it is considered
by the Railway Board that these regulations are necessary so far as the Natives are concerned, I
venture to suggest that they may be repealed so far as they are applicable to Asiatics.” — ​Letter
to General Manager, C.S.A.R. 

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