GANDHI'S AFRICAN LEGACY, Phoenix Settlement, 1904-2024, a history through letters

660pp., illus., maps, paperback, UWC Press, Stellenbosch, 2024

ISBN: 9781990995095

Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi arrived in South Africa in 1893 aged 24 on an assignment as a lawyer, and remained in the country for 21 years. In 1904  he bought 100 acres of land outside Durban and established a community based on self-reliance and the value of labour on the land. It was here that he developed his philosophy of 'satyagraha' (passive resistance).

His settlement included the printing press for his newspaper, Indian Opinion, a clinic, a school and several homes, including  his cottage,  Sarvodaya, meaning 'well-being for all', where he lived with his family. During the apartheid era political activists from all over the country met at Phoenix Settlement for lectures and discussion. During the 1985 Inanda riots, a large portion of the settlement was badly damaged. It was rebuilt after 1994 and today comprises Gandhi’s house, the printing press building (which now houses the Inanda Tourism office), Gandhi’s son Manilal’s house and the Phoenix Interpretation Centre, where lectures are given.

“Another magisterial book from Dhupelia-Mesthrie, this time on Phoenix, told through deeply researched contextual chapters and the letters of those who lived there. Informed by a lifetime’s work on Gandhi and drawing on archives and personal papers from across the world, this monumental work will be treasured by grateful scholars and readers for decades to come.” Isabel Hofmeyr, Emeritus Professor University of the Witwatersrand

“This is an epic work which gives us another deep insight not just into the South African Gandhi but also into his colleagues at the settlement and an ongoing biography of the settlement itself. This is the first book telling the history of Phoenix Settlement from its founding to now. It provides us with a view into the lives of the residents and supporters, rather than merely a history of the buildings ... It very skilfully presents the role of the settlement in the campaigns against apartheid in the early 1950s and the international recognition of its actions and the stimulus they provided for international campaigns.” Thomas Weber, Emeritus Professor La Trobe University, Melbourne

Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Historical Studies, University of the Western Cape. She is the author of From Cane Fields to Freedom and Gandhi's Prisoner? The life if Manilal Gandhi.