CHOTA MOTALA, a biography of political activism in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands

300pp., b/w & colour illus., paperback, Pietermaritzburg, 2018

Chota Motala (1921-2005) studied medicine in India and on his return to South Africa in 1948 set up a practice in Pietermaritzburg. He was elected chairperson of the Pietermaritzburg branch of the Natal Indian Congress in 1953 and was one of the 156 accused in the 1956 Treason Trial. In 1960 he was charged with incitement for his role in a strike by local leatherworkers, detained during the 1960 State of Emergency, banned from 1963 to 1968, and detained again during the 1986 State of Emergency. When the ANC was unbanned in 1990 he was elected chairperson of his branch. Although he declined nomination to serve as an ANC MP he accepted Nelson's Mandela request to become Ambassador to Morocco.

Goolam Vahed is Professor of History at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. His recent books include "Schooling Muslims in Natal" (with Thembisa Waetjen), "The Making of a South African Township" (edited with Ashwin Desai) and "Crossing Space and Time in the Indian Ocean" (with Surendra Bhana).