Nelson Mandela with Kumi Naidoo
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From the time he was a teenager, Kumi Naidoo’s passion was deeply entrenched in activism against injustices.
Naidoo, now 60, said while his life as an activist was one of more failures than achievements, he persevered.
Later on in life, he found himself tackling climate injustices and at the forefront of the fight against issues affecting humanity. He was the executive director of Greenpeace International and the secretary general of Amnesty International.
Naidoo grew up in Bayview, Chatsworth, and recalled how the community was riddled with gang violence.
“It was a close knit neighbourhood but there were many gang wars and violence. It was like live reality television happening outside our window on the weekends. My parents, Shunmugam (Shun) and Manormanie (Mana) Naidoo, were strict. They did not let my siblings and I play in the streets because of this. My dad was a founding member of the Chatsworth cricket and football associations.
“When I was 15, I felt the blow of the tragic death of my mother when she had committed suicide. My little sister was six at the time, and my eldest sister, Kay, was 19. She took over the role of mothering and she held the family together. I suffered a lot of trauma when my mom died. Before she died, I was politically aware, as teachers had educated us privately and given us literature to read and so on. I used to love reading and collecting newspaper clippings,” he said.
On the day of his mother’s 16 day ceremony, Naidoo became involved in the struggle against apartheid.
“Student boycotts started in Cape Town in 1980 and moved to Durban. My relatives, who were in university, pulled us together in the middle of the ceremony and told us about what was happening. While people were giving me messages of condolences, my dad’s friend, uncle John Pillay, who was also a part of the Chatsworth Cricket and Football Association, gave me a piece of advice.
“He knew I was broken from my mother’s suicide and he told me there was a lesson to learn when trauma hits you. People were saying kind things to help soothe me to no avail, such as God picking his favourite flower first, or that she was now in a better place and not in pain."
After Naidoo’s sister suddenly passed away in 2018, he wrote a book as a form of therapy for him to finally come to terms with his mother’s death. The book, Letters to my Mother: The Makings of a Troublemaker, was published in 2022.
“The book was a way to channel the trauma I had subdued as a result of my mother’s suicide. And it was therapy for me to finally come to terms with my mom’s passing and my sister’s sudden death.
“My mom always taught me that it was much better to try and fail than to fail to try. One must be comfortable with the idea that what we do might not succeed but not giving up is important. The life of an activist is one with more failures than achievements, but we have to persevere.
“She also taught me that one should see God in the eyes of every human being they meet. I also learned from my mom that you should focus on the weakness of yourself rather than the weakness of others since you can do something about the weakness of yourself but not that of others.
“I always remember that we would sing, dance and laugh along the way. We need to keep our spirits up and keep the fight against ongoing injustices,” he added.
Naidoo then became actively involved in garnering support for the student boycotts against the apartheid regime and the educational system in the country in the 1980s.
A photograph of Kumi Naidoo being arrested during the apartheid era
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He was a founding member of the Helping Hands Youth Organisation as a teenager, which later became an affiliate of the South African Youth Congress, fighting apartheid and went on to serve as a member of various organisations.
Naidoo said the Helping Hands Organisation had a two-fold purpose.
“We hosted academic classes, athletics, and sport programs. The purpose was to take young people off the streets and offer the activities but it was also driven by wanting to end apartheid. As an organisation, we were primarily community oriented but we were unapologetically fighters of the apartheid struggle,” he said.
While marching at school in 1980, Naidoo said they realised they were only getting the attention of their school principal, so they decided to take to the streets.
Circa January 1985: One of last times that Kumi Naidoo was together with his siblings before he fled South Africa.
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The protestors mobilised a march from Chatsworth High to Protea Secondary, and then to Southlands Secondary School.
“We were stopped by the riot police. They charged us. From then on, I was arrested multiple times. In 1985, I was hiding from police and was on the run staying in a children’s home in Bayview. I was the housefather at Lakehaven Youth Centre from 1984 to 1985. The home was raided on multiple occasions. During the State of Emergency, I was on the Student Representative Council and police were looking for us. I played a role in leading resistance to oppression at the time. In 1986, I was also detained.
“Police arrested students in the hope that me and others would come out of hiding. We did come out and gave ourselves up as we knew that some of the students arrested were having a hard time and would not have coped with detention.
“One newspaper called it detention by barter. We had to barter ourselves to get others out. The students were in prison for a week before we handed ourselves to the police. After my release, I was basically advised that I needed to get out of the country, or I would most likely face consequences,” Naidoo added.
A newspaper clipping of Kumi Naidoo's achievements as an activist
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He fled the country to the UK in March 1987.
“I obtained a scholarship to study at Oxford University and studied political science. I was still linked to the struggle at home. My body was in the UK but my heart and soul was in South Africa,” he said.
Naidoo lived underground for about a year during the State of Emergency, between 1986 and 1987.
“I was hiding on and off during the struggle. I had a big beard and long hair. But when the police would look for me, I would remove my beard and long hair to look completely different. My friends and family were not even able to recognise me,” he said.
Naidoo said the worst part of being on the run was missing family and friends.
“We put our life on the line. The government was repressive. It was hard knowing what our families went through. Our homes were raided. My younger sister was very little at the time. The police used machine guns to pick up the blanket while she was sleeping to look for us during the raids. My father told her to pretend to be sleeping.
"There was a sense of guilt being on the run, as we were relatively safe in hiding but our families were subjected to police raids. My younger brother, Kovin, was also arrested while I was in hiding and he later also spent about nine months in prison. He had gone to visit Lenny Naidu’s parents after he (Lenny) was arrested and then murdered.
Circa January 1987:This was the last photo taken of Kumi Naidoo with Lenny Naidu, Jurie Thaver, Richard Vallihu and David Madurai before they fled the country in different directions.
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Naidoo shifted his focus to climate and humanitarian injustices after the fight against apartheid, and served as the founding chairperson of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) in 2004.
He served as the executive director of Greenpeace International from November 2009 to January 2016, leading the organisation in its global campaigns for environmental justice and sustainability.
During his tenure, he focused on addressing critical issues such as climate change, deforestation, and ocean conservation, while advocating for stronger international environmental policies.
Naidoo emphasised the intersection of social justice and environmentalism, highlighting how marginalised communities were disproportionately affected by environmental degradation.
His leadership brought a renewed sense of urgency and inclusivity to Greenpeace's mission.
“I am of the opinion that honest leaders tell no lies, so when I get invited to speak about my experience, I start by acknowledging that even though we won democracy, we have not won true freedom. This was one of the last conversations I had with my son, the late South African rapper Rikhado ‘Riky Rick’ Makhado, weeks before he passed.
2013 in Johannesburg: Kumi Naidoo with his children, Rikhado Makhado and Naomi Naidoo
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“The last time I saw Rikhado, on January 9, just before I left for Berlin, he said to his mum and I, 'Aish, you and mum must chill, relax and not work so hard.' He gently mentioned that notwithstanding all our efforts and sacrifices over the years the world is still full of inequality, poverty, and other injustices.
“We talked about his potential to be a force for good in our society and he asked Louisa (my wife) and I to help him set up a foundation to focus on young people, 'especially to give young artists a chance, you know, to make it.'
“When I look at the sacrifices that people made, the subsequent betrayal and the corruption, I feel we should be in a much better place with more employment, better housing, healthcare and education.
“When I think of the climate struggle, we are not where we need to be. Look at the extreme weather events we are experiencing. We don't need scientists to tell us the climate is changing fast. We are seeing tornadoes and strange and dangerous weather patterns. I am not a politician and I am not interested in pretending we are successful when we are not,” he added.
Naidoo said as humans we were not rising to the challenge, but were stuck in the old ways of thinking.
Kumi Naidoo with Nelson Mandela
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“It is not rocket science. If some people have more of a right to live in extreme luxury than others, we are not going to have basic needs fulfilled for the majority. The level of inequality is completely unsustainable.
“With the extreme weather events, science is telling us we are running out of time. Humanity must realise we cannot change science but we can change political will. The sooner we accept that it is within human capability to make the changes we need then we can build a world where our children will survive,” Naidoo said.
He said time was running out and “we are getting close to the point of no return where scientists talk about catastrophic, runaway, irreversible climate change”.
“Once we hit that point, things will get worse. We are playing political poker with our children and grandchildren's future by not addressing climate change,” he added.
Kumi Naidoo with his wife, Louisa, in Easter of 1988, a few months after they both suffered a brutal assault.
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Naidoo said the struggle to avert catastrophic climate change was about protecting the children and their future.
“In the end, we will be gone. But if we continue to destroy the soil, burn fossil fuels and destroy water resources, it will become too hot. This will lead to people being unable to grow food, and heavy, contaminated rains will destroy crops. Parents need to educate themselves on the impact of climate change. If they do not, then they are being an irresponsible parent.
Naidoo is always advocating for young activists to take care of their well-being.
However, he said he was not a poster boy for a healthy work and life balance.
“I am reminded of Lenny Naidu’s words. He told me that the struggle for justice is a marathon not a sprint. Only after recent health challenges, I began to take my health seriously and invest time in myself. Now I do yoga and meditation but not as regularly as I should. I also walk and run.
"My family and friends are very important to me. I enjoy reading in my spare time. When I was young, I read that Mahatma Gandhi had survived on four hours of sleep per night. In the '80s, while I was in high school, I trained myself to survive on four hours of sleep,” Naidoo said.
“I am a member of the Revolution Motorcycle Club, which is one of the most community oriented clubs in the province. I started riding a motorcycle when I was diagnosed with hypertension in 2013. When I am on the motorbike, I don’t think of the world's problems and I am focused on not falling off,” he joked.
“My motorbike became my primary means of transportation in 2014, when Riky had an accident with my car and I did not replace it.”