Celebrating Dr Juggie Pather: a life of commitment and cultural pride

Selvan Naidoo reflects on the life of Dr Juggie Pather - an embodiment of commitment, resilience, and cultural pride - who recently celebrated a milestone birthday.

DR JUGGIE Pather, an author and a board director of the 1860 Heritage Centre, turned 90 on August 12. The centre, in Derby Street in the Durban CBD, is in existence because of him, and it services the greater South African community due to the vision, determination and sheer tenacity of people like Pather. It is, therefore, a significant moment to reflect on his journey and a life well lived. 

Pather was born in Clairwood in 1935 to Kanakasabathy and Neelatchie Pather. 

His grandfather, Ramsamy Pather, worked as a goldsmith, hailing from Thanjavur, South India, before emigrating to Mauritius. In Mauritius, Ramsamy Pather fathered Kanakasabathy, who was born in Rosehill. Kanakasabathy followed in his father's footsteps, becoming an apprentice goldsmith at age 16 and practising in Queen Street, Port Louis.

Pather’s father, Kanakasabathy, then emigrated to Durban on March 2, 1899, at age 29. After seeing an opportunity with the scarcity of betel leaves in Durban, he started a farm to the south of the Umgeni River bank. The business flourished, yet he missed his first love, making jewellery. Kanakasabay then sold the farm and opened a goldsmith's studio on Umgeni Road, eventually moving to bigger premises in Madras Arcade.

Kanakasabay's skill in designing and manufacturing wedding thalis and nagas for women's decorative hair pieces on 22-carat gold foil resulted in a thriving business, allowing him to purchase a family home in Cathedral Road.

He promoted the Tamil language and contributed to building temples, like the Shri Vaithianatha Easvarar Alayam Umgeni Road Temple, and was one of the founders of the Young Men's Hindu Society, the precursor to the well-known Natal Tamil Vedic Society.

Before leaving for Mauritius in the 1920s, Kanakasabay engaged a Cambridge-educated Indian attorney with a power of attorney to control his business and finances. Being wealthy, in his absence, the attorney swindled Kanakasabay of all his assets. While the attorney was incarcerated for decades, Kanakasabay was a broken man, who bought an old wooden house in Houghton Road, Clairwood. The couple with their children all lived in the wood-and-iron home that stood on wooden stilts near a mosquito-infested swamp.

Pather recalls: “About 40 000 people were living in Clairwood, where the community treated everyone like family. Although we were poor, we were happy.”

Drawing inspiration from his father, Pather, who was born, educated and lived in Clairwood, possessed impressive qualifications and experience in both academic and community development fields. He graduated from the University of London (Institute of Education: Diploma in AVE- Technology), University of Natal (B.A, Master's and PhD), Unisa (BEd and Diploma in School Library Science), and the Springfield College of Education (Diploma in Teacher Education). 

His specialist fields are media and technology, the planning and development of multi-media centres, and curriculum development in education and training.

Pather has taught at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels and served as a director in education planning. At a national level, he made major contributions to policy development in open learning systems, the use of radio and TV in education and training, and the development of media resource centres, including museums in South Africa.

He gained valuable experience in writing as a stringer/photo journalist and columnist for local newspapers. In addition, he served as an editor of a teacher development journal for a decade. In the motion picture sector, Pather produced a documentary on the history of Indians for the National Film Library. Many of his photographs appear in this current publication.

His concurrent project is the finalisation of two children’s stories that are in the illustration stage.

As a keen photographer and artist, Pather has travelled extensively on scholarships and vacations. In serving the community, his work stands tall, having exemplary vision in guiding institutes to reach their maximum potential.

He served as chair of the Chatsworth Education Board and the Community Education Development Trust. In addition, he is an advisor to the UKZN University’s Gandhi-Luthuli Documentation Centre and an honorary director of the 1860 Heritage Centre in Durban.

In the field of heritage protection, advancement, and collection, he has made a major contribution as one of the founders of the Durban Cultural and Documentation Centre and the Tamil Information and Cultural Centre for the Natal Tamil Vedic Society Trust.

Pather was the co-chairman of the management committee responsible for establishing the Durban Cultural and Documentation Centre in 1992.

The Derby Street, Durban Cultural and Documentation Centre was sadly closed in 2007, with all the exhibits documenting the arrival of the Indian community moved to Museum Services in Pietermaritzburg. The building stood vacant since its doors closed in 1993. In 2014, Ntombikayise Sibhidla-Saphetha, the provincial MEC for Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation, announced that the centre would be handed back to the community to house artefacts and the history of indentured Indians in South Africa.

The Durban Cultural and Documentation Centre was renamed as the 1860 Heritage Centre, housing artefacts, musical instruments, traditional clothing, documents, books, and photographs, some dating back to the 1860s, when it was opened in 1996. The centre now holds the biggest archival collection on indenture in the country.

As the community-appointed chair of the steering committee for seeking the restitution of the Durban Cultural and Documentation Centre, Pather’s dogged and resilient perseverance almost singlehandedly saw the return of the Durban Cultural and Documentation Centre to its original site, to be renamed as the 1860 Heritage Centre, which was officially relaunched in 2017.

With Pather’s visionary leadership as a board director, the 1860 Heritage Centre has become a cultural and academic hub in leading our community towards a meaningful life.

In his retirement, Pather’s energy and commitment towards documenting the history of his people hold no limits. He has authored Clairwood, The Untold Story, a book that chronicles the history and heritage of Clairwood, a Durban suburb with a unique and vibrant past, particularly its development by indentured Indian labourers. The book highlights the community's resilience, self-reliance, and the spirit of camaraderie that developed despite hardships. It also explores the social cohesion and perseverance that led to the community's success in building various institutions and thriving in the face of adversity.

A few years ago, he published his last book titled Kala Pani: The Black Water, a comparative study of all the countries that Indian indentured labourers settled in, highlighting their contributions and challenges.

In celebrating a life well lived, may we always remember Dr Juggie Pather, knowing that "Aṟivukkum aṟikkavē vāzhukkuṃ vakkāvarku" - Knowledge is for understanding, life is for those who stand up for it.

Pather personifies the exemplar of standing up to serve our society. Happy 90th birthday, Dr Pather, Mikka Nandri, for enriching all our lives.

Selvan Naidoo is the Director of the 1860 Heritage Centre

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