Mahatma Gandhi
Exploring Joburg with Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi significantly influenced Johannesburg as a center of his early activism. Arriving in South Africa in 1893, he experienced racial discrimination firsthand, which inspired him to develop his philosophy of nonviolent resistance, or Satyagraha. Through organizing the Indian community and leading campaigns against unjust laws, Gandhi laid the groundwork for civil rights movements, not only in South Africa but later across the world, making Johannesburg a key starting point in his journey toward justice and equality.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)
When Mahatma Gandhi was a child in the town of Porbandar, India, where he was born in 1869, he and a friend stole money from a servant to buy cigarettes. Feeling guilty, he told his father and never smoked again.
Gandhi, founder of non-violent resistance and father of India's struggle for independence, arrived in South Africa in 1893 to handle a legal case in Pretoria. He moved to Johannesburg in 1903 and, in between return visits to India, stayed in the country for 21 years before returning home.
The early period of his stay was spent establishing his legal firm, but from 1906 he became actively involved in politics, helping to formulate his ideas on passive resistance. Gandhi first lived behind his law offices in Rissik Street, then moved to Henry Pollak’s house in Orange Grove. Later, he lived with his family at 11 Albermarle Street, while a nearby house, 19 Albermarle Street, was mistakenly believed to be his.
During the Anglo-Boer War, Gandhi, a loyal British subject, encouraged local Indians to help the British effort, organizing 1,000 stretcher bearers, some of whom are memorialized at Observatory Ridge and in Braamfontein Cemetery.
In 1904, bubonic plague struck Johannesburg’s Indian settlement behind what is now the Market Theatre. Gandhi, with an Indian doctor and volunteers, set up an emergency hospital and nursed the sick. About 112 people contracted the disease, and 82 died. The council later torched the area to combat the plague, renaming it Newtown.
Several experiences in South Africa shaped Gandhi’s philosophy of passive resistance, including being thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg and being refused service at hotels. A pivotal moment was the Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance of 1906, which required Indians and Chinese to register with fingerprints and carry passes. Gandhi organized peaceful protests, speaking at the Empire Theatre and leading marches through Johannesburg. Many were arrested and imprisoned at The Fort, which he became familiar with over the years.
Tragic events included the suicide of Chow Kwai For, a young Chinese man who registered under the new law. Gandhi faced criticism from his own community after negotiating with Jan Smuts to allow voluntary registration, and was beaten by protesters, later cared for by Reverend Joseph Doke and his wife.
Gandhi also promoted vegetarianism at the Alexandra Tea Room, supported the community in burning passes at the Hamidia Mosque, and later negotiated to repeal oppressive registration laws.
A friend, Hermann Kallenbach, gave Gandhi land southwest of Johannesburg, creating Tolstoy Farm, a communal settlement for passive resisters. At its height, the farm housed about fifty adults and thirty children, growing vegetables and fruit trees. Gandhi left the farm in 1913, and today only the foundations and scattered trees remain.
Gandhi also played a key role in building the first Hindu crematorium in Africa, established in Brixton Cemetery. Though a Hindu, he respected all religions and believed in the personal nature of spirituality.
Gandhi left South Africa in 1914 to further develop his ideology in India, leaving behind a philosophy of passive resistance that influenced the African National Congress until the 1960s.
He is commemorated in Johannesburg through Gandhi Square, named in 1999 on the site of the city’s first courthouse. The square serves as a bus terminus today and stands as a reminder of Gandhi’s enduring influence on the city.