Barney Desai: defender of non-racialism

Abstract

Rissik Haribhai 'Barney' Desai served in several leadership positions from the 1950s to the 1990s in political organisations opposed to the racial system of apartheid, until he retired from politics in 1997. Initially he was in the leadership of the Congress Movement, an anti-apartheid political coalition formed in the 1950s, and led by the ANC. After challenging the ANC position on non-African membership of the organisation, Desai took the unusual decision to defy the movement and shift his allegiance to the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). Desai was born on 10 April 1932 in Durban. His mother was classified as 'Malay', and his father, an accountant, was born in India. Desai visited India for a year with his father, and later spent two years studying for his matriculation examinations in London. He became joint secretary of the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress, together with Mosie Moolla, where they worked with Ahmed Kathrada and Paul Joseph. Spark, a youth publication, was founded in 1952 and briefly edited by Desai, leading to a banning order which meant he had to resign from 24 organisations. He moved to Cape Town in the late 1950s, changed his name to Shabaan Desai, and applied to be legally reclassified as coloured. He was 25 years old at the time, and, in terms of apartheid legislation 'had the dubious position of being an Indian in the Transvaal and a Malay in the Cape so he didn't have to carry a permit. He could filter across the provinces without being restricted' at a time when Indians were not allowed to move freely through the Transvaal and Orange Free State provinces.