Marimuthu Pragalathan Naicker
{{Short description|South African journalist and activist}}
{{Infobox person
| birth_date = 28 July 1920
| birth_place = Durban, Natal, South Africa
| death_date = 29 April 1977 (aged 56)
| burial_place = Golders Green Crematorium, London, England
| occupation = journalist, anti-apartheid activist and trade unionist
| years_active = 1944-1977
| employer = New Age, The Guardian, Flash, Sechaba
| organization = Natal Sugar Workers' Union, Anti-Segregation Council, South African Communist Party, South African Indian Congress, African National Congress, International Organization of Journalists
| children = 2
| relatives = Monty Naicker (cousin)
}}
Marimuthu Pragalathan "M. P." Naicker (c. 28 July 1920 – 29 April 1977) was a South African journalist, anti-apartheid activist and trade unionist. He was a member of the South African Communist Party, South African Indian Congress and African National Congress.
Early life
Naicker was born in 1920 in Durban, South Africa.{{Cite book |last=Verwey |first=E. J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rl8nkyID3WsC&q=Naicker%2C+Marimuthu+Pragalathan |title=New Dictionary of South African Biography |date=1995 |publisher=HSRC Press |isbn=978-0-7969-1648-8 |pages=198–199 |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Indian South Africans timeline 1920-1929 |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/indian-south-africans-timeline-1920-1929 |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=South African History Online}} He was born into a working class family of Indian descent, and had to leave primary school to work in a factory. In 1943, he married a woman named Sarogoonam, also known as Saro.{{Cite news |last=Pillay |first=Thumba |date=17 June 2015 |title=Unsung struggle icon |url=https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/post-south-africa/20150617/282724815562382 |url-status= |archive-date= |access-date=12 February 2025 |work=Post South Africa |via=PressReader}}{{Cite news |last=Rajab |first=Devi |date=10 October 2018 |title=Saro Naicker: a life well lived |url=https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/post-south-africa/20181010/282020443248309 |access-date=12 February 2025 |work=Post South Africa |via=PressReader}}
Career and activism
Naicker began working as a lorry driver then was employed as a full time union organiser in Natal, organising among sugar plantation workers. He rose to become secretary of the Natal Sugar Workers' Union. He joined the South African Communist Party (SACP) at age 18, after reading the writings of Karl Marx.{{Cite news |last=Piillay |first=Thumba |date=July 2020 |title=MP NAICKER: 100 years |url=https://gldc.ukzn.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/MP-Naicker-Mercury-July-30-page-4-1-Part-1.pdf |work=Mercury |via=The Gandhi-Luthuli Documentation Centre (GLDC), University of KwaZulu-Natal}}
In 1944, Naicker joined the Anti-Segregation Council, which was founded to pursue mass mobilisation against Indian segregation. His cousin Monty Naicker was the founding chairperson.{{Cite journal |last=Vahed |first=Goolam |date=2009 |title=Monty ... meets Gandhi ... meets Mandela: The Dilemma of non-violent resisters in South Africa, 1940-1960 |url=https://scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0018-229X2009000100004&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en |journal=Historia |language=en |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=34–50 |issn=0018-229X}} Naicker was involved in the organisation of the 1946 passive resistance campaign with Debi Singh,{{Cite web |title=Naicker, Marimuthu Pragalathan (M.P.) |url=https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/site/q/03lv03445/04lv03519/05lv03625.htm |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=The O'Malley Archives, Nelson Mandela Foundation}} and edited the Passive Resistance Bulletin (Flash). He was imprisoned twice during the campaign for month long terms. His wife Saro also participated in the campaign and was imprisoned for a month with hard labour.
In 1952, Naicker was appointed as Volunteer-in-Chief and as joint secretary, alongside Massabalala Yengwa, of the Joint Action Council in Natal for the Defiance Campaign of the South African Indian Congress (SAIC). He served a month imprisonment with hard labour for having participated in the Campaign. Whilst in prison, he met and befriended Albert Luthuli. Around this time, he worked for the leftist newspaper New Age, based in Johannesburg, alongside other employees such as Joe Nzingo Gqabi.{{Cite web |title=Joe Nzingo Gqabi |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/joe-nzingo-gqabi |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=South African History Online}} It ceased publication in 1963.
In 1956, he was appointed editor of the anti-apartheid newspaper The Guardian.{{Cite book |last=Zug |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ui5lAAAAMAAJ&q=Naicker,+Marimuthu+Pragalathan |title=The Guardian: The History of South Africa's Extraordinary Anti-apartheid Newspaper |date=2007 |publisher=Michigan State University Press |isbn=978-1-86888-480-3 |pages=155 |language=en}} He is credited with reorganising the papers Durban based bureau and establishing the paper as a key publication in resistance politics in Natal.{{Cite book |last=Switzer |first=Les |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a5ROAAAAIAAJ&dq=Naicker%2C+Marimuthu+Pragalathan&pg=PA392 |title=South Africa's Alternative Press: Voices of Protest and Resistance, 1880-1960 |date=1997-02-13 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-55351-3 |pages=279 |language=en}}
He was charged alongside 155 other activists at the 1956 Treason Trials. His charge was withdrawn in 1958, but he was imprisoned again for four months in 1960, for 90 days in 1963 and 180 days in 1964.
Exile
In 1965, he left South Africa and was active in political work and the anti-apartheid movement in exile. During his exile, he became the Director of Publicity of the African National Congress (ANC) External Mission in London,{{Cite web |date=16 March 2011 |title=Journalist and anti-apartheid activist M.P. Naicker dies |url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/journalist-and-anti-apartheid-activist-mp-naicker-dies |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=South African History Online}} using the pseudonym Mandla Nkosi.
He was also a journalist for the ANC journal Sechaba, serving as the first editor from 1967. His wife Saro and daughter Suganya joined Naicker in exile,{{Cite news |last=Pillay |first=Thumba |date=August 2020 |title='MP' paid the price for freedom |url=https://gldc.ukzn.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/MP-Naicker-part_2.pdf |work=Mercury |via=The Gandhi-Luthuli Documentation Centre (GLDC), University of KwaZulu-Natal}} and Saro also worked for Sechaba.
Naicker became a member of the International Organisation of Journalists (IOJ) committee. In 1971, was awarded their gold pin and in 1976 he was awarded the Julius Fucik medal for outstanding services to journalism.
Naicker also travelled abroad to several African nations, the Soviet Union and Chechoslovakia to represent the ANC.
Death
Naicker died in 1977 from a suspected heart failure during a flight from England to Germany. He was travelling to deliver ANC publicity material for printing.
He was buried at the Golders Green Crematorium in London. At his funeral there were tributes from from the Acting President of the ANC, Oliver Tambo; the Chairman of the SACP, Yusuf Dadoo; and activist Brian Bunting. The ANC choir sang Nkosi Sikelel'i Afrika.
References
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Category:South African people of Indian descent
Category:Indian diaspora in South Africa
Category:South African anti-apartheid activists
Category:South African communists
Category:South African journalists
Category:South African Marxist writers
Category:South African trade union leaders
Category:Members of the South African Communist Party
Category:People convicted of treason against South Africa
Category:Prisoners and detainees of South Africa