Satyagraha in South Africa: Gandhi’s First Experiments with Non-Violent Resistance

In 1906, a young Indian lawyer named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi stood before 3,000 people in Johannesburg’s Empire Theatre and helped birth a movement that would change history. The occasion was a protest against a deeply humiliating law that required all Indians in South Africa to register with fingerprints like criminals. What emerged from that gathering was Satyagraha-a philosophy of non-violent resistance that would later inspire freedom movements across the globe, from India’s independence struggle to the American civil rights movement.

The Black Act: a law designed to humiliate 🔗

In August 1906, the British administration in the Transvaal passed the Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance, which came to be known as the “Black Act.” This legislation targeted Indian residents with deliberately degrading requirements. Every Indian man, woman, and child above eight years of age had to register with the Registrar of Asiatics, submit to physical examinations, and provide fingerprints. They were required to carry their registration certificates at all times and produce them on demand to any policeman.

Failure to comply meant fines, imprisonment, or deportation. Gandhi viewed this law as treating Indians like criminal offenders, stripping them of their dignity. The law was part of a broader pattern of discrimination-Indians were already subjected to pass laws, restricted to specific areas for residence and trade, forbidden from walking on pavements, and denied voting rights.

The Empire Theatre meeting and the birth of Satyagraha 🔗

Gandhi wasted no time organising resistance. On 11 September 1906, Indian businesses across Johannesburg closed their doors. That afternoon, thousands of Indians and Chinese gathered at the Empire Theatre. Under the chairmanship of Abdul Gani, the community made a historic decision-they would refuse to submit to the Black Act, regardless of consequences or government threats.

This collective vow came to be known as the Satyagraha Oath. Gandhi was dissatisfied with the English term “passive resistance” because the movement he envisioned was anything but passive. He turned to Sanskrit and created a new word: Satyagraha, combining satya (truth) and agraha (firmness or force). The concept meant holding firmly to truth through active, disciplined non-violent resistance. As Gandhi explained, Satyagraha was about convincing opponents through one’s own suffering rather than inflicting suffering upon them.

Strategies of resistance: boycott and imprisonment 🔗

When the registration offices opened on 1 July 1907, the Satyagrahis were ready. Resisters picketed outside the offices and persuaded passing Indians not to register. They organised support in temples, mosques, and churches across the community. The campaign proved remarkably effective-by the closing date for registration, only 511 Indians had registered out of a total population of over 13,000 in the Transvaal.

The government responded with arrests. On 10 January 1908, Gandhi appeared before a magistrate for refusing to register or leave the Transvaal. In a characteristic move, he asked the judge to give him the heaviest sentence possible. He was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment-the first of his four prison terms in South Africa. By the end of January, 155 Satyagrahis had joined him in jail.

The Gandhi-Smuts agreement and its betrayal 🔗

While Gandhi was in prison, a journalist named Albert Cartwright approached him with a compromise proposal from General Jan Christiaan Smuts, the Transvaal Colonial Secretary. The essence of the compromise was simple: Indians would register voluntarily, and in return, the government would repeal the compulsory registration act.

On 30 January 1908, Gandhi was taken from prison to meet Smuts in Pretoria. Gandhi agreed to the deal, explaining that trusting one’s opponent was essential to Satyagraha. He famously declared that even if an opponent played him false twenty times, a Satyagrahi must be ready to trust for the twenty-first time, as implicit trust in human nature was the very essence of his creed.

The compromise was controversial. Some members of the community felt betrayed. A Pathan named Mir Alam brutally assaulted Gandhi as he walked to the registration office on 10 February 1908. Despite his injuries, Gandhi refused to prosecute his attackers and even completed his registration from the home where he was recovering. His trust in Smuts, however, was about to be tested in the worst possible way.

Escalation: the burning of certificates 🔗

General Smuts did not keep his promise. Instead of repealing the Black Act, his government passed a new bill that validated the voluntary registrations while retaining the compulsory elements of the law. Gandhi accused Smuts of foul play and gave him an ultimatum: repeal the act by 16 August 1908, or the Indians would burn their registration certificates.

On that day, approximately 3,000 Indians gathered on the grounds of the Hamidia Mosque in Johannesburg. A three-legged pot stood ready in the corner. A telegram arrived from Smuts, stating that the government could not agree to their request. What followed became one of the most powerful acts of non-violent defiance in history-more than 2,000 registration certificates were thrown into the flames. The Satyagraha Campaign had entered a new, more intense phase.

Newspapers provided vivid descriptions of the bonfire. Even some of the Pathans who had previously attacked Gandhi joined in burning their certificates. The movement spread as resisters engaged in other forms of civil disobedience-trading without licences and crossing provincial borders without permits.

Mass participation: women, workers, and the great march 🔗

By 1913, the movement had transformed dramatically. A Supreme Court judgment in the Cape ruled that only Christian marriages would be recognised in South Africa, effectively declaring all Hindu and Muslim marriages invalid. This turned Indian wives into concubines overnight and sparked outrage among Indian women, who now demanded to join the struggle.

Women take the frontlines 🔗

Gandhi consulted with his associates about renewing the Satyagraha with two principal demands: recognition of Indian marriages and abolition of the £3 annual tax imposed on former indentured labourers. They agreed that women should be invited to join, as the honour of Indian womanhood was at stake.

Gandhi’s wife, Kasturba Gandhi, was among the first to volunteer despite her poor health. She declared that she would go to prison rather than be declared an unlawful wife. On 15 September 1913, the first batch of Satyagrahis-twelve men and four women-crossed from the Phoenix settlement into the Transvaal. They were arrested for entering without permits and sentenced to three months with hard labour.

In a remarkable display of solidarity, Gandhi and other men took over kitchen duties, preparing meals and cleaning floors, while the women prepared to march. The participation of women proved transformative-their visible leadership galvanised unprecedented support. When news of Kasturba’s imprisonment spread, thousands of workers who had never been politically active joined the movement.

The Newcastle miners’ strike 🔗

In October 1913, women Satyagrahis who had avoided arrest travelled to Newcastle in Natal to persuade coal miners to strike against the £3 tax. The response was extraordinary. Within two weeks, between 4,000 and 5,000 miners had stopped working. The strike spread to sugar plantations, railways, and municipalities. By November, approximately 20,000 Indian workers across Natal had joined-the largest strike in South African history at that time.

The great march of November 1913 🔗

Gandhi announced that he would lead a march of strikers from Newcastle to the Transvaal border. On 6 November 1913, a remarkable procession began-2,037 men, 127 women, and 57 children set out on a journey of over 30 kilometres per day. They were given basic provisions: one and a half pounds of bread and some sugar per person. Gandhi gave strict instructions: submit patiently to insults or arrest, behave hygienically, and never retaliate.

Gandhi was arrested three times during the march and ultimately sentenced to nine months with hard labour. But the movement continued without him. The marchers were eventually arrested at Balfour and transported back to Natal as prisoners. Miners were forced back into the militarised mines. The government used flogging and violence to suppress the movement.

But the resistance had achieved something unprecedented. Reports of police brutality and Gandhi’s imprisonment caused uproar in India. Lord Hardinge, the British Viceroy, publicly condemned the South African government. International pressure mounted, and General Smuts was forced to negotiate.

Victory and legacy 🔗

In early 1914, a commission ruled in favour of the Indians’ demands. The Indian Relief Act was passed, which abolished the £3 tax, recognised Hindu and Muslim marriages, repealed the Black Act, and eased immigration restrictions. It was not a complete victory-discriminatory laws would continue to plague Indian South Africans for decades-but it demonstrated that organised non-violent resistance could challenge and change unjust systems.

Gandhi left South Africa on 18 July 1914, never to return. He took with him a tested philosophy and proven methods that would become the foundation of India’s independence movement. The eight-year Satyagraha campaign had proved that ordinary people-merchants and miners, women and children-could stand against a powerful colonial government through discipline, sacrifice, and unwavering commitment to truth.

What do you think? Could Gandhi’s methods of non-violent resistance still be effective against systemic injustice today? How might the inclusion of women and working-class participants have shaped the success of the South African Satyagraha differently than if it had remained a movement of merchants alone?

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiatic_Registration_Act
2. https://sahistory.org.za/article/gandhi-and-passive-resistance-campaign-1907-1914
3. https://sahistory.org.za/archive/46-gandhi-smuts-compromise-explained
4. https://sahistory.org.za/article/gandhi-and-burning-passes
5. https://www.satyagrahafoundation.org/kasturba-gandhi-and-women-satyagrahi-in-south-africa/
6. https://scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0018-229X2019000200002
7. https://sahistory.org.za/article/1913-satyagraha-campaign-resumes
8. https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/indians-south-africa-wage-satyagraha-their-rights-1906-1914