The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

These images of the Business Day reader were likened to a construction of the great and
noble life of achievement matched by humility and grace, as represented by Gandhi. A
path of legendary achievement and victory over colonial adversity had been set in motion,
according to the advert, by the incident in 1897 in which Gandhi was thrown out of his
train compartment at Pietermaritzburg station. The significance of this experience for the
construction of Gandhi’s life in the advert was clear:
The policeman who threw Gandhi onto that platform could never
have imagined what he had started ‐ a protest that wouldn’t keep
quiet for 55 years. And cost the British Empire the jewel in its
crown. 88
In this conventional biographical narrative, the train incident was the significant turning
point moment or epiphany, which gave rise to Gandhi’s life of resistance and signalled
“the beginning of a legend”. It set off Gandhi’s policy of Satyagraha, which saw him spend
22 years in South Africa “championing human rights in a foreign country”, and which
resulted in the British quitting India in 1947 after 163 years. “But what”, asked the advert
of its potential readers and subscribers, “can a little brown man in a loin‐cloth teach you
about success?” And it suggested that it was “the courage to lead” that enabled “one man
to stand up to a giant”. A teleological narrative of causation in constructing the life of a
legendary man who rises to greatness and who overcomes oppression was inscribed as a
model of an exemplary life. In rising to “take a stand” by subscribing to Business Day,
readers could set themselves on the path of leadership, courage and greatness comparable
to Gandhi. 89
Gandhi’s South African years was also one of the chosen subjects when the South African
oil company, Sasol, also went the biographic heritage route for its advertising in 2000. The
emergence of Satyagraha had coincided with a realisation “that mere words [were] not
enough if you wish[ed] to effect real change”. Gandhi, the advert proclaimed, had gone on
88 ‘It’s Harder To Take A Stand’.
89 ‘It’s Harder To Take A Stand’. Shaka’s leadership was also utilised in Business Day’s 1997 biographic
campaign. Readers were challenged to think about how “an impossible dream” was “often the most
possible”, to “set the standard high above the average”, to appreciate that “respect demands sacrifice”,
to identify “the warrior” in them and to nurture in themselves “the courage to lead”. See ‘Without
Challenge there is no Change’ (Business Day Advertisement), Sunday Times, 7 September 1997.
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