Ronnie Govender

Ronnie Govender (16 May 1934 – 29 April 2021) was a Tamil South African playwright whose book, At the Edge and other Cato Manor Stories, won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for best first book, Africa.

Biography

Ronnie Govender was born on May 16, 1934 in Cato Manor, an Indian neighborhood of Durban. His father was also born in Cato Manor and his mother was born in Fynnlands, another part of Durban. His paternal and maternal grandparents came from South India. After completing their term of indenture, his grandparents chose to settle in Cato Manor. Like other Indian families in South Africa, they bought a small plot of land to develop a market garden. His maternal grandfather became a court interpreter. His father was a truck driver and his mother a housewife. Govender had ten brothers and sisters.

After finishing his primary and secondary education, Govender began studying at the University of Cape Town (UCT), and took on a job as a sportswriter for the New Age to pay his fees. In line with the paper's stance against apartheid, Govender encouraged the Indian community to boycott segregated sporting events. However, the newspaper was closed by the authorities one year after Govender joined. Unable to support himself in Cape Town, he returned home to Durban and enrolled in Springfield Training College to become a teacher.

After he became a teacher, Govender began his career as a writer. His first play Beyond Calvary (1962) received praise from critics. In 1964, he founded his own theatre company called the Shah Theatre Academy in opposition to the liberal theatre of the day. He went on to write other plays, including The Lahnee's Pleasure (1972), one of South Africa’s longest-running plays. Although Govender received invitations to tour The Lahnee's Pleasure abroad and in mainstream South African theatres, he refused as part of the cultural boycott of apartheid. His short story collection At the Edge and other Cato Manor Stories, won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for best first book, Africa. His 2007 book Black Chin White Chin was shortlisted for the 2007 Commonwealth Prize. Critics have described Govender's writing style as unadorned, and have said that his works evoke the identity of the Indian community with its vitality, humor, and resilience in a difficult environment. Ronnie Govender's works have been considered important in constructing the South African national identity.

The South African government awarded him the Order of Ikhamanga in 2008 "for [his] excellent contribution to democracy and justice in South Africa through the genre of theatre." In 2014, the Durban University of Technology also awarded Govender an honorary doctorate "for his contribution to literature and the arts in general as well as his contribution to democracy, peace and justice in South Africa through theatre".

His daughter, Pregs Govender, is a human rights activist and former South African member of parliament.

Govender died on 29 April 2021 from age-related illnesses. He was 85.

Works

• An edition of the collected plays of Ronnie Govender, University of Natal, 1991
• The Lahnee's pleasure. Ravan Press. 1992. ISBN 978-0-86975-087-2.
• At the edge and other Cato Manor stories, Manx, 1996
• Song of the Atman, Jacana Media, 2006, ISBN 978-17-7009-186-3
• Interplay: a collection of South African plays, MANX, 2006, ISBN 978-1-919690-97-1
• Black Chin White Chin, HarperCollins, 2007, ISBN 978-81-7223-690-8
• In the Manure: memories and reflections, David Philip, 2008, ISBN 978-0-86486-720-9

External links

• 2002 interview
• Excerpt from "Brothers of the Spirit" (1996)