He sailed for South Africa in April, 1893. During the voyage, he and the captain of the ship became good friends. After a pleasant voyage, he reached Durban towards the end of May. He was received at the port by his client Abdulla Sheth.
After two or three days at Durban, he was introduced to local lawyers and he attended the court, with a turban. Then the Magistrate ordered him to take it off. He refused to do so. He simply walked off with his eyes sparkling with anger and gave publicity to the incident in the press.
A few days after this incident, he had to go to Pretoria by rail to attend to a client's case. He bought a first class ticket and boarded the train to Pretoria. At Maritzburg, a wayside station, a white man entered his compartment, and noticing the brown man, withdrew only to reappear with two railway officials, who asked Gandhi to transfer himself to a third class compartment. Gandhi protested saying he had a first class ticket with him. But the railway officials were adamant and Gandhi was told to go to the van if he wanted to travel further.
"I insist on going in this compartment, that is my right. I refuse to get out voluntarily." He replied. Thereupon a constable appeared, took him by the hand and pushed him out of the compartment together with his luggage. The train steamed off leaving Gandhi on the platform.
He sat disconsolately in the waiting room with his hand bag. The other luggage was with the railway authorities. The night was bitterly cold. He had no warm clothes with him and his overcoat was in his luggage. He just sat there in the dark waiting room all alone smarting under the insult and shivering with cold.
The iron had entered his soul! In that dark and cold waiting room a conflict arose in his mind:
"Should I fight for my right or return to India, or should I go to Pretoria without minding the insult and return to India after finishing the case? It would be cowardice to run back to India, when my countrymen suffered from colour prejudice."
By morning, he decided to stay on and suffer the hardships and he took a passenger coach to Charlestown. From Charlestown he had to take a stage coach to Johannesburg.
Ordinarily he was to be accommodated inside the coach itself, but being a condemned man, he was asked by the guard to sit outside, next to the coachman.
To Gandhi this was plain injustice. However, he sat outside to avoid further trouble.
After the coach had traveled a few hours, the guard wanted to have Gandhi's seat outside to enjoy fresh air. Instead of offering him a seat inside, he ushered Gandhi to a seat on the dusty foot-board.
"I need your seat now, for I have got to smoke out here."
This was too much. Gandhi refused. He asked for his rightful seat inside the coach. The guard thought this sheer impertinence and struck Gandhi. Some European passengers intervened, and made the man stop beating Gandhi but Gandhi did not budge an inch from his seat!
For the first time in his life he had suffered a physical assault.
Speaking of his experience at the Maritzburg station and the stage coach journey, Gandhi later said God had put him to test in that journey and that the slaps and blows he received burnt his soul. "Yes, that was the richest experience of my life and I lived through it because of the living faith in God", he said.
This incident was the turning point in his selfless public career of service and sacrifice.
Indians in Natal had to carry a pass for walking in the streets after 9.00 p.m. and had to pay a three pound fee for the right to reside in slums. They were not allowed to use footpaths or pavements.
Hurt and angry, Gandhi left with a resolve.
On the way he purchased a pair of scissors and cut his hair himself before a mirror in his home. Satisfied, he dressed up, and left for the court. When he entered the court, it shook with laughter.
"What is wrong with your hair? Have rats eaten it?" a lawyer friend asked Gandhi.
"No. The white barber would not touch my black hair and so I preferred to cut it myself, however badly" was his calm reply.
On yet another occasion, when he went to a hotel, he was refused admission to sit with other men in the dining room, because he was a black man.
These experiences did not tire out his patience. On the other hand, they made him stronger morally. He became determined to fight for the liberties of the Indians in South Africa.
Thereafter, he lost no time in making friendship with leading Indians in South Africa. He discussed with them what was to be done. He convinced them that it was disgraceful to sit idle when thousands of Indians were treated like slaves. He wanted all communities – Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians – to unite in the struggle to begin. The Gandhi who was shy became brave and fearless.
There were many unjust laws at that time and they made the daily life of the Indians very difficult. Gandhi saw before him enough work to do. He became the leader of the people and took intense interest in public affairs.
In order to bring the South African Indians permanently together, he founded a political party known as the Natal Indian Congress. The object of the party was to make the life of all Indians better. He wanted them all to be peaceful and non-violent under all situations. He also collected money for the party and contributed the whole of his income to it. "Thus God laid the foundation of my life in South Africa, sowed the seed of the fight for national self respect."
One day, a rich man invited him and his party of workers for dinner. The party felt that if this man subscribed a big sum to the fund, all others also would pay good sums. When they sat at the table, it was learnt however that the rich man intended to subscribe only three pounds instead of six. He tried to persuade the rich man to subscribe a tidy sum of six pounds but the host would not change his mind. The rich man was just obstinate and was offering rich fare at the dinner table unmindful of Gandhi's insistence. Gandhi and his friends therefore politely refused to eat until the rich man agreed to pay six pounds.
All night they sat with folded hands. Day dawned. The passive resistance won its reward. The rich man at last yielded! Then, they all ate their fill. This incident made the people feel that Gandhi was an extraordinary man though he looked simple.
During his stay in South Africa he was not only a successful lawyer but also an outstanding political figure. He championed the cause of the indentured labourers. He addressed conferences, drafted memorials to Government ministers, wrote letters to newspapers and made many friends among the whites, Indians and negroes. He had published two pamphlets in Natal: "An appeal to Every Briton in South Africa" and "The Indian Franchise – An Appeal."
An Appeal! – Appealing to the common sense and the morality of his adversary was the essence of Gandhi's way of work. He wondered how men could tolerate the humiliation of their fellow beings. Gandhi wished to establish the principle that Indians were citizens of the British Empire, and were, therefore, entitled to equality under its law in South Africa.
Having stayed for three years in South Africa, he felt like returning home to join his family. He had done so much in South Africa that he had endeared himself to the people. He had proved himself an effective leader and an excellent organiser. His co-workers felt that the struggle without him would collapse. They did not wish him to leave them and they entreated him to return to South Africa to continue his political and social work. He agreed and left for India in the middle of 1896. As soon as he returned to India (Rajkot) he wrote a pamphlet – called The Green Pamphlet – explaining how the Indians were treated in South Africa and how miserably they lived for he wanted the whole world to know about it. No matter how badly he and his co-workers were treated, he deliberately avoided harsh and angry words in his pamphlet. He simply told the absolute truth in clear, simple and dignified language and drew a subdued picture of the living conditions of Indians in South Africa.
Ten thousand copies of the pamphlet were printed and sent to all newspapers and prominent Indians. Being eager to cut down expenses, he enrolled help of children for writing addresses, binding the wrappers and pasting stamps, when there was no school. He rewarded them by giving them used postage stamps and his blessings. The children were delighted and two of them became Gandhi's close disciples.
From Rajkot he came to Bombay and arranged a public meeting at which he spoke on the subject of Indians in South Africa. The meeting was a tremendous success. Gandhi had written the speech but he could not make himself heard in the big hall. Therefore someone on the dais read it for him. Thereafter he went to Poona where he met the great patriot, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, President of the Servants of India Society, and also Lokamanya Tilak, a giant in politics.
When he was actively engaged in rousing public opinion in India, he received an urgent cable from Natal to return to help with the emigrant situation. With his wife, two sons and a nephew, he sailed by "S.S. Courland" along with hundreds of Indians and reached Durban on 18th December, 1897.
The contents of the Green Pamphlet had been reported with exaggeration in the South African press; therefore, when South Africans learnt that Gandhi was arriving they resented it deeply and the prejudiced local people managed to stop the passengers from disembarking and they were therefore held up in the steamer for 23 days in quarantine before being allowed to land.
Gandhi was advised to land at dusk to avoid trouble. He did not, however, wish to enter the city by stealth. Gandhi's wife and children were therefore sent to the house of his friend, Rustomjee. Gandhi, together with Laughton, who was the legal adviser of his client, got down and walked. As Gandhi was the only Indian who wore a turban, an Indian head dress, the crowd at once recognised him and began to shout "Gandhi, Gandhi, Thrash him" and threw stones at him. In the melee, Laughton and Gandhi were soon separated. One burly fellow from the crowd came close and struck Gandhi, tore off his turban and kicked him. Gandhi was about to fall unconscious but he held on to the railing of a nearby house. When he recovered, he started walking again. The wife of the Superintendent of Police of Durban, who was then coming from the opposite direction, saw Gandhi's pitiful condition and protected him from further trouble by holding her umbrella over Gandhi and led him on to Rustomji's house. The police station was on the way but he declined to accept the offer of an asylum at the hands of the police.
In the meanwhile, the crowd was busy finding out the whereabouts of Gandhi; when they learnt that he was at Rustomji's house, they surrounded the house and shouted "We want Gandhi! We want Gandhi!"
The Police Superintendent sensed the danger in the situation, and stood at the gate of the house, and tried to pacify the crowd but he was not able to do so. So, he advised Gandhi, by letter, to disguise himself as a constable, come out of the house and proceed to the police station under the protection of two detectives. A carriage was waiting, he said, to take him away; otherwise, his life was in danger, he wrote.
Gandhi, realising the situation, disguised himself as a police constable and reached the police station. The crowd was still shouting and asked Gandhi to come out. They cried in chorus "We want Gandhi. We want Gandhi."
"What harm has he done to you?"
"He has vilified us in India and he wants to flood Natal with Indians."
"What if he does not come out?"
"We will then burn his house."
As soon as the Police Superintendent was informed that Gandhi had reached the police station, he told the mob that Gandhi was not in the house and that if they wanted, any two from among them could go into the house and verify that he was not there. "If you succeed in finding out Gandhi, I will gladly deliver him to you." Meanwhile he kept the crowd amused by singing the tune: "Hang old Gandhi On the sour apple tree."
Two men searched the house and came out disappointed. The crowd then dispersed fretting and fuming at Gandhi's escape. When he was asked to name the assailants to enable Government to prosecute them, he said "I do not want to prosecute any of them. I do not hold the assailants to blame. They were given exaggerated news. I am sure when the truth becomes known, they will be sorry for their conduct."
Amidst such humiliation and insults, Gandhi fought for the rights of Indians in South Africa but did not hate the individual whites who had hurt him. In the Boer War in 1899-1902 – a war between the Dutch Settlers and the British – Gandhi's sympathies were with the British. He volunteered his services for the British. He organized an Indian voluntary corps of stretcher bearers and medical orderlies at the front and for menial work in the hospitals. An Indian Ambulance Corps was formed and Gandhi led it. He was dressed in Khaki uniform with a broad brimmed cowboy hat. He led his men to the front line. For days they worked under the fire of enemy guns and carried injured soldiers back to the base hospital.
Gandhi thought that the courage of the Indians in the war would appeal to the fair sense of the South Africans and moderate the enmity among them. But, nothing of that kind happened.
He thereafter thought of his native home and his wife and children and sailed off at the end of 1901 to settle in Bombay as a lawyer.
But he was soon called back to South Africa in 1902 in connection with the promulgation of the Asiatic Regulation Act. Under this act – which was called the Black Act – Indians were required to register their names compulsorily. Gandhi protested. So did other Indians. But no attention was paid. The Indians were asked to register or leave the Transvaal. Those who failed to do so, were arrested and brought before a magistrate. Gandhi was one of those arrested.
Years before he had attended that very court as a lawyer and now he was in the dock as a prisoner. What an irony! When questioned whether he was guilty or not, he told the judge he would invite the heaviest sentence as he was the leader of the people and had deliberately violated the existing law. He was then convicted and imprisoned for two months. While he was in jail, Gen. Smuts was considering modification of the law and promised to repeal the Act, as soon as possible, if people would voluntarily register.
Now, instead of compulsory registration there was to be voluntary registration! "That showed a change of heart", Gandhi said. Gandhi therefore agreed. He and his men were released from prison. But the people were not satisfied. They wanted the repeal of the Act itself and would not therefore agree to voluntary registration.
The people got enraged at Gandhi's change of heart. One Muslim charged Gandhi with having betrayed the community and threatened to kill him; but Gandhi said he would be the first person to give the finger print in spite of the threat thrown against him. "To die by the hand of a brother rather than by disease or in some other way, cannot be for me a matter of sorrow!" he said. Little did he dream that he would die by bullet wounds at the hands of a Hindu brother in Delhi forty years later!
Soon after this tussle, Gandhi was the first to offer himself for voluntary registration. One day when he was going to the Registration Bureau his friend and client, one Mir Alam, a Pathan stepped from behind and asked:
"Where are you going?"
"I propose to take out a certificate of Registration."
Before he could finish, a heavy blow fell on his head. He at once fainted with the words "Hey Ram" (Oh, God) on his lips.
Other blows then fell on his head. When he regained consciousness one Rev. Joseph B. Doke was bending over him. He attended on him like a mother and feelingly enquired of him.
"How do you feel?"
"I am all right, but I have pain in the jaw and ribs. Where is Mir Alam?"
"He has been arrested with the other Pathans."
"They should be released" Gandhi murmured, "they thought they were doing right and I have no desire to prosecute them."
Gandhi went to Rev. Doke's home where he stayed for ten days and got his lips stitched. When he was better, he sent for the Registrar for Asiatics and gave his finger prints required for voluntary registration.
Gandhi soon had another opportunity for political work. Indians were prevented from entering Transvaal. This was pure racial injustice, he felt. He protested and courted arrest and was taken to Volkrust Prison as a prisoner.