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5 NRIs among top 100 newsmakers in SA
Judge Siraj Desai, who was accused of rape during WSF, is among five NRIs named in 100 newsmakers of 2004.
Judge Siraj Desai, who joked about being held in an Indian jail after being accused of rape, is one of the five South African Indians named in a Top 100 newsmakers list of 2004.
The other Indians in the list compiled by The Star daily are veteran activists Amina Cachalia and Frene Ginwala; housewife Farida Gabru; and choreographer Jay Pather.
Desai maintained his humour and said "even Indira Gandhi slept on cold jail floors" after he was arrested in Mumbai in January on rape charges brought by colleague Salome Isaacs at a conference they were attending there.
The high profile case made major headlines in India and here, but Desai was later acquitted after Isaacs dropped the charges.
Gabru was hailed as "a wife in a million" after the 49-year-old housewife shed 38 kg in record time to save her husband's life.
Her husband needed a kidney to save him from dying of renal failure. Her kidney was found to be compatible, but could only be removed if she lost weight.
In 1956, Amina Cachalia led a march of 20,000 women on the Union Buildings in Pretoria, seat of the then minority white government, to protest laws that required only the majority Black community to carry identification passes at all time. Cachalia is still active in community activities today.
Frene Ginwala has faded from the political scene after gaining international recognition as the high profile, no-nonsense speaker of parliament in South Africa. She wanted to continue for a further five-year term in the position after elections earlier this year, but the African National Congress wanted her to take a seat as an ordinary MP.
Pather won a major local award for innovative combinations of dance, video, art and photography in performances here and in Durban, Cape Town and New York.
