INLSA
Paul David, the brother of Phyllis Naidoo, listens to tributes being read out to his sister at her memorial service in Durban yesterday. Naidoo died last week. Picture: Sandile Makhoba
Bernadette Wolhuter
Phyllis Naidoo’s brother, Paul David, smiled and sang along to a rendition of Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World at a memorial service held for the anti-apartheid activist yesterday.
Green, gold and black, the ANC colours, adorned the Durban City Hall, where hundreds of mourners gathered for the event.
The 85-year-old activist died of heart failure at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital on Thursday last week.
The mayor of eThekwini, James Nxumalo, KwaZulu-Natal’s MEC for Health, Sibongiseni Dhlomo, and eThekwini Speaker Logie Naidoo were among the dignitaries who attended.
“We are not here today to mourn her death, but to celebrate her life,” fellow Struggle stalwart Swami Gounden said, while delivering a tribute to Naidoo.
Gounden called her a “committed wife, mother, activist and freedom fighter”.
He said Naidoo “threw herself, body and soul”, into the anti-apartheid movement.
Tracy Robertson, the manager of the restaurant Badgers in Glenwood, where Naidoo was a regular, shared messages from staff.
“Phyllis, you have left a huge void,” said one staff member. “I still wait at the gate at 8am hoping you will walk up the stairs.”
Naidoo’s sons, Sadhan and Sha, are both dead.
Her daughter, Sukhti, was unable to attend yesterday’s event.
Naidoo was cremated in a private ceremony.
