A page on Ela Gandhi has been created on the Ulwazi Community Memory. This includes a biography, an interview from the Memories of Inanda web documentary and a gallery of images.
Ela Gandhi was born in Durban as the youngest daughter of Manilal and Sushila Gandhi.
Her father, who was Gandhi’s second son, returned from India to South Africa in 1917 to assist in the running of Phoenix Settlement and of the newspaper, The Indian Opinion. By 1920 he had become the editor of the paper and would eventually become its longest serving editor. He married Sushila in 1927 and a year later their first daughter Sita was born, twelve years later in 1940 Ela was born. As the Gandhi children grew up on the settlement they became strongly influenced by the father Manilal, who had become an important focus of resistance in the local community. Continue reading …