Manikum Nadarajan Pather

Manikum Nadarajan Pather was the son of Mr Manikum and Avaramani Pather. He was the grandson of Singarvelu and Meenachee Pather. Brother of M.M.Pather ( Madhavan ), Moganambal ( Morgie ) and Savathrie. Manikum Nadarajan Pather was posthumously awarded the Steve Tswete Sports Award at the SABC in the later part of 2006. ' MN ' as family, friends and colleagues affectionately knew him, was finally recognised 21 years after his death for the enormous contribution he made to South African Sport. I suppose better late than never but it does call into question the process and people who manage sports in post aparthied Sout Africa.There are very few people who worked within the sports arena in those trying times who made as much an impact as he did. M.N.Pather worked tirelessly for various sporting bodies, ranging from tennis to football, and body building and led South African Council of Sports ( SACOS ) as secretary general for a number of years. " No normal sport in an abnormal society " coined by a another stalwart, Hassen Howa, was the ideology behind his unwavering determination to ensure that the International world isolated South Africa as a pariah state. It was a fight that was to isolate both him and his family, making them a target for Special Branch surveillance and harrassment. As a sports administrator, his offices in Victoria Heights Building, were the working centre of the sports boycott in South Africa. He ran a real estate and accounting firm but the majority of his time and money was spent managing and galvanising action that was to result in South Afric's sporting isolation. As a young man he was a talented tennis player and belonged to various sporting codes including the SA Soccer Federation, SA Lawn tennis union, SA amateur Weightlifting and Body Building Federation, to name just a few. His end of the year reports on sport were read almost all over the world by both political as well as sporting authorities and provided a rare and truthful insight. Working in partnership with others in exile ( including San Ramsamy, Kader Asmal and Dennis Brutus ), MN was the first South African to address the United Nations in a passionate plea that resulted in South Africa being denied entry at every level to the international sporting arena. You can imagine the backlash when he returned home, denied a passport, his home in Highway Place, Mobeni Heights, was sprayed in the middle of the night. Luckily only his grand daughter Yoshini sustained injury to her ankle as the two-year-old's cot was hit by a wall of bullets. His son Kooselan was denied a passport to study overseas at a veterinary college, the phones were bugged and apartheid agents made life very difficult for him and his family.

A driven man at every level, he was also the senior figure in the Pather clan and the one who was the problem solver, facilitor, the cement that bound the family together. Apart from belonging to over twenty sports and civic organisations, MN was a stalwart of the Natal Tamil Vedic Society. Some people found his rather formal mannersims, precise speech and impeccable appearance more than a little intimidating. His devoted wife Bakium, played the role of both parents since he often too busy to be the father his children needed, since the path that he had chosen occupied the major part of his day.She would sit up waiting for him to return, always afraid for his safety. A complete contrast to her outspoken husband, she was a soft, extremely private women whose quite strength kept the family together through those trying times. Children need their father and like many children in our country, they were robbed of normal childwood because their fathers were revolutionaries, devoting their lives and time to the struggle. Despite that, he was greatly admired by all children and grand children.

I often wonder what he would make of South Africa today?. He was a great patriot and I have no doubt that his integrity and skills would have been highly prized, especially within the volatile world of sport.

Born in 1923 in Durban, he was educated at the prestigious Sastri College. M.N.Pather was only five years when his father died. He and his three sibling were under their uncle's wing. At the age of 27 and shortly after his marriage to Baikum, his uncle died. M.N.Pather was left with 17 dependants including his uncle's family to support on a weekly salary of five pounds.He remained committed to his sports involvement, as he explained " My fight stops the day there is non-racial sport,I'll take my cap off and hang it on the wall because after that it becomes a political fight and I think I have served my time".

Manikum Nadarajan Pather died on 18th November 1985 and was laid to rest at the Clairwood Cemetary.

submitted by Mr Krishnan Coopoosamy Pather 23rd June 2009 .   

 MN Pather 

Added by GovinPather on 30 Sep 2008

Manickum Nadarajan Pather

By Neville Grimmet

When Manickum Nadarajan Pather – better known as MN Pather - decided to take up tennis in 1945, little did he realise that his decision would put him on the road to becoming one of South Africa’s leading campaigners for non-racial sport.

Pather became one of the country’s most prominent sports administrators whose views were sought after internationally. His crusade for South Africa’s expulsion from international sport until apartheid was scrapped led to his family’s victimization by the apartheid government. He was prevented from travelling overseas because of the government’s refusal to grant him a passport. Despite this MN Pather stood firm in his belief that there could be “no normal sport in an abnormal society”.

M.N. Pather played little sport in school but his yen for tennis led him to become the prime mover in the consolidation of black tennis. In 1945, Pather became the record clerk for the Clairwood Lawn Tennis Club, and as he scaled the ladder his commitment to the principle of non-racial sport grew. In 1958 the first non-racial tennis body, the Southern African Lawn Tennis Union was formed, and Pather devoted his time, energy and money to furthering non-racialism in sport.

He was elected General Secretary of the non-racial South African Council on Sport (SACOS) and the secretary of the Tennis Association of Southern Africa.

Although some criticised his actions and his beliefs, there was no doubt about M.N. Pather’s dedication to the non-racial cause, and his sincerity.

Born in 1923 in Durban he was educated at the prestigious SASTRI College, Pather was only five years old when his father died. He and his three siblings were taken under their uncle’s wing.

At the age 27 and shortly after his marriage to Bakium, his uncle died. Pather was left with 17 dependants including his uncle’s family to support on a weekly salary of five pounds.

In 1952 he started his own estate agency but even as he struggled with his new business, MN Pather remained committed to his sports involvement. As he explained: “My fight stops the day there is non-racial sport, I’ll take my cap off and hang it on the wall because after that it becomes a political fight and I think I will have served my time.”

Despite his sporting commitments, M.N. Pather never neglected his fatherly duties. The father to four children, one daughter and three sons, was strict but loving towards his family.