Rylands is a sub-area in Athlone, a suburb in Cape Town. Located in the Cape Flats, the infamous Group Area Act wielded by the Apartheid Government, designated Rylands an Indian enclave surrounded by a vast Coloured majority and smattering of Black Africans.

But where the racist government intended to dehumanize and cast aside, a thriving community evolved with a common purpose of dismantling Apartheid. Flanked by Belgravia, Gatesville and Langa, Rylands residents were part of the heated fray that lost their lives in the despicable Trojan Horse massacre. Their sacrifice lives on in the many remarkable Anti-Apartheid stalwarts that are part of South African history.

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With an unexpected trip down memory lane for Ruth, this episode gets off with some Gugurati and shared love of chevda. With a promise of an entire podcast on chevda agreed upon for the future, the conversation with Professor Premesh Lalu gets off on a delicious start.

Riding on this wave, Premesh reflects on his childhood in Rylands, Athlone, and how he saw his family life changed drastically when Apartheid laws brought into force the Group Areas Act. However, the resilience of the families, including his own, in maintaining not only a livelihood but close family relations, resulted in a form of education that has shaped who he is today.

That Premesh became an advocate for The Humanities is not surprising. A self-professed rebel from an early age, he recalls how everything from reading George Orwell’s Animal Farm, to being in the company of jazz legends and watching bootlegged films, funnelled into the vibrant approach he employs in academia, the creative field, and in advocating for social justice. 

Prior to enrolling into university, his passionate drive to dismantle Apartheid took him to KwaZulu-Natal where he became a youth leader and amongst other things, formed The Black Students Labour Committee. 

Premesh confesses to live for a concept of freedom that is in relation to others and not merely an individual thing. That it is about friendship. Values that were severely harmed by the pernicious impact of Apartheid; a system he considers to have been a dispersed form of despotism.

However, by the time he joined UWC, Premesh had become aware that he had to employ a different approach to dismantle the ravages of apartheid. He needed to educate himself and others and also expose communities to the arts. From student, to Director of The Centre for Humanities Research in 2008, a position he held for a decade, Professor Premesh Lalu was making the gains he had sought to achieve from the start. Thankfully, he hasn’t stopped.

Most recently, the triumphant march of The Herds from Kinshasa, DRC to Noordkaap in the Arctic Circle, is the latest manifestation of a unique approach that Professor Lalu has spearheaded. The life-size puppets, travelling 20,000 kilometres to stimulate conversation and activism around Climate Change across the continent and beyond, have not only been an exciting spectacle but unforgettably engaging.

And there’s more in store. So much more, and Professor Lalu is as wonderfully energised as ever. This conversation is merely a glimpse of the activist, creative, fiercely imaginative and amiable human, that is Professor Premesh Lalu.

For more information on The Herds, visit https://www.theherds.org

Connect on LinkedIn: Premesh Lalu

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