The first group of texts that this paper interrogates mainly draw on materials compiled by Gandhi, articles published in newspapers (mainly the Indian Opinion) and narrative accounts of Gandhi’s life and work. These texts
usually have an introduction by a South African academic or politician, explaining the importance of Gandhi within South African history. An example of this is The South African Gandhi: An abstract of the speeches and
writings of M.K. Gandhi 1893-1914. This book is edited by Fatima Meer in 1996. This introduction very clearly falls into the category of elite historiography attributing most of the political actions by South African Indians to Gandhi’s agency. In the preface Gandhi’s arrival in Natal is described by Justice Ismail Mohamed as a divine event. There was, Mohamed 3 writes, a “celestial Leap when he entered the shore of Natal in May 1893”6
This form of hagiographical account of history continues with phrases such as “A universal man, timeless in impact…”, or “it is comforting to know that even a super-soul…”7 being deployed by Lewis Skewyiya in the introduction. This hagiographical account of Gandhi is a very common instance of the tendency towards a hagiographical narration of important political figures within elite history.